SCHUMACHER EAGERLY AWAITS VISIT WITH SOLDIERS LOOKS FORWARD To GETTING BACK ON TRACK

jdearing

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MADISON, Ill., April 26, 2010 – U.S. Army Top Fuel driver Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher will visit with the Army Strong Soldiers of Fort Leonard Wood just prior to the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals here this weekend at Gateway International Raceway.

A seven-time world champion, Schumacher will be observing various training activities during his Wednesday tour at the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence.

“The best part of the day will be mixing with our brave men and women of the Army,” offered the Chicago-area resident. “I just love being around them. We are continually inspired by their mental, emotional and physical strength.”

Schumacher will be looking to parlay his uplifting visit into a victory on Sunday at the track located in the shadow of the famed St. Louis arch.

“We’re overdue to get a win for our Army Strong Soldiers,” he said. “We need to right the ship and return to our successful ways.”

Over the last three races, Schumacher has sandwiched a pair of second round losses around a rare first round loss.

“It’s been a little tough of late,” he added. “We’re definitely not used to bowing out early on race day. It’s time to take the fight to the rest of the Top Fuel field.”

Presently, Schumacher holds fifth-place in the standings. While there’s a sizeable gap between him and the leader, Larry Dixon, he’s only 35 points removed from Doug Kalitta in third-place.

“We’re just six races into the season, so I’m not getting hung up on the points right now,” he said. “Our priority at the moment is to start running consistently and going rounds. We’ll take a look at how things stack up down the road.”

Schumacher believes a positive test session following the race in Las Vegas two weeks ago will help the cause at GIR.

“We worked on a bunch of stuff out there and were happy with the results,” he related. “Now, we have to make it work this weekend. One thing is for certain – I have plenty of faith in my Army team.”

Schumacher has one victory to his credit at GIR – in 2006. It proved to be the table setter for what later would become the greatest comeback in NHRA history.

“Going into that race we were 336 points out of the lead,” he recalled. “The win at Gateway got us going towards another world championship.”
 
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