Texas-native Brogdon has some more ‘heat’ left in the engine for Dallas eliminations

DALLAS, TX – With track temperatures off the chart at Texas Motorplex, Pro Stock driver Rodger Brogdon has kept his cool throughout the compacted weekend in Dallas.

After unfortunately losing in the first round of the postponed Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals to Jonathan Gray during Q2, Brogdon was able to turn his focus solely to qualifying for the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals.

Laying down his fastest time of the weekend during the third qualifying session, Brogdon’s 6.615-second pass at 209.79 mph landed him in the 11th spot. His Owens Corning Camaro will line up alongside No. 6 qualifier Erica Enders-Stevens.

“We qualified 11th and we still haven’t made a good run,” Brogdon said. “That last run we had an electrical problem in the car. We’re not real sure about the problem though; we lost four cylinders in the first 1.5 seconds of the run.

“On the other hand, we ran our best 60-foot of the weekend under the worst track conditions. We’re definitely making the right moves, and I think we still have at least two- or three-hundredths left in it. We will be running close to Erica tomorrow for sure.”

Like earlier in the season, Brogdon is sporting more power under his hood this weekend than usual. Using an Elite Motorsports engine in Dallas, Brogdon and the team are trying to balance the increased horsepower with their Owens Corning Camaro chassis.

“Under normal circumstances, using a new engine really shouldn’t be that difficult,” Brogdon said, “but the way these engines need to be operated going up and down the track, it’s a learning curve. It’s not a big one, but when you’re talking about trying to get a hundredth here and hundredth there, that’s almost a second in Pro Stock.

“We’ll get a handle on it. Like I said, the last run looked like it was headed in the right direction, so we’ll be ready tomorrow.”

With track temperatures hitting a sweltering 140 degrees on the final day of qualifying, the margin for improvement is small. However, the Tomball-native isn’t fazed by the scorching Texas heat.

“We run hot track temperatures only a couple times a year, but we’re all having to run on it,” Brogdon said. “It’s not that difficult. The air temperature with humidity was real similar to the morning session, so the only real variable in the last run was the track. Even so, I think A.J. (Allen Johnson) went out there with a .587, within a hundredth of the fastest car.”

Aside from the track conditions, the extreme heat isn’t doing any favors for Brogdon, who is currently fighting the flu.

“Yesterday I had a temperature most of the day but I feel better,” Brogdon said. “I’m a long ways from being healthy, but maybe I’ll get a little bit better by tomorrow.”

Final eliminations start at noon, Sunday, with delayed coverage on ESPN2.