To all of those who thought Tony Schumacher would stumble and fall with the departure of crew chief, Alan Johnson, what can you possibly say now?

Schumacher is unbeaten when he reaches the final round this year. Winning at Bristol Dragway made it three for three, as the defending Top Fuel World Champion logged his third win of the season, 59th of his career as he climbed back atop the Top Fuel point standings, in the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

No, the wins are not coming as easy as they did last year, but it's not because the team is worse off without crew chief and now competing car owner, Alan Johnson. His crew is in fact, according to Schumacher, “bad to the bone”.

To all of those who thought Tony Schumacher would stumble and fall with the departure of crew chief, Alan Johnson, what can you possibly say now?

Schumacher is unbeaten when he reaches the final round this year. Winning at Bristol Dragway made it three for three, as the defending Top Fuel World Champion logged his third win of the season, 59th of his career as he climbed back atop the Top Fuel point standings, in the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

No, the wins are not coming as easy as they did last year, but it's not because the team is worse off without crew chief and now competing car owner, Alan Johnson. His crew is in fact, according to Schumacher, “bad to the bone”.

“I don't have two tenths of a second head start,” said Schumacher of the difference between last year and this year. “Alan has a great tune-up on a car. He does. But, I love it.”

To drive the point home Schumacher reached back to the first race of 2008.

“First race, it was Doug Kalitta and me first round and I said, 'this is perfect. We're going to win a lot of races this year, because I am going to have to suck it up from the first time I push the pedal down.' It's like you motivate from the beginning and right now, I'm motivated. I have to win.

“AJ is the greatest crew chief in the world. I get it. We all understand it. But, he doesn't win all the races, because it takes eight guys to do it, it takes a driver to do it. It takes a whole select group and AJ understand that. It's everyone else who says he is the only one who can win races.”

It was almost ironic that Schumacher edged out Doug Kalitta for the win. The two are now tied with three wins apiece at Bristol Dragway.

“Kalitta in the finals. I can't stress enough how great it is to race him. We have so much history battling amongst ourselves. He's a true champion and the margin in the race was three hundredths of a second and that's outstanding,” said Schumacher. “We won 15 races last year and right now there are a variety of teams winning. You just have to step up, sit up in the seat, drive the car well and the crew has to do their job well.”

Schumacher is making a strong point with each win and an equally strong point with each loss.

First and foremost, he is winning despite all the negative preseason press and second when the team has lost it hasn't been because they've left something on the table. It’s important, both as a father and a leader that even in defeat this driver knows both he and the team have done their best.

When I am old enough for my children to have children, I want them to be able to point to me and tell my grandchildren that there is a man who never left anything on the table.

In Bristol, Schumacher and company certainly cleared the table, as he raced past Terry Haddock, Morgan Lucas, Brandon Bernstein and in the finals over Kalitta, with 3.857 to Kalitta's 3.879. Schumacher never trailed in the final race, squeaking off the line with a .068 to Kalitta's .074. 

THE STREAK CONTINUES – Top Fuel racer Tony Schumacher extended his success in the first round of NHRA Full Throttle events. The U.S. Army-sponsored driver captured his 34th consecutive first round victory and did so in impressive fashion with low elapsed time of the round and a convincing victory over Terry Haddock with a 3.880, 303.30. - Bobby Bennett

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