Melanie Troxel is no stranger to Infineon Raceway and she’s glad to be on familiar territory. The three-time Top Fuel champ is hovering on the outside of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship by only a mere 51 points and with only three race remaining before the chase begins, it show time for her and the rest of the Vietnam Veterans POW/MIA team.
“It wasn’t that long ago we made some major changes to the way we run the car, ” said Troxel. “It takes a little while to get used to those changes, but we’re not getting the job done on Sunday. The guys I know are working really hard looking at the computer trying to figure out what they need to do to tune the car. We’ve qualified well and none of it seems to matter when we get to Sunday. Bottom line, we need to go rounds on Sunday. There’s absolutely nothing else that is going to make a difference in getting us in that top eight. The crew will do their best to tune the car to make it run good enough to win races on Sunday. I’ve got to be on my game and get up there and not make any mistakes. We need to leave the starting line first and get a head-start the next couple of races if we hope to have an opportunity. ”
Normally, she and Funny Car racer husband, Tommy Johnson, Jr. would take in some of the San Francisco Bay summertime activities, but not this time. She is clearly concentrating on her racing performance and is steering clear of any distractions. It’s becoming more and more significant to gain any ground in the championship hunt and her rite of passage is to win rounds in Sonoma.
“I raced in Division 6 and 7 in my sportsman days in Alcohol dragster, so I’ve run on the west coast a lot, ” said Troxel, winner of the St. Louis race. “I’m very familiar with the racetracks. I love coming out to Sonoma and taking a day before the race starts and going around doing some wine tasting. This week, I’m not much in the mood in taking in some sight-seeing and recreation. We need to get down to business and we have three races remaining to focus on getting into the Countdown. Basically, it’s not much time. We’ve got to be at our best and be completely focused. We do our best every race, not to say we haven’t. There’s no time to have any fun or to goof off right now. We have to absolutely get the job done if we’re going to have a shot at getting in the top eight. ”
With qualifying the two days prior to the race being the basis for Sunday’s performance, it’s going to be imperative to learn as much as she can on every pass down the quarter-mile.
“That’s going to be the definite advantage for us is to go and make all four qualifying passes, so we can work on and improve the setup we have, ” she said. “That’s going to be the key is to go out there and make all four passes, get down the track and
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