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Eight-time champion Tony Schumacher has been part of the Top Fuel brigade for nearly three decades, and for many of those years, he's led the charge. The most winning driver in the class enters the 2024 season with a new look on his JCM Racing dragster, but his championship spirit is still fully intact.

A top-10 finish is generally expected for Schumacher, but ending last year No. 9 in the nation and without any hardware to hoist was out of character for the driver who leads the class in championships, race wins (86), and No. 1 qualifiers (88). After reaching the final at the NHRA New England Nationals last season, which concluded at Bristol Dragway, Schumacher trudged through what appeared to be a surprisingly tough summer before glimmers of greatness began to return. 

Schumacher explained, though, that there's no cause for concern.

"Mike Neff, John Schaffer, and Phil Shuler, they don't tiptoe," said Schumacher, referring to his vastly experienced tuning team. "We were making drastic changes. We would go to a race, try something, and they would say, 'No, no. That just isn't it.' It was big change after big change, and that was unique to us – but we started with new people and new parts. Every part of that car was brand new. We just had to find it.

"That's the thing about this team – we don't whip helmets around or yell at each other. We just work until we figure it out."

A pair of semifinal finishes and improved qualifying performance during the Countdown to the Championship left the JCM Racing team with positive momentum heading into the offseason, and after keeping their heads down in the shop over the winter, they ventured to Florida for preseason runs in their freshly branded Leatherwood Distillery Top Fuel dragster. They liked what they saw. 

"The guys said to me, 'We changed everything,' and my initial thought was, 'Oh, we were getting so close!' But then you come out and perform really well and it's, 'OK, these are the guys I know,' " detailed Schumacher. "I was incredibly pleased with the way we ran down in Florida. This is the car you want to start the year with, and I'm going for a championship." 

With a well-equipped Top Fuel dragster now welcoming the tune-ups assigned by its crew chiefs, Schumacher has much to look forward to in the year ahead, including a team that stayed bound together through the ups and downs of the previous season and is merging, in full, into the new campaign. 

The team is also expanding to include 2023 European FIA Top Fuel champion Ida Zetterström, who intends to battle on U.S. soil for the first time and charge for NHRA’s Rookie of the Year title. Zetterström, who plans to debut later this season, is scheduled to make a full go alongside Schumacher in 2025, and she'll be watching and learning from the eight-time NHRA champion leading along the way. 

"I think it's super cool, and Ida is just full of energy," said Schumacher. "I've always enjoyed being part of helping someone learn, and as far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier. Let's build this thing up. We're going to put her in a fast car, and I respect everything about the European circuit, but the tracks here are prepared different, everything is different. When she gets used to these tracks, it's going to be fun to watch."

The season will start on a somewhat somber note for Schumacher, who lost his father, NHRA team owner and Funny Car pioneer Don Schumacher, in December. 

"We're going to miss the hell out of him," he said. "A few races down the road, we'll do a tribute car, which is just as cool as all get-out and something I've always wanted to do. We're not going into the season without him. I look forward to having my pops up there watching and enjoying it." 

The first stop on the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour will be the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, an event that Schumacher has won five times – more than any other driver in the category. While the NHRA tour has, most often, started with the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, the schedule has been flipped since 2021 to an east-coast opener. 

Schumacher, a Chicago native who now calls Austin home, has proven he can win anywhere and has turned in victories at every racetrack on the current NHRA tour. Where the season starts is almost inconsequential to the well-versed driver, but he's keen on a Florida opener.

"It's unique to start the season in Gainesville after you've spent your whole life racing Pomona first, but I absolutely love it," said Schumacher. "We've had success at Pomona, some of the greatest moments in the history of the sport, but Gainesville is just a really cool place. The crowd is enormous, we [often] have perfect weather conditions, and we've had great success there. We're coming in with a different car than we had last year, in both looks and performance, and the car is running outstandingly quick with big power and good mph. 

"We're coming out there with new colors; Leatherwood Distillery is a great company, and I'm excited to represent them. I've always been the kind of guy who wants to build a team and do it with great sponsors, and it's awesome to be able to do it with a guy like Joe Maynard. I'm ready to rock, man."