NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher is back in the world title hunt and heading to one of his favorite tracks on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour, a combination that could bode well for the longtime Top Fuel star.
 
Fresh off his victory in St. Louis, Schumacher is ready to roll at this weekend’s 39th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals at legendary Texas Motorplex, an event that caps off the Stampede of Speed.
 
Now living in Texas, Schumacher plans to take in all of what the spectacular 10-day event has to offer, and he hopes to close it out with a second straight victory in his 11,000-horsepower Leatherwood Distillery/Waltrip Brewing Co. dragster for JCM Racing.
 
Schumacher is sixth in the Top Fuel points after his first victory in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs since 2014, sitting 103 points back of first as he seeks his seventh career victory at Texas Motorplex. No other Top Fuel driver has more than three, meaning the facility, which also is the site of his first career Top Fuel victory, has treated Schumacher very well over the years.
 
“I love that place. It’s where I won my first race and one of the places where it set us up for our first championship [in 1999],” Schumacher said. “There will be tons of friends and family there, and it’s going to be a great time. We’ve won there before, and I love going to that race. The Meyer family are just great, and it’s a really cool place. We’ll be there for a couple weeks, and we’ll be prepared, that’s for sure.”
 
Last season, Leah Pruett (Top Fuel), Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock), and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all collected NHRA wins in Dallas, and this year’s race will again be broadcast on FS1, with eliminations coverage airing at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 13. It is the fourth of six races in the Countdown to the Championship and the 18th of 20 races during the 2024 season.
 
A Texas-sized playoff showdown starts with Friday Night Live, which offers more than $40,000 in bonus money to the stars in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. The low qualifier under the lights on Friday night will net Top Fuel and Funny Car stars $15,000 each in bonus money, with $7,500 going to the quickest qualifier in Pro Stock and $5,000 in Pro Stock Motorcycle. That leads into final qualifying on Saturday and race day Sunday, where Schumacher looks to continue his momentum from St. Louis.

 
The team appears to have solved the issues that have plagued them in recent seasons, and Schumacher, who has 88 career Top Fuel wins, is ready to pounce. But he’ll need an impressive late-season run if a ninth title is in the cards. Antron Brown is the current points leader, while other top contenders in the top five include Justin Ashley, Shawn Langdon, reigning world champion Doug Kalitta, and Texan Steve Torrence.
 
“I’m really proud of my guys. We hurt ourselves early on [in the Countdown], but we’re closer than we were when we started St. Louis,” Schumacher said. “It’s been fantastic. Let’s face it, we struggled, and we didn’t have a great car, and for three years, we tried to find our problem. We found it in Brainerd.
 
“I had said we found it several times before, but it wasn’t the right problem. We found it, and I’m so proud of the guys. We just couldn’t get it to go down the track, and a couple of races ago, [Mike Neff] found it. They’ve sucked it up and figured it out, and it’s a beautiful thing.”

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at 4:15 and 7 p.m. CT on Friday, Oct. 11, and the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, Oct. 12 at noon and 3 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for noon CT on Sunday, Oct. 13. Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday and as well as action from eliminations at 4 p.m.
 
To purchase tickets to the Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex, call 800-668-6775 or visit tickets.texasmotorplex.com. Children 12 and under are admitted free in general-admission areas with a paid adult.