NHRA (MEMPHIS) - TROXEL TAKES FOURTH WIN...

Melanie Troxel scored her fourth win of her career and second of the season, in dramatic style today in the 20th annual OReilly Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park. Driving her Vietnam Veterans POW/MIA Top Fuel dragster, owned by Forrest and Charlotte Lucas and sponsored by Torco's Evan Knoll, powered her way to the finish line against some pretty tough competition in the likes of Bob Vandergriff, David Grubnic, Brandon Bernstein and in the finals defeating Doug Herbert in taking the title. Troxel's opening round run of 4.628 seconds, 311.56 mph, her quickest run of eliminations, soundly defeated Vandergriff with his tire-smoking run of 8.732 seconds, 81.24 mph. The quarterfinals found her taking out Australia's David Grubnic with her time of 4.772 seconds, 292.46 mph to Grubnic's time of 5.340 seconds 181.45 mph. Melanie Troxel spent the longest 6.674 seconds of her career racing Brandon Bernstein in the semi-finals, who also smoked the tires in a side-by-side match up where they both lost traction almost immediately after they both hit the throttle at the flash of green. Troxel produced a time of 6.674 seconds, 260.46 mph to Bernstein's smoky pass of 7.748 seconds, 138.87 mph. and she was thankful the blower belt stayed on. It was in the finals, that Troxel was prepared to win and proudly displayed her nerves of steel. She left the starting line first (.081 - .084) and sailed on down the quarter-mile impressively leaving her opponent, Doug Herbert in arrears. She motored to the tune of 4.728 seconds, 313.22 mph to Herbert's time of 4.901 seconds, 290.57 mph. For her Vietnam Veterans crew with team leaders, John Stewart and Memphis resident, Lance Larsen stole the show with consistency and knowledge that gave them the edge for most of the racing weekend in the home of Elvis. That was my main goal for the rest of the season was to have a win before leaving Top Fuel and really the big deal for me too was for the guys on the team," said a very happy Troxel. "I started working with them in the middle of the season. They're a great group of guys they've worked very hard, and were overdue for a win. They have been together for quite a while and are a good enough team that they absolutely deserve to have this win. It's nice to get a win for myself, but more importantly to get a win for them. For us as a group, I am leaving the team to drive the second car for Mike Ashley next year, but we have gelled really well and it's a great group of people. The wheels were already rolling on my move to Funny Car before I started working with them. It's a nice relief to get this one out of the way and hopefully keep running like this for the rest of the year. Although her championship status may not be in the cards in 2007, she reflected on what could have been, if she didn't go through a period of first round losses throughout the summer months. "I'm becoming more and more disappointed about not making the Countdown every week," said Troxel, who stood as high as fourth in the point standings with her victory back in May in St. Louis. "I stand by what I said in the beginning, you don't ask your teammate to take a dive for you. If you can't earn your way in there, we didn't deserve our shot and at the time, we weren't running very well. Our destiny was in our hands and we weren't getting the job done at that point. We turned it around right before the Countdown, but we didn't get it quite turned around enough to get in." With only four races remaining on the NHRA calendar, the Vietnam Vets team is on a roll with two semi-final appearances and today's win out of the last four races, only proves the potential of the Morgan Lucas Racing organization. "We're going to make the best of the situation and we're going to go out and play spoiler for the rest of the year without the pressure of a point's battle," she said. We're going to have fun and try to win every race. It's a great state of mind to have when you go up to race. When you have a really good running car, it takes the pressure off the driver and you can go up to the starting line with so much confidence. You tend to do a better job driving it comes a lot easier for you." One important thing to mention about Troxel's driving were her ability to launch from the starting line first giving her that much more advantage in her four Sunday races. "I have to admit, I was struggling with reaction times," Troxel stated. "I was trying everything I could do out there and the best I could muster all weekend long was a .090. I don't know what changed today, but first round is the worst on the mind of the driver. You have Sunday morning stomach, you don't feel good and you want to get that first round out of the way. After that it gets so much easier and you go up there and relax and form a rhythm." She qualified in the No. 6 slot of the 16-car field with an elapsed time of 4.575 seconds, 321.96 mph on her final qualifying pass. The next NHRA National event will be the 22nd annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals at the super-quick Texas Motorplex in nearby Ennis, Texas slated to run next weekend, Sept. 20 -23.