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Todd Moves into Memphis Quarterfinals |
J.R. Todd Reaches Quarterfinals at Memphis
MEMPHIS, Sept. 16, 2007 – J.R. Todd fought back Sunday at Memphis
Motorsports Park, driving into the Top Fuel quarterfinals of the O’Reilly Mid-South
Nationals and picking up valuable POWERade Series points in the process.
“At least we have a fighting chance,” said Todd, who rebounded from not
qualifying at Indianapolis two weeks ago. He is locked in a fight for one of
the top four places in the Countdown to Four. He leaves Memphis seventh with
2092 points.
“Every time we get close to moving up a place in the standings we can’t
take advantage of it,” added Todd. “We did get to make up some ground because
several of the drivers ahead of us went out early.”
The team avoided a certain first-round finish when an ignition problem
surfaced during the regular pre-race warm-up. The engine shut itself off in the
warm-up. The faulty part was easily replaced.
“We battled a gremlin all weekend but we did qualify and went a couple of
rounds.”
Todd won a pedal-fest in the opening round against Morgan Lucas. Each car
smoked the tires, and Todd was able to get the SKULL Shine dragster to the
finish line first in 5.502 seconds at 182.48 mph to Lucas’ 6.954. Todd had a
huge lead off the starting line -- .092-seconds to .143.
Todd left before quarterfinal rival Brandon Bernstein, .085 to .110, but
traction problems slowed him to a 4.877 at 283.55 mph to good friend Bernstein’s
4.600 at 315.27.
Todd and friends move on to the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, near Dallas, for
the Fall Nationals, Friday through Sunday.
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