NHRA
Topeka: Melanie Troxel Saturday notes
Troxel Confident at No. 5 heading into Topeka Eliminations TOPEKA, Kan. (May 31, 2008) - In her second-best qualifying effort of the season, Melanie Troxel, driver of the ProCare Rx Dodge Charger R/T, secured her No. 5 qualifying position today at ...
Published: Jun 1, 2008, 12:32 PM
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Troxel Confident at No. 5 heading into Topeka Eliminations
TOPEKA, Kan. (May 31, 2008) - In her second-best qualifying effort of the season, Melanie Troxel, driver of the ProCare Rx Dodge Charger R/T, secured her No. 5 qualifying position today at the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka on the strength of her Friday night pass of 4.912-seconds at 304.53 mph.
"We did exactly what we set out to do today," Troxel said. "Because we felt we were well into the field, we wanted to make runs with what we felt the conditions were that we'd have on Sunday."
In her first pass of the day in the summer heat and with a track temperature of nearly 120 degrees, she smoked the tires early and coasted across the finish line. After crew chief Brian Corradi made several adjustments to the car, Troxel came back in the final session and the car performed at what would have been a mid 4.90-second run, but shut down the car early and grabbed a modest 5.120/258.57.
"We went out there in that first run and didn't make it down the track, but one of the great things about having a two-car team with Frank Hawley over there is that you get twice as many runs. Frank did make it down the track, and all that information definitely helps us.
"This last session and made some adjustments in weight to make my car more like Frank's, and I definitely think that helped us. We got through the trouble spot we were having problems in the first session, and then I noticed that at about 1000 feet, the car wasn't pulling as hard as you'd like it to. I didn't see any point in taking a chance in tearing up any of our parts because we have all the information we needed, so I just shut it down," Troxel said.
Keenly aware that ever round-win is critical to making the top-ten before the Countdown to ten ends in Indianapolis over Labor day, Troxel is anxious to pass the drivers in front of her in the rankings.
"We're just 87 points out of the top ten, and that win at the last event in Bristol really helped us get back into the game. A couple of the people in front of us failed to qualify - Mike Neff and Del Worsham - and while I don't wish bad luck on anyone, this will help us gain ground to get into the Countdown to One.
Hopefully we can go out tomorrow and go a few rounds if not follow up Bristol with another win and make it two in a row," Troxel said.
Troxel will face Jack Beckman in the first round of eliminations scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
-credit: gcr
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