Tony Schumacher was hesitant to mention safety – or a perceived lack thereof, when he referred to 45-degree temperatures that greeted the Friday evening VMP Top Fuel qualifying session.

“Running down a drag strip when you can’t see past your visor is probably not the safest thing for a sanctioning body that was designed for safety,” Schumacher said. “Whatever…some cars made it down the track so I can’t complain.

“I couldn’t be nervous…I couldn’t see past my windshield,” Schumacher said. “I held my breath as long as I could before I staged. I had the girl from Impact doing my visor.”

Schumacher was pressed into action earlier than expected when several teams pulled out of the lanes, including teammate Melanie Troxel.

FRIDAY NIGHT QUALIFYING WAS A TOUGH AFFAIR

Tony Schumacher was hesitant to mention safety – or a perceived lack thereof, when he referred to 45-degree temperatures that greeted the Friday evening VMP Top Fuel qualifying session.

“Running down a drag strip when you can’t see past your visor is probably not the safest thing for a sanctioning body that was designed for safety,” Schumacher said. “Whatever…some cars made it down the track so I can’t complain.

“I couldn’t be nervous…I couldn’t see past my windshield,” Schumacher said. “I held my breath as long as I could before I staged. I had the girl from Impact doing my visor.”

Schumacher was pressed into action earlier than expected when several teams pulled out of the lanes, including teammate Melanie Troxel.

“I had my helmet heated so it wouldn’t fog up,” Schumacher said. “I threw it on and they ran two singles. I’m back there and I’ve already fogged up. The track is lit well. It’s just 45 degrees. When it is that cold you are going to fog up. I can’t drive blindfolded. My car is too fast and too nasty to do that.

Schumacher said that tuner Alan Johnson was going for a 2.99 eighth-mile incremental time.

“Beyond that, he wasn’t sure what it was going to do,” Schumacher said. “We are trying to prepare for those tracks like Pomona where you have the tendency to shake the tires early.”

Schumacher admittedly was not familiar with the track as much as he would have liked to have been.

“I honestly don’t remember racing here,” Schumacher said. “I think it was five years ago. You come out here and run…they paved the track and it went down there with a 4.51 with the first run.”