Dragster canopy will not start NHRA season

Top Fuel dragster canopy will not start NHRA season, but DSR owner confident it will be used early this year


BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Feb. 1, 2012) - Don Schumacher Racing will not be able to start the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season with its innovative fully enclosed canopy on Tony Schumacher’s U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster until NHRA completes further inspection of the revolutionary component.
Team owner Don Schumacher said the canopy that fits within an existing dragster chassis also cannot be used at the second event to be held near Phoenix a week after the Feb. 9-12 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif.
“We have to go through the proper channels with NHRA to get approval for the canopy, and NHRA wants to take a close look at it so we’ll take it to Pomona where officials, Safety Safari and other drivers and owners can get a close look at it,” Don Schumacher said.
Tony Schumacher is an adamant supporter of the canopy although it adds about 25 pounds to the dragster’s weight. His best run with the canopy was 3.761 seconds at 324.28 mph during Jan. 15-21 testing at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, Fla., where he made 13 runs with it. Teammate Antron Brown also made a run to test the unit.
“This isn’t about performance. This about safety,” said Tony, the seven-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion. “I want every driver to have one. We aren’t hiding anything. Again, this is just all about making it safer for all the guys in Top Fuel.”
Don added, “We let all the teams at West Palm examine it. We let drivers get in it if they wanted. I want to make these cars as safe as they can be and not just for Tony. The canopy takes safety in Top Fuel to a much higher level.”

“The canopy doesn’t make us go faster,” Tony said. “It looks really cool, but I wouldn’t care if it were ugly. That fact is I feel safer under it. That’s all that matters to me.”

Schumacher is a longtime safety innovator in drag racing. In the early 1970s when he was a top Funny Car owner and driver he developed the first roof escape hatch after seeing too many drivers burned in cockpit fires. He was the first to activate on-board fire extinguishers by attaching the handle to a Funny Car’s brake handle so at the end of a fiery run the driver could keep one hand on the steering wheel and another on the brake while suppressing a fire.