ENNIS, Texas – J. R. Todd, driver of the Lucas Oil Fuel Treatment dragster, snapped Tony Schumacher’s string of consecutive round wins at 31 upsetting the five-time Top Fuel champion halting his streak of seven wins in a row Sunday at the 23rd annual O’Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals.
It was Todd’s eighth career final round appearance embracing now a string started of his own. The victory was the first of the 2008 season for Morgan Lucas Racing and Todd’s sixth overall with his last win coming at the 2007 Houston event.
“This feels almost like a first event win,” smiled Todd. “The way our year has gone I didn’t think it was ever going to turn around. We would be gaining some ground in qualifying and I say maybe this is it; finally, it is going to happen this weekend. After the quarterfinals win, I thought to myself we have some momentum going now. The car went down the track on all four rounds in qualifying and it hasn’t done that all year long. It was consistent and since Jimmy Walsh has come on board that’s been the turning point for us. We’re still struggling a little bit and the more runs he gets under his belt the better both cars will run. We just need to get Morgan’s car back where it should be. To beat the champ in the finals was something very special. It there’s a guy I could beat out here every day it’s him because he’s the toughest guy out here and if you beat him, you’ve accomplished something at the end of the day.”
In the race, Todd defeated first-time performer, Spencer Massey, in his opening round of eliminations by first leaving on him (. 079 – 096) and then outdistancing Massey in a tight race where Todd reached the finish line first after completing his 1,000 feet run of 3.911 seconds, 310.13 mph to 3.933 seconds, 304.74 mph.
“I heard Bob Frey (NHRA announcer) say it could be a ‘get healthy’ weekend for us,” said a thrilled Todd. “If that’s the case, then we must have been in a coma before. Our crew is getting this figured out and we should be fine. I can’t thank crew chief, John Stewart and his assistant, Joe Barlem for staying positive and making this win happen for us.”
Todd won his quarterfinals round against Hillary Will in another tight battle for the finish line. The Lawrenceburg, Ind., driver edged her with positive results of 3.934 seconds, 305.22 mph to Will’s equally good time of 3.936 seconds, 304.39 mph. The margin of victory was. 019-thousandths of a second or a quarter-car length.
The semi-finals proved to be a gut-check run, when his opponent, Brandon Bernstein lost traction at the hit of the throttle when Bernstein’s Budweiser/Lucas Oil race car went up in tire smoke to which Todd followed suit down the track. Todd regained control pushing his dragster to the finish line as quick as he could moving forward to his first finals since Topeka last year. Todd recorded an elapsed time win of 4.532 seconds, 235.39 mph to Bernstein’s tire-smoking pass of 6.729 seconds, 113.67 mph.
With Todd making his eight final round appearance of his career, he was destined to grab his overall sixth win and third win in a final round against Schumacher. On a hole-shot, Todd left the starting line first (. 068 –. 084) in his Lucas Oil dragster sprinting side-by-side with Schumacher all the way winning with a time of 3.912 seconds, 309.84 mph to his competitor’s time of 3.910 seconds, 310.63 mph. The Lucas driver won with a margin of victory of. 014-thousandths of a second and no one was happier than the 26-year old, Todd.
“A win is a win,” said Todd. “I went up there and when I saw the yellow light I stabbed the gas, but you’re pretty jacked up in the final round no matter who you’re running. Then when you’re racing him you know you had better leave first because Alan Johnson (Schumacher’s crew chief) makes big horsepower and he usually doesn’t beat himself and from what I’ve seen before that’s normally the only way they could lose. I had a little luck on our side today and that’s what it takes to win one of these.”
Todd qualified in the No. 6 starting position in the quickest field since NHRA reduced the distance to 1,000 feet with his time of 3.874 seconds, 307.72 mph.
With the win, Todd moved up to the No. 11 position in the NHRA Top Fuel points standing surpassing his teammate and best buddy, Morgan Lucas with now 812 points.
Up next for the talented Lucas Oil Fuel Treatment team will be the 21st annual O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals at the Memphis Motorsports Park next weekend on Sept. 26 – 28.
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