Todd Heads To Vegas After Quarterfinal Effort In Houston

Houston, TX – J.R. Todd and the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car will be leaving the NHRA Camping World Springnationals at Houston Raceway Park with both ends of the Funny Car track record book. He posted low ET and top speed of race day as wrote his name into the performance record book. In the opening session Todd blasted down the track with a winning and record setting time of 3.894 seconds at 333.49 mph. The DHL Camry Funny Car’s speed was the fastest of both Top Fuel and Funny Car, a tremendous achievement that brought the Houston crowd to its feet.

The first round win came over veteran Terry Haddock who smoked the tires and costed across the finish line. The scoreboards lit up 3.894 to 9.360 seconds and the DHL Camry Funny Car never trailed in the race. The win also gave Todd lane choice over Tommy Johnson Jr. on the quarterfinals.

“We had a great run in the first round,” said Todd. “It’s nice to have run the fastest pass of the weekend in this DHL Camry, but in the end, that’s not why we’re here. We’re here to win. This is the second straight race that we’ve run really well in the first round, but we need four of those. We have one race left to get it done. We’ve won in Las Vegas three times in the past couple of years and our goal will be to get a fourth next week.

Todd’s day came to an abrupt end with a close quarterfinal finish. Both Funny Cars launched off the starting line almost together but by half-track Johnson had a slight lead and he held this Funny Car’s nose just in front of the DHL Funny Car as they crossed the finish line. Todd’s 3.979 second run at 326 mph was off his opening round performance.

Heading into race day Todd brought his best qualifying position of the season, a No. 3 starting spot. His previous best was a No. 4 qualifier at the first race in Indianapolis back after the season break.

“We made the most of the two qualifying sessions for sure. Starting No. 3 give us a lot of confidence. We just need to capitalize on race day. I know we have the team to do that. We have one race to wrap up the season and we have had a lot of success at The Strip at Las Vegas,” added Todd.

Quotable:

J.R. Todd on wrapping up season in Las Vegas: “I think we can finish as high as fifth and we could get to fourth if things fall our way. There will be points and a half so that makes it exciting. I have won at The Strip before and I love racing there.”

Statistics:
Qualified: No. 3 (3.923 sec., 328.62 mph)
Bonus points:  +2 (2nd quickest of Q1)

Race Details:

First Round
Driver                          Qual    R/T      ET        MPH
J.R. Todd                     3          .075     3.894   333.49 (W)
Terry Haddock                        14        .132     9.360   73.65

Second Round
Driver                          Qual    R/T      ET        MPH
J.R. Todd                     3          .078     3.979   326.00
Tommy Johnson Jr      6          .057     3.934   327.51 (W)