By Rick Sheek (rsheek@starhq.com)
BRISTOL — Reigning and five-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher remains the man to beat.
Schumacher, who has led the points since winning the season-opening event, remained top qualifier on Saturday for the eighth-annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.
“The car’s driving fantastic, and the race track’s outstanding,” Schumacher, a two-time winner this year, said. “I think we’ll be good tomorrow. I hope we win, but there are a lot of great cars.
“Let’s face it, this year and even last year, it is just stout. You get up in the morning and you have to beat the No. 16 qualifier to win that race – there are no easy rounds.”
Schumacher’s pass from Friday night held up. He covered the quarter-mile strip in 4.502 seconds at 327.43 mph.
“We’re going to have to battle,” Schumacher said. “You can buy a trophy. It’s about the challenge and what it takes to get that trophy.
“The competition level is so outstanding right now, that it makes every one of those trophies shine. It makes them a pleasure to win, and it makes them difficult to earn.”
It was Schumacher’s second top qualifying spot of the season, in the eighth stop of the 24-event POWERade Drag Racing Series. His third pole at Thunder Valley, Schumacher has 49 in his career.
“We‘ve kept up the momentum,” Schumacher said. “You’ve got to reach and dig deep for that first round, and it makes for a great day.”
Schumacher faces Alan Bradshaw in the first round.
“It is brutal,” Schumacher said. “For a driver, it’s flat exciting.”
Doug Kalitta, the all time Thunder Valley winner with three victories, qualified third.
“I’m real excited to be out here,” Kalitta said. “We’re just happy to be going down the track. The car is running strong. We’ll just see what we can do tomorrow.”
Antron Brown, a two-time winner in his rookie season, ran the fast speed of the weekend at 330.15 mph.
Defending winner Brandon Bernstein, who has won twice here, qualified sixth. The other former winner in the field, Larry Dixon, qualified 10th.
Cory McClenathan, who won the second all-star race here in 2000, is the No. 12 qualifier.
Since only 16 teams showed up, no driver failed to make the field.
The tracks records for elapsed time are held by Schumacher (4.477) and mph by Kalitta (331.53).
Final eliminations began today at noon.
“I think it’s great that you come out to an even race track,” Schumacher said. “Yeah there will be lane choice, but we can go down either lane and we’ve smoked the tires in both lanes.
“We have a great place to race. Hopefully we’ll get some cloud cover tomorrow and just have a great day.”
