MASSEY OVERRULES SCHUMACHER FOR SEATTLE NO. 1

Spencer Massey has been in a bit of a battle with Don Schumacher Racing colleague Antron Brown. Brown beat Massey in the Top Fuel final round last Sunday at Sonoma, Calif., to muscle in on a share of Massey's points lead.

But during Friday's second session of qualifying for the National Hot Rod Association's O'Reilly Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways near Seattle, Massey found himself in a skirmish with their other DSR mate, Tony Schumacher, in the U.S. Army Dragster.

Massey, in the FRAM/Prestone Dragster, and Schumacher ran identical 3.837-second elapsed times on the 1,000-foot course, both nicking early leader Steve Torrence's time (3.838) by one-thousandth of a second.

Massey got the provisional top-qualifying honors by virtue of speed. He posted a 319.60-mph speed -- best in the class -- to outdo Schumacher's 318.02.

With the bonus points (while Brown fared no better than fifth Friday), Massey moved back into the lead in the standings by three points.

He also gave DSR some more bragging rights, as Funny Car teammate own the other nitro-class lead overnight. DSR provided all finalists last Sunday in the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes, guaranteeing the organization its 188th and 189th victories.

"This feels awesome. This is what we try and do whenever we come to every race," Massey said afterward. "To go No. 1 on the second run is awesome. It tells you how well our FRAM/Prestone team has been doing lately."

Alluding to the Sonoma results, he said, "We made it to the final and got beat by our teammate Antron Brown. Now we barely qualified a little better than our other teammate, Tony Schumacher.

"We all three have our Don Schumacher Racing cars. We all have the technology behind us. These cars should be running as close as they have lately. It shows you how well our entire program is put together," Massey said.

If only he could find some extra Seattle mojo, some Pacific Northwest magic, Massey would be all set.

"I've never done well enough to reach a Top Fuel final here," the Fort Worth native said. "The first time I ever made it to a final in any class was in Top Alcohol Dragster here in 2006. I have a little bit of history here and would love to get a final round here.

"I want to capitalize and try to stay No. 1 in points. We want to try that going into the Countdown. We have an agenda and it's to stay No. 1."

The heat and worse fro him, the sun, caused him some discomfort Friday, he said.

"I don't know the track temp, but I know my body temp was high. I'm sweating trying to get out of my stuff," Massey said. "I tell you what was really bad – the sun. I could barely see the groove for the glare on the track. I'm glad I have my little visor on top [of my helmet]. That was blocking the sun all the time.

"It's just something you have to deal with in drag racing. There's going to be sun, and it is going to be shining on the track," he said. "That's what makes you a good driver. You have to have good eyesight to keep that in the groove going 3.83s."

He's keeping his fingers crossed from some cooling but that also could jeopardize his No. 1 status. Whatever the temperature might be in the first of two final qualifying sessions Saturday, the only number that matters to him is the one that tells his starting order for Sunday's eliminations.

"Tomorrow when we run, the first session could be cooler," he said. "Obviously we could be bumped down a little bit. We could be bumped down by our car. Yes, there's a chance it could happen. Hopefully we'll stay No. 1."

Either way, Spencer Massey definitely is hot.

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