Tony Schumacher was looking to make a statement at his first New England Nationals appearance since last competing at the Epping, N.H. event in 2018. He began his bid for a third New England Dragway trophy by qualifying the Maynard Family/Scag Power Equipment in the quick-half of a competitive Top Fuel field. By earning the No. 6 seed, Schumacher drew No. 11 qualifier, Leah Pruett, on race day. During the opening round of eliminations, the eight-time series champ launched off the starting line but his machine started dropping cylinders before he reached halftrack. In the other lane, Pruett made a clean pass for the win, ending Schumacher’s day early.
“I love coming out to this race track. We won here in 2014 and ’15 and had a semifinal finish the last time I was racing here, but this weekend felt promising,” said Schumacher, an 85-time race winner. “Going out early today was really disappointing because we had such a good race car, and qualified in the sixth spot. We just had a bad ignition system first round. You get tired of having to explain why your race day was cut short, but it does happen; things break. But, we’ll step it up. I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The crew is making massive leaps forward with the new parts and pieces we’ve put on the car, and our Maynard Family/Scag Power Equipment dragster is going down the race track, so, we’ll head off to Bristol next which I’m really looking forward to. It’s one of my best race tracks, we’ve had great success there, and we’ll go out there and do our job.”
Schumacher and the Maynard Family/Scag Power Equipment Top Fuel team depart New England Dragway ranked 10th. They will compete next at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., June 17-19, where Schumacher returns as a six-time event winner, the most of any Camping World Series competitor.
Qualified: No. 6 (3.745 E.T. at 307.44 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.980 E.T. at 266.32 MPH defeated by Leah Pruett 3.796 E.T. at 322.11 MPH
NHRA Camping World Series Top Fuel Point Standings (Unofficial):
| 1 | Brittany Force | 668 | |
| 3 | Mike Salinas | 638 | |
| 2 | Steve Torrence | 569 | |
| 4 | Justin Ashley | 561 | |
| 5 | Austin Prock | 425 | |
| 6 | Clay Millican | 396 | |
| 7 | Josh Hart | 381 | |
| 8 | Doug Kalitta | 373 | |
| 9 | Shawn Langdon | 341 | |
| 10 | Tony Schumacher | 329 |
Don Schumacher Racing PR
