SCHUMACHER STILL CHARGING
Mon, 2008-11-03 16:28
Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.
Newly christened NHRA Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher granted defending event champion and hometown favorite Hot Rod Fuller his wish in the Las Vegas final round, well – part of it.
Fuller emphatically stated he wanted to race Schumacher one more time before his tuner Alan Johnson departs to begin his own team. He didn’t want Fuller to run off to the Funny Car division without an opportunity for them to race.
Schumacher told the media he isn’t planning to run Funny Car anymore. Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.
Newly christened NHRA Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher granted defending event champion and hometown favorite Hot Rod Fuller his wish in the Las Vegas final round, well – part of it.
Fuller emphatically stated he wanted to race Schumacher one more time before his tuner Alan Johnson departs to begin his own team. He didn’t want Fuller to run off to the Funny Car division without an opportunity for them to race.
Schumacher told the media he isn’t planning to run Funny Car anymore.
Maybe it’s the lure of beating drivers like Fuller on a regular basis that encourages him to remain. He’s reached the final round in eleven straight races.
“I get it because I’d want to race us too. When you win the race and beat the guy whose best, that’s great, that’s what it’s all about,” Schumacher said of Fuller’s challenge. “He’s just had some bad circumstances because we’ve beat him so many times it makes him look bad, most people would say not to ask for it then. He keeps asking and we’ll keep giving to him I guess, I guess. It will be a different world next year, we’ll have a different crew chief, different team, all new people and we’ll get back to our old self. But right now if I had to race against the Army car myself, I wouldn’t be looking forward to it.
“Whether we’ve been the best at every race or not, we’ve won them and that’s what counts. If you want to win you want to beat everyone else. You are going to have to race against us if you want to win the championship you are going to have to beat us. I don’t think he’d answer the same way if he had to make that answer again.”
Schumacher quickly overcame a Fuller holeshot to score an unprecedented 15th Top Fuel national event win during the 2008 season. Las Vegas marked the 18th final round he’s reached in 2008.
Incredibly Schumacher has won every first round this season and the streak of good fortune dates back to Richmond of 2007.
Many times Schumacher has emphasized the difficulty in winning first round but when quizzed which has more meaning, the consecutive opening round triumphs or his 15 national wins to date – the 15 victories win hands down.
“The first round wins are absolutely incredible, to go out there and suck it up when you haven’t seen the track and haven’t had a chance to get the tune up for the day,” Schumacher said. “But the amount of wins and the way we’ve won them, they haven’t been by two car lengths; they’ve been the close battles. That’s impressive that we know the exact time to go out there and cut a very good light and tune up the car and make it work like that over and over again. It just builds because people take shots at you every time. There are a lot of good cars it’s not like there is just one good car and everyone is trailing back. We have one that’s winning races but everyone else has been excellent as well. We’ve qualified number one eight times. That leaves a lot of other number one qualifiers that have outrun us.
“In many first rounds we got outrun, in a lot of the races we were. There were a lot of the races where we didn’t even get low ET for the event. You just have to win the race and beat the guy that you’re racing against. That’s what it is all about. Back in the old days the old AJ, was going to smoke the tires or run low ET. He’s a different guy right now, the guy’s figured out how to run the race car down the race track and beat the guys we have to beat. Never thought five years ago you’d hear me say that, but there are a lot of races where he’s said we had to be careful there.” He’s doing a good job and it’s unfortunate that I’m going to have to race against him next year.”
Schumacher is now two rounds away from tying Pro Stock racer Greg Anderson’s 2004 record of 76 round wins.
Newly christened NHRA Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher granted defending event champion and hometown favorite Hot Rod Fuller his wish in the Las Vegas final round, well – part of it.
Fuller emphatically stated he wanted to race Schumacher one more time before his tuner Alan Johnson departs to begin his own team. He didn’t want Fuller to run off to the Funny Car division without an opportunity for them to race.
Schumacher told the media he isn’t planning to run Funny Car anymore. Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.
Newly christened NHRA Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher granted defending event champion and hometown favorite Hot Rod Fuller his wish in the Las Vegas final round, well – part of it.
Fuller emphatically stated he wanted to race Schumacher one more time before his tuner Alan Johnson departs to begin his own team. He didn’t want Fuller to run off to the Funny Car division without an opportunity for them to race.
Schumacher told the media he isn’t planning to run Funny Car anymore.
Maybe it’s the lure of beating drivers like Fuller on a regular basis that encourages him to remain. He’s reached the final round in eleven straight races.
“I get it because I’d want to race us too. When you win the race and beat the guy whose best, that’s great, that’s what it’s all about,” Schumacher said of Fuller’s challenge. “He’s just had some bad circumstances because we’ve beat him so many times it makes him look bad, most people would say not to ask for it then. He keeps asking and we’ll keep giving to him I guess, I guess. It will be a different world next year, we’ll have a different crew chief, different team, all new people and we’ll get back to our old self. But right now if I had to race against the Army car myself, I wouldn’t be looking forward to it.
“Whether we’ve been the best at every race or not, we’ve won them and that’s what counts. If you want to win you want to beat everyone else. You are going to have to race against us if you want to win the championship you are going to have to beat us. I don’t think he’d answer the same way if he had to make that answer again.”
Schumacher quickly overcame a Fuller holeshot to score an unprecedented 15th Top Fuel national event win during the 2008 season. Las Vegas marked the 18th final round he’s reached in 2008.
Incredibly Schumacher has won every first round this season and the streak of good fortune dates back to Richmond of 2007.
Many times Schumacher has emphasized the difficulty in winning first round but when quizzed which has more meaning, the consecutive opening round triumphs or his 15 national wins to date – the 15 victories win hands down.
“The first round wins are absolutely incredible, to go out there and suck it up when you haven’t seen the track and haven’t had a chance to get the tune up for the day,” Schumacher said. “But the amount of wins and the way we’ve won them, they haven’t been by two car lengths; they’ve been the close battles. That’s impressive that we know the exact time to go out there and cut a very good light and tune up the car and make it work like that over and over again. It just builds because people take shots at you every time. There are a lot of good cars it’s not like there is just one good car and everyone is trailing back. We have one that’s winning races but everyone else has been excellent as well. We’ve qualified number one eight times. That leaves a lot of other number one qualifiers that have outrun us.
“In many first rounds we got outrun, in a lot of the races we were. There were a lot of the races where we didn’t even get low ET for the event. You just have to win the race and beat the guy that you’re racing against. That’s what it is all about. Back in the old days the old AJ, was going to smoke the tires or run low ET. He’s a different guy right now, the guy’s figured out how to run the race car down the race track and beat the guys we have to beat. Never thought five years ago you’d hear me say that, but there are a lot of races where he’s said we had to be careful there.” He’s doing a good job and it’s unfortunate that I’m going to have to race against him next year.”
Schumacher is now two rounds away from tying Pro Stock racer Greg Anderson’s 2004 record of 76 round wins.
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