JCM Racing Post Race Recap: Reading

Pep Boys NHRA Nationals

Event 15 of 20

Countdown Event 1 of 6

Maple Grove Raceway

Mohnton, Pa.

Sept. 13 – 15, 2024

Quarterfinal Finish for No. 8 Ranked Tony Schumacher in Reading

READING, Pa. (September 15, 2024) – Tony Schumacher kicked off his bid for a ninth NHRA Top Fuel title and JCM Racing’s first world championship by advancing to the quarterfinals in Reading, Pennsylvania at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, the first event of the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Starting from the No. 2 qualifying position for the third time this season, the winningest Top Fuel racer in Maple Grove Raceway history scored a first-round win on Sunday morning before falling to fellow Countdown-contender Antron Brown in the second round of eliminations.

A five-time winner in Reading, Schumacher’s best qualifying performance of the weekend came when he kept his Leatherwood Distillery/Waltrip Brewing Co. Top Fuel dragster hooked up and firing on all eight cylinders to run the second-quickest pass of the Friday night session. The 3.733-second at 328.70 mph run earned the team two bonus points for their effort and held up through all four sessions to place them second on the Top Fuel timing sheets to start race day. Schumacher’s Sunday morning began with a first-round match-up versus Doug Foley. Against Foley, Schumacher moved first and never trailed for the win, recording a 3.759 E.T. to advance into the quarterfinals where he faced his former teammate, Antron Brown. The two multi-time world champions were nearly even leaving the starting line, but Schumacher lost traction shortly after the launch while his opponent made a full pull in the opposite lane for the win.

“So disappointing leaving this race when you’ve had so much success here in the past and you get eliminated second round, but at least we didn’t go out first round,” said Schumacher, who will move on to the NHRA Carolina Nationals in Concord, N.C. having maintained his No. 8 ranking in the Top Fuel standings. “We have a good car, and I’ll tell you what, we had a hell of a first-round run. They put up a good race against us. We ended up winning. Left with Antron, had a good car, just a little too fast. We needed to get that thing moving. It’s a hard one to lose because we had a good chance at third round. Not to undermine Dan Mercier in any way shape or form, he’s doing a hell of a job, but we have a good car and obviously qualified No. 2 and felt like we would have had a good chance of winning that race. Just got to suck up these tough ones and show up at the next race in Charlotte. Thank goodness it’s only a few days away. Let’s go get it done.”

Schumacher and the Leatherwood Distillery/Waltrip Brewing Co. Top Fuel team won’t have to wait long in their pursuit of more win lights as the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season resumes at zMAX Dragway, September 20 – 22, where Schumacher returns as a two-time winner and six-time finalist at the Concord, N.C. facility.

Qualified: No. 2 (3.733 E.T. at 328.70 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:

E1: 3.759 E.T. at 329.91 MPH defeated Doug Foley 3.780 E.T. at 327.51 MPH

E2: 4.711 E.T. at 174.28 MPH defeated by Antron Brown 3.881 E.T. at 295.79 MPH

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel Point Standings (Unofficial):

1 Justin Ashley 2181

2 Antron Brown 2180

3 Shawn Langdon 2175

4 Doug Kalitta 2148

5 Steve Torrence 2123

6 Clay Millican 2102

7 Tony Stewart 2087

8 Tony Schumacher 2085

9 Brittany Force 2048

10 Billy Torrence 2031

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Ida Zetterström Resets Career-Best Numbers, Clocks Second-Quickest Run of Opening Round in Reading but Bows Out Early

Multi-time European drag racing champion Ida Zetterström bowed out early on Sunday at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals after she was eliminated in the opening round of competition for the first time in her NHRA career. The 2023 FIA Top Fuel champ clocked the second-quickest run of the first round aboard her Jon Schaffer-tuned JCM/VP Racing Fuels/Edelbrock/COMP Cams/Dodge Top Fuel dragster, but it wasn’t enough to outpace Shawn Langdon, whose starting line advantage allowed him to propel through the finish line beams first and advance into round two.

Zetterström qualified 12th out of 19 Top Fuel dragsters vying for a shot in the Sunday show at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Swedish speedster opened the weekend with a tire-smoking run in the first qualifying session but quickly rebounded. On Friday night, Zetterström took her 11,000-horsepower rail on a 3.779-second at 329.10 mph ride to reset her career-best speed. She closed out qualifying on Saturday by powering her machine straight down the groove in 3.771 seconds in Q4, which held up to be the third-quickest pass of the session.

While several teams struggled to make it down the track on Sunday morning, the Zetterström/Schaffer duo had no problem mastering the Maple Grove Raceway surface. Zetterström was out of the gate with an .089 reaction time and powered her JCM Racing-fielded entry to the finish line stripe in 3.745 seconds, resetting her career-best E.T. in the process, but Langdon’s holeshot advantage (.059) was enough of a boost to set off the scoreboard win lights in his lane and advance despite running a slower 3.753 E.T.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in my team,” said the Rookie of the Year candidate, who recorded a semifinal and quarterfinal finish in her first two NHRA appearances. “We’re basically treating every pass as a test pass. We’re changing things, we’re working in the right direction. Obviously, we’re not out here chasing a championship, we’re out here to find consistency and be ready to chase a championship next year, but if we can spoil someone’s game, we’re definitely up for that. We picked up a point in the last qualifying session by being third-low and ran second-quickest of the first round today. We had a really tough competitor in Shawn Langdon. We’ve been changing some stuff in the car, which has made some things different for me as a driver, reaction time being one of them. I was just starting to feel like I’m coming back into it right now and building up that confidence. Obviously, this was a reaction time that I would have liked to be better and I would have liked to be on the winning side of this run but I’m starting to feel more and more confident. I know what our team is capable of. For me as a driver, I’m getting more comfortable with the changes we’re making, and I feel like by the end of this season, we should have a really good combination. Looking at our numbers from today is indicative of that.”

The JCM/VP Racing Fuels/Edelbrock/COMP Cams/Dodge team will head south to zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C. for the NHRA Carolina Nationals, September 20 – 22, where Zetterström will continue her quest for NHRA’s 2024 Rookie of the Year honors.

Qualified: No. 12 (3.771 E.T. at 325.14 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:

E1: 3.745 E.T. at 327.74 MPH defeated by Shawn Langdon 3.753 E.T. at 332.59 MPH