Troxel qualifies No. 7 in Memphis

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 17 of 23
O'REILLY NHRA MID-SOUTH NATIONALS
MEMPHIS (Tenn.) MOTORSPORTS PARK
Race Dates: Aug. 19-21, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell, 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

TROXEL QUALIFIES IN TOP HALF OF FIELD IN MEMPHIS

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Aug. 20, 2005) - Melanie Troxel qualified No. 7 for Sunday's
O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals, the first time she's qualified in the top
half of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Top Fuel field since she
debuted the Skull Gear/Torco Race Fuels dragster five races ago in Denver.

The heat at Memphis Motorsports Park is a stark contrast to last week's
conditions in Brainerd, Minn. "It's been a real tricky track to try and get
the cars down," she said referring to the near 100-degree temperatures here.
"It's so hot and the track temperatures are so high that it's tough trying
to figure out how to back these cars down enough to just go down the track."

Troxel ran an elapsed-time of 4.875 seconds at 253.61 mph in Friday's first
qualifying session, and posted her best run in the second session, a
4.675/312.78. Saturday's first round resulted in a 12.059/64.35 mph after
smoking the tires, and the final qualifying session produced a 4.737/282.66.

"We came out and ran decent numbers our first two passes," said the Colorado
native. "We spun the tires and dropped a hole (cylinder) on the first one,
so I lifted. I took it to the finish line on the second pass, which gave us
the No. 7 qualifying spot. They weren't bad numbers, definitely something to
work with on Saturday."

Qualifying sessions were held beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, and at 3:30
p.m. on Saturday. "The passes were earlier on Saturday, which made it
tougher to step up and run a big number," she continued. "The good thing is
it was more like race conditions. We went up for the first pass and overshot
it a little bit and smoked the tires, but at least then we knew where the
limit of the track was. We came back for the last session, made it down the
track and lifted just a little bit early. It's still trying to spin the
tires a little bit.

"We definitely have a tune-up for the Skull Gear/Torco Race Fuels dragster
to go down the track tomorrow."

Troxel faces Doug Kalitta in the first round of Sunday's eliminations.

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