Troxel tops Funny Car qualifying

Published 11:46 pm Saturday, June 7, 2008

JOLIET, Ill. — Melanie Troxel became the first female driver to top Funny Car qualifying in NHRA history Saturday night, covering a quarter-mile in 4.752 seconds at 327.27 mph in the ProCare Rx Dodge Charger.

High temperatures and humidity produced a string of strong thunderstorms and at least one powerful tornado near Route 66 Raceway, delaying the final round of qualifying for Funny Car at the Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

“You come into any given race and it’s such a tight field, you know it’s going to be a struggle just to qualify,” Troxel said. “We got down the track on Friday, but not in the nighttime session and came into today not even in the field, so that’s always a stressful way to start out the weekend.

“We laid a good number down out there in the third qualifying session, especially for the heat of the day, and we were pretty happy with that, but to be honest with you I thought we’re coming up to try a few different things, get down the track.

“Honestly, I’d never run a .70 before, so I wasn’t really anticipating that we were going to take that No. 1 spot away. But I knew the second I hit the throttle the car was on seriously good run, and it was quite a handful out there. At the same time that I’m trying to wrestle it and keep it in the center of my lane, I see Tony (Pedregon) in the other lane going up in a ball of flames. It was a pretty wild ride.”

Troxel but would rather celebrate her accomplishments with a focus on her driving career, not her gender.

“I think for any driver it is definitely the goal, you want to be the No. 1 qualifier,” Troxel said. “You want to win races. The female aspect of it really isn’t that important to me. I understand it’s noteworthy and I don’t have a problem with it, but personally for me, as far as goals I set out, I’m not trying to measure up to the other females in the sport, I’m trying to measure up to everybody out there.”

Five-time and defending NHRA POWERade Series world champion Tony Schumacher used his Friday night performance of 4.513 at 331.69 to grab the No. 1 Top Fuel spot heading into Sunday’s race, electing not to run in the final qualifying round after the strong storms moved through the area.

In Pro Stock, Jeg Coughlin usurped Friday’s top performer, Warren Johnson, to earn his first No. 1 qualifier of the year and the 13th of his career.

“The conditions were great,” Coughlin said. “The clouds came in, which makes the track a little bit tighter, where the crew chiefs can get out there a little bit more.”

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Chris Rivas earned his first career No. 1 with a 7.027 at 187.29 on his G-Squared/S&S Racing Buell.

NHRA-Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 Nationals pairings

After Saturday’s qualifying; eliminations Sunday

At Route 66 Raceway, Joliet, Ill.

Top Fuel

1. Tony Schumacher, 4.513 seconds, 331.69 mph., vs. 16. Bob Vandergriff, 4.789, 307.51. 2. Antron Brown, 4.516, 331.53, vs. 15. T.J. Zizzo, 4.756, 318.62. 3. Larry Dixon, 4.525, 325.61, vs. 14. Troy Buff, 4.631, 307.09. 4. J.R. Todd, 4.555, 328.14, vs. 13. Doug Herbert, 4.622, 318.62. 5. David Grubnic, 4.565, 317.87, vs. 12. Brandon Bernstein, 4.616, 325.30. 6. Alan Bradshaw, 4.571, 319.14, vs. 11. Morgan Lucas, 4.613, 317.57. 7. Doug Kalitta, 4.574, 319.52, vs. 10. Rod Fuller, 4.602, 319.60. 8. Hillary Will, 4.594, 324.67, vs. 9. Cory McClenathan, 4.598, 324.75.

Did Not Qualify: 17. Luigi Novelli, 9.850, 210.44.

Funny Car

1. Melanie Troxel, Dodge Charger, 4.752, 327.27, vs. 16. Gary Densham, Chevy Impala, 4.854, 315.86. 2. Mark Oswald, Charger, 4.757, 328.46, vs. 15. Jack Beckman, Charger, 4.849, 320.81. 3. Ashley Force, Ford Mustang, 4.759, 329.10, vs. 14. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.847, 293.54. 4. Ron Capps, Charger, 4.777, 322.11, vs. 13. Scott Kalitta, Toyota Solara, 4.825, 319.82. 5. Cruz Pedregon, Solara, 4.780, 324.51, vs. 12. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.820, 320.05. 6. Gary Scelzi, Charger, 4.781, 320.89, vs. 11. Mike Neff, Mustang, 4.815, 322.11. 7. Jerry Toliver, Charger, 4.783, 325.77, vs. 10. Tony Pedregon, Impala, 4.797, 323.43. 8. John Force, Mustang, 4.783, 322.58, vs. 9. Tim Wilkerson, Impala, 4.788, 319.37.

Did Not Qualify: 17. Del Worsham, 4.869, 311.41. 18. Bob Bode, 4.870, 312.13. 19. Jim Head, 4.926, 313.88. 20. Tommy Johnson Jr., 4.949, 314.61. 21. Tony Bartone, 9.339, 81.02.

Pro Stock

1. Jeg Coughlin, Chevy Cobalt, 6.705, 205.10, vs. 16. Rickie Jones, Dodge Stratus, 6.754, 203.92. 2. Warren Johnson, Pontiac GXP, 6.707, 206.95, vs. 15. John Nobile, Stratus, 6.741, 204.48. 3. Greg Anderson, GXP, 6.721, 205.10, vs. 14. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.741, 205.01. 4. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.722, 205.41, vs. 13. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.739, 204.57. 5. Jason Line, GXP, 6.727, 204.70, vs. 12. Justin Humphreys, Stratus, 6.737, 204.17. 6. Kurt Johnson, Cobalt, 6.728, 205.19, vs. 11. Mike Edwards, GXP, 6.737, 204.73. 7. Jim Yates, GXP, 6.728, 204.08, vs. 10. Steve Schmidt, Cobalt, 6.733, 204.82. 8. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.731, 204.79, vs. 9. Greg Stanfield, GXP, 6.732, 204.26.

Did Not Qualify: 17. Todd Hoerner, 6.763, 204.01. 18. Tom Hammonds, 6.763, 203.86. 19. Vinnie Deceglie, 6.763, 203.46. 20. Max Naylor, 6.763, 203.22. 21. V. Gaines, 6.769, 203.52. 22. Dave Northrop, 6.770, 204.01. 23. Johnny Gray, 6.776, 203.74. 24. Steve Spiess, 6.787, 203.22. 25. Bob Yonke, 6.794, 202.33. 26. Kevin Lawrence, 6.844, 202.21.

Pro Stock Motorcycle

1. Chris Rivas, Buell, 7.027, 188.46, vs. 16. Wes Wells, Suzuki, 7.209, 184.93. 2. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.028, 189.90, vs. 15. Tom Bradford, Buell, 7.200, 181.40. 3. Chip Ellis, Suzuki, 7.039, 186.92, vs. 14. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.154, 186.41. 4. Matt Smith, Buell, 7.061, 187.42, vs. 13. Shawn Gann, Suzuki, 7.153, 185.41. 5. Angelle Sampey, Buell, 7.088, 183.29, vs. 12. Joe DeSantis, Suzuki, 7.145, 186.48. 6. Mike Berry, Suzuki, 7.098, 184.85, vs. 11. Hector Arana, Buell, 7.132, 186.15. 7. Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 7.106, 187.21, vs. 10. Matt Guidera, Buell, 7.129, 185.87. 8. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.108, 187.76, vs. 9. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.113, 188.15.

Did Not Qualify: 17. David Hope, 7.212, 181.32. 18. Junior Pippin, 7.293, 174.12. 19. Redell Harris, 7.370, 181.67. 20. Mike Kovacevich, 7.372, 180.16. 21. Ryan Schnitz, 7.404, 177.42. 22. Angie McBride, 7.622, 165.78. 23. Buddy Robinson, 15.551, 45.64.