Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The NHRA Route 66 Nationals outside of Chicago, Ill.

1 – BROWN EARNS FIRST VICTORY SINCE LAST SEPTEMBER’S U.S. NATIONALS –“Super-part-timer” T.J. Zizzo was the talk of the Top Fuel class for most of the weekend, and he basked in the attention at his hometown race from No. 1-qualifying performances and Sunday’s first round of eliminations, when he defeated multi-motorsport-series ace Tony Stewart. Then Zizzo ran into Canadian upstart Dan Mercier, who had just topped eight-time champion and Chicago native Tony Schumacher to reach his first semifinal. And the attention turned to Mercier until his magic carpet ride came to a halt. In the end, the victory went to a seasoned veteran.

Antron Brown recorded his 75th overall victory, and his 59th in the Top Fuel class (following 16 on a Pro Stock Motorcycle), beating Shawn Langdon in the final round. Brown is just three victories away from tying Larry Dixon for the second-most triumphs in Top Fuel history at 62.

In spoiling Langdon’s bid to go 3-for-3 in final rounds this season, Brown said, “You got to step up when you go against that team.” He did, to break a tie with Tony Schumacher and Pro Stock’s Jeg Coughlin Jr. for the most victories at Route 66 Raceway at Joliet, Ill. It was Brown’s sixth win here, including two in Pro Stock Motorcycle. It marked Brown’s fourth Top Fuel triumph at Route 66 but first since 2016.

Brown’s team was a man down this weekend. Crew member Alex Bullington lost his father this past Thursday, so Brown was inspired to perform well for Mark Bullington and former boss Don Schumacher, who was honored by fans and racers alike Friday at a Celebration of Life gathering behind the grandstands.   

Brown did a little dance for the fans as they gathered around him on the racetrack afterward. “Left to right, left to right … a little wiggle with it,” he described his moves. But what he was best at Sunday was blasting straight down his lane, into the winners circle, and straight toward the record book.       

2 – HAGAN BECOMES FUNNY CAR’S FIRST TWO-TIME WINNER THIS YEAR – Matt Hagan had a few hurdles to jump Sunday before he could claim the Funny Car trophy in a classic final-round battle against John Force. 

Like everyone else, the Tony Stewart Racing driver – who is the four-time and reigning series champion – had to fight a racing surface that he said “threw us loops all day.”  But he also had to endure what he called being “stuck in a bad lane all day” and really maneuver his car in a smart way: “I felt like I had to drive the wheels off of it today.” And he had to strategize against Force, who as the No. 4 qualifier seemed more poised to race in a final round than No. 11 starter Hagan.

But, Hagan said, “We got it done today against the G.O.A.T.,” referring to 156-time winner Force as the Greatest of All Time.

Hagan passed Austin Prock to take the lead in the standings by four points.

3 – SCHUMACHER’S PRESENCE FELT – Don Schumacher was on the minds of the drag-racing family all weekend, and the presence of his spirit shone through in the final rounds of the nitro classes. Former Don Schumacher Racing champions Antron Brown (Top Fuel) and Matt Hagan (Funny Car) reminisced about their quasi-DSR double-up. Brown has owned his own team for three years, and Hagan drives for Tony Stewart Racing.  But that bond continues. And the stories about their days at DSR have become lore.

Hagan looked back at the “tough love” he said Schumacher employed in confronting him. And Hagan said he was contemplating quitting because, in his words, “Dude, I ain’t never had anybody talk to me that way.” However, he said he soon understood that “that’s the way Don motivated you” and that “it drove me to be the person I am today.”

He laughed when remembering Schumacher’s trademark attire he wore on race days and said, “When you saw that red shirt, you thought, ‘Oh, I hope he’s not coming over to my pit.” However, he credited Schumacher for the championships he won and the 51st victory he earned Sunday.

“This one’s for Don Schumacher,” Hagan said. “He saw something in me. I don’t know what it was, but he gave me a start.”

Brown said the double-up with former colleague Hagan made the moment seem “like old times. It brings a tear to my eye.” He said Schumacher “was more than just a boss and a friend. He was like family to me.”

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5 – HERRERA ROLLS TO ANOTHER BIKE VICTORY – Pro Stock Motorcycle winner Gaige Herrera passed the late, great Dave Schultz in recording his eighth straight victory. The winner of Saturday’s Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge outran Chase Van Sant to pull off the perfect weekend for his Vance & Hines team.

Schultz had seven consecutive victories at Atlanta Dragway from 1990-96.      

Herrera’s tuner, Andrew Hines, said, “We’ve got a machine behind him” and said the employees at the Brownsburg, Ind., shop “put in the hours to make sure the finesse is there. And Gaige is an animal. He’s wanting to prove his worth.”  

It was mission accomplished for the Mission Foods Suzuki racer.

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9 – WYATT THINKING OF CREATIVE WAYS TO STAY IN GAME – Working with “green” mechanics can have its comical moments. Longtime Funny Car driver Jack Wyatt has some stories, for sure. He has instructed eager young fellows who had never been to a drag race.

One of them asked him, “How do you know when you win?” And the conversation went something like this:

Wyatt: “There’s a light on top of the scoreboard.”

Novice: “Really?”

Wyatt: “Yeah.”

Wyatt was going rounds at Gainesville, Fla., and he advanced to the finals. And his trainee, who had been assigned to handle the bottom end, had another burning question.

Novice: “How do I know when we win?” 

Wyatt: “When I stop telling you to get underneath the car to do the bottom end.”

Novice: “OK.”

Why does Wyatt do what he does? He said he enjoys “just starting a lot of guys and seeing that you give back something to the sport; hopefully keep it going.” 

But Jack Wyatt still is a racer at heart, has earned money racing since he was 14 years old. The trouble is the financial landscape has changed dramatically, and he has joined the ranks of fellow Funny Car team owner-drivers Gary Densham and Dale Creasy who have faced the reality that touring the country with a competitive nitro Funny Car is just not economically sustainable. Wyatt said, “It’s really tough anymore. It is. It’s impossible what I’m trying to do.

“There’s no more match races for me anymore. And nothing against ’em; God bless ’em – the Funny Car Chaos [series] killed that thing. They can bring a whole show in for what it cost me and another Funny Car to [match race]. Chris [Graves] has done a great job with Funny Car Chaos, but I’ve been running a nostalgia funny car all my life. I don’t need to go do it anymore. I don’t need the experience. I have people really trying to get me to do it,” Wyatt said. “But I have no desire to go do that. It wouldn’t even pay enough if you won the thing. It wouldn’t pay enough to even get the thing out of the driveway – diesel fuel and what you need. If you were going to build one thing, the best thing to do is build a nostalgia alcohol car and run like that. But I’m not going to do all that.”

The Seymour, Iowa, native said, “I talked about even buying a sprint car and then putting somebody in it, because I’m only 40 miles from Knoxville (Iowa, the heart of the sprint car world). I could run a sprint car three nights a week during the summertime and hardly get away from home. They make money. And then if you get some young kid whose dad wants to see him do well, he’d bankroll it.”

Wyatt has had friends offer to build his engines and provide a race car if he’d drive. “I said, ‘I don’t have any desire. You need to put somebody small and young in there, someone who really gets after it.’ I never did it.” 

Fans in his part of the Midwest are keen on dirt-car racing. They got Modifieds and sprint cars running there all the time, and tractor pulls. But what Wyatt would do in a perfect world is keep racing.

“I’ll keep going if I can find the funding. I like running my own deal, but it’s just the realism is coming around that it’s physically impossible,” he said. “And after all, this is my 54th consecutive year drag racing. I started driving funny cars in [19]76, and I’ve been driving Funny Cars ever since. I started with a ’48 Anglia when I was 14 years old, and I had my first Alcohol Funny Car license when I was 19.”

This weekend Wyatt got some funding. His buddy, Super Stock racer Larry Hodge, a five-time winner at Route 66 Raceway, invited him to enter the event and represent the Trackside Veteran Salute Foundation.

Wyatt qualified in the 16th and final position on the Funny Car grid Saturday, destined for a first-round match-up against Austin Prock. But his car wouldn’t fire Sunday morning and his only ride was his crew backing up the car from the left lane and giving Prock a solo pass into the quarterfinal round.

10 – YES, THEY SAID IT –

“He’s a mad scientist.” – Funny Car racer Matt Hagan, of crew chief Dickie Venables 

“I ain’t smart enough to think like that. Hagan’s a good driver. He’s The Hulk. We all love him.” – John Force, asked what he might have up his sleeve for Matt Hagan in the Funny Car final 

“People went to work and got some stuff better. If they had done that awhile ago, we wouldn’t have had to work so hard ourselves.” – Andrew Hines, responding to apparent behind-the-scenes criticism  

“It’s my first final round. I’m racing against myself.” – Pro Stock Motorcycle runner-up Chase Van Sant

“The weekend started off a little rough, but we are racing on Sunday! This is the best I’ve ever done at a national event, and I can’t wait to see what happens the rest of the event.” – Super Comp competitor Autumn Hight, 20-year-old daughter of Robert Hight and Adria Hight and granddaughter of John Force. She made it to the fourth round of action before exiting

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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK – PRESSURE-WASHING DECK YIELDS THRILLING NEWS FOR SUPER-PART-TIMER ZIZZO, ANDERSON WINS PRO STOCK CALL-OUT, CHICAGO-AREA RACERS HAVE BUSY WEEKEND
 
1. ZIZZO EPIPHANY PLAYS OUT IN ‘WEIRD WEEKEND’ – Epiphanies are curious phenomena.

And in T.J. Zizzo’s case, it was a true harbinger of things to come at the NHRA’s Gerber Glass and Collision Nationals at Route 66 Raceway at Joliet, Ill.

Top Fuel’s self-described “super-part-timer” from the Chicago suburb of Lincolnshire, said Saturday afternoon after scoring his career-first No. 1 starting position, “I had an epiphany while I was power-washing my deck: ‘T.J., stop thinking about not qualifying at this event and start thinking about being No. 1 qualifier at this event.’ I told our entire team that last week and I told my dad that. I said, ‘Here is the deal, guys: We have the equipment, the people, the know-how to be No. 1 qualifier – and that is what we are going to do.’ That is a dream come true.”    

It was one of several surprising plot twists in the Top Fuel category Saturday.

Two-time class champion Brittany Force saw her 187-race qualifying streak end, missing the 16-car field for the first time since the final race of 2014, at Pomona, Calif.

Qualifying last after sweating out Doug Foley’s pass that could have bumped him to the sidelines with Force, Tony Stewart squeaked into Sunday’s eliminations and will meet Zizzo in the first round. He expressed empathy for Force, while Zizzo dismissed the buzz about multi-series champion Stewart’s presence in drag racing.

Force, carrying the livery of first-time sponsor PEAK in its corporate hometown, was stoic following her disappointment.

“This is a tough position to be in right now. We were under this tight, high-pressure situation. There’s so much on the line. We’re out here with PEAK. We want to represent them well,” she said. “And this whole team, we’ve pulled together. We had no doubt that we were going to get our car down there, even if it came to the last run. We had every belief that we would get down there [to the finish line and qualify], and we didn’t.

“So we have to pack up. And you know, the great thing about this team is that we will come together,” Force said. “I believe in these tough times, it’s preparing us for something bigger.”

Her father and team owner John Force, who took the No. 4 starting slot in Funny Car on Saturday, said, “Everybody’s got the same racetrack in the heat. We’ve just got to adapt to that. The pain for me – worse than a crash – is to see my daughter not qualify. That hurts. But she’s a fighter. I’m a fighter. It’s still tough. But that’s what life’s all about. The tough get up after being punched, and we sure as hell will get up. We’ll go test and get that thing [her dragster and the game plan] back together.” He expressed continued faith in Brittany Force’s crew chief, Dave Grubnic.    

Stewart sweated out the final Top Fuel qualifying passes and said, “Legitimately, all day I was just worried, ‘Are we racing tomorrow?’ It’s not what this Dodge Direct Connection Top Fuel team is used to, by any means. It’s kind of a weird weekend. You feel bad for Britany and their team. You know they’re a top-caliber team.”

Meanwhile, Zizzo initially said after learning he would remain the No. 1 qualifier, “Normally, I’m very chatty, but I’m speechless.” However, he had some intriguing things to say when he got in front of the media on hand.

After calling the result “fantastic” and saying, “This has been a great weekend so far,” Zizzo said, “I’m not fully surprised” that he recorded the best starting position in his NHRA career because “we’ve been doing this a long time.”

The assignment of facing Stewart in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations didn’t seem to faze Zizzo. He slightly scolded the media for trumpeting that news of Stewart’s arrival in drag racing was going to be “the biggest story in NHRA history.”    

Zizzo said, “Happy to be in the show. Happy to race Tony Stewart. Tony Stewart is a great guy. He’s great for the sport. He’s great for motorsports. But it wasn’t that big a deal.”

He said he feels like he’s in a strong spot for runoffs: “Much better than Brittany Force. I’ve been there, too.

“We have had so many memorable moments in Chicago. We want to make some new memories this year,” Zizzo said. “Last year we almost made it to the final. We ran great in the first two rounds and then smoked the tires against Josh Hart in the semis. You look at the competition now, and it will be a fun weekend. I think you could see the quickest Top Fuel field in history if the weather cooperates, so we will need to be prepared. We have a lot of work ahead of us.” 

2. ANDERSON SHINES IN CALL-OUT – Once again, KB Titan Racing took the spoils from its showdown with Elite Motorsports.  

Greg Anderson, Pro Stock’s all-time victories leader at 105, added to his trophies and his pocketbook with a triumph in Saturday’s second annual GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Call-Out. He defeated KB Titan Racing colleague Matt Hartford in the final round after knocking off two Elite Motorsports rivals, top seed Erica Enders, then Troy Coughlin Jr., for the $40,000 winners share of the purse.     

Anderson failed to qualify for last season’s inaugural edition of the bonus race, but saw teammate Camrie Caruso win. So he was especially elated to be part of GETTRX’s first involvement, too.

To no one’s surprise, Enders chose Anderson as her opening-round opponent at Friday’s call-out show – and he was perfectly fine with that. He said he would have selected her if he had had the first pick. It turned out to live up to the hype, though Enders shook the tires as Anderson streaked away with a 6.566-second, 208.46-mph winning run.  

“Some first rounds are like final rounds,” he said, “and that one was.”

He added he was glad to take on his chief competitor while it was early in the day and he was still awake and had the energy to compete at his top level. “I wanted to start and work my way down and whoever was the baddest dog, I said I was going to pick them, and you’re damn right I did. This is awesome. We made three fantastic runs today, and that’s what it took,” Anderson said.    

“A lot of teams struggled because the starting line was tricky, but my car is in a happy spot right now, and we got down through there. That breeds confidence. Nine out of 10 races are won on the starting line, and we get it done because I’ve got a hell of a horse under me,” he said.

“Right now, things are great at KB Titan. We’re not backing into wins. We’ve flat out raced the competition and we’re earning them. But wins like this just make us want to work even harder.”   

Enders took the No. 1 qualifying position, as did Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) and Austin Prock (Funny Car).

4. SCHRIEFER STEPS UP PROGRAM – Justin Schriefer, one of three Chicago-area Funny Car drivers competing here this weekend (Dale Creasy Jr., of Beecher, Ill., did not enter this race), has acquired the help of some seasoned mechanics. Rip Reynolds and Terry Snyder, who both worked for the once-mighty organization of Chicago native Don Schumacher, have joined Schriefer. And Mike Kern, long-time tuner for Top Fuel top qualifier T.J. Zizzo, has helped with some of the extensive upgrades to the 2014 Dodge Charger.  

Reynolds, who worked on the DSR cars of Tommy Johnson Jr. and Cruz Pedregon before retiring, has come back to the racetrack for Schriefer’s limited appearances. Snyder is an experienced clutch specialist. “So I have two good Schumacher guys helping, plus I have the best crew guys ever. We all get along great here, and we’re having a really good time,” Schriefer said.   

“I got, counting me, 15 guys for the crew. We take more to turn a car around, but every single guy I got is hard-working and sharp. It takes us a little longer. Everything’s got an assistant that helps; bottom end and clutch and all that,” he said. “So I’m really honored that Terry Snyder took off work to come and do clutch for us, and I’m real thankful for Rip Reynolds. He’s always been a guy I could call anytime when he was working on the Make-A-Wish car or Cruz Pedregon’s. So all these years I could call Rip, and he always assisted me in anything far as knowledge or anything I needed.” 

As soon as Schriefer heard Reynolds had retired, he immediately called him and asked if he would be willing to help at two or three races. Reynolds eagerly said yes. Schriefer said, “It’s been a blessing. He’s helping get the car really turned around. And I have to thank Mike Kern. He did all the plumbing. My guys all assisted on it, but we’ve re-plumbed the whole car. Mike was a big help this winter. He’s low key, but he’s really smart. Rip couldn’t get away that much. So in Mike Kern, I had the opportunity to have him come and plumb the car. I wouldn’t want anybody else but Mike Kern or Rip doing the plumbing. 

“So we’re looking for big things,” Schriefer said. “We’re pretty much set up now, like the big cars now.” He said, “We had good stuff before,” but he wanted to update a few items in the management box, as well as the fuel system. “It’s going to make it easier. So we’re looking for big things.”

NHRA’s late addition of a fourth qualifying session was a big help, he said: “We need practice. We need testing.”

Sponsor West Side Tractor is providing Schriefer his first hospitality experience this weekend, and Schriefer also is getting financial help from HPO, engineering firm MG2A, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, and his own Renzo Excavating, which covers about 90 percent of his racing expenses. He and his three brothers own Sollitt Tap, a family-friendly pub at Beecher, Ill., and he carries its logo on his Charger, too.

But Schriefer’s biggest inspiration is his late daughter Erika.

“I’m still running that sticker right there in the car with the angel wings,” he said, nodding to the commemorative sticker for the 24-year-old Erika Schriefer, who was killed in a snowboarding accident in 2010 in Colorado. “We’re going to bring home a Wally for my daughter Erika. I lost her years ago. I know she’s always in my heart. And she was my best friend.” He took a picture of Erika from his pocket and looked lovingly at it. “She’s a beautiful girl. I always carry my baby with me. I deeply miss her.”    

He and wife Rebecca have a five-year-old daughter, Ella. “Sometimes feel like Ella is like [Erika]. There’s so many resemblances between the two, things that they do and how their personalities are. It makes me cry sometimes,” he said.

With that, he took one more glance at his picture of Erika, gave it a gentle kiss, returned it to his pocket and said, “So, yeah, she’s my baby. I never put her away without kissing her. We’re going to bring a Wally home for her.”

6. BOBBY BODE EVOLVING – Eleven days ago, May 7, Bobby Bode, the 22-year-old Deer Park, Ill., Funny Car racer, graduated with a degree in business administration from Arizona State University. He flew home from Tempe last Sunday, loaded the race car into the hauler Monday, and drove to Joliet – back to the dragstrip where in 2010 he claimed his first victory – in his first race. That day he threw his arms around his father, Funny Car driver Bob Bode, and assured his dad, “You’ll win a race, too, one day.” Later that summer, Dad claimed his first and only Wally statue at Brainerd, Minn.

“People think Brainerd is my home race. I get that all the time,” Bob Bode said.

But Chicago is his home, the family home, headquarters since 1956 of their Ar-Bee Plastic Bags business, where Bob Bode’s late father established the company, Bob runs operations today, and Bobby soon will start on the factory floor, “overseeing all the machines to make sure that everyone is running them as fast and as efficient as they can,” all while focusing on the “six different jobs I’m going to be doing.” (Incidentally, all three were/are “Robert Bode,” which can make incoming phone calls a bit challenging at times.) The 9-to-5 business is all about producing transparent bags , and once fulfilled an order for a Chicago-based fast-food giant that needed seven million see-through bags in a single order. But it’s the spot where Bobby Bode’s racing career began in the family garage at age eight with his Jr. Dragster.

“His legs were so short I had to lift him in the car,” the elder Bode said, reminiscing about the time that all he practiced were putting on his new little firesuit and going through the actual acts of getting in and out of the cockpit before learning how to fire up the car. “He couldn’t wait to go use it,” Bob Bode said. “And he’s wanted to be a Funny Car driver since that day.

“I made that [Christmas] tree so he knew how to do all this different stuff and get in the car,” Bob Bode said. Then to his son, he asked, “Do you remember when I set up a set of beams and I’d roll you into the beams?”

Bobby Bode smiled that trademark grin and said, “Oh, yeah! You had a light or something.”

Explained his dad, “So he’d know where to go.” He noticed that many Jr. Dragster drivers would “go up and they’d drive right through the beams. They didn’t realize they had to stop.” But thanks to his father’s prep work, Bobby Bode knew what to do to stage his car. “He knew how to stage, his mentor said. “He knew what to do with all the other kids. At eight years old, they were told, but until you do it repetitiously, they didn’t get it, but he got it. So he would do everything right. And that got us to the winner circle.”

Fast forward and Bob Bode said this weekend, “He’s 22. He tells me what to do half the time: ‘Dad, go do this, get this done. We need this.’ So he’s a good little racer. He turned out good after all the hard years we put him through, and he was kind of stuck. What else was he going to learn? That’s all we do. He had to stand out here every weekend, 10 times a year. He learned pretty quick. He was going to be a drag racer.

“And it worked out well,” he said. “I was an older dad. We had Bobby when I was 50. So, by the time he got to be 18, it was time for me to move on. If I would’ve had him at 30, I wouldn’t have wanted to give up my seat.”

Bobby Bode says he’s getting comfortable in the seat and with tuning the car. What’s more, he said, “I’m passionate, and I don’t really care what people think about me.” And he’s pretty firm in his convictions about what to do to make the car go fast. Sometimes that causes friction, but both father and son have figured out a way to compromise.

Bob Bode said, “Well, that’s why I back up. Because if I tell him what I think and it goes wrong, then he’s mad at me. If I let him do what he wants and it goes wrong, I just smile.” He said if his son blows up the car, he’d be like a college student again, but one with a pile of student loans. “We don’t keep track [of who pays for what, especially any damage from the mistakes], but I’d rather have it be his call and go wrong than me.”

Now that Bobby Bode has the leeway to make his own decision, what makes him so sure that he’s right on these calls?

“When we bought this car from Tim [Wilkerson] in 2018, he’s been mentoring me since we got it. What’s that, six years ago now? So I have six years of experience just looking at all the data. So I don’t know everything, but I can look at some, most, things and be like, ‘Oh, that’s wrong. Or it needs adjusting.’”

He said he hasn’t been afraid to go out of his comfort zone to test theories, including ones Wilkerson didn’t teach him.

“The first couple years learning, I kind of got away from what he had the car at,” he said. “He would tell me what to do. I’d tune it up a little bit or change some things. And then one day he came over and he called me Dr. Jekyll, because I turned all the knobs super far out and everything. And he said, ‘Man, you have this thing on steroids.’ He always calls me Dr. Jekyll, and he calls himself Dr. Wilkerson.

“My thought process, I was 16 or 17 … That’s when it really started. We kept running 3.99 and 3.98s over and over and over. I wanted to run faster, so I started changing stuff and looking back now, some of the stuff I did, it was good. Some of the stuff was really bad. And now that I’m older, I’m kind of glad I tried it. Now I know what will help us. We kind of brought it back to what it was before I started changing everything. So now I’m applying all the stuff I learned when I was testing all my stuff.

“Most of the best runs out here are by accident,” he said. “And you find something after it happens that you didn’t need to happen. You put something wrong in the car or something, and it liked it better. That’s how most of the runs out here that are record setting happened. So when we ran 3.89 a couple years ago, we thought we were the smartest people ever. And then we found out last year actually why that happened, and we just got lucky. Something that was different on the car that wasn’t there before. And so it’s just funny how all that stuff works out.”

Whatever he did, it worked this weekend. Bobby Bode will start eliminations Sunday from the No. 14 spot, squaring off against No. 3 Paul Lee.

Then he’ll join the world of working stiffs.

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK – TEN COMPELLING STORYLINES FROM DAY ONE AT THE NHRA ROUTE 66 NATIONALS

1. SALUTE TO CHICAGO’S FAVORITE SON – Chicago native Don Schumacher rekindled his drag-racing involvement in 1998, because son Tony wanted to step up to a Top Fuel dragster and Dad wanted to ensure he competed in safe equipment.

But that passion snowballed into an empire that fielded the most race cars for a single team, claimed 19 championships, and featured some of the biggest names in the sport. Don Schumacher Racing elevated Tony Schumacher to his status as the Top Fuel’s all-time leader in victories (86) and series championships (eight).

Don Schumacher called them his “cast of characters,” but he, too, was a leading character on NHRA’s premier stage. And five months after his final act played out, before qualifying began for the Gerber Collision and Glass Route 66 Nationals on Friday at Joliet, Ill., came an emotional curtain call. Drivers, team owners, and associates gathered at the Schumacher Family Tent next to the Nitro Mall for a Celebration of Life ceremony to remember the 2019 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee.

In his opening remarks at the Celebration of Life, NHRA on FOX lead announcer Brian Lohnes remembered Don Schumacher as a man who expected excellence, had a large vision for the potential of the sport on both micro and macro levels, and provided the platforms to raise unprecedented amounts of money for M.D. Anderson Hospital, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Infinite Hero Foundation for struggling military veterans. Schumacher built and filled with trophies a 120,000-square-foot headquarters that housed as many as seven teams and expanded to include a thriving machine shop that served the automotive, aviation and fishing industries.  

But Lohnes said, “The measure of Don Schumacher goes far beyond the physical things he created.” He described Schumacher as having a “locomotive-like” approach and a nearly incessant work ethic to find the right mix of people to carry it all out. His legacy includes safety innovations such as the Top Fuel cockpit canopy and the Funny Car roof escape hatch.

All that was in addition to his accomplishments outside of racing.

Don Schumacher built Schumacher Electric, the family’s battery company that his Chicago bookmaker father inherited as gambling-debt payoff, into a global enterprise with hundreds of employees from Mexico to China. Few might know that he also once owned a jewelry store in Los Angeles and was a partner in an emu-raising venture.

What drag-racing fans now most about him was that his teams won 367 events … that he advanced safety measures for drivers that included the cockpit canopy for Top Fuel dragsters and the roof escape hatch for Funny Cars … and that his stable of drivers included Whit Bazemore, Jack Beckman, Antron Brown, Ron Capps, Matt Hagan, Leah Pruett, Angelle Sampey, Gary Scelzi, and Melanie Troxel, and briefly Jeg Coughlin, Richie Stevens, and the late Shawn Carlson.

Racers for Christ chaplain Eddie Baugher led attendees in a moment of silence, after which Tony Schumacher unveiled the throwback livery he’ll be sporting on his JCM Racing dragster this weekend. It pays tribute to the 1970 Plymouth Funny Car which carried his father to the U.S. Nationals winners circle that year.

Top Fuel driver T.J. Zizzo, a Lincolnshire, Ill., “neighbor” of Schumacher, took the loss harder than some.

He said, “Don Schumacher is one of the major reasons Zizzo Racing is still getting to do what we love at the highest level. He was a great friend and mentor. His impact on racing and the Chicago business community was massive. I think about him every day. And every time I go into the shop, I am thankful for every opportunity, every conversation, and the words of encouragement he gave me and our team. He was one of the iconic figures in our sport, and this weekend will be a celebration of his generosity and impact.”

Another Chicago-area racer, Funny Car’s Justin Schriefer, of Grant Park, Ill., is a self-described underdog. He said Don Schumacher and his organization always treated him with respect.

“I bought a lot of stuff from Don Schumacher and Don Schumacher Racing. I bought a lot of used cars and bodies. Over the years, he was just a great help, a great inspiration to me for everything that he’s done for this sport. He’s definitely a legend in my book. He’s going to be missed. And everybody from Schumacher Racing, I could go there and get parts and they all welcome you, the underdog guys. They talk to you and respect you, and so it’s always been a great feeling.”

Following his first qualifying pass of the weekend, Tony Schumacher said, “I got my dad’s [likeness] painted on my helmet. He’s just done so much for the sport. Apparently he touched a lot of hearts, and there’s probably 15 drivers, maybe more, that got their start [from him]. Some of ’em own teams,” he said, referring to Top Fuel’s Antron Brown and Funny Car’s Ron Capps. “It’s just a blessing to be part of something so cool, to be able to pay tribute to a man that did so much for my family, for [sisters] Megan, Tara, Sam [Samantha], just all of us and all people that love me. A lot of people are here from our neighborhood. We have a lot of people here from Schumacher Electric. It’s just awesome to be able to represent him.”

The Schumacher legacy lives on with Tony Schumacher, who for many years was a resident of the westside Chicago suburb of Long Grove, Ill. But it will be a long time before drag racing – or maybe all of motorsports – sees the rise of another Don Schumacher.  To borrow from the late, great motorsports writer George Moore of The Indianapolis Star and his tribute to USAC tech boss Frankie Del Roy … In motorsports parlance, they made only one. And December 20, 2023, they closed up the shop.

2. WHO CALLED OUT WHOM? – The second Pro Stock All-Star Call-Out – and first one that GETTRX will sponsor – is set for Saturday. Just as with last May’s inaugural, it will feature four KB Titan Racing drivers and four Elite Motorsports entrants.

Referring to the top two seeds, Erica Enders and Greg Anderson, No. 6 qualifier Matt Hartford said nine days before Friday afternoon’s Call-Out confrontation, “Here’s what I see: I don’t see Erica picking an Elite car, and I don’t see Greg picking a KB car. I think first round you’re going to see kind of the dividing line right down the middle.”

Aaron Stanfield, last year’s runner-up to Camrie Caruso and this year’s No. 5 starter, said, “I think in a situation like this, you just let it fly. You just leave, put all the cards out on the table, and do your best. And I second Matt: it’s going to be a lot of KB versus Elite. I think you could definitely expect that. I’m looking forward to it. I love this stuff.”

They were right. Enders, alluding to the “talking crap” that highlights these bonus races, chose nemesis Anderson as her Round 1 opponent. He said he’s looking forward to “locking horns” when the specialty race kicks off Saturday.

Third-seeded Dallas Glenn picked Troy Coughlin Jr. to race. Stanfield, who said he hadn’t expected to be in a position to select his first-round foe, wanted to race Matt Hartford. Then Hartford informed Stanfield that he hadn’t forgotten that “you cost me No. 2 in the points last year. You’re going down.” Continuing to camp up the process, he reminded Stanfield that he has performed well at “hot and miserable tracks” – which Route 66 Raceway is looking like it will be during eliminations.

Completing the Elite-KB Titan split, Cristian Cuadra of Elite and Deric Kramer, a KB Titan associate, form the final pairing.

Enders set a chippy tone during a May 8 Zoom press conference, saying, “There’s definitely a whole lot of s— going on behind the scenes. And if you don’t think some of that will play into it, I think you’re very wrong.” She didn’t elaborate, except to say, “It’s the same stuff that’s been going on. So it is what it is, and we just put our heads down, go to work, and it’s a dog fight. It always is and it always will be.”

The tension among certain competitors, Enders said, “I think it does” make for a better show. “I mean, negative media always wins, right? People love to talk, and it’s interesting, I guess. So I think it puts a little more pressure on it, and that’s something that I love. So it’s definitely going be exciting. People want to see it [drama], and then when it happens, then they want to talk crap about it. So it’s kind of a double-edged sword, and it is what it is. It’s part of this life that we all on this call are blessed to get to live. But it’s definitely a double-edged sword, that’s for sure.”

Enders didn’t offer an early hint about her choice. And No. 2 Anderson said, “If I’ve got a pick available, I would try and pick whoever I think is the strongest dog on the grounds that weekend. And it seems to change weekend by weekend who’s got the strongest horse. But I’d probably pick the strongest dog right off the bat. We are not worried about round wins. We’re not worried about points. We’re not worried about round money. We’re worried about that $40K for the win. So it’s all or nothing. So you might as well get the toughest out of the way first. And on top of that, I’m old. I get tired late in the day, so might as well give it my best shot when I’m still awake.”

He said he was happy that Enders chose him straightaway.

Anderson, the current points leader, lamented that he “didn’t get to be a part of the Call-Out last year. I had to sit on the sidelines and watch. Camrie Caruso made her way to the final round and took home the big cash. So it was tough to sit on the sidelines and watch. So glad to be back. Glad I’m involved this year.”

He said, “We love racing, period. We’d love to race every single day. Qualifying is fun, but man, it’s all about the race. It’s all about beating the dude in the other lane. We’re in this for the competition. Let’s face it, guys, this is a pretty crazy class, and it’s probably the hardest one to win in. People ask you every day, ‘Why the hell do you run this class?’ And that’s the answer: Because of the competition. It’s got what I think is the greatest competition, and that absolutely makes you feel the best at the end of the day when you conquer it. The bar is so high. It is just so impressive. It’s so cool to be a part of. It’s all about racing, all about racing.”

3. REWRITING THE SCRIPT – A new Pro Stock Camaro, new rules, new challenges … that’s the story so far for Matt Hartford’s 2024 season. But he’s working to rewrite the narrative.

This time last season, he was in second place, with two final-round appearances (and, incidentally, four victories over Stanfield) and no first-round losses. Today he’s in 14th place, with DNQs at the past two races (both four-wide events, at Las Vegas and Charlotte). So he’s eager for a fresh and positive chapter at Route 66 Raceway.

“There’s no doubt we brought a new car out. So we got to start with a brand-new manifold program and a brand-new car at the beginning of the year, and we struggled. We haven’t got a handle on it, and this [GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Call-Out] is my sponsor’s race,” he said.

“So the whole point of going testing last weekend [at the new Flying H Drag Strip in Odessa, Mo.] was to drag the old car out [that has] won a lot of rounds, that won Indy last year. And it’s been pretty dominant in some trying conditions. So we decided we were going to bring our old car back. But we got a new car – and like Greg, where he had [Dave] Connolly in his car last week – we still need to get the new tubing perfected. The best way to do that is run it in conditions that we’re all at, because we can go test and think we’re OK, but until you line up against Greg or Erica or Aaron [Stanfield] or whoever, you don’t know where you stand. So what better way than to find out how that new car is [than] to put it in the same conditions?”

So Hartford’s friend and respected Mountain Motor Pro Stock regular John DeFlorian will shake down Hartford’s new ride. Hartford said, “He is a great Mountain Motor Pro Stock racer, hasn’t let the clutch out in a 500-inch car yet, so we’ll see how that one-two shift works for him. But we’re going to have both cars there, and if they both perform well, we’ll jump right back into the new car moving into Epping [the next race on the tour]. But for right now, I needed to bring out the car that is tried and true and go try to win this race for my sponsor.”

Hartford said he and his GETTRX / Total Seal Piston Rings team aren’t letting the twists and trials psych them out. “We win as a team. We lose as a team. There’s not been one ounce of negativity that we’ve had internally within our team. Our sponsors have been awesome with us. Our engine supplier has been great with us. Yeah, we’ve had some struggles this year. I think probably most people in their careers have had some struggles. And we went down a path the last few weeks that we look back and say, ‘We made a mistake.’ We can stand up and say we’re the first to admit we screwed up. And how do you get back from there? Well, you have a lot of bread crumbs, and you go back and you pick up those bread crumbs. You get back to where you were, and we’re back on what I would consider solid ground.

“We ran both cars last weekend [during testing], made 10 runs. I got asked when we got to the track, ‘Are we allowed to post anything on social media?’ I said, ‘Post anything you want. Post a scoreboard. I don’t care.’ We’re not trying to act like we’re trying to keep stuff hidden. We’re just being transparent. We’ve struggled, but we think we found our way back. And I think if anybody can look at Erica’s [Enders’] journey last year, no one would say her season started off great, but where did she end? She ended up No. 1. We had some really high points and low points, and we ended up third. Had we won in the finals – thanks, Aaron, I appreciate that,” he said, referring to Aaron Stanfield defeating him at the NHRA Finals in the last Pro Stock run of the 2023 season, “we would’ve been second, but still not No. 1. But this year we’re a championship contender. And if anybody’s ruled us out, well, so be it. Like Aaron said, come get some, but we’re bringing out a car that’s won a lot of rounds last year, won three races last year, and we’re confident. We’re coming into this race going, ‘We made a lot of mistakes. I think we’re back to where we belong and let’s start our season and let’s get moving.’ We got to move forward.”

4. ENDERS APPROACHING MILESTONE – Erica Enders is approaching her 500th elimination round-win. She already has recorded an 11-4 record this season, and she needs just 18 more round-wins – easily doable with 14 more events after this one on the 2024 schedule and her one-victory-in-two-finals performance so far.

“Really? I did not know that,” she said when told about her statistics.

That puts her in a pretty elite group (no pun intended for the Elite Motorsports headliner and six-time champion). She downplayed it.

“I think it just means I’m getting old and I’ve been racing for a really long time,” she said. “But as the eight-year-old and a Jr. Dragster [driver]  … obviously a dream, and all of us have worked our tail off to get to this point. And at some point in another in our life, this was the direction that we chose, and I love it. But I feel like we just talked about 400 at Phoenix not too long ago. I guess it might’ve been a couple of years now, but time certainly flies [in regards to] all the really cool numbers on the horizon.” She said reaching that plateau “would definitely be cool.”

If history stays true to form, this weekend could be an excellent one for her. This facility certainly has a sentimental tug on her heart. It’s where she claimed her first Pro Stock victory after struggling through the first few years of her career to find the right fit with a well-funded and focused team.

That day at Joliet – and she remembers it well: July 1st, 2012 – she said “was definitely probably one of the better days of my life. We had Greg [Anderson] in the other lane [in the final round, and we were able to secure our first Pro Stock victory. It took seven years and seven final rounds of racing to make that happen. So that’s some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that people fail to remember; the journey that it took to get there.

“And ever since then we’ve had quite a bit of success, but not really until I joined Elite Motorsports at the end of 2013 and came out swinging with them in ’14. I had only won six races prior to coming here [to Elite], and now we’re on the heels of 50 and six world championships.” (Enders has 48 trophies, sixth-best in a class that has boasted Greg Anderson, Warren Johnson, Bob Glidden, her Elite teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr., and Jason Line.)

“So we’ve packed a lot of success into the last 10 or 11 years, and it’s something that we’re really proud of,” Enders said. “But it would be definitely awesome. I always like those storybook weekends. We had our first one in Chicago. It would be really meaningful to obviously get our 50th there, as well. So tall order, obviously a lot of fun racing coming up, but we’re going to work.”

She’s the top seed for Saturday’s GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Call-Out, and she’s second in the class standings.

5. CARRYING ON – At the previous race, the four-wides at Charlotte, Fernando Cuadra Sr. announced he was retiring from his business and racing careers and turning both over to sons Fernando Sr., Cristian, and David. So Cristian Cuadra has had a lot on his plate recently, balancing the leather-goods company in their native Leon, Guanajuato, in Mexico with his goals of earning that elusive first Pro Stock victory. This weekend at Route 66 Raceway, he has the chance to take home two trophies, with the event eliminations Sunday and the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Call-Out on Saturday. And he said he’s up for the challenge.

“I’m really excited to be part of this,” he said of his second appearance in the Call-Out. It’s been a little bit hard for me, because I’m working a lot at the company. So when I come to the races, I’m still thinking on the business, so it gets me a little bit distracted. But I’ve been practicing a lot in my house, so I think I’m going to be ready for this weekend. I’m really excited to be racing on Saturday also. So I’m going to be ready.”

6. TAKING IT IN STRIDE – It officially has been a year since Deric Kramer won a Pro Stock race, but he isn’t fretting about it. The Sterling, Colo., racer is on the verge of posting his 100th round-win (he has 99), but whatever his performance level is at any given time, he’s enjoying the process, he said.

“When we come out to the races, we come out for a good time. This is not my day job. My day job is a software developer,” he said. “So when I go to the racetrack, I’ve developed relationships with my crew and with the people that work for me, and they become as close as family – and some of ’em actually are. That’s one of those things that we do at the racetrack. We are a big family, and the ability to lean on ’em and keep running and running well is something we’re going to grow together with. That’s all we can ask for, and that’s what we try to do every weekend in and out.”

Kramer’s most recent victory was at the spring Charlotte event last season.

7. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER – Cody Krohn is listed as six feet tall and weighing 125 pounds, which makes him look more like the wing strut than the driver of Todd Paton’s Top Fuel dragster. But he says he’s “beefy thankful for everyone who has helped me get this far and we are eagerly working to find the right partners as we move forward.”

On the racetrack, the Englewood, Fla., native is buoyed by clocking his first 3.7-second elapsed time at the previous race, at Charlotte’s zMAX Dragway. “We are optimistic heading into Joliet,” he said. “Every run we make we get a little faster, and it’s a rush having the opportunity to race alongside people I used to watch on TV. This whole opportunity is truly a dream come true and we will be chasing this dream at 330 mph. We are kind of the outlier or the ‘new guy’ out there this season, but with every run the team gets stronger and more competitive.”

Krohn, who turned 20 years old in February on the eve of the season-opener at Gainesville, has had an ambitious trajectory to his drag-racing career. Last year, he made his Top Fuel debut in Larry Dixon’s dragster, at the St. Louis event, all while making a splash in the Top Alcohol Dragster class with three final-round appearances in six races – and earning his Top Alcohol Funny Car license. (He also is licensed in the Super Comp, Nostalgia Top Fuel, and Nostalgia Funny Car classes.)

This year promises to be as daunting a challenge.

“There is definitely a huge change moving into Top Fuel,” Krohn said, “but I am so blessed to have my family (parents Rich and Luci and sister Katie) working alongside me the whole way. Seeing how hard we work and how supportive people have been of me chasing these dreams definitely makes me feel blessed. I couldn’t do it without all of my family and friends in my corner. My parents and sister do so much more than I can even express, and putting my appreciation to them into words isn’t possible. Todd Paton, John Stewart, and the rest of the crew have definitely been huge in this process, as well. They have helped coach me through changes and situations while working to put together a fast race car.”

A huge part of the learning curve, he acknowledged, is incorporating hospitality, catering, and marketing/promoting into the whole racing package.

“Overall, I don’t think there is much someone could have told me that would fully prepare me for the workload, logistics, and competition of Top Fuel. Catering and entertaining sponsors through hospitality is definitely a ton of work, but it is great when we can give the sponsors an enjoyable weekend at the races to enjoy our sport. For someone coming from a sportsman class into a pro class, there are definitely some big steps when it comes to logistics and commitments. The amount of planning, arranging, and overall preparation is huge,” Krohn said.

He’s expecting 40 guests this weekend.

8. WILL 10TH SEASON BRING FIRST WALLY? – Kyle Wurtzel this weekend is kicking off his 10th season of Top Fuel racing. And while it has been almost a decade since the financial planner from Warsaw, Ind., earned his first elimination round-win, against Richie Crampton at St. Louis in 2014, he and his crew are hoping for that first victory in just three appearances this season. Mike Wolfarth and Dom Lagana prepare the dragster at the shop, then Lagana and John Stewart will be making the tuning calls here at Route 66 Raceway, as well as at Norwalk next month and at St. Louis in late September.

“Once Joliet was added back to the schedule, it became my starting point for the season. The prior three years or so I started at the four-wides in Charlotte,” Wurtzel said. Logistically, staying close to home works for his crew – and for Wurtzel, who lives with wife Julia Porter and their family just three hours away from the suburban Chicago dragstrip.

“Three of my crew guys are from nearby towns so it makes this race easy for them.,” he said. “I will be sticking with tradition for this year. My crew guys all work normal jobs, and racing in the Midwest makes it easier for them and my family.”

Looking back on 10 years at the national-event level in Top Fuel, Wurtzel said, “I have enjoyed the friendships that racing has created over the years and the challenge of running a high-quality, part-time race car.”

And a victory would be special.

“I would be filled with happiness and pride, and no doubt. I would be overwhelmed with emotion,” he said, imagining that first triumph. “All my guys put in a lot of time to help me live this dream, and my family deals with my time away. And I would love to deliver them a Wally. I think we just need the right day for this to happen, for everything to come together. We have the right parts, crew, and tuner for this to be a reality. We just need everything to align. This sport is really, really hard, and sometimes you just need things to come together.”

9. FOLEY ON THE MARCH – Doug Foley said he and co-team owner Tim Lewis “believe we are on the cusp” of making significant gains with their Top Fuel program. That feeling, he said, “started in testing in Gainesville and really showed some good promise. I’ve been working on getting better at what I’m doing, because I’ve been hit or miss. We just don’t get a lot of runs on the racetrack, but that’s going to change soon. We have three races in the next six weeks: Chicago, Bristol, and Norwalk. That’s a great opportunity to work on enhancing that tune-up, and with some of the Friday night sessions coming up, I think we’re going to be able to pour the coals to it.”

The optimism comes from two major factors: The cooperation between crew chiefs Doug Kuch and Lance Larsen, and the support from business partners such as this weekend’s primary sponsor, United Garage Door Company.

“Lance and Doug are working unbelievably well together,” Foley said. “They’ve known each other for decades. It was a partnership that’s working out well. They seem to jell nicely and agree on a path moving forward, so we’re excited about that.”

The team will find out in the upcoming stretch of early summer races how effective their offseason changes have been.

And United Garage Door Company, an Ohio-based wholesale company specializing in overhead doors, is sharing the sponsorship with its own partners, CHI and Liftmaster. And Foley said those relationships are the foundation for the Foley Lewis Racing organization.

Foley said, “Joe Clark and the United Garage Doors team joined us at Gainesville, and we got to meet the new Florida division, which is Authority Garage Supply. United also acquired a new location in Richmond, Virginia, which is exciting, because that’s another NHRA national event market. United is really growing tremendously, and they’re taking their relationships with them as they grow. The three of them grow together. It’s pretty exciting that Foley Lewis Racing gets to be a part of that. I think Joe sees the effort that we put in and the accessibility that a small team like ours offers.”

Foley and Lewis said they take pride in working with businesses to reach new customers through Top Fuel racing. Both team owners have both grown successful businesses of their own in multiple, diverse industries, giving them a perspective that can benefit the fellow business owners that sign on as team partners. 

Still on board with the Foley Lewis Racing team are Alloy Employer Services, DDP Roofing, Red Line Oil, MR Drywall Service LLC, PROTECS, The BAMR Company, and Sander Engineering.

“It’s always enjoyable to bring a sponsor on and be able to add more races to the schedule, because that’s my passion. But you never forget that what got me here was my business,” Foley said. “Without mine and Tim’s business, we wouldn’t be part of this. That’s what started this. We bring in these businesses, we understand them better every time we get together, and then we look at the relationships we currently have or try to cultivate new relationships on their behalf. Our partners know we don’t take these relationships lightly, and they know we’re going to work Monday through Thursday to justify the relationship off the track. They already see the benefits of the 60,000 fans, the million viewers, and the NHRA business model that also enhances their brand.”

10. HAVING THE RIGHT MINDSET – Being a threat to win at every single race is a luxury, and it’s everybody’s hope. But taking it from hope to reality is what distinguishes a winner. Reigning Top Fuel champion Doug Kalitta understands that. He said, “That’s always been my mentality – every year I’ve ever raced. That’s just a testament to the team I have around me now and in the past. Being a threat to win every race is the mindset. If you’re not thinking you can go to one of these races and win, that would just suck. It’s part of what motivates me, for sure.”