Date: July 27, 2012 Event: NHRA Sonoma Nationals (Round 14 of 23) Series: NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Location: Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, Calif. Provisional Pole Winner: Doug Kalitta (3.785 seconds at 321.65 mph) U.S. Army Racing Lineup: Tony Schumacher 3rd (3.792 seconds at 321.19 mph) Antron Brown 4th (3.799 seconds at 322.27 mph) U.S. Army NHRA Racing Top Fuel drivers Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown grabbed the third and fourth starting spots, respectively, during the first day of qualifying for Sunday’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway. Schumacher, who is sporting a special paint scheme on his dragster recognizing Army Medical, pocketed a 3.792-second run at 321.19 mph, while Brown laid down a similar 3.799-second pass at 322.27 mph. “I’m glad we were able to give the Army Medical folks a nice ride today,” Schumacher said. “Hopefully, it will be an even better ride come race day. We’d love to celebrate with them in victory lane.” A finalist last year in Sonoma, Schumacher is looking to cast aside last weekend’s first round loss in Denver which helped drop him to third in the Top Fuel standings. “That one is long forgotten,” Schumacher said. “We’re taking care of what we have to do here in Sonoma. We’re going to be fighting extremely hard to get a trophy this weekend.” After collecting his third win of the season at Bandimere Speedway last Sunday, Brown arrived in Sonoma with dreams of posting his second “Western Swing” sweep in four years. “We needed to qualify well before thinking about anything else,” Brown said. “We’ve now accomplished that mission. I’m sure tomorrow we’ll focus on establishing a good set up for Sunday. I definitely like the direction that we’re heading in.” Holding second in the standings, Brown has closed to within less than a round of racing (11 points) behind his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Spencer Massey. “It is a real dogfight right now,” Brown said. “It actually has been that way all year long and I’m confident it will remain that way the next four months. It is so intense each and every race.” Kalitta Motorsports swiped the top two starting positions heading into final qualifying. Doug Kalitta recorded a 3.785-second trip at 321.65 mph, while his teammate David Grubnic plucked second with a 3.790-second run at 318.02 mph. Rounding out the top-five was Brandon Bernstein. Two more Top Fuel qualifying sessions are scheduled on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. PDT. From: Chris Dirato
