Defending Winternationals Champ Troxel Wants Encore Performance
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Feb 07, 2007
Defending CarQuest Auto Parts Winternationals champion Melanie Troxel enters the 47th annual event with a new team, but is hoping for an encore performance.
After the conclusion of the 2006 season, where Troxel finished fourth in the POWERade Top Fuel standings, the Torco championship contending team switched over to the Morgan Lucas Racing organization and for 2007 is paying a special tribute to the Vietnam Veterans campaigning their livery throughout the season.
“We came into 2006 with a half season together as a new team, but it gave us just enough momentum to come into the season right, †said a smiling Troxel. “We were fortunate to get a good handle on the new tires that everyone was running. Simply, we ran a great race on Sunday. We weren’t necessarily the quickest or the fastest car. We were consistent and we did what it took every round just to advance. We’re looking forward to coming out here; the track itself has a special feeling to it and seeing what we can do in the new season. â€
Troxel’s special feeling offers incredible results that clearly show the phenomenal run she has accomplished at Pomona. The young woman, who calls Littleton, Co. home, has reached the final round in the last three consecutive events at the famed quarter-mile.
“There are certain tracks you seem to do well, †said Troxel. “There’s not any real reason to it, but it looks to be one of those tracks for us. It’s great because their’s definitely something special about the Winternationals, about Pomona, that first race of the year. It’s a very special race for me. So, it’s nice to have that be one of the tracks we perform well on and we look forward to going back. â€
Last year’s Pomona Winternationals had her coming from the back-half of the field (No. 9 – 4.547) and came out strong taking out Clay Millican, defending Top Fuel champion, Tony Schumacher, her now teammate, Morgan Lucas and in the finals racing a determined David Baca and winning with a time of 4.582 seconds.
“We didn’t run as well as we would have liked entering the race from the bottom half of the field, †said Troxel. “It’s one thing to go out there, run big numbers, and qualify well. It’s far more important to be able know what to do on race day and make the right decisions then.
The start of the CarQuest Auto Parts Winternationals begins at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona on Thursday, Feb. 8 with one qualifying session starting at 2:30 p. m. (PDT) followed by the same schedule on Friday. Saturday’s time trials start at 12:30 p. m. for the nitro classes followed by a second session at 3:30 p. m. The race starts promptly at 11 a. m. on Sunday, Feb. 11.
