Rivalries have been a major part of Top Fuel drag racing since the days of Don “The Snake” Prudhomme vs. Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen and Shirley Muldowney vs. “Big Daddy” Don Garlits. More recently it was Tony Schumacher vs. Larry Dixon and then Schumacher vs. Doug Kalitta.

There could be a new one brewing, or rather a rekindled one – Tony Shumacher vs. Steve Torrence.

Schumacher is returning to full-time NHRA racing after a three-year semi-hiatus. And Torrence is chomping at the bit to get it on.

Schumacher, 52, is the winningest driver in Top Fuel history with 85 event wins and eight national series titles over 19 years. Torrence, 38, has 55 event titles and four national series titles – the series wins coming in a row over the past four years. He has been racing in Top Fuel since 2010.

Schumacher and Torrence headline the NHRA Winternationals being held at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona this weekend. It is the season opener, as the NHRA returns to its traditional 22-event schedule. Last year, due to the pandemic, the Winternationals were held in the middle of a mid-summer heatwave.

These wintertime Winternationals officially began Thursday with some sportsman class qualifying, but racing gets underway in earnest Friday with extensive sportsman and top alcohol qualifying runs and other activities beginning at 8:30 a.m. Pro Stock and Nitro (Top Fuel and Funny Car) qualifying starts at 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

On Saturday, the midway opens at 9:30 a.m. Sportsman and top alcohol qualifying, and other activities, are mixed in with Pro Stock and Nitro qualifying, which begin at noon and 12:30 p.m. Final Pro Stock and Nitro qualifying runs are scheduled for 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Sunday is finals day. Pre-race ceremonies begin at 10 a.m., with the first round of Nitro eliminations scheduled for 11 a.m. The first round of Pro Stock eliminations is scheduled for noon. The eliminations finals in the Pro Stock and Nitro classes are scheduled for 4 p.m.

Schumacher and Torrence have raced 37 times, with Schumacher holding a slight edge at 19-18. They last raced at Houston on Oct 25, 2020, with Schumacher scoring a final-round victory. It was one of only seven events Schumacher competed in during his forced three-year hiatus. And it was his only win during that stretch, but the 85th of his career.Schumacher was forced to the sideline after the 2018 season when his main sponsor, the U.S. Army, redirected marketing dollars out of motorsports. But now he is back, thanks to philanthropists Joe and Cathi Maynard of Clarksville, Tenn. They are his main sponsor, and he recently added another sponsor, Scag Mowers.

The Maynards are both Army veterans and they own a major engineering firm in Clarksville. Earlier this month, they donated $15 million to Austin Peay State University. It costs about $3 million a year to run a Top Fuel dragster, and prize money is minimal compared to other sports. Top prize for a national championship is $500,000. On the PGA Tour, one putt can be worth that much.

During a phone interview earlier this week, Schumacher downplayed the Torrence rivalry.

“You can’t focus on just one driver, not with the field we have this year,” he said while driving from Phoenix in his friend Bubba Carson’s Ford Ranger. “It is going to be the most epic year of all time.”

Schumacher, who lives in Austin, Texas, was in Phoenix last weekend for test runs, which he called successful. After the Winternationals, he and Carson will drive back to Phoenix, the site of the second stop on the NHRA schedule.

Torrence, while still in Kilgore,Texas, before flying out to Southern California on the family’s private jet, was more forthcoming about a rivalry with Schumacher.

“Tony’s a good friend, but everybody knows that he doesn’t really like it when you trash talk,” Torrence said. “So, when he said this wasn’t a comeback for him because he has been here before, I just reminded him that since he has been gone there is a new world order and there is a new sheriff in town.”

Time to get it on, boys.

WINTERNATIONALS AT A GLANCE

FRIDAY

8:30 a.m.: Lower division eliminations

12:30 and 2:45: Top Alcohol qualifying

4 p.m.: Pro Stock qualifying

4:30 p.m.: Top Fuel and Funny Car qualifying. FS1 & 7 p.m.)

SATURDAY

9 a.m.: Lower division eliminations

10:45 a.m.: Top Alcohol qualifying; eliminations at 3:15 p.m.

Noon and 4 p.m.: Pro Stock qualifying

4:30 p.m. Top Fuel and Funny Car qualifying, FS1 (4 a.m. Sunday)

SUNDAY

9 a.m.: Pre-race ceremonies

11 a.m. Pro Stock, Funny Car and Top Fuel eliminations (final round, 4 p.m.), FS1 (7 p.m.)