By Jon Asher

Six years ago, when Tony Schumacher’s father, Don, was inducted into the MSHFA, the number was 333: the staggering number of victories earned by Don Schumacher Racing drivers. This year’s number is only 10 — but it’s every bit as meaningful.

Before we get to the relevance of that number, there’s a bigger number: 88. That’s how many NHRA races Tony Schumacher’s won in Top Fuel — 26 more than his closest rival. Now let’s throw in 162 — the number of final rounds he’s made. That’s a 53% winning percentage, a remarkable record that few can come close to. There are drivers with decades of experience who would have been thrilled with a single win.

Tony first attained notoriety in the ’60s at the wheel of an alcohol Funny Car fielded by his dad, but his entry into the fuel ranks came via an opportunity he arranged for himself with the Peek Bros. After reuniting with his father, his driving skills measurably — and visibly — improved, with the “right” combination arriving as a long-term sponsorship with the U.S. Army.

At that time Tony was a longhaired and often brash young man, but his affiliation with the Army changed him. First came a military-style haircut, followed shortly by a new and lasting moniker: The Sarge. As Schumacher began spending more time around the men and women who make the Army work — the grunts, if you will — he actually began acting like a service member, much to the delight of his sponsor, racing officials and even the media, which began to seek him out because of his willingness to speak bluntly.

Fortunately for the younger Schumacher, his father’s organizational skills resulted in a highly efficient team operation, leaving Tony to concentrate on what he’s always done at the highest level — handle a race car with horsepower estimated to be near 12,000 that sends a vehicle going from a standing start to the end of a 1,000-foot racing surface in 3.6 seconds at a speed that sometimes exceeds 335 mph. Many of those who’ve never driven such machines mistakenly believe there’s little skill involved and almost anyone can do it. They’re wrong — and they can’t. At those speeds things happen not in milliseconds but in microseconds. A driver has to react long before anyone watching might have a clue that something’s about to go wrong. Tony Schumacher is one of those rarities. Not only a highly skilled car handler, but a man capable of climbing out at the top end with a smile on his face, and a ready quip for the media hordes.

Other father-son Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductees include the Andrettis, the Unsers, the Pettys and several others. But as exceptional as have been their careers, and despite some of them having won the biggest races in their arenas of choice more than once, none have come close to what Schumacher has achieved. He’s won drag racing’s most important race, the NHRA U.S. Nationals, 10 times!

Nobody else is even close. Together with his eight season championships, Tony Schumacher is in a class by himself. Small wonder he’s this year’s drag racing inductee in the Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Asher is the former editor of five drag racing-related magazines.  In 55 years of writing and photographing, he’s received two Special Recognition Awards from the All-Star Drag Racing Team, the Founders Award from the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame and AARWBA’s Straight Shooter Award.