Top Fuel’s Tony Schumacher Hitting Stride Heading to Stampede of Speed and Texas NHRA FallNationals

ENNIS, TX – October 8, 2024 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher is back in the world title hunt and heading to one of his favorite tracks on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour, a combination that could bode well for the longtime Top Fuel star.

Fresh off his victory in St. Louis, Schumacher is ready to roll at this weekend’s 39th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals at legendary Texas Motorplex, an event that caps off the Stampede of Speed.

Now living in Texas, Schumacher plans to take in all of what the spectacular 10-day event has to offer and he hopes to close it out with a second straight victory in his 11,000-horsepower Leatherwood Distillery/Waltrip Brewing Co. dragster for JCM Racing.

Schumacher is sixth in the Top Fuel points after his first victory in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs since 2014, sitting 103 points back of first as he seeks his seventh career victory at Texas Motorplex. No other Top Fuel driver has more than three, meaning the facility, which also is the site of his first career Top Fuel victory, has treated Schumacher very well over the years.

“I love that place. It’s where I won my first race and one of the places where it set us up for our first championship (in 1999),” Schumacher said. “There will be tons of friends and family there, and it’s going to be a great time. We’ve won there before and I love going to that race. The Meyer family are just great and it’s a really cool place. We’ll be there for a couple weeks and we’ll be prepared, that’s for sure.”

Last season, Leah Pruett (Top Fuel), Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all collected NHRA wins in Dallas and this year’s race will again be broadcast on FS1, with elimination coverage airing at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday Oct. 13. It is the fourth of six races in the Countdown to the Championship and the 18th of 20 races during the 2024 season.

A Texas-sized playoff showdown starts with “Friday Night Live,” which offers more than $40,000 in bonus money to the stars in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle. The low qualifier under the lights on Friday night will net Top Fuel and Funny Car stars $15,000 each in bonus money, with $7,500 going to the quickest qualifier in Pro Stock and $5,000 in Pro Stock Motorcycle. That leads into final qualifying on Saturday and race day Sunday, where Schumacher looks to continue his…