Bristol: Schumacher finals preview`

Bristol, Tenn. (April 28): With the completion of qualifying for the Mac Tools Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Raceway, Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher will focus his efforts for Sunday's Final Eliminations where he will face Doug Herbert in the opening round.

Schumacher's day began with a disappointing run of 5.787 et at 161.92 mph. With the temperatures as hot as the racers have seen all weekend, Schumacher lost traction at half track and was forced to shut down the U.S. Army dragster.

Schumacher final qualifying attempt produced his best elapsed time of the weekend, but the 4.772 second pass was disqualified when his fuel was found to be 0.1 percent over the limit of 90.

"We had drained some fuel from the tank and then put it back in," said Schumacher, we think some of the alcohol evaporated when we did that because our drum of fuel checked out at the right percentage."

"The bottom line is that it didn't affect our performance and losing the run doesn't hurt our qualifying position any."

"The Sarge" has faced first round opponent, Doug Herbert, nine times in his career in eliminations and has won seven of those meetings.

"It won't be an easy one," said Schumacher, "they are the higher qualifier and have lane choice."

Final Eliminations are scheduled to begin at 11:00 AM.