Eight races for eight places remain in the pursuit of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship and Vietnam Veterans MIA/POW driver, Melanie Troxel proudly displays the No. 6 along side her name. The temperature soars, the pressure begins to build with the upcoming stretch of six races with the inclusion of the ‘Western Swing’ and the first stop on that tour will be the 38th annual ProCare Rx Nationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.
Troxel has plenty of incentive to continue her winning ways with the recent crew chief shift bringing John Stewart as the leader of her team.
“The fortunate side of this is that being Morgan’s teammate, I’m familiar with all the crew, ” said Troxel, the winner in St. Louis this year. “We’re making huge changes on both cars, with new crew chiefs.
It may seem surprising, but Troxel has only one New Jersey racing appearance. Although it was a first round loss, she’s geared up to redeem herself and make her name known among fans at the legendary track.
“Last year was my first full season, so there were only a handful of tracks I hadn’t been on, ” she said. “Englishtown can be a really good racetrack. From the forecast I saw, it shouldn’t be that hot there. If we should get some relatively cool weather Friday night, we should see some really good racing.
“Hot weather tends to even up the field bringing the cars with big power to just minimal performance of their potential. The air should offer us some great conditions. It’s just how the crew chiefs can adapt the power of the engine to the track. ”
With 38 years of racing at Raceway Park, some of the biggest names in all of drag racing have campaigned down the renowned quarter-mile and that’s something Troxel would love to add is her name to the impressive winner’s list.
“This has been going on longer than I’ve been alive, ” said a laughing Troxel. “There’s a lot of history there. One of the biggest things that I’ve noticed are the fans are very knowledgeable. There are a few tracks every year we go to that you can’t help but notice the fans are really paying attention. They know a lot of the details of what’s been going on with your season and are very educated on the sport of drag racing. It makes it fun to have the opportunity to talk with them when they care so much about the sport. ”
With the Countdown winding down the pike, Troxel is gearing up for a tough summer and hopes to have many rounds won by the time Labor Day arrives and the championship chase begins.
“Ideally, you want to finish as high in those spots as you can, ” Troxel said. “Those 10 points between positions could be very important late in the year. I think for us, the biggest concern I have is we’re two positions from being out of the field. We can’t afford to make any major mistakes at this point. We really need to stay focused and anyone in the top eight will have a shot at the title and we need make sure we’re in it. ”
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