Waltrip Brewing to sponsor Schumacher at Thunder Valley

BRISTOL, Va. — A local brewery is putting its livery on the sides a former drag racing world champion’s car for this weekend’s Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals — but at 330 miles per hour it may be tough to read.

Michael Waltrip Brewing has agreed to sponsor Tony Schumacher’s Top Fuel dragster in this weekend’s annual NHRA stop at Bristol Dragway. With six victories in eight final round appearances in 19 Thunder Valley starts, Schumacher is the most successful Top Fuel driver in Bristol history. Doug Herbert tallied six wins in seven finals during his career here.

Waltrip, a former NASCAR star and current FOX TV analyst, and his partners established the business here in 2021. They also operate a location in Concord, N.C., and have plans for further expansion in the southeast.

“We are super excited,” MWB CEO Bryan Sperber said prior to Thursday car unveiling ceremony. “Michael and I, when we started the company, it was all about making really great beer, having great food and — like in Talladega Nights — we want to go fast. I don’t think you can go faster than Tony Schumacher’s Top Fuel car.

“To have our name on the side of Tony’s car, an eight-time NHRA champion, is really a dream come true. It’s amazing. We’re really a very young company so to see our logo on the side of Tony’s car is incredibly exciting. Michael is in Sonoma for Fox on the NASCAR side, but he’s really fired up as well.”

About 100 people attended the unveiling ceremony Thursday at the brewery. The 300-inch wheelbase car features the MWB logo and images of the brand’s Talladega Light and Bristol Sunshine tangerine ale cans on the front half of the machine. It shares space with primary sponsor Leatherwood Distillery.

This weekend’s arrangement was a business decision for Schumacher’s car owner, Joe Maynard of Clarksville, who recently invested in Michael Waltrip Brewing.

“I’m now a part of Michael Waltrip Brewing and with the distillery and Tony and everything we do, I could not see a better way to put our teams together and go into the future than putting them together on this car — for this race — and hopefully going out and showing off a little, we hope.”

Schumacher, 54, appreciates the relationship with someone he’s gotten to know from another discipline of racing.

“Michael Waltrip is a legend in my mind. The guy is riot. We’ve been here several times,” Schumacher said. “Joe Maynard, our team owner, partnering up with him has been awesome for us to unveil a really cool looking car here in Bristol. I look up to him [Waltrip]. He’s a really cool guy.”

Schumacher is riding some momentum into Bristol after reaching the finals last Sunday at the NHRA New England Nationals. He currently ranks eighth in the NHRA Mission Foods national standings, one spot ahead of Top Fuel rookie and former NASCAR champion Tony Stewart, who will also be in competition this weekend.

“We’ve been coming here a long time. I love coming here and the tracks you perform the best are the ones you want to come back to,” Schumacher said.

He added their sponsorship combination sets up well for a victory celebration, should they be fortunate enough to win Sunday’s final round.

“This car, you can tell our vision is to win because everything about it is celebration — beer and bourbon. We are prepared for the weekend,” he said. “If we win, we’ll come back here Sunday night and celebrate.”

Schumacher’s most recent Bristol victory occurred in 2018, when he knocked off Californian Mike Salinas in the final round. His first came 20 years ago, in 2004, when he beat Tennessean Clay Millican. He went undefeated at Bristol from 2008 through 2010 then returned to the Bristol winner’s circle in 2012.

In that race he defeated 2023 world champion Doug Kalitta. Twelve years later that race remains the quickest and closest Top Fuel final round in track history and Schumacher’s final round .023 reaction remains the best by any Top Fuel winner in 22 Bristol races.

Schumacher’s round wins record at Bristol is 39-13. Only Funny Car star Ron Capps has a better record at Bristol with seven wins in eight finals and a round win record of 40-15.