Schumacher Racing roars in top fuel too

Powerhouse funny car team controls another division at Bandimere

MORRISON» Don Schumacher Racing has dominated funny car this year, but the team displayed a command of top fuel at Bandimere Speedway.

Antron Brown won his third race of the season at the 38th annual Mopar Mile-High Nationals on Sunday over DSR teammate Leah Pritchett. Three of the four finalists at Bandimere represented Don Schumacher Racing.

“(DSR) teams have always been at the top of the pack,” Brown said. “We have all-star crew chiefs down to crew members. Everyone wants

to work together to beat each other. When you motivate each other to beat each other, you raise (the standard) to a different bar.”

This year, DSR has monopolized funny car competition in a way not seen since John Force Racing dominated before the turn of the century. DSR’s fourcar team in funny car has won 12-of- 14 races. And before Tommy Johnson Jr.’s loss to Robert Hight in Sunday’s final, DSR had 10 consecutive wins.

But the all-DSR final in top fuel was the big story Sunday. Brown defeated Pritchett with a 3.792second elapsed time, highlighted by a 0.047 reaction time, at 319.82 mph.

Brown has now won at Bandimere three times in his career, tying him with Scott Kalitta and Tony Schumacher for third-most all time. He has competed in a Sunday final in five of the last seven races.

“We were patching something up every round,” Brown said. “We’re already at the high elevation. But the thing about it is, when that light comes on on that scoreboard in that final … our game just kept on stepping up, and that’s just a testament to our team.”

Before the final, Pritchett came to Brown and gave him a fist bump — like they do every race weekend. Seeing how amped Pritchett was, Brown said, boosted his energy too. In the final, only 0.024 of a second separated them.

Brown emphasized the importance of DSR staying focused heading to the Sonoma Nationals, July 2830 in California.

“All the other teams have elevated themselves to the same level,” Brown said. “It’s anybody’s race. You’ve got cars out here that could win and set world records and run ETs that’s faster than anyone out here, every weekend.”