Troxel, R2B2 Funny Car team hope to leave Las Vegas as winners
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/m_troxel_508502.jpg" alt="m_troxel_508502" align="left"borders="0"/>
The 2008 NHRA POWERade Series schedule lists two more stops. The first, the ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals, unfolds at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Friday through Sunday, and it provides Melanie Troxel and the R2B2 Racing Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team with another opportunity to claim their second victory.
This isn’t wishful thinking, either.
Crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald have the car performing better than it has all season. Troxel qualified in the top half of a consistently-tough starting 16 at the last five races. She recorded her quickest 1000-foot time, 4.047 seconds, and ran the category’s fastest 1000-foot speed, 309.98 mph, at Richmond , Va. , earlier this month.
While some drivers will be ready to pack up and head home after the Auto Club Finals, Nov. 16, at Pomona , Calif. , Troxel and the crew are caught in a Catch 22 situation.
“At this time of year everyone is definitely a little worn out,” she said. “There’s a certain part of you that is looking forward to the season being over, but, at the same time, we’ve got a good car and as a team we feel like we haven’t quite lived up to the expectations we set at the beginning of the year. So we’d like to go out and see if we can’t finish the season on an up note.”
Corradi and Oswald have been tweaking the tune-up and plan to use the data as the foundation for NHRA’s new 2009 Full Throttle series.
It’s not likely elapsed times like those from Richmond – where near-perfect weather and atmospheric conditions kept times down and speeds up – will be seen in Las Vegas . Troxel, for example, lowered her 1000-foot personal best three times, to 4.094 and 4.071 (309.98 mph) before posting her 4.047.
“While we have a win, which is nice, I think a lot of the parts in between haven’t been quite what we would have liked,” noted Troxel. “This is a sport of ups and downs, but you expect to have some down times. We would’ve preferred more high notes in there. We have been talking about one more win for quite a while, and it is still a possibility – at least to me. That’s what I am focused on.”
That hoped-for trip to the winner’s circle would provide enough smiles for the R2B2 Racing team to last until pre-season testing commences in January.
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/m_troxel_508502.jpg" alt="m_troxel_508502" align="left"borders="0"/>
The 2008 NHRA POWERade Series schedule lists two more stops. The first, the ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals, unfolds at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Friday through Sunday, and it provides Melanie Troxel and the R2B2 Racing Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team with another opportunity to claim their second victory.
This isn’t wishful thinking, either.
Crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald have the car performing better than it has all season. Troxel qualified in the top half of a consistently-tough starting 16 at the last five races. She recorded her quickest 1000-foot time, 4.047 seconds, and ran the category’s fastest 1000-foot speed, 309.98 mph, at Richmond , Va. , earlier this month.
While some drivers will be ready to pack up and head home after the Auto Club Finals, Nov. 16, at Pomona , Calif. , Troxel and the crew are caught in a Catch 22 situation.
“At this time of year everyone is definitely a little worn out,” she said. “There’s a certain part of you that is looking forward to the season being over, but, at the same time, we’ve got a good car and as a team we feel like we haven’t quite lived up to the expectations we set at the beginning of the year. So we’d like to go out and see if we can’t finish the season on an up note.”
Corradi and Oswald have been tweaking the tune-up and plan to use the data as the foundation for NHRA’s new 2009 Full Throttle series.
It’s not likely elapsed times like those from Richmond – where near-perfect weather and atmospheric conditions kept times down and speeds up – will be seen in Las Vegas . Troxel, for example, lowered her 1000-foot personal best three times, to 4.094 and 4.071 (309.98 mph) before posting her 4.047.
“While we have a win, which is nice, I think a lot of the parts in between haven’t been quite what we would have liked,” noted Troxel. “This is a sport of ups and downs, but you expect to have some down times. We would’ve preferred more high notes in there. We have been talking about one more win for quite a while, and it is still a possibility – at least to me. That’s what I am focused on.”
That hoped-for trip to the winner’s circle would provide enough smiles for the R2B2 Racing team to last until pre-season testing commences in January.
