Father and son never spoke to one another about it.

The exodus last fall from Don Schumacher Racing, part of it no surprise at all and part of it late-season and post-season disclosures, shrank the team that had fielded seven cars down to zero. Tony Schumacher already was planning to return with a Top Fuel dragster at the start of 2022, but the whole wave of change hit him here at Pomona last November. 

Without any conversation between him and his son – the one who drew him back into the sport in 1998 – and precious little to the media, either, Don Schumacher went about his business. He’s a man who lives in reality, so he kept his emotions to himself, hid any bruises to his ego, and shrugged it off with “Things transpired that– it is what it is. 

“It was great winning the Funny Car championship [with Ron Capps]. But the other things at that race created a finality for me, which certainly affected my emotions, and I'll leave it at that,” the team boss said. “I've got the winningest organization in the history of the sport, and we'll go from there.”

Tony Schumacher said, “You know, it probably pisses him off. I mean, not that it's one car [a one-car team now], just that he had a really great team. He had a lot of drivers that he had groomed and trained, and I think they put a lot of money into [them]. And it probably hurts at first. Really?  like, why would they want to go?

“It's one of those things. I think he respects each one of them and what they're doing,” the younger Schumacher said, referring to Antron Brown, Leah Pruett, Matt Hagan, and Ron Capps (the four left after Jack Beckman and Tommy Johnson Jr. lost sponsorship and his own Army deal vanished and put him on the sidelines). “I think it takes a week where you're like, ‘Why?’ And then you go, ‘All right. I mean, I understand, right?

“These guys have aspirations of being maybe more than a driver. I never did. I just want to drive these cars. I like driving these cars. I like being in them. I never wanted to stand behind them and watch,” Tony Schumacher said. “I'm not sure how he felt about it. I wasn't there for that.”

But the eight-time Top Fuel champion said, “Watching from the outside, I think he'll be happier. He doesn't need to stand behind all those cars.” Pointing to Capps’ set-up and Brown’s hauler, Tony Schumacher said, “I mean, that car is in our shop right next to this car. That car is just on the other side of it, just like it used to be. The only difference is they're sending my dad a check instead of my dad sending them a check.

“I told my dad, ‘I personally think it's better. You go fish like you want to fish. You go do what you want to do. You're 70, mid-70s. You do what you want to do, and you enjoy that. You've earned the right to do that. Let us go out here and do this stuff. So, that's where we're at.”

But Tony Schumacher – not his father – made a bold statement about the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) organization.

He said, “As far as I know, if he's got other plans, it doesn't matter to me. I got this one car out there. We'll build it into a two-car team. We'll build it into a three-car team. We did it once. We can do it again. I just see it happening. I have these sponsors on the car right now and I have others coming. I have others that wanted to be on the car that were actually, at the same time, with Scag. So now you go, ‘OK, what do you do, right? It needs to get moved onto something.’ I'm not ready to do another one, nor is he, but we'll start piecing stuff together. You'll see another car out by mid-year, guaranteed. It's just the way he does that.” 

All Don Schumacher would confirm is that he has “some opportunities there but nothing that allows me to look at a full season. I choose not to think about putting together a partial season on any fuel car. It's a very difficult way to compete at the highest level if you only run part of the season. If I'm going to run a team, that's going to be for the whole season or I choose not to do it any other way. The only reason I've ever raced is to win races and win championships. 

“I will do what's right for my family, myself, my employees, and the sport,” Schumacher , 77, said. “But at my age, I have decided to not be as intimately involved in any business as I was in the past. And when it gets to the point that that isn't what I choose to do, then I'll turn the reins over to Megan (his daughter, who has served as vice-president of the company), and we will go from there.”

Schumacher wasn’t trying to be coy or cryptic, but he did say he’s “always working on additional things.”

Technically, DSR has four cars, and Don Schumacher was quick to remind about that: “I mean, I got three Factory Shootout cars that I'm running.” Mark Pawuk, David Davies, and Warren Walcher are the drivers for that eight-race series. 

Matt Hagan, who switched to the newly established Tony Stewart Racing team, agreed with Tony Schumacher: “You know, I think it’s a good thing for Don. Don gets to step back and enjoy life and sell parts and pieces to all these major teams. We’re still buying parts and pieces from him. The pressure of owning all these teams can be taxing, keeping the funding going and keeping the sponsors happy and all the other stuff that goes along with it.” 

Mike Salinas, who truly has a single-car team, said, “Schumacher was the smartest one out of all of them, and he didn't do it on purpose.”

Like Salinas, Hagan understands how much of a financial risk and effort it is to run a team. And Hagan said he appreciates just how much money Don Schumacher has funded himself or raised so that he and his fellow drivers could race. 

“When I first started racing [in the International Hot Rod Association, with a Pro Modified car and then a nitro Funny Car], I had a budget. And we were on fire a lot abd blowing up a lot of stuff,” Hagan said. “I got to understand how fast nitro bills rack up and how fast you start spending that budget that you thought was going to be plenty. And you start launching bodies off of cars and blowing up manifolds and a crew chief makes some bad decisions and you have two or three bad races in a row. And I’ve been on that side. I know how fast nitro eats up parts and budgets. 

“I always appreciated that Don didn’t have a budget. Don would spend his own money out of his pocket if we needed to go test or if we blew up a bunch of parts,” Hagan said. “What was nice is when you signed a contract with Don, you knew you were going to have everything you needed to make a run at the championship. 

“I really didn’t want to leave Don Schumacher Racing. I love Don and everything he’s done for me,” Hagan said. “I’m really blessed to [have been] there. But this was a new opportunity. And what did I have to lose? I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to in this sport, and just looked at it as Tony brings a lot of charisma and energy and notoriety to the sport. If I want my legacy to grow, it’s stepping over there with him to do that, as well. It’s just kind of a change of pace, not that I was upset with Don or anything that we were doing there. Very blessed to be there. Very humbled. It’s just a change of pace. Sometimes it’s good. Sometimes it’s bad. But you won’t know unless you try, right?” 

Don Schumacher and John Force for years have had a classic Funny Car rivalry, and that, at least for now, is gone. Both still have at least one car in the Top Fuel class, but Schumacher said no Top Fuel competition ever will match the clashes the two teams’ Funny Car passions produced. 

Two-time Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon lamented that he no longer will race against DSR Funny Cars. 

“When they had that four-headed monster with T.J. [Tommy Johnson Jr.], [Jack] Beckman, Hagan, and Capps, man, that was pretty formidable operation and tough to beat on the track ,” Pedregon said. “Don Schumacher built an empire that we all could only admire and strive to do. And maybe nobody will ever do it at that level again. He brought so much to the sport.”