BAYTOWN, Texas – An ET of 3.885 seconds run in Q2 on Friday put PEAK Motor Oil/Herculiner NHRA Full Throttle Series Top Fuel pilot TJ Zizzo seventh in the field of 16 at the 24th Annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway. A red light .163 seconds on the wrong side of good sent the veteran drag racer home early.
The Illinois native faced Doug Kalitta, whom he beat in an upset at the 2010 U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. The hot, humid weather was problematic Saturday and was no different Sunday as Kalitta struggled to get down the track and popped the parachutes before the finish line. But it was for naught; what should have been Zizzo Racing’s first round win of the year became their second first-round exit.
“I really feel like I let our team down and our sponsor down,” said a despondent Zizzo after the round. “We had some guests in our pit this morning from Old World Industries (the parent company of PEAK) and it was really great hanging out with them. That made it all the harder to red light it.
“We beat Doug on a holeshot last year and that’s where my mind was. I knew the track was going to be challenging and that we were going to need every advantage we could get. I jumped the gun and now we’re going home.”
The next scheduled race for Zizzo and the PEAK Motor Oil/Herculiner team is the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Route 66 Nationals at his home track of Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. For more information or for tickets, visit them on the Web at Route66Raceway.com
Fans of TJ Zizzo and Zizzo Racing can find updates and photos of the PEAK/Herculiner Top Fuel team by checking out ZizzoRacing.com, Twitter.com/ZizzoRacing, and Facebook.com/ZizzoRacing. Videos of TJ and Zizzo Racing can be found at YouTube.com/TJZizzo.
The Illinois native faced Doug Kalitta, whom he beat in an upset at the 2010 U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. The hot, humid weather was problematic Saturday and was no different Sunday as Kalitta struggled to get down the track and popped the parachutes before the finish line. But it was for naught; what should have been Zizzo Racing’s first round win of the year became their second first-round exit.
“I really feel like I let our team down and our sponsor down,” said a despondent Zizzo after the round. “We had some guests in our pit this morning from Old World Industries (the parent company of PEAK) and it was really great hanging out with them. That made it all the harder to red light it.
“We beat Doug on a holeshot last year and that’s where my mind was. I knew the track was going to be challenging and that we were going to need every advantage we could get. I jumped the gun and now we’re going home.”
The next scheduled race for Zizzo and the PEAK Motor Oil/Herculiner team is the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Route 66 Nationals at his home track of Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. For more information or for tickets, visit them on the Web at Route66Raceway.com
Fans of TJ Zizzo and Zizzo Racing can find updates and photos of the PEAK/Herculiner Top Fuel team by checking out ZizzoRacing.com, Twitter.com/ZizzoRacing, and Facebook.com/ZizzoRacing. Videos of TJ and Zizzo Racing can be found at YouTube.com/TJZizzo.
