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LAS VEGAS (Oct. 28, 2006) - Melanie Troxel, Top Fuel winner at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series' spring event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, qualified No. 7 today for the ACDelco NHRA Nationals, en route, she hopes, to her second straight victory here.
Troxel rolled hot off the trailer on Friday and drove the Skull Shine/Knoll Gas-Torco Race Fuels Top Fuel dragster to No. 4 with a 4.574-second pass at 327.43 mph. Following two less-than-stellar passes Friday night and early Saturday, she improved her elapsed time to a 4.558/329.42 in the final qualifying session, earning her the No. 7 spot.
"Track conditions are great here at The Strip," she said. "We started out strong running in the 4.50s right out of the box, and we were definitely looking forward to seeing what the track could take after that, but we followed that up with smoking the tires in the next two runs. Even on our fourth qualifying run it tried to rattle the tires off at the same spot.
"We're working on trying to get the car through one little section of the race track. We know the car will run great down track, as long as we can get it down there.
"We had a lot of data from our win here in the spring, and that certainly is what helped us run that number right off the trailer. But, conditions will change from race to race, and you always have to make some adjustments to get the car running how you want."
Troxel also competed in her first Budweiser Shootout today, a $100,000 NHRA bonus event, as a part of this weekend's qualifying, where she lost to Larry Dixon in the first round, with a 8.601/87.98 pass to Dixon's winning 4.587/325.22. "We were looking for a little different result in the Budweiser Shootout," she said, "but it was my first time, and hopefully there will be plenty more."
The Budweiser Shootout, the 22nd annual this weekend, is a special race-within-a-race bonus event contested annually for the eight quickest NHRA Top Fuel drivers, who earn points throughout the year, beginning with the season finale in Pomona.
Troxel faces No. 10 qualifier Rod Fuller in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.
TROXEL LANDS NO. 7 IN VEGAS QUALIFYING - RUNS IN HER FIRST BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT
LAS VEGAS (Oct. 28, 2006) - Melanie Troxel, Top Fuel winner at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series' spring event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, qualified No. 7 today for the ACDelco NHRA Nationals, en route, she hopes, to her second straight victory here.
Troxel rolled hot off the trailer on Friday and drove the Skull Shine/Knoll Gas-Torco Race Fuels Top Fuel dragster to No. 4 with a 4.574-second pass at 327.43 mph. Following two less-than-stellar passes Friday night and early Saturday, she improved her elapsed time to a 4.558/329.42 in the final qualifying session, earning her the No. 7 spot.
"Track conditions are great here at The Strip," she said. "We started out strong running in the 4.50s right out of the box, and we were definitely looking forward to seeing what the track could take after that, but we followed that up with smoking the tires in the next two runs. Even on our fourth qualifying run it tried to rattle the tires off at the same spot.
"We're working on trying to get the car through one little section of the race track. We know the car will run great down track, as long as we can get it down there.
"We had a lot of data from our win here in the spring, and that certainly is what helped us run that number right off the trailer. But, conditions will change from race to race, and you always have to make some adjustments to get the car running how you want."
Troxel also competed in her first Budweiser Shootout today, a $100,000 NHRA bonus event, as a part of this weekend's qualifying, where she lost to Larry Dixon in the first round, with a 8.601/87.98 pass to Dixon's winning 4.587/325.22. "We were looking for a little different result in the Budweiser Shootout," she said, "but it was my first time, and hopefully there will be plenty more."
The Budweiser Shootout, the 22nd annual this weekend, is a special race-within-a-race bonus event contested annually for the eight quickest NHRA Top Fuel drivers, who earn points throughout the year, beginning with the season finale in Pomona.
Troxel faces No. 10 qualifier Rod Fuller in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.
