INDIANAPOLIS, IN. (September 3rd, 2016) The annual Traxxas Nitro Shootout took place in between Saturday’s qualifying rounds at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals. It’s a specialty race with 8 drivers who race for a $100,000 check, trophy, and bragging rights. The ladder was comprised of 7 winners of Mello Yello national events from earlier this season, the 8th spot was voted on by the fans and picked in a lottery. The Top Fuel field included all four of Don Schumacher Racing’s dragster drivers, Tony Schumacher, Antron Brown, Shawn Langdon, and Leah Pritchett. As well as Brittany Force, Doug Kalitta, Steve Torrence, and voted-in Terry McMillen.
If you weren’t a DSR driver, your day ended early. In the three round competition, it was an all Don Schumacher Racing competition by the second round. In the final of the Traxxas Nitro Shootout, Tony Schumacher edged out teammate, Leah Pritchett, for the win. His 3.717 at 328.86 mph pass bested her 3.738 at 317.05 mph run. This marks Schumacher’s second Traxxas Nitro Shootout victory, the first came in 2014. However most notably, he has a record nine national event wins at Indianapolis, and has the most victories in the Top Fuel category. He was very quick to give the credit to his team and teammates, “I can’t say enough about Mike Green and Neal [Strausbaugh] and the job that they’ve done, and my teammates stepped up to the plate and made me drive like a champ. Those guys are truly awesome, and racing your teammates, it’s the hardest group on the planet because you know the parts and pieces are the best, and you know the drivers are great. I love being here. I love winning $100,000 for my team. It’s awesome. They’re the greatest team on Earth, and I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
Schumacher, who made his Top Fuel debut at this track 20 years ago, has a lot of love for Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. “I think we should run most every race here at Indy — I’m going to petition for it because this place from the day we showed up here 20 years ago has been magic.”
