It was a tough weekend of competition for the Lucas Oil Racing teams of Top Fuel driver, Morgan Lucas and his capable teammate, Melanie Troxel, behind the wheel of her Vietnam Veterans Memorial dragster at the 47th annual CarQuest Auto Parts Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona.
Melanie raced J. R. Todd in her opening round of competition starting from the No. 12 position in the line up with her qualifying time of 4.541 seconds at a career best speed of 332.51 mph. Although the driver from Avon, Indiana left first on her opponent by a good margin (. 037-. 074), by the time she reached the finish line, Todd had edged her after suffering problems early in her run. Troxel ran an elapsed time of 11.051 seconds, 83.90 mph to Todd’s time of 4.699 seconds, 295.21 mph.
Likewise, team manager and driver, Lucas tried mightily to gain entrance into the toughest and swiftest field in NHRA Top Fuel history on Saturday, but could only muster an 18th place showing resigning him in becoming a spectator of the pro ranks.
However, in his Lucas Oil Top Alcohol dragster, he nearly set a new National record in the category after recording a 5.12 elapsed time during qualifying in taking the No. 1 slot and defeated Jeff Veale in the opening round of competition running a time of 5.263 seconds, 274.16 mph to Veale’s time of 5.551 seconds, 253.42 mph.
In Lucas’ quarterfinal round on Sunday, he lost by. 042 of a second or 17 feet to Larry Miersch after running identical elapsed times of 5.307 seconds.
Next up on the slate for the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series is the second race of the season at the Firebird International Raceway in Phoenix, for the running of the 23rd annual Checker Schuck’s Kragen Nationals on Feb. 23-25.
ESPN2 will air same-day television coverage of today’s eliminations for the NHRA CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals from 8-11 p. m. EST tonight, Sunday, Feb. 11.
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