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J.R. Todd and the talented crew of the SKULL Shine/Torco Racing Fuels Top Fuel dragster scored an impressive victory on a perfect day for racing in the Toyo Tires Nationals Sunday at Maple Grove Raceway.
Todd captured the third win of his NHRA rookie season in his 16th NHRA start and pushed his way into the POWERade Series top 10 despite missing four races earlier in the year. Along the way, he sidelined Tony Schumacher, the defending series champion who is in contention for another title, and early series leader Melanie Troxel. He put an exclamation point on it with a personal-best elapsed time of 4.494 seconds at 324.12 mph in the title round against Troxel.
"The car's performance stepped up after the first round," said Todd. "I knew that Jimmy (Walsh, team crew chief who is from the nearby Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Pa. area) had a good handle on the tune-up last weekend at Dallas and he showed it Sunday. We beat good cars today and we earned the win."
Todd defeated Cory McClenathan, Schumacher and David Grubnic to move in opposite Troxel in the money run. He left first against Troxel and never looked back en route to his first four-second elapsed time, 4.494 at 324.12 mph to Troxel's 4.538 at 327.26.
"It felt good to get my first 4.40 (second) run and we picked a good time to do it," said Todd, of Lawrenceburg, Ind. "I was pleased Jimmy got the chance to win in front of his hometown friends and fans."
It was the victory over Schumacher, however, that provided the team with a major confidence boost. Todd had qualified eighth and Schumacher was first with a stunning 4.440-second quarter-mile lap.
That didn't bother Todd and Walsh. J.R. claimed an improbable hole-shot triumph by combining a .089-second reaction time with a 4.502-second elapsed time. He got the win light six-thousandths of a second ahead of Schumacher and his 4.490-second, 325.37-mph lap.
Todd has had to defeat Schumacher to win each of his races. The first two wins came in the finals at Denver and Sonoma.
Todd began his climb into 10th place with a win over McClenathan (4.595 to 13.254), and when he defeated David Grubnic in the semifinals with a 4.510-second run he boosted his best speed to 327.82 mph.
Todd now had 879 points, 22 more than 11th place Cory McClenathan with three races remaining in the 2006 schedule. And the first of those, the Torco Racing Fuels Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park near Richmond, begins Friday.
Steve Torrence, Todd's new teammate in an identical SKILL Shine dragster, will be making his Top Fuel debut.
J.R.Todd Captures Third Top Fuel Win in Rookie Year
Tenth Place in Points
J.R. Todd and the talented crew of the SKULL Shine/Torco Racing Fuels Top Fuel dragster scored an impressive victory on a perfect day for racing in the Toyo Tires Nationals Sunday at Maple Grove Raceway.
Todd captured the third win of his NHRA rookie season in his 16th NHRA start and pushed his way into the POWERade Series top 10 despite missing four races earlier in the year. Along the way, he sidelined Tony Schumacher, the defending series champion who is in contention for another title, and early series leader Melanie Troxel. He put an exclamation point on it with a personal-best elapsed time of 4.494 seconds at 324.12 mph in the title round against Troxel.
"The car's performance stepped up after the first round," said Todd. "I knew that Jimmy (Walsh, team crew chief who is from the nearby Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Pa. area) had a good handle on the tune-up last weekend at Dallas and he showed it Sunday. We beat good cars today and we earned the win."
Todd defeated Cory McClenathan, Schumacher and David Grubnic to move in opposite Troxel in the money run. He left first against Troxel and never looked back en route to his first four-second elapsed time, 4.494 at 324.12 mph to Troxel's 4.538 at 327.26.
"It felt good to get my first 4.40 (second) run and we picked a good time to do it," said Todd, of Lawrenceburg, Ind. "I was pleased Jimmy got the chance to win in front of his hometown friends and fans."
It was the victory over Schumacher, however, that provided the team with a major confidence boost. Todd had qualified eighth and Schumacher was first with a stunning 4.440-second quarter-mile lap.
That didn't bother Todd and Walsh. J.R. claimed an improbable hole-shot triumph by combining a .089-second reaction time with a 4.502-second elapsed time. He got the win light six-thousandths of a second ahead of Schumacher and his 4.490-second, 325.37-mph lap.
Todd has had to defeat Schumacher to win each of his races. The first two wins came in the finals at Denver and Sonoma.
Todd began his climb into 10th place with a win over McClenathan (4.595 to 13.254), and when he defeated David Grubnic in the semifinals with a 4.510-second run he boosted his best speed to 327.82 mph.
Todd now had 879 points, 22 more than 11th place Cory McClenathan with three races remaining in the 2006 schedule. And the first of those, the Torco Racing Fuels Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park near Richmond, begins Friday.
Steve Torrence, Todd's new teammate in an identical SKILL Shine dragster, will be making his Top Fuel debut.
