Rodger Brogdon Continues to impress
As the NHRA POWERade tour wrapped up qualifying for the second stop on the 2007 tour, rookie Rodger Brogdon just continues to impress in the very tough Pro Stock category. Just as they did at the season opening Winternationals, Brogdon and his team were able to string together four 6.6 second runs, showing skill and consistency way beyond their short Pro Stock history.
In fact, looking back over the combined numbers from Pomona and this weeks qualifying in Phoenix, Brogdon’s Texas based Dodge Stratus is the third most consistent car in qualifying and joins Jason Line and Jim Yates as the only three cars that have put 6.6 second times on the scoreboard in all eight qualifying laps of the young 2007 season. And while it is true that qualifying doesn’t win races, this rookie team continues to be able to develop a strong database and learn from a consistency that has eluded some of the best in the sport so far.
Saturday mornings early session provided the best conditions of the weekend, and while the team just missed the launch setup, Brogdon’s Mopar was still the fourth fastest in speed for the session and was eighth quickest covering the last half of the quarter mile, and again showed the teams strong capabilities. In the final qualifying session Rodger ran a 6.697, which was good for the eighth quickest time of the session in conditions that had obviously deteriorated from the conditions earlier in the day.
With qualifying concluded, Brogdon’s Stratus ended up in the fourteenth qualifying position, and that will pair him up in the first round of eliminations against teammate Erica Enders in her Race Girl Dodge Stratus. These two Houston based race teams combined forces this past winter to be able to share information and help each other develop their respective race day packages. And while every team knows that the potential is there for racing a teammate, they always hope that those occasions only occur in a final round match up.
With fellow Texan David Nickens horsepower propelling both cars, and two drivers looking for their first NHRA Pro Stock win, the opening round of Pro Stock at the Checker Schuck’s Kragen nationals on Sunday has all the potential of being a Texas sized battle for the Lone Star state bragging rights.
