SCHUMACHER NOT SURE HOW LONG FUN WILL LAST

by Susan Wade    Sun, 2020-07-19 12:01

 

Tony Schumacher has fielded the question at least a dozen times: Will you be back here in August for a third and possibly fourth time here at Indianapolis this year?

“I do not know. Me and Antron are talking about it. I sure would love to. I just don't have that answer,’ he said. “Love to have Global Electronic Technology behind us. And if they choose not to, we're going to keep working on finding the money to go and race.”

But so far, Schumacher said, he’s having a blast.

Last week’s ice-breaker, he said, “was fantastic. Believe it or not, for a veteran like myself as many years as I've been out there, you're still nervous. You get in the car and you think, ‘This thing is going to feel awful fast.’ The facts are the facts. They’re the fastest machines in the entire world. And after warming it up the first time last week I thought, ‘Man, this thing makes a lot of noise.’ But once it starts you're on the starting line and it's like, ‘Man, I've made thousands of these.’ There was no question, no doubt, that I have an absolute love for this sport.”

He said the team “made a lot of changes to our car to replicate Antron’s car. We were using some parts off my car, some off his car last weekend and these guys saw some great promise in our teamwork the way me and Antron drive together and they said let's just move all our stuff. So every piece on these cars are replicas and if nothing else whether we win, lose, draw, we're going to learn from it more that way as a team player. These guys are getting twice the runs by doing it that way.”

After qualifying finished, Schumacher said, “It was just a great day. We made two really outstanding runs down the track. We ended up in the fifth spot. And as hot as it is out, and the few runs we have with this car, Brian and Mark [tuners Corradi and Oswald] did a great job. Working with Antron, and it’s been a fun, fun weekend. It will be different tomorrow with the early start. Conditions will be cooler and different, but all in all, we have a really good race-day car.”

He’ll race familiar foe Terry McMillen, for who this weekend has been a lot about family. Friday night McMillen got to participate at this same event with Jr. Dragster driver son Cameron. The youngster didn’t qualify, but that didn’t matter all that much in the scheme of life.

His proud mother, Cori McMillen, said, Cameron did a great job, but he did not qualify to race. It took a .038 light or better when he made his last pass. I’m not sure what the bump time ended up being. The good news is, we learned a lot. His foot slipped off the pedal when he hit the gas during his third qualifying session. That’s when we realized he has his foot off the pedal when hitting the gas, rather than having it up against the pedal. So on Q4 with his foot on the pedal when he hit the gas, he red-lit.

“It was so cool to watch him stage his car and make passes. I can’t wait to get him more seat time so we can get the bugs worked out,” he said. “We are also blessed to have so many great people who came out to support him tonight. Sounds cheesy but having our team there along with all the text I was getting really made me feel like we won the race! Seriously, we are so blessed!”

Terry McMillen said, “Talk about an awesome experience racing with Cameron for his first official race. His age group (6-12-year-olds) had a .038 reaction time bump spot. We learned so much and had a lot of fun, even though he didn’t qualify. A little more seat time for Cam, and some work on the tune-up from me, and we will get it dialed in. This is just the beginning, and I’m a very proud dad.”

McMillen’s Amalie Oil Dragster crew chief Rob Wendland also had a family moment Saturday. His daughter, Mykala, earned her high-school diploma. Dad couldn’t be there, but through the Internet, he and wife Ashley were able to see video of Mykala walk across the stage at her ceremony.

While the Wendland were sentimental, public-address announcer Alan Rinehart related the touching story and added a word of advice for Mykala regarding her father: “He feels guilty right now, and you probably can hit him up for whatever you want.”  

 

 
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