One of the historic teams in NHRA drag racing, Don Schumacher Racing, is aiming high this weekend when NHRA competes at the Gatornationals. If all goes to plan, DSR could very well have 350 overall wins by the time Sunday evening rolls around and if that happens, the team will be one of the select few to reach that number.
It’s been a long time coming for Don Schumacher who started the race team back in 1998. His son, Tony, joined him in the very first race at the U.S. Nationals. From 1998 to present, DSR has notched 347 race victories in the NHRA. A couple of notables include Tony Schumacher grabbing win 100 in 2007 at the Pacific Raceways event, Antron Brown getting the 200th win at Gainesville seven years ago back in 2013, Tommy Johnson Jr. scoring win No. 299 and Brown accomplishing the feat of 300 wins in 2017 at Las Vegas for DSR.
Schumacher’s son, Tony, was able to grab 84 victories for the team. As the team approaches this historic achievement, whether it happens at the Gatornationals this weekend or later this year, team owner Don Schumacher says it’s something to be proud of.
“It’s truly an amazing accomplishment, and I’m in awe when I think about how far this team has come since opening our doors in 1998,” said Don Schumacher as he reflected on his team’s myriad of triumphs. “Of course, none of this would be possible without the driving force behind this team’s success, and that is the incredible group of people at DSR and DSM. ‘It takes a village,’ as they say. Everyone from the drivers to the crew chiefs and crew, the machine and fab shops, our entire front office, and hospitality staff; this whole operation of 130+ people, everyone contributes. And of course, a big thank you goes out to our partners; they keep us out there racing week after week, and we couldn’t accomplish any of this without them.”
This weekend race fans will see DSR field eight cars. Those drivers include Antron Brown, Leah Pruette in the Top Fuel class, Jack Beckman, Ron Capps, Matt Hagan and Tommy Johnson Jr. in the Funny Car Class while Mark Pawuk and Pruett will hope to grab wins with the Factory Stock Showdown.
Overall, DSR has 161 wins in the Top Fuel category with Tony Schumacher having 84 wins, Antron Brown with 43, Spencer Massey with 16, Leah Pruett with seven, Cory McClenathan with five, Shawn Langdon four, and Melanie Troxel having two wins for DSR. In the Funny Car category, legendary racer Ron Capps has 50 wins with the team, Matt Hagan 33, Jack Beckman 31, Whit Bazemore 13, Gary Scelzi 12, Tommy Johnson Jr 11, Johnny Gray seven and the team owner himself Don Schumacher has five wins.
As for the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, Angelle Sampey has 10 wins, Brown has six while Craig Treble and Chip Ellis have one each. In the Pro Stock division, Richie Stevens has two wins while Jeg Coughlin Jr. has one. Finally, Leah Pruette is the sole driver in the Factory Stock Series to have three wins.
Don Schumacher has five wins that came in 1970 when he defeated Leroy Goldstein at Indianapolis, 1971 when he won against Kelly Brown at the Springnationals, 1972 against Al Marshall at Grandnationals and Ed McCulloch at Englishtown. Schumacher’s final win came back in 1973 when he won against NHRA legend Kenny Bernstein at Pomona.
