If your name is Tony and you race at Las Vegas, bypassing the scales after a good run isn’t a recommended action. Last year Tony Pedregon had a 4.79 run thrown out and that caused him to DNQ after 114 consecutive starts. Pedregon complained that he was conducting business as usual.

Tony Schumacher said the same thing Sunday as he bypassed the scales after beating Melanie Troxel in the second round of the $100,000-to-win Technicoat Shootout. NHRA officials denied that claim and disqualified the defending world champion and reinstated Troxel.

Schumacher alleges that he stopped and offered to weigh.

“There’s a green light and a red-light at almost every track scales that we race at,” Schumacher said. “After we passed the scales, I got out to do the number one deal and Rich said, ‘Hey you passed the scales.”

“We had been 40 pounds over all day and I said, ‘There are my guys, if you want to weigh them, then grab them and weigh. Graham Light asked me why I passed the scales and I told him that I had told Rich to grab my guys if he wanted them to weigh.”  

If your name is Tony and you race at Las Vegas, bypassing the scales after a good run isn’t a recommended action. Last year Tony Pedregon had a 4.79 run thrown out and that caused him to DNQ after 114 consecutive starts. Pedregon complained that he was conducting business as usual.

Tony Schumacher said the same thing Sunday as he bypassed the scales after beating Melanie Troxel in the second round of the $100,000-to-win Technicoat Shootout. NHRA officials denied that claim and disqualified the defending world champion and reinstated Troxel.

Schumacher alleges that he stopped and offered to weigh.

“There’s a green light and a red-light at almost every track scales that we race at,” Schumacher said. “After we passed the scales, I got out to do the number one deal and Rich said, ‘Hey you passed the scales.”

“We had been 40 pounds over all day and I said, ‘There are my guys, if you want to weigh them, then grab them and weigh. Graham Light asked me why I passed the scales and I told him that I had told Rich to grab my guys if he wanted them to weigh.”  

Schumacher said there was no one at the scales asking him to stop.

“I challenged Graham to show me in the rule book where it says we have to stop when there is no one there to stop us,” Schumacher said. “We usually stop once or twice on race day – never more than that and I’ve won a lot of races. Four rounds – I’ve never stopped four rounds in one day, ever.”

According to the NHRA rulebook, there is no rule per se but there is a rule on page 186 that mandates the car with driver must weigh 2,250 pounds. The burden of proof then falls on the team to prove they are within the guidelines.

Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com discussed the issue with a random sampling of teams and half said they stopped purposely after every winning run to prevent the likelihood of a Schumacher-like situation while others admitted they posted winning runs before without stopping at the scales.

Schumacher said his situation was a case of no one was proactive from the scales to require them to weigh.

“Graham would like to think you stop after every run, but if that’s the case then why do you have a green and a red light,” Schumacher asked. “You stop when you make a good run and you stop when you run fast and you stop when the NHRA asks you to stop. You don’t stop four runs; just ask every team out there if they do.

“They didn’t wave us by – they didn’t ask us to stop. They didn’t ask us to do nothing. We passed the scales, why didn’t they come and get us.”

Schumacher alleges that he witnessed Cory McClenathan beat him and bypass the scales only to reprimanded with a warning.

Senior VP–Racing Operations Graham Light said there is no gray area in this situation.

“The rule says clearly that a car must weigh 2,250 pounds after each run and that would indicate the only way you are going to know is to stop and weigh,” Light said. “If you do a survey in the pits, including sportsman runs, you will find that if you have a run that is better than the previous run, you stop unless instructed by an official. That’s the way it was back in the ancient days when I raced.”

Light said all four winners in the first round of the Technicoat Shootout weighed. Throughout the event, he said Schumacher was the only winning team that didn’t stop at the scales.

“Every round, every winner was weighed,” Light said. “It is the responsibility of the team to stop at the scales and weigh. There was no one down there waving people by. If that was the case, they would have waved Hot Rod Fuller by after he won. It’s a well known fact if you win a round then you stop at the scales.”

Troxel’s team was notified shortly upon returning to their pits they should prepare to race in the final round. Schumacher’s disqualification was conveyed in time for them to prepare to race Hot Rod Fuller in the final round.

“I felt that we were beat by Alan Johnson and Tony Schumacher,” said Troxel assistant crewchief Lance Larsen. “They outran us and did a better job than us, they beat us. The rules do say you have to stop at the scales. Apparently, they didn’t stop. I wasn’t there to see that. All I know is when someone comes to you and says you can run your car for $100,000, I am going to get my car ready.”

Troxel said the incident had to be tough for Schumacher and the Army team, but the rules are the rules. Her assessment is that the NHRA had no other choice but to enforce them.

“It really didn’t have a lot to do with us, we both went up and ran our race,” Troxel said. “They bypassed the scales and while it has to be frustrating to them, as a competitor I applaud the NHRA for being consistent in the rules and their punishment. That’s the rules and they have thrown people out for bypassing the rules before. I know that has to be a tough pill for them to swallow. The NHRA did the right thing. They had no choice. They had to be consistent with the rules.”

Team owner Don Schumacher said today’s enforcement of the rule wasn’t a matter of being consistent with the rules.

“They took a win away from us because other teams want to whine about the Army car,” Schumacher said. “A competitive team complained that we took ballast out of the car. A lot of teams take ballast out of their cars in the staging lanes to balance the car. That’s what you have ballast for. This car was 40 pounds overweight.

“They NHRA said they were going to put a red light and a green light at the scales to cut down on the confusion. There’s no light down there and the guy driving the tow vehicle wasn’t stopped. Tony has won 40 races and he hasn’t stopped at the scales four times on race day.

“Is this a rule to take something away from the Army car? Is it in the rulebook? The Army is unhappy. The team is unhappy. I am not pleased with the way the NHRA handled this situation as well as others.”