Top Fuel victory leader Tony Schumacher won for the first time in more than two years Sunday in the Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals at Houston Raceway Park.
The eight-time season champion pushed his victory record to 85, beating points leader and defending series champion Steve Torrence with a 3.669-second run at 330.63 mph. Torrence had a 3.687 at 330.07.
“I’m super proud and I’m so happy for my guys,” said Schumacher, who missed much of the 2019 season because of a lack of sponsorship and also started 2020 on the sidelines. “I’ve done this and lived these moments, and been part of some cool stuff, and these guys were able to dig deep.
“That final round, those are epic battles. You’ve got two badass teams battling it out and it was the best race we’ve seen all year. It was a team effort and everybody did a great job.”
It was Schumacher’s first victory since June 17, 2018 at Bristol Dragway.
Tommy Johnson Jr. won in Funny Car, Aaron Stanfield in Pro Stock and Eddie Krawiec in Pro Stock Motorcycle in the 10th of 11 races in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.
The season finale is next weekend at Las Vegas.
Johnson stayed in title contention and extended Don Schumacher Racing’s Funny Car winning streak to 13, beating Ron Capps with a 3.929 at 321.04 in a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. He won for the third time this season and 22nd overall.
Stanfield raced to his first Pro Stock win, topping Jeg Coughlin Jr. with a 6.535 at 211.03 in a Chevrolet Camaro.
Krawiec won for the first time in more than two years, edging Ryan Oehler for his 48th victory. Krawiec had a 6.801 at 198.61 on a Harley-Davidson.