Schumacher ready for Countdown to Four

Indianapolis - A five-time Mac Tools U.S. Nationals winner, U.S. Army racer Tony Schumacher is hoping his Indianapolis magic will carry over to 2007 so he can start the Countdown in strong fashion.

“We need to kick it off with a good effort,” said the Chicago native. “You don’t want to get behind the eight ball right off the bat with an early round loss. We want to be in victory lane come Monday afternoon.”

Early round losses have been something of an annoyance for the U.S. Army team for much of the season to date. In fact, over 17 races, Schumacher has totaled nine first round departures.

“We better stop doing that immediately or we’re going to dig ourselves a hole that we may not climb out of,” he added. “As I’ve stated for weeks, there will be no room for error once the playoffs begin.”

Schumacher, who is seeking an unprecedented fourth straight Top Fuel world title, will go into the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals holding second-place in the standings, 10 points behind leader Rod Fuller.

“We definitely want to win a fourth consecutive championship for our soldiers,” he said. “They work so hard every day to allow us to do what we do. We want to make them happy in any way we can.”