All season, the Rick Ware Racing Top Fuel dragster driven by eight-time NHRA world champion Tony Schumacher has been plagued by clutch problems.
After a test session Aug. 24 at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway following the track’s national event the day before, Schumacher is optimistic his team’s troubles will soon be in the past.
“They went good, really good,” Schumacher said in an interview with CompetitionPlus.com. “We needed to make clutch changes, obviously, and we put three good runs down the racetrack. Soft ones, fast ones, quick ones. We needed to get to Indy (the upcoming U.S. Nationals) making some runs down the racetrack. Luckily, you get five runs there (at Indy) in qualifying. That makes it really nice.”
Schumacher’s dragster, which is carrying American Communications Construction (ACC) and Aloha Beauty Lounge as its primary sponsors, has not had the results his team was hoping for in 2026.
Schumacher left Brainerd following his ninth first-round loss of the season. He has a 4-13 elimination round record and is 11th in the points standings.
“We have been having a hard time with the clutch. You know, we are just trying to get the discs, the right discs, to get the right system in order,” Schumacher said. “We had this plan for a long time, just trying to make it, and find a place to test. You know, there used to be a lot more testing. There’s not as much anymore, especially not as much as there used to be. I mean, I had a year back, I think it was 2006 or somewhere in there, where I made 200 test laps. This year I made 20, and they were all at the beginning of the year. (Brainerd) was the first time we’ve tested (since the beginning of the year) and we’ve needed it. It was good. It’ll help both our cars.”
Schumacher is teammates with Top Fuel driver Clay Millican at RWR. Millican is 10th in the points standings.
Jim Oberhofer is the main crew chief, and Nick Boninfante is the co-crew chief for Schumacher’s dragster. Jon Oberhofer and Nicky Boninfante are the crew chief and co-crew chief for Millican.
Schumacher believes testing in Brainerd, which almost didn’t happen, was crucial for his team.
“It does feel good to be going to Indy next,” Schumacher said. “We almost didn’t test, and I called Rick and said – on the racetrack – we have an actual plan. It wasn’t just to see if we can replicate what we’ve been doing. Because we’ve been replicating smoking the tires all year long. We need to replicate some good runs. You can’t get down the track 1 out of every 4 runs and expect to win a round or a race.
“We needed it. I think everyone from the crew chiefs, the Oberhofers, Boninfante – everyone wanted the car to go down the track and make some test laps with some new discs that we had that we just got in, and it was very nice to see the results,” Schumacher said. “We’ve known we had clutch issues. We just couldn’t get enough discs to make a change. So now that we have enough to run the rest of the year, it’s nice. We’re ready to go, man.”
Schumacher is thrilled to be going to the U.S. Nationals Sept. 4-7 for good reason. The race has been like a personal playground for him during his decorated career.
“I mean, there was no reason to show up in Indy with old parts that we know the results (of),” Schumacher said. “We can run fast once in a while. We’ve qualified third, fourth, and fifth. We just can’t make it two in a row. They weren’t acting the same. It was only when they were acting properly that you could make it down the track and the window was too small. We always talk about that window. It was tiny.
“We made a run there (Monday in Brainerd) – we were just doing 700-foot runs. We made a run that would’ve been a (3)72. We’ll put that run in, and then hopefully the track is as good. We ran that at 9 in the morning. So that was a really good condition. Hopefully the track is prepped and ready to go Friday night (Sept. 4, in Indy). If the conditions are good and we can go out and run a low 70, and then we can pick at it all weekend.
“These (crew) guys have won races; it hasn’t been for lack of trying and smarts. We had some stuff we were dealing with. We had some parts breakage, all kinds of stuff like that.”
Schumacher is NHRA’s all-time Top Fuel leader with eight world championships (1999, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2014) and 88 national event victories. He also holds the NHRA record across all professional categories with 10 victories at the U.S. Nationals – 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2016.
In his NHRA Top Fuel debut, which was at Indy in 1996, the unknown Schumacher qualified No. 16 and advanced all the way to the final before he lost to Cory McClenathan.
“We’ve always known that when I bring my car to Indy, there’s a lot of good luck there,” Schumacher said. “So, I’m praying it’s still there, and looking forward to getting there and getting the woes past us. My team owner, my teammate, my sponsor – these guys deserve some wins. It’s time.
“I love it (Indy). I just love being there. You know, the year we had COVID (2020), I was like, ‘Man, we get to run here like 9 times? Are you kidding me?’ And they’re like, ‘Well, it doesn’t count because this race is for this and this is for that.’ I go, ‘It doesn’t matter. It’s these doors.’ You know? Like, this is my place. This should be called Shoe Stadium. You get so much good luck there, and from Day 1. I mean, that was my first race ever in Top Fuel. I have just had a tremendous amount of good fortune there. Big wins, great wins, pressure wins, all kinds – all sorts of things. From the day I set foot in that place for the first time in a Top Fuel car, we went to the finals at the first race, and just haven’t looked back.”
