NHRA - Troxel Eyes Encouraging Results for Vietnam Vets
POW/MIA Team
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jay Wells
(704) 662-3525 – Office
(704) 281-5678 – Cell
Torco.com
TROXEL EYES ENCOURAGING RESULTS FOR VIETNAM VETERANS POW/MIA TEAM
SEATTLE (July 17) – The Vietnam Veterans POW/MIA team with talented Top Fuel driver, Melanie Troxel behind the wheel is seeing positive results from her high horsepower ride. At the Mile-High Nationals last week the standing room only hometown crowd witnessed her drive to the No. 1 starting position in Denver.
This weekend at the 20th annual Schuck’s Auto Supply Nationals at Pacific Raceways, the fifth of six races in-a row, has Troxel pursuing her title-stake momentum. A premature finish in Colorado finds her for the first time since early May out of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship. It’s agonizing for her and the John Stewart/Lance Larsen-led combo knowing they have a winning car and can’t eye a win light on Sunday.
“I keep saying we’re seeing improvement in the car, but we’re just not seeing the results on Sunday and at Denver, it was a continuation of that,” said Troxel, the ninth place runner 52 points away from eighth. “The guys have done a great job. John Stewart and Lance Larsen have really turned this program around. We’re seeing good improvements, just not on raceday. We’re going to keep after it, that’s the only thing we know to do. If we keep making improvements like I think we are, we’re bound and determined to make this car go rounds on Sunday sooner or later. We just hope that it happens soon enough that we can get back in the top eight before the door shuts.”
Although Seattle hasn’t been her best track with two first round losses in her previous Washington state races, she’s remains hopeful with the potential her Vietnam Veterans POW/MIA team has displayed recently. This trip to the northwest keeps her pushing forward with all the variety of different style tracks she’s facing.
“I love going up to Seattle,” said Troxel. “It reminds me a lot of going to a place like Denver. I like to go to tracks that have different scenery. Although I haven’t had a very good record in Top Fuel at Seattle, it treated me very well in my Alcohol and A-Fuel days. Hoping to get back to that a little bit and see if we can change our luck.”
That luck has to play her way. It’s going to take round wins and before this mid-season marathon ends, she wants to be in position to go for the POWERade Top Fuel championship.
“We’re just going to go out there and do the best we can do every week,” she said. “If we earned a spot in the top eight, we’ll be there and that’s great. If we don’t earn it, we won’t be there and that’s as simple as it gets. It boils down to whether we earn that spot and knowing we’re one spot out won’t change that if we do our best every week and that’s all we can do. I feel we’ve done a very good job of gelling as a team. Certainly qualifying No. 1 at Bandimere gave everyone on the team a morale boost.
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“Honestly, I’m looking forward to getting back out there and race right away for the next couple of weeks. I think we have a lot of promise and I’m looking forward to getting out there seeing if we can live up to that.”
The start of the 20th annual Schuck’s Auto Supply Nationals begins at the Pacific Raceways on Friday, July 20, with two qualifying sessions starting at 3:30 p.m. (PDT) with a second session at 6:30 p.m. Saturday's time trials start at 12:00 p.m. for the nitro classes followed by a second session at 3:00 p.m. The race starts promptly at 11 a.m. on Sunday, July 22.
www.torcoracefuels.com
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 has won three Technicoat Low Qualifier ET awards in her career. Her first on May 4, 2006 at the Bristol Dragway recording a time 4.539 seconds, May 26, 2006 at Heartland Park Topeka setting the pace with her run of 4.567 seconds and at the Bandimere Speedway, her home track, on July 14, 2007 when she ran a time of 4.610 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.
SCHUCK’S AUTO SUPPLY NATIONALS
TELEVISION ADVISORY
(ALL TIMES EASTERN – ALL PROGRAMS ON ESPN2 HD)
QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS
Saturday, July 21
11:30 P.M. – 1:30 A.M.
NHRA RACE DAY
Sunday, July 22
11:00 P.M. – 11:30 P.M.
FINAL ROUND COVERAGE
Sunday, July 22
7:00 P.M. – 10:00 P.M.
Encore Performance
Wednesday, July 25
4:00 A.M. – 6:00 A.M
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Jay Wells
(704) 662-3525 - Office
(704) 281-5678 - Cell
Lucas Oil Racing
jaywell1@ix.netcom.com
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