Dixon, Schumacher are ready to rumble, but keeping close watch on Cory Mac

Above: Tony Schumacher, or Cory McClenathan, right, hope to keep the Top Fuel title in the Schumacher Racing family this weekend. (Staff photo by Will Lester)

Tony Schumacher, who has dominated Top Fuel in recent years, brings a precarious one-lead over two-time champion Larry Dixon coming into this weekend's season-ending Auto Club Finals at Fairplex, both both he and Dixon are also keeping close watch on Cory McClenathan, who is a somewhat distant, 48 points back.
Both addressed the issue Wednesday.
"Cory is 48 points behind me," Schumacher said. "We've (Schumacher and Dixon) won two championships coming back that far. It's definitely not out of reach. It's wide open. It's going to be a stout battle. He's (McClenathan) got two good cars ahead of him. But he can be assured that these two cars ahead of him are going to be going for it on Sunday morning, and all kinds of things happen. If we can't get it done, we sure hope he does."
Said Dixon: Cory couldn't certainly set a national (elapsed time) record. That's a round of points. That would be nice."
Both are also ready to do battle, but Schumacher said that's not what he's thinking about as the final weekend approaches.
"We do speeches at Schumacher Racing every Sunday before the race," Schumacher said. "I like to convey is that at the end of the day on Sunday when you're holding a trophy, that's not the most important part. It's what it takes to get it
" I look forward to not knowing the outcome on Sunday; I look forward to creating it. I look forward to waking up every morning and living it and making it so that the outcome is caused by hard preparation, dedication and intense work."
Schumacher also used a baseball analogy to describe his feeling for the weekend.
"This is bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, I'm holding the bat," he said. "I've got a hell of a pitcher out there and I've got to deal with something pretty intense. Fortunately for me, so does Larry, so does Cory. We're going to have to cowboy up in morning, man, and the guy that can't do it is not going to hold the trophy."
Dixon is just surprised its come to this, the final weekend of the season.
"I would't have bet a nickle on this happening," he said. "There was a lot of preseason hype about it, but you can't, because you need that chemistry and to race 23 events and only be one point apart, I don't think you could have scripted that."