Troxel grabs No. 4 in Memphis qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 17 of 23
O'REILLY NHRA MID-SOUTH NATIONALS
Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park
Race Date: Aug. 18-20, 2006


MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Aug. 19, 2006) - Melanie Troxel placed herself in a solid
position today at the O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals by qualifying the Skull
Shine/Knoll-Gas Torco Race Fuels Top Fuel dragster No. 4 for Sunday's
eliminations.

Currently second in a three-way battle for the points lead, which she held
through the first 12 events of the 2006 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series,
Troxel ran a session-quickest 4.620-second pass at 318.32 mph in the final
qualifying stint to lock down the No. 4 spot. Her two previous runs were
also strong: a 4.638/298.93 Friday night, and a 4.862/250.32 during today's
mid-afternoon session.

One qualifying session was cancelled Friday when rain showers passed through
Memphis Motorsports Park, delaying on-track action for over three hours.
"It's a little nerve-wracking to lose a session due to weather, but we were
on top of our game, and we came out and qualified No. 4 in that first
session," said Troxel. "That took the pressure off, no matter what the
weather did; we were in the field.

"We went down the track every pass. We didn't smoke the tires, we just
lost blower belts on two of the runs. That is just a product of spinning the
tires a little bit late, so the runs weren't perfect, but we have a car that
will go down the track strong," said the Colorado native.

On setting the quickest pass of the final session: "That last session was
definitely warmer than the Friday night session and we ran our quickest
ET, and quickest of the session. That gives us a good feeling going
into tomorrow. We definitely feel like we have a great car for race
day."

This event is considered a "night" race as eliminations on Sunday begin at 3
p.m. "It's going to be tough out there tomorrow at 3 o'clock," said Troxel.
"First round will be the hottest conditions we run into on Sunday. We'll
definitely have to go up there and do a good job. If we can get past that, I
feel like we definitely have a tune-up that will get stronger throughout the
day as the track comes to us. We have a great chance at winning the race."

Troxel faces Hillary Will in the first round of eliminations. She has a 2-1
win-loss record against Will this season.