Don't mess with Tony Schumacher.
 
No, it's not that he's tough and has the U.S. Army emblazoned on his Top Fuel dragster. That's intimidating, all right. It's not that he has four victories this season. That's impressive, too, as only Larry Dixon and Cory McClenathan have won the class so far as the series heads to Pacific Raceways near Seattle.
 
Don't mess with Tony Schumacher's method of doing things. It seems to be working well for him.

Don't mess with Tony Schumacher.
 
No, it's not that he's tough and has the U.S. Army emblazoned on his Top Fuel dragster. That's intimidating, all right. It's not that he has four victories this season. That's impressive, too, as only Larry Dixon and Cory McClenathan have won the class so far as the series heads to Pacific Raceways near Seattle.
 
Don't mess with Tony Schumacher's method of doing things. It seems to be working well for him.
 
The Army certainly is an influence on his attitude, his bearing, his mental approach. And he'll be celebrating a decade of Army sponsorship at the U.S. Nationals this Labor Day weekend.
 
But he said he doesn't try to mimic the soldiers' training methods, exactly.
 
"I won't say that I study them. Do I research and look into them? Yes," Schumacher said.
"Not just me, but everybody that has ever had to do anything physical knows that it starts by being mentally strong, and vice versa. You can't be mentally healthy when you're way out of shape.
 
"We all do what it takes," he said. "We all think we know something special. But eating healthy, staying stretched, being in good physical condition, you know, is really the stem of it. I know that. I'm thankful that the Army makes sure that I'm always healthy and keeps me in check when I get a little bit lazy. That's good."
 
He said Ryan Newman, his U.S. Army counterpart in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, "was doing some different programs, working with some bracelets, this and that. I don't know about all that stuff. But I know I'm afraid to change the way I do it. When you're winning, you don't care if there is a better way. You don't want to change anything."
 
Said Schumacher, "I feel like when I get in that car, I'm very comfortable with how I drive. I'm comfortable with the way I'm doing it. I don't want a doctor, even if he is better, believe it or not, to tell me what he thinks might make me improve.
 
"If I start to falter, believe me, I'll be the first one in line to get help," he said.
 
Does he have the perfect reaction time. Not usually. But it's all right. His way works.
 
"I've always said, I'm not going to give you a 40 reaction time. I'm going to give you a 60 to an 80, like a machine. I'm not going to figure out what it takes to give you a 40 because that's going to give you some red lights," Schumacher said.
 
"I know there's probably things I can do to speed up something, but it has to put you over the edge, too. I don't want to be living that far over it on the Christmas Tree. I like my place," he said. "I like doing the basics of what athletes have done for years: eat right, stretch, stay in good physical shape, go to bed on time and get up and race, and that's it."
 
10-4.