Medlen’s memory remains strong in Todd’s thoughts
Gainesville, pre-race: For J.R. Todd, the noble memories of his good friend, Eric Medlen, who lost his life at Gainesville Raceway a year ago, remain strong in his thoughts.
The driver of the Torco/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster knows when he rolls into the gates for the 39th annual ACDelco Gatornationals; it won’t be just another race.
“It’s going to be a tough and emotional weekend for us,” said a solemn Todd. “Eric was such dear friend and everyone knew he was on his way to greater things, but it was all cut short by his sudden death in testing last year. I know myself, Morgan and Brandon (Bernstein) will be raising a Brat Pack toast to him on Wednesday night as we used to go out that particular night as a group, but this time will be certainly different. It’s sad in so many ways and his loss will always be immeasurable. My heart goes out to his dad, John and we’ll all be there to support him this weekend.”
But with the race at hand, he’s doing exactly what his beloved friend would have wanted him to do and that is get in the cockpit, cinch his belts tight, and stand on it. Todd’s season has lacked the luster of his preseason testing results and he now finds his Torco/Lucas Oil ride in the No. 12 spot with 66 points in the POWERade Top Fuel points and besides winning the race for Eric Medlen, a win at the Gatornationals could be launching pad he desires.
“We’ve had some really bad luck so far in 2008 with the A-Arm breaking at Pomona, then dropped a cylinder at the start in Phoenix and that cost us,” said Todd, a five-time Top Fuel titlist. “We lost two rounds of qualifying thanks to the rain and had our backs up against the wall, but responded quite well with a 4.54 elapsed time to qualify No. 6. So, we know we have a great race car and Stew (John Stewart, crew chief) has proven that numerous times with the great way we started in the preseason. The competition level is at an all-time high and we have to be razor-sharp in every segment of preparation. We’ll rally and we still have our goal set on being in the Countdown at the end of the season. The first thing on our agenda is to win this race for Eric.”
Source: NHRA.com
