Todd Continues to Roll with Semifinal Finish
Seattle WA - As the heat continues to scorch each stop on the Western Swing, JR Todd continues to heat up the track with another outstanding performance, this time at the Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals in Seattle. Todd driving the Skull Shine-Torco Race Fuels car made it to the semifinals where he had another much anticipated match-up with NHRA Champion Tony Shumacher. But first he had to get by two very difficult opponents.
In the first round Todd faced the other Skull Shine car driven by Melanie Troxel, who until recently has been the points leader for most of the season. It was a close race as Todd was quicker off the line with a 0.058 to Troxel’s 0.092. At the finish line it was Todd by about a quarter of a car length. Todd recorded a 4.68 at 311 MPH to Troxel’s quicker 4.67 at 313 MPH for the hole shot win. “I heard her but I didn’t see her. It was great that the two Skull Shine cars had a close race in the first round.” Todd said following the race.
In the second round Todd took on second generation Top Fuel racer David Baca who had been running well for most of the weekend. Both drivers had identical 0.082 reaction times but Baca instantly began having problems as he went up in smoke at the starting line. Todd took full advantage with a clean 4.78 pass at 292 MPH.
The win over Baca set the stage for a re-match of the finals in Denver with Todd hoping to dethrone the NHRA champ, Tony Shumacher for a second straight week. At the green, Todd had a quicker 0.044 reaction time but got severely out of shape and even went sideways as he tried valiantly to get the car back in the groove in order to catch Shumacher who was also smoking the tires and was on and off the throttle. Shumacher was far enough ahead that Todd had to lift ending his hot streak of six consecutive rounds wins.
Over all, it was another good weekend for Dexter Tuttle’s Skull Shine Team as Todd picked up more points towards a top ten finish. The Skull team now moves down the West Coast to Sonoma California for the final race on the Western Swing.
