As drag racing picks up where it left off last year, in Pomona, the focus is on some key personnel changes in the National Hot Rod Assn.‘s fastest class—top fuel.
The NHRA’s premier level—which includes the top fuel, funny car, pro stock and pro motorcycle divisions—is now called the Full Throttle Series after the energy drink’s parent, Coca-Cola, switched its drag racing sponsorship from its Powerade drink.
Tony Schumacher extended his domination of the 300-mph top-fuel division last season by winning his fifth consecutive championship and sixth overall for the team owned by his father, Don Schumacher Racing.
But his bid to win a seventh title has a new wrinkle: Alan Johnson, the savvy crew chief who guided Schumacher through his remarkable streak since 2003, left to form a team.
So Schumacher returns to Pomona with a new crew chief, Mike Green, who formerly was crew chief for Cory McClenathan, another top-fuel driver in Don Schumacher’s stable.
Fuller, meanwhile, became a casualty of the economic recession along with Hillary Will, who finished fourth in the top-fuel standings last year. Both drivers said in January that they didn’t expect to compete in Pomona this week because of financial problems with their teams or sponsors.
The irrepressible Force also is back to head his Yorba Linda-based team of drivers. The 14-time funny car champion, 59, recovered from serious injuries in a racing crash in September 2007 to finish seventh in points last year, just behind his daughter Ashley.
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