NHRA - Troxel Wants Bristol Retribution
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jay Wells (704) 662-3525 – Office (704) 281-5678 – Cell TorcoRacingFuels.com MELANIE TROXEL WANTS BRISTOL RETRIBUTION BRISTOL, Tenn. (July 3) – Melanie Troxel rolled into the historic Bristol Dragway for last year’s O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals as the POWERade points leader and on an unbelievable NHRA record-setting pace of five consecutive final round appearances, celebrating two wins along the way. Also, to add to that momentum, she grabbed the No. 1 qualifier with an elapsed time of 4.539 seconds at a speed of 324.59 mph to set herself up for a great Sunday. Unfortunately, she departed the scenic Tennessee track in the quarterfinals seeing red after a false start ending her strong streak. This year she feels Bristol Dragway owes her Vietnam Veterans POW/MIA team more and she’s bound and determined to change her course of direction at this reschedule event in the Volunteer State. “That was a red light start last year and it broke our string of final rounds,” said Troxel. “It was a little disappointing there, but we ran well. I’m hoping we have some good data that we can take there and get a head start from that. This time it will be a different part of the year from where we ran last year. I’m thinking the weather forecast is calling for some cool evening weather. That will give us a nice advantage and hopefully we can build from there. “I don’t know if there is a reason, tuning-wise, that we haven’t done well there. The track is beautiful and I love going up there. The fans and especially the Bristol Dragway staff have been great to us. I just hope we get the performance to go along with that.” Troxel tested on Monday in Norwalk in developing the consistency that is so necessary along with Top Fuel teammate Morgan Lucas. The entire plan is to balance the motorsports program of Morgan Lucas Racing in taking delivery of true identical information offering them twice as much feedback from every pass. “We feel we’re going in the right direction even though we don’t see the immediate results in our round wins,” said Troxel, who is No. 8 in the Countdown to the Championship. “We raced the No. 1 qualifier last Sunday and it was a very close race. If we can get a little bit ahead of the game with some Monday testing, I think we’ll have a great race car for Bristol.” The start of the seventh annual O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals begins at the Bristol Dragway on Friday, July 6 with two qualifying sessions starting at 5:30 p.m. (EDT) with a second session at 8:00 p.m. Saturday's time trials start at 1:00 p.m. for the nitro classes followed by a second session at 3:30 p.m. The race starts promptly at 12 p.m. on Sunday, July 8. www.torcoracefuels.com Add 1-1-1 TORCO RACING DRIVER NOTES: Melanie Troxel has three Top Fuel victories (07 St. Louis, 06 Pomona1 and Las Vegas1) after 13 final round appearances. She finished fourth in the 2006 NHRA Top Fuel Point standings with 1,471 points. She established a new NHRA record with her impressive drive in the 2006 season after racing to five consecutive final rounds, taking two wins along the way. That led to two ESPY nominations for Best Female Athlete of the year and Driver of the year. Honored by the Billie Jean King Sports Foundation as“2006 Sports Woman of the Year”. Troxel’s quickest elapsed time is 4.458 seconds, set on Sept. 23, 2005 at the Texas Motorplex. She sped to his fastest top speed of 332.51 mph on Feb. 10 in her final round of qualifying at the 2007 CarQuest Winternationals in Pomona, California. She won two Budweiser low qualifier awards in 2006. Her first on May 4 at the Bristol Dragway recording a time 4.539 seconds and May 26 at Heartland Park Topeka setting the pace with her run of 4.567 seconds. Melanie Troxel’s first Top Fuel event came behind the wheel of the Jerry Darien-owned dragster at the 2000 AutoZone Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. DOB: August 31, 1972. O’REILLY THUNDER VALLEY NATIONALS TELEVISION ADVISORY (ALL TIMES EASTERN – ALL PROGRAMS ON ESPN2 HD) QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS Saturday, July 7 4:00 P.M. – 6:00 PM. NHRA RACE DAY Sunday, July 8 11:00 P.M. – 11:30 P.M. FINAL ROUND COVERAGE Sunday, July 8 9:30 P.M. – 12:30 A.M. Encore Performance Monday, July 8 3:30 A.M. – 5:30 A.M Torco Racing Fuels is the manufacturer of high performance racing and power products. Torco Racing Fuels is the engine builders & pros choice for extreme power and consistency of our blend stock. Dynos and racetracks have witnessed the controlled burn and quantum power released in this Mach Series Designed Fuel. Records will be set and heads will turn. A new paradigm of thought went into the development and chemistry at the base of these fuels, assuring that peak cylinder pressure is maintained by the critical timing of fuel releasing its maximum energy potential. There are 20+ grades of high performance fuels available for all types of applications. Jay Wells (704) 662-3525 - Office (704) 281-5678 - Cell Lucas Oil Racing jaywell1@ix.netcom.com EarthLink Revolves Around You.