I know – it’s been a long time since we last connected. I’ve actually been trying to spend some quality time with the family prior to the Countdown to 1 starting.
Believe it or not, it is almost time for the playoffs. We finished the regular season up in Brainerd, Minn., a couple of weeks ago and, unfortunately, the U.S. Army Top Fuel team did not have a good weekend.
We ended up losing in the quarterfinals to my teammate, Cory McClenathan, and as a result also dropped to third in the standings. While it was not the end of the world, we really wanted to hold on to second place so we would be less than a round of racing behind Larry Dixon. Instead, we’ll enter the playoffs two full rounds of racing behind (40 points.)
Interestingly enough, we’re heading into the Countdown to 1 in the same exact position as last year and having won the same amount of races – four. As I’m sure you are aware, we went on to capture our sixth straight world championship and nosed out Dixon by just two points. Naturally, I would take a repeat performance.
We know the last six races are going to be a real war. You can’t have an off weekend from this point forward or otherwise you will be eliminated from contention real quick. We will have to come out of the box in a big way beginning with the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis during Labor Day weekend.
Fortunately, we start the playoffs at a track I truly love. I’ve been to 10 straight final rounds there and have won eight times. In fact, I’ve won four consecutive U.S. Nationals titles. As an aside, should I win my ninth Indy trophy, I will move past “Big Daddy” Don Garlits on the all-time Top Fuel victories list. That would clearly be a major career accomplishment.
Indy will be tremendously important for another reason this year. The U.S. Army and Don Schumacher Racing will celebrate 10 years together as marketing partners. A lot of folks who have been connected to the program over the years will be taking part in the celebration including Antron Brown and Angelle Sampey.
Antron, who currently drives the Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster, once piloted a U.S. Army Suzuki, as did Angelle, who recently retired from the sport. Of the 101 NHRA victories the U.S. Army has collected to date, Angelle tallied 10 on her Pro Stock Motorcycle and Antron six. I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time with both of them during the Indy weekend.
To that end, if you will be at O’Reilly Raceway Park on Saturday, Sept. 4, make sure you get over to the Army’s Strength in Action Zone at 1 p.m. for an autograph session with Antron, Angelle and yours truly. It should be a lot of fun.
With that, I better prepare for a quick road trip to Indy. We’re taking part in the open test session for nitro teams on Thursday down there to prepare for next weekend. Obviously, we want to test well so we’ll have a good feeling going into the race weekend.
As always, “The Sarge” salutes you all. Please keep our Army Strong Soldiers in your thoughts and prayers. We’ll be back with you just after the U.S. Nationals. Until then, please stay well.
