NHRA

Gainesville: Don Schumacher final report

SCHUMACHER ROLLS TO SECOND WIN OF THE SEASON GAINESVILLE, Fla., March 16 -Â Handling the controls of the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster, Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher posted his second victory of the year here Sunday in the ACDelco Gatornationals at ...

Published: Mar 18, 2008, 6:08 AM

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SCHUMACHER ROLLS TO SECOND WIN OF THE SEASON

GAINESVILLE, Fla., March 16 - Handling the controls of the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster, Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher posted his second victory of the year here Sunday in the ACDelco Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. Schumacher, who beat Brandon Bernstein in the finals with a 4.603-second pass at 325.37 mph, became the fourth Top Fuel driver in NHRA history to win three Gatornationals.

"This was a great day for the U.S. Army team," said an elated Schumacher afterwards. "The whole team came together, just like our Army Soldiers do every day for us."

On the way to his win over Bernstein, Schumacher leveled J.R. Todd, Antron Brown and Larry Dixon on what proved to be a tricky race track.

"That's a pretty strong lineup of drivers to have to go through to get to the final round," he added. "Yes, the track was quite challenging since the sun was out all day and the temperatures were pretty high. But, we took care of business and that's what counts."

Unlike the last couple of seasons, Schumacher has put together a strong start to 2008 with two wins and a semifinal round finish already under his belt.

"We have a long season ahead of us, but it's nice that we've taken off like we have," he said. "We know that we still have a bit of work to do on the car. In fact, we're going to test here in Gainesville tomorrow in an effort to improve on some things." With his 43rd career victory, Schumacher widened his lead in the Top Fuel standings to 52 points over second-place Larry Dixon. Schumacher will now head for Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Tex., March 28-30, for the O'Reilly Spring Nationals. He has one win to his credit there - in 2005.

"We'll try to keep moving along down there," offered Schumacher. "It's all about getting better with each race and, of course, competing for another POWERade world title."

-credit: dsr

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