Brogdon reaches Twitter goal but falls short on racetrack

TOPEKA, KS – ProtectTheHarvest.com Pro Stock driver Rodger Brogdon accomplished one goal at the NHRA Kansas Nationals this weekend at Heartland Park Topeka. Unfortunately for him and his team, it did not involve anything on the racetrack.

Brogdon lost in the first round to defending NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series champion Jeg Coughlin Jr., ending a frustrating weekend on the track, but he did accomplish one goal: reaching 100 followers on his Twitter (https://twitter.com/Rodger_Brogdon) account, which he started last week.

Brogdon said he’d wear leather pants in Englishtown, N.J., next weekend if he reached that goal, but he changed his mind.

“I did get to 126 followers, but I’m not sure about wearing the leather pants,” Brogdon said. “Nobody really wants to see that.”

Brogdon probably doesn’t want to see Heartland Park after this weekend, as myriad problems cropped up in the Protect The Harvest pit area. A damaged engine halted one qualifying pass, and Brogdon was forced to stop another because of brake problems.

On Sunday, as Coughlin sped to the second round with a run of 6.653 seconds at 206.54 mph, Brogdon lifted early; his pass was 6.753 seconds at 195.08 mph.

“This weekend wasn’t at all what we wanted,” Brogdon said. “We had great horsepower from Elite, but we couldn’t get it to work. One thing after another went wrong, but dadgum it’s not time to make excuses. We’ve got one more race with the Elite motor, so we hope we can make a better showing in Englishtown.”

Topeka marked the second of three races Brogdon used an engine from Elite Motorsports. Last weekend in Atlanta, Brogdon used the horsepower from Elite to qualify No. 5 and get his first round-win of 2014.

“We’ve got to do better and I believe we will,” Brogdon said. “These guys have worked too hard not to see some results.”