J.R. Todd ended Tony Schumacher’s reign of terror in Top Fuel at the 23rd annual O’Reilly NHRA Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex, the second of sixth events in NHRA’s Countdown to 1 playoffs. Todd ended Schumacher’s amazing win steak at 31 rounds and seven straight NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series wins.
Todd, who has suffered through about as disappointing a season as the 2006 rookie of the year could have imagined in his worst nightmare, having scored just five round-wins this year, pushed the John Stewart-tuned Lucas Oil Products dragster to his first win in more than a year, since the 2007 event in Houston, upsetting the heavily favored Schumacher on a holeshot in the final, 3.912, 309.84 to 3.910, 310.64. Three of Todd’s six wins have come over Schumacher in the final round.
“This one almost feels like a first event win,” Todd said. “The way this year has gone, I almost thought it would never turn around. Every race we’d be gaining ground in qualifying and I’d think ‘this is going to be it. Finally.’ And then we’d go out there and struggle first round on race day. Or if we’d get past first round, we’d never get past second round. Finally we got out of second round today and I thought, ‘Uh oh, we’ve got some momentum going now.”’
“If there was one guy I’d want to beat out here every day, it’d be him because he’s the toughest guy out here, and if you beat him, you’ve accomplished something at the end of the day,” Todd said.
In funny car, Tim Wilkerson dealt Tony Pedregon his first loss of the year in five final rounds. Other winners were Greg Stanfield in pro stock and Chris Rivas in pro stock motorcycle.
| 
|