U.S. Army Racing: Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals Final Qualifying Report - Tony Schumacher & Antron Brown

U.S. Army NHRA Racing
47th Annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals Friday Qualifying Report

Date: March 19, 2016
Event: 47th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals (Round 3 of 24)
Series: NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series
Location: Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway
Top Qualifier: Richie Crampton (3.698 seconds at 317.42 mph)
U.S. Army Racing Lineup: Antron Brown 3rd (3.729 seconds at 318.54 mph)
                                       Tony Schumacher 6th (3.754 seconds at 315.12 mph)

The U.S. Army duo of Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher and Antron Brown roll into race three of the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series campaign having qualified sixth and third, respectively for this weekend's 47th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.

Sunday is another historic opportunity for the eight-time Top Fuel world champion Schumacher and his U.S. Army team. "The Sarge" is a four-time Gatornationals champion and will pilot the U.S. Army Dragster of Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) looking to become the only five-time winner of the event. If he can capture his 81st career win, Schumacher will pull ahead of "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, Joe Amato and Larry Dixon in wins of the prestigious event. Schumacher closed qualifying with his best pass of the weekend Saturday evening - a run of 3.754 seconds at 315.12 mph.

"We love having the opportunity to make history," Schumacher said. "It's going to take a big effort from everyone on this U.S. Army team. We've got smart people and they know what they have to do to get us faster. I've always had a lot of success here in Gainesville and we know the car is really good. Our goal is to go out there and win this thing tomorrow. We need to get back up there in the points and to do that we need be big in the big moments. Hopefully, we are part of four of them tomorrow."

Schumacher will face his DSR teammate Shawn Langdon Sunday in the first round.

For the second day in a row, Brown closed qualifying with his best pass of the weekend aboard the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR. After losing traction Saturday afternoon, Brown jumped from sixth to third on the ladder with his run of 3.729 seconds at 318.54 mph. The two-time and reigning Top Fuel champion begins his quest for a second Gatornationals triumph facing Terry McMillen in the opening round.

"We're ready to get after it for sure," Brown said. "I'm so proud of these Matco/U.S. Army boys. It's already been a special weekend with (co-crew chief) Mark (Oswald) being inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame here Thursday night. I'd really like to put an exclamation point on the weekend by getting another Gatornationals win tomorrow. Like I said, we are ready to go. We've got some data from four runs and the plan is just to be as good as we can when we face Terry McMillen."
Elimination rounds begin at 11 a.m. ET Sunday with FS1 providing three hours of live coverage beginning at 1 p.m.

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