Championship Drag Racing

SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals
Las Vegas, Nev.
(April 10-13)

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Driver Profile

Melanie Troxel In-n-Out Burger Dodge R/T

Las Vegas, pre-race: Ah, Las Vegas, where fortunes are made and lost every day, providing, of course, one frequents the many games of chance that are available.

Melanie Troxel isn’t into gambling, but the driver of the Simayof Jewelers Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car does know something about rolling the dice when it comes to race-car combinations. 

Four races and several test sessions into the 2008 NHRA POWERade Series, the first-year Funny Car driver believes a competitive combination is just a few rolls (or qualifying runs, in this instance) away. She and the Gotham City Racing team have four quarter-mile laps to solidify the tune-up when qualifying action commences Friday for the ninth annual SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Troxel has a special affinity for the track. Her second Top Fuel victory came here in 2006. The Strip is where she successfully completed her Funny Car licensing in January and put in a number of test runs following a six-year, 86-race Top Fuel career, during which she earned four victories in 15 final rounds and series finishes of fourth (2006)and ninth (2007).

“The Las Vegas track actually has been good for both Tommy (Johnson Jr., her husband and fellow Funny Car driver) and I,” said Troxel.  “Obviously, it’s one of the premier facilities on the tour. As drivers, that’s probably one of our favorite tracks . . . and you are in Las Vegas, so it kind of makes for a great weekend all around.”

Foremost, however, is a good racing surface, one that, she says, is “more forgiving for a driver than other tracks we’ve run on recently.  For example, if the car gets out of the groove a little at Las Vegas, you don’t lose the run, but (the track at) Houston was not a forgiving track.  It had bumps in it and it didn’t take much to upset the car.

“I feel confident that we can get the car to perform this weekend, and that we’ll qualify and do well for Simayof Jewelers.”

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