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| Troxel exits first round after a wild ride in Englishtown |
 ENGLISHTOWN, NJ (June 15, 2009) -- Melanie Troxel qualified tenth in her debut in the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge presented by ProCare Rx at the UA NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park and exited first round Sunday after making fans hearts skip a beat when she masterfully kept her car from tagging the guard walls when she got sideways in the first round of eliminations.The veteran nitro driver steadily improved in qualifying, jumping from a 6.164 at 237 mph to a 6.034 at 240.47 mph and landed No 10 in a stellar field. In her first round matchup against nitrous-powered Rickie Smith, Troxel gave fans a glimpse at the unpredictable and thrilling side of Pro Mod racing, making a spectacular save in her R2B2 Racing Voodoo '63 Corvette, quickly recovering from a hard dive to the right when the tires shook at the hit of the throttle. She lifted and coasted past the finish line, disappointed with the loss but glad she was able to react and keep the car from damage. "I had the opportunity do quite a bit of testing in the cars but unfortunately they weren't passes to the finish line, which left me a little uneasy coming into this event, so it was nice to get here and get two full runs in qualifying, I was very happy with how all that worked out," Troxel said. "I'd like to have qualified a little higher, but considering how it all worked out, this is a car that hasn't been run in a while, and we'd made some changes in our set up, so in all that was good. "On Sunday, the plan was to go up and step it just a little bit more and run something in the 5.90's, but unfortunately we didn't get any data from our last qualifying run because the Race Pack didn't work so Al [Billes, crew chief] was trying to figure out what the car needed without any information to work from, and I think that's really what bit us. "The track was definitely there, and the car was ready to go, but we didn't have the right information to give it the best tune-up, and we came up just a little soft. When the car does get upset for some reason, it turns really hard right, and on that run, the car went out and shook the tires, then made a really abrupt turn right. It was in the center of the groove and everything was going fine, and then it made a hard turn," she explained. "There's a saying, 'If you can't win, be spectacular,' and I think we definitely got the spectacular part out of that run. I think it showed both sides of that amazing Voodoo paint job to both stands, but I was able to get it calmed down, and we've got a good, undamaged car ready to race another day," she said. "Here's the thing - I'm a new driver in a car that hasn't been run in a while, and we're still shaking the bugs out of it. I think we're all really happy with the way the weekend went, especially, obviously for Raymond taking the win and setting the national record. "We'll be working hard between now and our next Pro Mod Challenge race at Indy, and then we'll just hit it again," Troxel said. ### |
