Tony Schumacher, the man who won a record-tying 15 of 18 events last year for his fifth straight NHRA Top Fuel title - and sixth overall - is starting the new season this week at the Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., with a new crew chief and an all-new crew.
“Before he left, Alan Johnson said, ‘We’d have won again.’ But we have a new opportunity and a new challenge,” Schumacher said. “We’re going to have to dig and learn to work together. It’s going to be exciting.”
Not that Schumacher is starting over with a novice. His new crew chief is Mike Green, who guided Cory McClenathan to a third-place finish in the points last year.
“We’d like to start off the way (Schumacher) did last year, with a win,” Green said. “Don’t forget that I was over in the other lane against them in the finals with the Fram car (and McClenathan). It would be nice to take it a step further this year.”
Schumacher, who drives for his father’s Don Schumacher Racing team, also relishes the challenge.
“I’m glad that Larry Dixon is in that car because it’s going to be a really big motivation to beat those guys,” Schumacher said. “We’re going to have to dig really deep and work as a team to beat those guys because they are outstanding.
“If I can win a championship with a new crew and a new team ... it will prove to a lot of people that it wasn’t just AJ, it was nine people doing that job. And AJ is the first person to admit it was everybody.
“I’m in a no-lose situation,” Schumacher added. “We’re going to go out there and dig and make it happen, and that’s what I live for. It’s figuring it out.”
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