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Ennis, TX (Sept. 24, 2006) - J.R. Todd’s competitive day in the O’Reilly Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex ended a few rounds too soon to suit the SKULL Shine Top Fuel team, but they did prove their performance level is back where it was a month ago.
Todd qualified third (4.541 seconds) and eliminated Hillary Will in the opening round with a 4.570-second run at 319.60 mph to Will’s 4.709 at 295.98.
In the next round, however, a starting line mix-up against David Grubnic probably caused Todd’s dragster to lose traction almost as soon as he mashed the pedal.
Crew chief/tuner Jim Walsh held Todd behind the starting line while Grubnic’ s crew had him reposition his dragster. The extended wait created too much heat in the engine, used more fuel than expected and the tires lost traction. And so did Grubnic’s.
Todd pedaled the throttle several times but couldn’t get the tires to hook up before Grubnic did. Todd watched as Grubnic got the win in 6.751 seconds, 242.19 mph to an 8.771 at 128.80 mph.
“You hate losing like that,” said Todd, “but they didn’t do it on purpose. The wait also hurt them, too. Our team and their team are pretty close and we’d never do anything to hold them up and they wouldn’t mess with us. It’ s just one of those things.”
The loss did prevent Todd from making a big move in POWERade Series points. But he did pick up some ground on the three drivers in front of him. He is 12th with 766 points, 13 behind No. 11, 59 behind 10th place and 99 behind No. 9 Will with four more races to go.
Todd Gets Quarterfinal Finish
Ennis, TX (Sept. 24, 2006) - J.R. Todd’s competitive day in the O’Reilly Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex ended a few rounds too soon to suit the SKULL Shine Top Fuel team, but they did prove their performance level is back where it was a month ago.
Todd qualified third (4.541 seconds) and eliminated Hillary Will in the opening round with a 4.570-second run at 319.60 mph to Will’s 4.709 at 295.98.
In the next round, however, a starting line mix-up against David Grubnic probably caused Todd’s dragster to lose traction almost as soon as he mashed the pedal.
Crew chief/tuner Jim Walsh held Todd behind the starting line while Grubnic’ s crew had him reposition his dragster. The extended wait created too much heat in the engine, used more fuel than expected and the tires lost traction. And so did Grubnic’s.
Todd pedaled the throttle several times but couldn’t get the tires to hook up before Grubnic did. Todd watched as Grubnic got the win in 6.751 seconds, 242.19 mph to an 8.771 at 128.80 mph.
“You hate losing like that,” said Todd, “but they didn’t do it on purpose. The wait also hurt them, too. Our team and their team are pretty close and we’d never do anything to hold them up and they wouldn’t mess with us. It’ s just one of those things.”
The loss did prevent Todd from making a big move in POWERade Series points. But he did pick up some ground on the three drivers in front of him. He is 12th with 766 points, 13 behind No. 11, 59 behind 10th place and 99 behind No. 9 Will with four more races to go.
