Tony Schumacher and Antron Brown are fast friends and teammates at Don Schumacher Racing yet they are two of the fiercest competitors in the National Hot Rod Association, ready to wage war on each other for a better starting position, victory, or championship.

That's nothing new, but the curious twist to their intense and unyielding competition Friday in Top Fuel qualifying centered on a 25-pound contraption that has caused a stir among the dragster drivers and team owners. It's the canopy that Schumacher and U.S. Army Dragster crew chief Mike Green have pushed for, Green even with a hefty donation from his own wallet.

Schumacher had the long-awaited, finally approved canopy atop his cockpit as the Lucas Oil Nationals got under way at Minnesota's Brainerd International Raceway. Brown's Matco Tools/Army/Toyota Dragster did not.

They ran identical elapsed times (3.791 seconds) in the second session to top the leader board. Schumacher grabbed the provisional No. 1 position with a faster speed, a track-record 323.97 mph to Brown's slower-by-an-eyelash 323.74.

That did little to unravel the unsettling mystery of this canopy. After two Friday qualifying sessions, it remained unclear whether the canopy is a safety feature or a performance advantage or both or neither.

And that's what has some Top Fuel veterans uneasy about its presence. They don't know whether to embrace it, be careful not to crave one quickly, pooh-pooh it, observe its performance, or complain it isn't available to them right now like it is to Schumacher.

The truth is that the NHRA has made the whole issue as clear as mud. By approving it for Schumacher's use in this 16th of 17 "regular-season" races -- just two before the six-event Countdown to the Championship -- the sanctioning body has generated some weird mix of disapproval, yet gratefulness, from the Canopy Have-Nots.

Bob Vandergriff, owner-driver of the C&J Energy Services Dragster, said he hasn't decided just how he feels about the canopy but that the unavailability of it could be a blessing.

"We haven't seen it in competition, and that could change the initial opinion, for the better or the worse, depending on what we see from the implementation of it on the DSR cars," he said.

"I'm not sure anything should be allowed two-thirds of the way through the season due to the unknown effect it could provide for the DSR teams," Vandergriff said. "I'd probably have preferred it be allowed starting with the 2013 season. But with it being allowed now,  we will see the results before next year starts. So -- pluses and minuses on the timing of the approval."

Jim Oberhofer, Kalitta Motorsports vice-president and crew chief for Doug Kalitta, said, "I kind of wonder is if there is an advantage to have that thing -- I guess we'll see as we get into the Countdown if the Army car starts to run better than it already runs -- how quickly is that canopy going to be available to all the other Top Fuel teams that might think there's an advantage to have that thing?

"Is there only one canopy out there? How long does it take to build these things and to install it and all those other things? My feeling is they could have approved this then said, 'All right -- you need a minimal amount sitting on the shelf.' That way they're available for other teams who that possibly want to install it for this race or for Indy," he said.

"Or they could have said, 'It's approved but you can't run it until next year.' That would have made it simple," Oberhofer said. "You know if that car goes out and runs good -- I mean, it's already a good-running car to begin with -- but if it goes out and runs even better, then you're going to get a lot of people complaining about it, saying there's an advantage with that thing."

Morgan Lucas, driver of the GEICO/Lucas Oil Dragster, said, "The NHRA's tech department doesn't always have the best timing when it comes to some of its rulings. I believe that a change this significant needs time -- like the off-season -- for teams to research the equipment themselves before it becomes accepted for competition use."

Schumacher, as he always has, said resolutely again Friday that the canopy's purpose purely is safety.

"It's phenomenal," Schumacher said. "You're safe. You're in the thing. They close it and you feel . . . I don't know . . . a sense of safety -- which is the whole point. For 16 years I've driven this open cockpit where you can see things. Parts and pieces could fly in. And I'm in the capsule. We've been looking forward to doing that for a long time.

"What the advantage is is life expectancy. I want to live longer, and that's what we're doing it for," he said. "There's no one out there who can dispute it. If you don't own one, if you like it and think there's an advantage, put it on your car. I recommend it highly. Simple as that."

According to Schumacher, the canopy project is a noble new development in keeping with the legacy of safety-conscious NHRA founder Wally Parks.

Said Schumacher, "Wally Parks founded the NHRA to keep people safe: get 'em off the street, put 'em in race cars with roll cages and safety people. And that's what we're doing. All of us working together are going to make that happen. We're trying to make this car go out and be the future so other people put it on their car and we don't have to see any more tragedies."

Oberhofer, respected by peers and the sanctioning body alike, questioned the need for the canopy. To help him shape his opinion, he turned to boss Connie Kalitta, because the drag-racing pioneer has "made a lot of laps down the racetrack himself and has been around the sport continuously probably longer than anybody" and because "he has probably burned more nitro than anybody out here."

He asked Kalitta, "Have you ever seen anybody get hit with something driving a Top Fuel car, whether it's a bird or whatever?" Oberhofer said he inquired about "the things that Tony Schumacher was saying that either happened to him or came close to happening to him."

He said Kalitta's reply was that "in all my years of racing, I've only known of two people and they drove Comp dragsters back in the '70s." Said Oberhofer, "He said as far as a Top Fuel car, he doesn't recall anybody getting hit with anything making a lap down the track."

Kalitta, he said, keenly observed the canopy at preseason testing in January in South Florida. Part of his interest was sheer curiosity, for he had used a canopy years ago when innovator "Big Daddy" Don Garlits gave it a whirl.

Oberhofer said, "He told me liked the looks of the thing and thought it looked cool. Whether there was an aerodynamic advantage to it, I'm not sure if that's something he was thinking." He said Kalitta was inquisitive because "it kind of gives the Top Fuel class a different look."

Both Oberhofer and Vandergriff said they have been concerned about the weight issue the canopy raises.

"From what I understand, the whole system adds a little over 30 pounds," Oberhofer said. "I would have to leave that up to Doug [Kalitta] whether he would want something like that on the car. To add that kind of weight, right now I'm not in that position. Doug Kalitta is not Doug Herbert size, but he's also not Antron Brown size, either.

"I want the car safe, and if there is a safety advantage of having it, then OK. But right now I don't see that with that thing," he said. "I feel our cars we have right now are pretty safe. Doug feels safe driving the car. That's the most important thing."

Oberhofer said he isn't alone in his apprehension about the weight.

"My biggest worry -- and I think I share a lot of the feelings of the other crew chiefs who are working with Schumacher [DSR] . . . Our concern is that they were going to allow them to run this canopy and that they were going to add weight to us because of that," he said. "Doing what they did, they allowed them to run it and they didn't put weight on us -- which is good, and I hope they keep it that way."

Vandergriff, who said, "Currently we are not ordering it," shied away, in part because of the extra poundage. "As a bigger driver we can't afford the weight increase to our car. If NHRA raised the weight limit to allow for the increase in weight the canopy and its related components add to the cars, then we would seriously consider adding one. I'm all for safety improvements, and at face value this appears to be one."

Lucas had even more worrisome reasons for not approving the canopy with enthusiasm.

"We think there are some potential fire hazard issues that have not been addressed and that the added weight will make the cars more difficult to stop," Lucas said. "Given those questions, I cannot see Morgan Lucas Racing pursuing a canopy any time soon."

That kind of doubt makes the approval of the canopy something about which not every Top Fuel racer is doing cartwheels. But Schumacher is a believer. It might not have helped him Friday at Brainerd, but it certainly didn't appear to hurt his performance.

So the jury is still out regarding the Top Fuel canopy, and so far it has yet to return a unanimous verdict.

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