Oct. 27, 2007

Don Schumacher continues to live by the motto that made him a success as a racer, businessman and team owner. “I never settle for anything less than the best, and neither should you.”

Schumacher has built a high-profile, multi-car NHRA team in a short period of time. The teams that race under the Don Schumacher Racing banner in 2007 are: the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger Funny Car driven by Gary Scelzi; the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger Funny Car piloted by Ron Capps; the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car wheeled by Jack Beckman; the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster driven by his son Tony Schumacher; the U.S. Army-sponsored Pro Stock Motorcycles of Angelle Sampey and Antron Brown; and the Team Mopar/Valspar Pro Stock Dodge Stratus driven by Richie Stevens Jr.

In 2008, the Funny Car driven by Ron Capps will become the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger, with continuing major associate sponsorship from Brut.

A former Funny Car driver who starred on the match-race and national event circuits in the 1960s and 1970s, Don Schumacher returned to NHRA professional competition as a team owner in September of 1998. It was immediately apparent that Schumacher had not lost his zeal or knowledge of what it took to win in a highly-competitive arena. In his first full season as an owner, Team Schumacher and driver Tony Schumacher captured the 1999 NHRA Top Fuel series championship. Tony collected a second Top Fuel championship in 2004, a third in 2005, and a fourth in 2006.

In 2001, Schumacher added the Matco Tools Funny Car to the team and at the conclusion of that year, he brought on board Scotty Cannon’s Oakley Funny Car. In 2003, Schumacher added a third Funny Car for Gary Scelzi, also sponsored by Oakley and Mopar. In 2004, Cannon returned to Pro-Mod competition and Schumacher fielded two Funny Cars for most of the year, adding a research-and-development Funny Car, the Wonder Wagon, for Johnny Gray later in the season.

After the usual new-team learning curve, Schumacher’s Matco Tools Funny Car team ended the 2001 season with a flurry of successes. In the final 12 races, the Matco Tools car qualified No. 1 nine times, won three races in seven final rounds and recorded the fastest speed in NHRA Funny Car history of 325.69 miles per hour. The team finished the 2001 campaign in second place in the final point standings. In 2002, Bazemore won twice, placing fifth in points, while Cannon came in eighth in the standings.

The 2003 season saw a close battle for the Funny Car championship between Bazemore and Tony Pedregon which went to the penultimate race. Bazemore lost to Pedregon in the final round, dashing his chances for his first championship. He ended up just 140 points behind with three victories and three No. 1 qualifying efforts. Scelzi won once and became the fastest Funny Car driver on the planet with a national-record-setting 329.18-mph pass.

In 2004, both Scelzi and Bazemore looked strong, but at different times of the season. Bazemore led the Funny Car point standings early in the yeat, then struggled at the end, while Scelzi and crew chief Mike Neff began to blister the quarter-mile in the last half of the year. Bazemore won two events and was No. 1 qualifier four times, taking sixth in the standings, while Scelzi became the first Funny Car driver to reach 330 mph, winning three times while qualifying on the pole once. He ended up third in points.

In 2005, DSR made history when Gary Scelzi won his first Funny Car championship in a three-way battle for the crown among Scelzi, teammate Ron Capps and 13-time champion John Force. Capps ended up second, Bazemore ninth.

The following year, 2006, saw a similar battle unfold, but it was between Force and Capps. The fight for the title again came down to the final race, with Force taking his 14th crown and Capps ending up third. Scelzi had a less-than-stellar season, finishing seventh, and Bazemore left the team before the end of the season. He was replaced by Jack Beckman after the U.S. Nationals in the Matco Tools Funny Car, who, in only five races, set national speed and elapsed-time records, qualified No. 1 once, reached two final rounds and won once.

When it comes to race victories, Don Schumacher has been to the U.S. Nationals winner’s circle four times. The first was as a driver, when he captured the 1970 U.S. Nationals Funny Car championship in a Plymouth Barracuda. His winning run was 7.000 seconds at 214.79 mph.

The next time he graced the winner’s circle at drag racing’s most prestigious race was as an owner and father, celebrating Tony Schumacher’s Top Fuel win in 2000. The following year, Don Schumacher was back in the U.S. Nationals winner’s circle, this time celebrating with his Matco Tools Funny Car team and driver Whit Bazemore. In 2004, he returned to victory lane for the second time with son Tony, and again in 2006 and 2007.

As a driver, Schumacher, who was known as the “The Shoe,” is remembered for his unequaled record in match races across the country. While the sport was in the early stage of organization, he won the 1972 Coca-Cola Cavalcade of Stars Championship, the 1973 AHRA World Championship, five NHRA national event titles and nine IHRA event titles. His Plymouth Barracuda Funny Cars were dubbed "Stardust" and they were usually listed in the record books with runs like 6.18 seconds at 241.95 mph in 1974. He was an early ambassador to England where he set long-standing records with the same 1970 Plymouth that he drove to a U.S. Nationals victory.

As a car owner in the 1970s, Schumacher’s record was even more impressive. His engine, clutch, and aerodynamic advancements made his Funny Cars the leading performer in the country. His safety innovations – such as roof-mounted escape hatches, reduced the threat of fire-related injuries at a time when many Funny Car drivers suffered serious burns.

In late 1974, with son Tony five years old, daughter Tara a year old, daughter Samantha not yet born and a family business in need of his supervision, Schumacher announced his retirement from drag racing to devote full-time energy to his family business, Schumacher Electric Corporation, headquartered in Mt. Prospect, Ill, a suburb of Chicago.

To no one's surprise, Schumacher approached his business with the same work ethic and professionalism that made him a racing champion. Today, Schumacher Electric is the world's foremost manufacturer of battery chargers with numerous additional product lines including Schumacher Electric Welders in widespread distribution.

More than 900 employees work in the four Schumacher Electric Corporation manufacturing facilities located in Mt. Prospect and Hoopeston, Ill., Rensselaer, Ind. and Brownsville, Texas, with additional offshore resources.

Schumacher, his stepdaughter Megan and his wife, Sarah, reside in Park Ridge, Ill.