Championship Drag Racing

Mac Tools U.S. Nationals
Clermont, IN
(August 30-September 4)

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J.R. Todd ProtectTheHarvest.com/MAVTV dragster

Indianapolis, Sunday: Rookie NHRA driver J.R. Todd did not disappoint his many friends and family who made the trip from nearby Lawrenceburg, Ind., to see him compete in the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. But he waited until the last minute to do qualify.

Bumped from the quickest Top Fuel field in NHRA history one run ahead before his attempt, Todd calmly drove the Dexter Tuttle-owned SKULL Shine dragster to an elapsed time of 4.586 seconds at 321.25 mph. The time knocked out Joe Hartley, who was in at 4.595 seconds.

"It was an exciting moment," Todd said. "I have a lot of family and friends here and we didn't want to screw up."

Todd will meet Tony Schumacher, the No. 1 qualifier (4.475 seconds at 332.59 mph) in the opening round, resuming a rivalry begun two months ago.

Todd's two national-event victories were upsets of Schumacher in the finals at Denver and Sonoma, Calif. Schumacher has two wins, both in semifinals.

"We'll just pretend like the first round Monday is the final round," said Todd.

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