Tony Schumacher

With seven Top Fuel world championship trophies on his mantel, including the last six in a row, some might think it’s a chore for Tony Schumacher to pump himself up for yet another season, another title run, to try to keep his dominating streak going.

But Schumacher says he doesn’t have those problems. He’s a racer, pure and simple. He says he was ready to race the weekend after last year’s final event. It’s been a long winter for the Chicago-based speedster.

So as his U.S. Army team rolls to the starting line for the first time in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season at the 50th annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline, Feb. 11-14 at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Schumacher, arguably the greatest Top Fuel driver in NHRA history with 61 victories, will be itching to get the season started like never before.

Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), and Jason Line (Pro Stock) are the defending winners of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event, which will be televised on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD.

As an A-plus student of drag racing, Schumacher knows the importance of this milestone event and all the legends who have come before him. To know that his name is now mentioned alongside Don Garlits, Kenny Bernstein, and Don Prudhomme, to name a few, as one of the greats, gives Schumacher even more motivation to succeed.  

“It all starts at the Winternationals,” said Schumacher, who won NHRA’s prestigious season-opening event in 2004 and 2008. “The biggest names that have ever won championships in racing and just races in general started right there. So that’s the place. The history of racing comes from California. To go out and perform at that race from the first get-go, man, you just can’t beat it. It was an amazing thing to be able to accomplish.”

Schumacher’s Winternationals titles came during some amazing championship runs during the last decade. He claimed world championship titles in 2006 and 2007 in dramatic fashion during the closing moments of the season. In 2008, he had one of the most dominating runs ever, ultimately capturing the prestigious Driver of the Year title for all of motorsports. However, his title last year – a two-point thriller over rival Larry Dixon – may be his most satisfying. He won the title with a new crew chief and new teammates, defeating former tuner Alan Johnson and most of his former crew.

“It was an amazing year last year to be able do what we did,” Schumacher said. “To be able to go out there after losing Alan Johnson and my whole Army team and beat them by two points, which is what everyone in the world showed up to watch.”

Schumacher expects another tough battle with Dixon and the Al-Anabi Racing team. However, many other drivers will be in the championship hunt as well, including Antron Brown, who swept the Western Swing last season in his Matco Tools dragster, veteran Cory McClenathan in the Fram Tough Guard dragster, a reenergized Brandon Bernstein in the Copart dragster, and Morgan Lucas, who won three times last year in the GEICO Powersports dragster.

“We’re giving them the best show I’ve ever seen,” Schumacher said of the competition in NHRA Top Fuel. “It is brutal right now, the hardest thing I’ve ever been a part of. Best show I’ve ever been a part of.”

Schumacher still gets a chuckle at all of those prognosticators who predicted his downfall last year. And he knows there may be a few who still think last year was a fluke. No matter, he plans to keep his expectations in check and focus on the task at hand, just as he’s done for the last six championship-winning seasons.

“I never expected to win six championships in a row,” Schumacher said.  “And I don’t expect to go on and win every championship from here on out. The competition’s too tough. We’re going to show up, qualify the best and run the best we can each round. At the end of the season, we’ll know where it falls.”

ON TV: ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 11 p.m. ET Saturday, Feb. 13. ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise NHRA Race Day presented by Lucas Oil, a 30-minute pre-race show, at 10 a.m. ET Sunday, Feb. 14. ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise three hours of eliminations coverage beginning at 8 p.m. ET Sunday, Feb. 14.
 

Justin Humphreys, near lane, defeated Johnny Gray to win the Pro Stock Showdown at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

On a day when cold and overcast conditions made full runs a rarity, Justin Humphreys was crowned the winner of the annual Pro Stock Showdown at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After making just one qualifying attempt, Humphreys was the star of Sunday’s event, making three runs in the 6.7-second zone in his Pontiac GXP, including a 6.74, the quickest pass of the day. In the final round, Humphreys posted a 6.79 while Johnny Gray, like many other drivers before him, shook the tires as soon as he dumped the clutch.

“It wasn’t pretty, but I’ll take it,” said Humphreys, who credited his ability to get down the tricky surface to the tuning abilities of 10-time Pro Stock world champion Bob Glidden. “We only made one qualifying run because my truck wasn’t here, and then we had to put the car together. Considering how rushed we were, it turned out pretty well. It’s great to have ‘Mad Dog’ [Glidden] back out here with us. He’s going to be a big help this year.”

The chilly conditions made it difficult for many Pro Stock racers to get down the LVMS quarter-mile, and there were multiple aborted runs. Several drivers, including reigning Full Throttle world champ Mike Edwards, Allen Johnson, Ron Krisher, and V. Gaines, decided to sit out eliminations altogether.

“Believe me, I came here to race and I want to race, but there is just too much at stake to risk something going wrong, especially this close to Pomona. I appreciate the effort [of the LVMS staff] to prep the track, but it’s just too cold out there. Even if you can make a full run, you won’t learn anything useful.”

Rodger Brogdon, who won his first-round race when Bob Yonke was a no-show, would have had a bye run into the semifinals but also elected to retire for the day. Brogdon had qualified seventh with a 6.74 in his Attitude Apparel entry.

“I’d like to make some runs because we’re still sorting out our new car, but I’m going to wait for Monday and hope that the sun comes out and the track warms up a bit. I’ll also stay Tuesday if I need to because we’ve made some progress, but we’re not close to where we need to be.”

The absence of several of the top qualifiers juggled the ladder; the final round between Humphreys and Gray was actually supposed to be a semifinal pairing. Earlier, Humphreys got a single run when Krisher was a no-show, and he later defeated Greg Stanfield’s new Nitro Fish entry. Gray did not have to race anyone until the final round but made three half-track passes in his new GXP, a twin to the car that will be raced by his son, Shane.

“We were more interested in gathering data and making runs than we were in winning this race,” said Gray. “Now, don’t get me wrong. I would like to have won, but we’ve got a lot of work to do before Pomona, so that was our main focus."

 Related story: Full Throttle champ Edwards tops qualifying in Las Vegas
 

Second-generation racer Shane Gray completed his Pro Stock licensing runs during the Pro Stock Showdown at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Gray hopes to make his debut at the 50th annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. He will join his dad, veteran driver Johnny Gray, in the second Gray Motorsports Pontiac GXP.

The younger Gray needed to make three full runs to upgrade his license and accomplished the task under the watchful eye and advice of his dad.

“Getting in my car for the first time felt good,” he said. “Making runs was a little scary the first day; I was really nervous and actually did a terrible job. But the second day was much better. We made three good runs, and everything worked out well.

“Now that I’ve made a small handful of runs, everything is much better. My feelings have now changed to excitement. I’m decently comfortable in the car, but we definitely need to make more runs and plan to do so over the next few days. So hopefully, we should be OK by the time we get to Pomona.”

The Winternationals marks the opening of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle season and is being billed as one of the greatest single events in NHRA history. A race of this caliber carries high excitement and expectations, and everyone hopes to shine.

“I’ll try to shine as much as I can when I get there,” said the younger Gray, “but I know it’s a tall order. The Pro Stock field is the toughest field of classes I know of in any form of motorsports, and I will be honored just to get to race with them on Sunday. If I can pull up and race one of the guys that are in the class on Sunday, it will be an honor for me.”

The race car and driver are not the only things that are new on Gray’s team. The crew is also new. Each is experienced, but the newness lies in their working together as one. Under the watchful eye of the elder Gray’s crew chief, Craig Hankinson, things will run smoothly. Mike Earle was promoted from the existing team to be the car chief.

“I really appreciate the opportunity I’ve been given,” expressed Earle. “I’m still not sure how it happened, but I’m committed to making them proud. Now that we’ve made a few runs, I’m feeling good. I think he is a good driver. He’s hard on himself, but he’s doing a great job. The guys are all doing a good job, and I think everything will work out, and we’ll be just fine.”

Gray is comfortable with his team and also sees good things happening for them.

“I have good faith in all of my guys,” he said. “Craig oversees both cars and both teams. Mike is a very smart individual, and I think he’ll do great. He came off my dad’s car and knows how our deal works. And everything has been running smooth so far. We know we need to take baby steps, and hopefully we’ll be right in the midst of things in no time.”

The father and son racing duo have taken on a big project. While creating a two-car team, they have built an engine and race shop in Denver, N.C., taking on the task of creating their own engine program.

“We’ve put so much together in a short time,” said Gray. “Right now, we’re in the beginning stages of our engine program, and as with any new business, it’s tough. We have to get it organized and get it up to where it’s making good horsepower for the class. We’re hoping that it will be a long-time deal and that in the very near future we’ll have championship-contending cars and engines.

“My wife and children have committed to move from New Mexico to North Carolina. We have found a house that we’re supposed to close on March 1, so it’s a serious deal for us.

“I really appreciate the opportunity I have been given. My mother and father have put me in this position because they believe in me. And I’m blessed by God that I have a wonderful wife, Amber, that is my best friend and also allows me to do this. She supports me 100 percent and is kind of my mentor in the deal, poking me along with a sharp stick to keep up my confidence and keep things rolling. My wife and my children have to put up with a lot when it comes to my racing, from moving away from the only home they’ve ever known to my being absent from games, school activities, birthdays, quality time, and everything else. It’s a very selfish sport that I choose, but luckily I have wonderful parents and a wife that allow me to be selfish and do this.”