MADISON, Ill.– J.R. Todd’s racing horizon is getting a little brighter and after last weekend’s performance at Atlanta, the Torco/Lucas Oil team is now ready to shine in St. Louis.
Todd and crew overcame obstacles that were preventing the car from matching up with the track conditions. After a trial and error process, they narrowed the problems reaching the quarterfinals on Sunday.
“The weekend started out kind of slow for us, but on Sunday the car made what I would a say would be a 180-degree turn,” said Todd. “Now we’re heading into St. Louis and we need to prove that it wasn’t a fluke by backing it up showing we’re back on track. We made up some ground and we’re trying to knock on the door of the POWERade Top 10.”
Part of the reason for gaining ground on the tune-up was produced by cooler weather and after a two-hour rain delay; the NHRA Safety Safari prepared a very quick track and it showed.
“The weather conditions were a lot better on race day,” Todd noted. “The track was the best it had been all week. Stew (John Stewart, crew chief) made some changes on the car from what he had been doing in the past and found some things that could be improved. It looks like the conditions in St. Louis will be cooler towards the end of the weekend so hopefully we’ll have the same conditions we had in Atlanta and be able to repeat.”
The start of the 12th annual O’Reilly Midwest Nationals begins at the Gateway International Raceway on Friday, May 2 with two nitro qualifying sessions starting at 4:00 p.m. (EDT) and 6:30 p.m. Saturday’s time trials start at 12:30 p.m. for the nitro classes followed by a second session at 3:00 p.m. The race starts promptly at 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 4.
J.R. TODD—LUCAS OIL RACING DRIVER NOTES:
J.R. Todd, of Lawrenceburg, Ind., has five NHRA POWERade Top Fuel wins out of seven final round appearances. He claimed his first win, the 2006 Mopar Mile-High Nationals in only his eighth start defeating Tony Schumacher in the finals. He finished eighth in the 2006 NHRA Top Fuel Point standings with 1,105 points after completing his first full season on the competitive 23-race NHRA circuit. He finished eighth with 2,273 points in 2007, making the cut of the first class for the Countdown to the Championship.
Todd’s’ quickest elapsed time is 4.473 seconds, set on Feb. 11, 2007 at Pomona Raceway. He sped to his fastest top speed of 334.24 mph on Nov. 4 in the first round of eliminations at the 2007 Auto Club Final in Pomona, Calif. He has won two Low E.T. qualifier awards – His first on July 21 at the Seattle International Raceway recording a time 4.577 seconds and Sept. 22 on the all-concrete surface of the Texas Motorplex setting the pace with his run of 4.541 seconds.
J.R. Todd’s first NHRA Top Fuel event came behind the wheel of the Dexter Tuttle-owned dragster in the 2006 CarQuest Auto P arts Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona on February 12, 2006. He was awarded the 2006 “Road to the Future” award, which recognizes NHRA’s top performing rookie driver. DOB: December 16, 1981.
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