Don Schumacher is looking to add to his legacy in the Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Joliet, nearly 40 miles from his hometown of Chicago, the city that helped him build a legendary drag-racing career.
Schumacher was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but grew up in an apartment above a tavern in Chicago, where his parents ran a bookmaking operation. He said his interest in drag racing stemmed from being a 16-year-old who loved to drive faster than he should have.
“One of my dear friends from Lincolnwood invited me to bring my car down to U.S. Route 30 in Gary, Indiana,” Schumacher said. “I raced, I got beat and I didn’t like that.
“I just started working on the car to make it better and faster so I didn’t get beat all the time. That’s how I got involved with the sport.
I did not like getting beat.”
Schumacher turned his competitive edge into one of the most successful drag-racing careers in history. He started racing competitively in 1964 and won five NHRA National Event Funny Car driving titles in the 1970s before retiring in 1974 so he could spend more time with his family.
“I was worn out,” Schumacher said. “My wife and the kids used to meet me at O’Hare Airport because I would layover between flights, and that would be a lot of the time that I would see them during the summer months. I was content with what I accomplished in this sport and felt it was the right time for me to step away.”
Schumacher used retirement to focus on his family and help build his business, Schumacher Electric Corp., into the largest manufacturer of battery chargers in the world. He didn’t have any intentions of returning to drag racing, but his son, Tony, made the decision to pursue a career in professional drag racing in the mid-1990s, bringing his
father back to the track as the owner of Don Schumacher Racing after a 23-year hiatus from the sport.
Tony Schumacher has set nearly every record in the NHRA Top Fuel category. After being established in 1997, Don Schumacher Racing has 336 event wins, making Don the winningest team owner in NHRA history. Don Schumacher was enshrined into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on March 12 for his on-track accomplishments and overall contributions to racing.
With Tony Schumacher as a racer and his daughter, Megan, as vice president of Don Schumacher Racing, Don Schumacher is able to experience the best of both worlds every day: family and drag racing.
“It’s awesome to be able to accomplish things together as a family,” Megan Schumacher said. “That’s something not many people get to experience. We are really lucky we get to go to the highs and the lows together.”
Don Schumacher said he’s honored to represent his family and the city of Chicago.
“This is very special to my heart because I’m a Chicago native,” Don Schumacher said. “This is the part of the country I love.”
