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Wishing to clear the air in regards to the many rumors surrounding his championship-winning racing organization, team owner and Funny Car legend Don Schumacher has informed NHRA.com that the crew chief duo of Tim and Kim Richards are no longer employed by Schumacher Racing as of December 15. Schumacher also detailed the busy off-season the team is having as they prepare for another title run in 2001 as well as the team's immediate and future plans.

"First and foremost I would like to wish Tim and Kim Richards the very best of luck in all of their endeavors," said Schumacher. "They are outstanding crew chiefs and the work they did for us was second-to-none. I'm positive they will achieve an enormous amount of success in whatever they decide to do in the future.

"We're moving forward here at Schumacher Racing. Dan (Olson) and Jimmy (Prock) along with the rest of the crew are at the shop every day preparing the Army Top Fuel dragster and the Matco Tools Funny Car for testing in mid-January.

"Tony (Schumacher) and Whit (Bazemore) are relaxing for a few days but they are both very anxious to get in their new cars and make some laps. We have five new frames on the way, two Funny Cars and three dragsters, and we're all ready to see what the future holds for us."

For now, the plan is for Prock and Olson to work together on both cars.

Schumacher, who rose to drag racing prominence in the 1970s, became a full-time team owner midway through the 1998 season with his son Tony campaigning the Exide Batteries Top Fuel dragster. One year later, in their first full season of competition, the younger Schumacher scored his first Winston championship.

Tony was a major player in the race for the 2000 championship as well until a late-season accident forced him to miss two events with a broken leg.

Along the way, Team Schumacher has grown. They added a second dragster sponsored by the U.S. Army at this year's U.S. Nationals and hired upstart Melanie Troxel to pilot the Exide car. Near the end of the season, the team also announced that they would be adding a Matco Tools-sponsored Funny Car in 2001 to be driven by Bazemore.

"The Army dragster and the Matco Tools Funny Car will be ready to go at Pomona," Schumacher said. "We're still working very hard at finding a title sponsor for the second dragster and we hope something comes together soon. The plan is to keep Melanie in the car and the only way I see that changing is if another driver out there comes along with a good sponsorship deal in hand.

"We've also got some new trailers that will be finished within a few days. The Funny Car trailer is almost done and we have decided to build a machine shop trailer that we can bring to the tracks with us and it will be done before the end of the year as well. We're excited about our program."

The story is copyright 2000 National Hot Rod Association. It may not be reprinted or retransmitted in any form without the express written permission of NHRA.com.