Troxel reigns in No. 12 in Texas qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 19 of 23
O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals
Texas Motorplex
Ennis, Texas
Race Date: Sept. 22-24, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

TROXEL REIGNS IN NO. 12 IN TEXAS QUALIFYING

ENNIS, Texas (Sept. 23, 2006) - Melanie Troxel qualified No. 12 at the
O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex after four rounds of Top
Fuel qualifying amid changing weather conditions, recording a final-session
pass of 4.657 seconds at 319.52 mph.

Troxel, fourth in the 2006 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Top Fuel
championship standings, driving the Skull Shine/Knoll Gas-Torco Race Fuels
Top Fuel dragster, began her qualifying runs Friday with a pass of
4.762/314.97 and later a 6.765/116.08 after losing traction early in
the run. Today's third session was delayed by rain showers before she posted
a 4.803/299.46.

Rolling up to the staging lanes in the No. 12 spot for her final attempt,
Troxel watched herself drop out of the field waiting to make her last pass.
It was a nervous moment, but the two-time winner accomplished the task of
getting down the quarter-mile and moved comfortably back into No. 12.

"This has been a strange race so far," she said. "We've seen a lot of cars
that aren't necessarily usually in the field get in early, and a lot of good
cars out of the field going into the last session.

"Unfortunately we just had to sit there and listen to car after car go
out and click off good numbers. Before we rolled up there we were on
the outside looking in, so it's a little bit of a nerve-wracking position to
be in," offered the Colorado native.

"I knew that the car could run better. We've been having some problems
with the car; we've been finding some metal pieces in the fuel system.
So, we swapped out some stuff and replaced the fuel tank hoping we
would solve that problem, and I knew that if we got that fixed the
Skull Shine/Knoll Gas-Torco Race Fuels dragster would go down the
track.

"We were hoping for a little better than that, but, at the same time, it
was a nice conservative run to get into the field. We didn't need to
take any chances and not make it in.

"The important part is that we are in for Sunday. Earlier this year we
went a lot of rounds from the bottom-half of the field, so it's not a
position we are unfamiliar with," said Troxel, who has reached three
finals this season from the bottom-half (a win at Pomona 1 and runner-up
finishes in Gainesville and Chicago).

"It should be cooler tomorrow with the cold front moving in. We do tend
to have a better tune-up for cooler weather conditions, so that should
help us. Hopefully now we've got some good data we can work with, and
tune it up for tomorrow."

Troxel faces David Baca in the first round of eliminations. She is 2-0
against Baca this season.

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