POMONA, Calif. (Army News Service, Nov. 13, 2006) - U.S. Army Top Fuel driver Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher completed the biggest point comeback in NHRA history here yesterday when he captured the Auto Club Finals and set a new elapsed time record at Auto Club Raceway.
Schumacher came into the season finale 46 points behind leader Doug Kalitta. To win his fourth career world championship, "The Sarge" had to advance three rounds more than Kalitta or go two rounds further and set the new national elapsed time record for an extra 20 bonus points. He did the latter.
"Well, I guess we did it the hard way given the two options," offered the Chicago native who came from 336 points down to win the crown. "It was incredibly exciting, I can tell you that. It came down to the last round at the last race. Is there anything better than that'"
Schumacher took out David Baca, Rod Fuller and Brandon Bernstein before his historic run in the finals against teammate Melanie Troxel. He needed to beat Troxel and go under the elapsed time record he'd previously held - 4.437 seconds - to win the championship. He won with a 4.428-second pass at a blistering 327.98 mph.
"That was a prime example of being Army Strong," he said. "It was also nice to accomplish what we did today on Veteran's Day weekend. We can't forget all of those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country."
By winning his third straight world title, Schumacher became the second driver in Top Fuel history to turn that trick. The other was Joe Amato in the early 1990's.
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