Tony Schumacher has won seven Top Fuel championships and done that in a variety of ways. He has the NHRA record for the largest points margin, and he owns the NHRA record for the narrowest of points margins. And he fell just seven points short in 2012 to Antron Brown.

And Tony Schumacher is a patient man. That's helpful, because he has had to be patient this year after starting the Winternationals this February at Pomona, Calif., in 12th place. But it's all paying off right about now.

Tony Schumacher has won seven Top Fuel championships and done that in a variety of ways. He has the NHRA record for the largest points margin, and he owns the NHRA record for the narrowest of points margins. And he fell just seven points short in 2012 to Antron Brown.

And Tony Schumacher is a patient man. That's helpful, because he has had to be patient this year after starting the Winternationals this February at Pomona, Calif., in 12th place. But it's all paying off right about now.

He entered the Countdown in fourth place in the standings. And heading into Sunday's eliminations of the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals, he and the Mike Green-, Neal Strausbaugh-led U.S. Army Dragster team are the point leaders.

That's largely due to Saturday's victory over Khalid alBalooshi in the final round of the belated Pep Boys Carolinas Nationals that took place at the Texas Motorplex at Ennis, south of Dallas.

So Schumacher, a new resident of Austin, Texas, earned his first victory on his new home track – which will be even more memorable because it wasn't even in the regularly scheduled September event. The highly touted zMAX Dragway lost its luster and the chance last week to complete the first race of the 2014 Countdown.

He completed a steady march from 12th place to first with a 3.866-second pass at 318.77 mph on the 1,000-foot course in a wire-to-wire victory. AlBalooshi countered with a 3.903, 316.67 in the special showdown that followed qualifying for the Dallas event.

Schumacher reached the final round with a victory back in North Carolina over Bob Vandergriff last Sunday and Saturday victories over Billy Torrence and Spencer Massey as the final two Dallas qualifying sessions doubled as Charlotte elimination rounds.

AlBalooshi, rising steadily himself in the Charlotte race from the No. 11 position, beat teammate Shawn Langdon last weekend, then advanced to the final round Saturday past first Morgan Lucas and then Steve Torrence.

And there at Billy Meyer's doubleheader at the Texas Motorplex, on a 129-degree racetrack, Schumacher was his hottest all year with his 75th victory – best in Top Fuel history – and third this season. Perhaps fittingly, it's where he earned his career-first triumph 15 years ago, in 1999.

"It couldn’t have come at a better time," Schumacher said of the Charlotte-at-Dallas victory. He called it "fantastic timing" and said he thinks his U.S. Army Dragster can go the distance.

"I know we've got the car capable of doing it," he said Saturday. "We'll have to see what happens. But we'll be there to force the issue. We're not going to wait and see what happens. We're going to leave nothing on the table. If you want to win a championship anymore, as good as these cars are, you'd better leave nothing on the table, absolutely dominate."

To reinforce his point, three drivers failed to qualify, including Countdown driver Brittany Force, a three-time No. 1 qualifier this season, and six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion Clay Millican. First-time Top Fuel competitor Kebin Kinsley joined them.

While the air temperature and track temperature were hot, Schumacher said his mission is to be ice-cold.

"There's no better time to be ice-cold," he said. "I always say 'Be a machine. Be machine-like.' " He said his crew chiefs "need me to go out and do what I do so they can do what they do better than any other crew chiefs on the planet."

Schumacher was pumped up about the chance this weekend "to try to take home two trophies." And he has more on his agenda.

"I'd like to leave, Reading, Pennsylvania, with a 140-point lead or more. I'd love that. That's be beautiful," Schumacher said, alluding to the notion that he's especially successful at Las Vegas, the following race.

"But nobody's stupid enough to think it's easy. We could go out tomorrow [in the Dallas eliminations] and get spanked in the first round," he said.

Despite the Charlotte victory, Schumacher is the No. 6 qualifier (3.790, 322.11), but he matched No. 1 JR Todd in qualifying bonus points with six this weekend. Schumacher will face Leah Pruett, whose Gumout/Dote Racing Dragster team added Dallas to the schedule to finish its Charlotte chances, in the opening round of the AAA Texas FallNationals Sunday.

He said one of the best aspects of winning the Charlotte trophy is "to be able to do it on demand."

The times will demand he repeat his results and get a second Wally this weekend. The question is whether his team will – not can but will – do it with all the variables any race has to stymie drivers.

Schumacher had an answer for that: "We're good in the heat, man, and it’s going to be hot tomorrow."

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