Schumacher Seeking New Heights in Top-Fuel Chase

Tony Schumacher is afraid of heights. So afraid that when he agreed a few years ago to go skydiving with the U.S. Army’s elite Golden Knights, an arrangement made through his sponsor, the instructor used deception to get him out of the plane.

“He grabs me and says we’re going on three,� the drag racer recalled. “And then he says, ‘One, two ... ‘ and we’re out of the gate on two. We never got to three.�

Like that, the two were free-falling at breakneck speed, adrenaline coursing through their veins, enjoying a perspective of the planet that one cannot share with others through words: It has to be experienced to be fully appreciated.

“All I can say is that it was pretty intense,� Schumacher recalled.

The same can be said about his line of work.

Schumacher today opens defense of his National Hot Rod Assn. Powerade top-fuel world championship, during the Carquest Auto Parts Winternationals, which run through Sunday at Pomona Raceway.

He’ll require no deception to get across the starting line, at which point he’ll pull 5.5 positive gravity-force increments in his rocket on wheels. That’s in comparison to the 1G he experienced while skydiving.

Schumacher will go from zero to 100 mph in eight-tenths of a second and reach a speed of 278 mph in three seconds. He’ll top out at more than 300 mph in less than five seconds. The acceleration rate is faster, even, than the Army’s top jet fighters.

And this man is afraid of heights? “Always have been,� he said.

Schumacher won last year’s Winternationals and went on to earn the world championship in one of those rare seasons when everything falls into place. His 10 victories are a season record. He led the points standings almost from start to finish.

He clinched the title in the second round of the Lucas Oil Nationals at Reading, Pa., where he advanced to the finals and defeated Bob Vandergriff Jr. with a blistering 4.475-second run at 329.99 mph.

It was his second world title. The first was in 1999, when he beat Gary Scelzi, his former rival and now a teammate with Don Schumacher Racing, run by Tony’s father, a former funny car star. Scelzi, who won the top-fuel titles in 1997, 1998 and 2000, now pilots a Dodge Stratus in the funny car division.

As for Schumacher, he’s eager to pick up where he left off last year -- his 10th victory came in the season-finale at Pomona -- and join Scelzi and Larry Dixon (2002 and 2003) as the most recent repeat top-fuel champions.

“Whether we defend or not -- because defending is a very hard thing to do -- it’s going to be some pretty intense racing,� Schumacher said.

There’s that word again. Intense. It describes the competitor in a nutshell, at least when he’s behind the wheel.

In that regard little has changed since he started racing in the early 1990s, and especially since he first climbed behind the wheel of a top-fuel dragster in 1996. “I absolutely love driving and when that changes I’m out of here,� said Schumacher, 35. “You cannot drive a car very well if you don’t love it.

“Three-quarters into last season they were asking me what it takes to be No. 1 and I said you’ve got to remember what it was like when you were 16, when you couldn’t wait to be in a race car. You didn’t know about all the pressures. All you were doing it for was because you loved racing.�

His rivalry with Scelzi was one for the ages, with the younger Schumacher showing little respect for him or any other driver.

“Tony was a pretty cocky individual and it used to irritate me to the point where I’d have to calm myself down by taking a few deep breaths,� recalls Scelzi, 44, of Fresno. “But it actually had the reverse effect on me. The more irritated I’d become, the better I’d get.�

Scelzi transitioned to funny cars full-time in 2003, after walking away unscathed from his third “horrific� crash in the top-fuel division. He said that Schumacher lost some of his arrogance after suffering several injuries -- one leg had to be put back together with pins and screws -- in a violent crash he endured at Memphis Motorsports Park in 2000.

Schumacher sat out only three races, but the crash took him out of the points race and Scelzi went on to win his third world championship.

“Tony has matured by leaps and bounds since then,� Scelzi said.

Schumacher’s accident did change his perspective somewhat. But something else happened in 2000 that also affected him, personally and professionally.

He became one of the Army’s sponsored drivers and began to live the role. He got a buzz cut and became known as Sarge. He not only parachuted with the Golden Knights, but accompanied soldiers on a nighttime flight aboard a C-130 through the mountains of Afghanistan. He visited troops there and in Kuwait and Iraq.

He rode in tanks and fired weapons -- all in an effort to better understand the outfit to which he had attached his name. Recently, he laid a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and he has developed close relationships with several soldiers, with whom he shares a common bond.

“Just about everybody in the Army has a hopped-up Camaro or wants to build a drag car,� he said. “It’s the natural thing to do for men their age. They all have a car in their garage, and when they get home one of the first things they’re going to do is get to work on that car.�

They can consider it an order.

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NHRA Facts

* What: 45th NHRA Winternationals.

* Where: Pomona Raceway.

* When: Today through Sunday. Sportsman qualifying 8:15 a.m. today and Friday, with eliminations beginning at 8:15 a.m. Saturday; Professional qualifying (top-fuel, funny car and pro stock) 2:30 p.m. today and Friday, 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Saturday, with eliminations Sunday beginning at 11 a.m.

* Admission: Beginning at $20 today, $27 Friday, $47 Saturday and $50 Sunday. Children 6-12, $10-$12. No charge for children 5 and under. Details: (800) 884-6472 or www.nhra.com.

* 2004 winners: Tony Schumacher (top-fuel), Jerry Toliver (funny car) and Greg Anderson (pro stock).