Houston Pre-Race Report
NHRA SpringNationals
Event 5 of 22
Houston Raceway Park
Baytown, Texas
April 22 – 24, 2022
TONY SCHUMACHER: Driver of the Scag Power Equipment Top Fuel Dragster
Houston Highlights:
Three-time event winner (2005, 2009, 2020)
Five-time runner-up (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2015)
Two-time No. 1 qualifier (2005, 2011)
2020 Houston Recap:
Qualified second; Event champion (defeated Cameron Ferre in E1, Doug Foley in E2, Billy Torrence in E3, Steve Torrence in E4)
Last Event (Las Vegas 1):
Qualified ninth; Semifinal finish (defeated Mike Salinas, Bye in E1, Austin Prock, Clay Millican in E2; defeated by Brittany Force, Steve Torrence in E3)
Career Statistics:
516 races; 85 event wins; 88 No. 1 qualifiers
Houston Highlights:
Three-time event winner (2005, 2009, 2020)
Five-time runner-up (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2015)
Two-time No. 1 qualifier (2005, 2011)
2020 Houston Recap:
Qualified second; Event champion (defeated Cameron Ferre in E1, Doug Foley in E2, Billy Torrence in E3, Steve Torrence in E4)
Last Event (Las Vegas 1):
Qualified ninth; Semifinal finish (defeated Mike Salinas, Bye in E1, Austin Prock, Clay Millican in E2; defeated by Brittany Force, Steve Torrence in E3)
Career Statistics:
516 races; 85 event wins; 88 No. 1 qualifiers
Noteworthy:
This weekend’s race marks the final NHRA Camping World Series event at Houston Raceway Park
Schumacher, a resident of Austin, Texas, considers the Baytown facility to be a home track and would love nothing more than to capture his first win of the season at the final running of the SpringNationals.
Schumacher and the Scag Power Equipment team enter the race weekend following a successful outing in Las Vegas which saw them advance to the final elimination quad.
With 85 national event trophies, Schumacher is the winningest driver in NHRA Top Fuel history. His most recent race win occurred during the 2020 running of the Houston event.
Quotable:
“We’re exactly where we thought we would be at this point in the season. I’ve never worked with (crew chief) Todd Okuhara before, and his brother Scott, and Marc Denner. They’re new guys for me, I drive a little different. They’re kind of catching up to where I am and I’m catching up to where they are. We’ve got a car that even though we’re seventh in points, it’s way better than it even looks. We’re out there making fantastic early parts of the run and then mowing through the clutch, but as we reel that in a little bit, it’s going to be good.
“Houston’s a powerful track, so I’m looking forward to this weekend. It’s a beautiful place and we’ve had some great success there and I just love racing there. The last time I was there (in 2020), we went out and won it, and we would love to do that again. I’m never going to forget (the 2020 Houston event) when I raced Steve Torrence in the final because I think the margin of victory was like six ten-thousandths of a second. There’s a handful of races where you put the trophy on the shelf and you look back at it later and think that particular race was just outstanding. Those guys, the Torrences, they’re a great team and one of those teams you look forward to racing, and when you do have the opportunity to line up against them, you look forward to rising up and getting those wins because they’re especially tough to come by.”
About Don Schumacher Racing
Established in 1998, Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) has grown to become the winningest organization in NHRA Drag Racing history, and further cemented its position as one of motorsports’ elite teams when it surpassed the ‘350 wins’ milestone during the 2020 season. DSR owns 19 world championships in three different NHRA categories, and including hall-of-fame team owner Don Schumacher’s five NHRA Funny Car triumphs from the 1970s, DSR has been successful in capturing 366 national event victories overall.Headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana, DSR campaigns the Maynard Family/Scag Power Equipment Top Fuel dragster in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series with fan-favorite Tony Schumacher at the helm. As an eight-time world champion and 85-time NHRA national event winner, Schumacher is the most decorated Top Fuel driver of all time.
DSR also campaigns three entries in the Factory Stock Showdown Series. The trio of DSR Dodge Drag Paks is piloted by former Pro Stock racer Mark Pawuk, David Davies, who made his NHRA debut with DSR in 2021, and Warren Walcher, who is set to compete in his first full FSS season in 2022.
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