Tony Schumacher has a ready answer when fans wonder how much longer the 54-year-old, three-time world champion will keep climbing drag racing's ladder in the National Hot Rod Association.
“About 10 years,” Schumacher said. “That's what I've told them for the past 20 years.”
Age is just a number in drag racing, where cars hurtle down the track for a quarter-mile at more than 300 mph (483 kph), a blur of speed and roaring noise that is over in a few seconds before a parachute helps bring the vehicles to a stop.
Such terrifying speeds are far above those seen in Formula 1, NASCAR and IndyCar, but those races last far longer. That is part of the reason drivers in their 70s and even 80s can rely on their talent and experience to safely pilot a Top Fuel or Funny Car for a few moments and keep on winning long after traditional drivers on ovals and road courses call it a career.
“In our sport, unlike many of them, it's mental,” Schumacher explained. “I feel like I got better with age.”
He is not alone. Ron Capps, 59, has won at least one Funny Car event for 15 straight years starting in 2009. Antron Brown, 48, has 75 career Top Fuel victories, winning titles in 2012, 2015 and 2016. Matt Hagan, 41, picked up his 50th Funny Car victory in April and the reigning champ was nominated as “Best Driver” for an ESPY.
Of course, all-time great John Force, 75, has won 157 times in a career that began in 1978 — 46 years ago.
Force was involved in a fiery crash last week at an event in Virginia. He was talkative with rescue works before going to a hospital, where he remains under observation. Force is now in a neurological intensive care unit to focus on a head injury, a switch viewed as a “welcome positive" in a recovery his team will take a long time.
As in all racing series, safety improvements have been made over the years in drag racing, from the roll cages and padding within the chassis to the firesuits, helmets and restraints for the drivers. Deaths in the NHRA are rare but not unheard of.
Brown, competing this week in Norwalk, Ohio, said accidents like Force's are in the back of every racer's mind. The successful ones know how to block out the worries while focusing on their driving skills. A Top Fuel or Funny Car has somewhere around 11,000 horsepower — more than 10 times that seen in an F1 car, for example.
The love of the sport, Brown believes, is the fuel to keep going in a sport where engines can burst into flames or a tiny wobble can send a car airborne or hurtling into a wall.
“I think this drag racing, the people that are in the sport, they're consumed by it, I think,” he said.
That had to be the case for Chris Karamesines, the “Golden Greek,” who advanced in a Top Fuel event at age 86 with a then-record run of 305 mph (491 kph). Karamesines retired in 2020 with granddaughter Krista Baldwin taking over his ride.
“It’s been 63 years of fun, and I have loved every minute of it," Karamesines said at his retirement.
Irvin Johns made history at age 79 last year when he won the Super Stock title at the Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Illinois, to become the NHRA's oldest national event winner.
“Seriously, I feel like you can do this for as long as you like," said Johns, who stepped away from racing for more than 30 years as he built a towing business in Louisville, Kentucky.
Brown, a relative youngster, said those who last learn that fitness and health is a key component to drag racing longevity. When you start out, the speed rush and thrill of racing carries you, he said.
“How many older people do you see racing the mile? It's not older people winning the Boston Marathon," Brown said. “You can see older (runners) winning the 100 meters. That's what we are, we're a sprint.”
That may be what attracted NASCAR Hall of Famer and three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, 53, to drag racing.
“I'm too old to race in IndyCar, I'm retired from NASCAR, sprint car racing's getting tougher and tougher,” Stewart said in February 2023. “But drag racing, the reaction times and the aspects of it that are way different than anything else I've done is what's drawing me to it.”
Schumacher, the son of drag racing great Don Schumacher whose company has won more than 350 events and 19 championships, knows what Stewart means. The younger Schumacher has kept a strong fitness regimen and believes his mind is as sharp as ever, no matter how much younger his rivals may be.
“I do believe there's a point where I'm not catching” the right timing during a run, Schumacher said. “But as of right now, I'm dead straight every time.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
FILE - Top fuel driver Antron Brown, left, alongside funny car driver and teammate Ron Capps, celebrates after winning the NHRA Heartland Nationals, Sunday, May 21, 2017, in Topeka, Kan. Antron Brown, 48, is winning at ages where drivers in other disciplines are out of the cockpit. (Chris Neal/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP)/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP)
FILE - Funny Car driver John Force looks to get back on track for the last day of qualifying at the NHRA Kansas Nationals at Heartland Park, May 21, 2016, in Topeka Kansas. (Chris Neal/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP, File)
FILE - Tony Schumacher stares out from the seat of his Top Fule dragster while his crew runs tests prior to his first qualifying run of the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals drag races Friday, May 18, 2018, at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kan. Schumacher has a standard answer ready when drag racing fans ask when the 54-year-old three-time world champion plans to retire. Schumacher gives them the response he's used much of the past two decades: “About another 10 years.” (Chris Neal/The Capital-Journal via AP, File)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — When Hungary takes over the helm of the European Union on July 1, many politicians in Brussels will have the same thing on their minds: whether populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will use the role to further his reputation as the bloc’s main spoiler.
Orbán in recent years has seemed to relish opportunities to block, water down or delay key EU decisions, routinely going against the grain of most other leaders on issues like the war in Ukraine, relations with Russia and China, and efforts to defend democracy and the rule of law.
His public opposition to EU policies and stances has long frustrated his partners in the bloc and pushed him to the margins of the continent's mainstream. Hungary's motto for its presidency — Make Europe Great Again — raised eyebrows for its resemblance to the famous tagline of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
The EU presidency rotates among its member countries, and while the post holds little real power, it does allow countries to put their priorities high on Europe’s agenda.
Now, as Hungary resides over the 27-nation bloc for the coming six months, it will likely keep up its anti-EU rhetoric, said Dorka Takácsy, a research fellow at the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy.
But the timeline of its presidency — beginning with a lengthy summer break and a transitional period of forming a new European Parliament and executive commission — will give Budapest few opportunities to derail the bloc’s priorities significantly, she said.
"These six months are altogether not that long, which means that ... Hungary cannot do potentially much harm, even according to the critics," Takácsy said.
As Hungary's takeover approached, leaders in Brussels rushed to push through important policy decisions while Belgium was still at the helm. On Tuesday, for example, the EU launched membership talks with candidate countries Ukraine and Moldova.
Orbán has vocally opposed and threatened to block Ukraine's candidacy. His government has also held up EU efforts to supply Ukraine with badly needed funding.
Yet with Ukraine's accession process already initiated, Takácsy said, the most Hungary can do now under its presidency is delay further steps toward its EU membership, a process that in any scenario is likely to take many years.
“All the meaningful steps from the European side regarding Ukraine were already done," she said. “(A Hungarian) delay, according to most European leaders, is already calculated and being taken into consideration as if it’s something which is most likely going to happen.”
Orbán has long been accused of dismantling democratic institutions and violating the EU's standards on the rule of law, leading the bloc's legislature in May to call for the presidency to be taken out of Hungary's hands entirely.
In a resolution, the EU parliament argued that democratic deficiencies raised questions of “how Hungary will be able to credibly fulfill this task in 2024.” Two years ago, the European Commission froze billions of euros in funds to Budapest over concerns about democratic backsliding by the government.
But some Hungarian officials have stressed that they plan to act constructively during their presidency. Last week, Hungarian minister for EU affairs János Bóka told reporters that “we will be honest brokers, working loyally with all Member States and institutions.”
“Carrying out the functions of the presidency is our obligation, but we see it primarily as an opportunity," Bóka said. “At the beginning of the new institutional cycle, we can initiate a debate and set the agenda on issues that are important to us.”
Among the issues that Hungary has prioritized in its seven-point program is the enlargement of the EU in the Western Balkans for countries like Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania through a “merit-based” procedure.
Budapest has also vowed to strengthen the EU's external borders and step up against illegal immigration, and to address “demographic challenges” that involve an aging population in Europe — two priorities that reflect Orbán's image as a staunch opponent of immigration and defender of family values.
But after years of campaigns portraying the EU as forcing unwanted policies on Hungary — Orbán has repeatedly compared membership in the bloc to more than four decades of Soviet occupation of his country — he may find it difficult to restore goodwill among his EU partners.
“The Hungarian government has been using the image of Brussels as a punching bag,” Takácsy said. “Now it’s somewhat difficult to communicate that for these brief six months, we are basically the Brussels that Hungary is waging war and a freedom fight against.”
With some words of advice for Orbán before Hungary assumes its role, the prime minister of Belgium said the position “does not mean that you are the boss of Europe.”
"The presidency means that you're the one that has to make the compromise,” Alexander De Croo said to reporters in Brussels on Thursday. “Being in the position where you have to make the compromise is an interesting position to be in at least once in your life, so I can definitely recommend it to Mr. Orbán.”
FILE - Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, June 27, 2024. When Hungary takes over the helm of the European Union on Monday July 1, 2024 many politicians in Brussels will have the same thing on their minds: whether populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will use the role to further his reputation as the bloc’s main spoiler. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)
FILE - Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, June 27, 2024. When Hungary takes over the helm of the European Union on Monday July 1, 2024 many politicians in Brussels will have the same thing on their minds: whether populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will use the role to further his reputation as the bloc’s main spoiler. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)
