Career-best pass has Brogdon feeling chippy at Englishtown drag race
ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – The new engine program Rodger Brogdon installed three races ago in Atlanta continues to bear fruit for the 
veteran drag racer as the tall Texan posted the quickest and fastest pass of his professional career in qualifying a season-best fifth on the Pro Stock ladder.
Brogdon’s 6.488 at 214.42 mph in his ProtectTheHarvest.com Chevrolet Camaro sets up a first-round date with veteran Larry Morgan in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations. Morgan, a teammate of Brogdon’s under the Lucas Oil banner, qualified his Lucas Oil Mustang 12th with a 6.611 at 208.46 mph.
“We’ve run great every round and that’s exciting,” Brogdon said. “We only had three qualifying rounds this weekend, so it’s important that we performed so well in every session.
“The guys have done a good job and if I do my job tomorrow I expect that we’ll be able to go some rounds. Our confidence is definitely on the rise at the moment, and that makes it a whole lot more fun.”
Brogdon’s run of record actually came in Saturday’s first session. Normally, that would have been the best chance for everyone to go for a big number, but cloud cover and a slight drop in ambient temperatures actually allowed several pros to improve in the final time trial Saturday afternoon.
“I really thought we could go 6.47 or even 6.46 in that round,” Brogdon said. “It was about perfect out there. We tried something that the guys thought would work and I don’t know whether it would have or not because I messed up. I short-shifted the first gear change 500 rpm too early, and that just knocked the breath out of the motor. You can’t make a mistake like that down low and recover from it.
“We could have done so much more in that round but we didn’t, so now we’ll concentrate on tomorrow and see if we can’t run even quicker in eliminations. We will be ready to race, for sure.”
Qualifying highlights will air this evening beginning at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Eliminations start at noon, Sunday, and will be shown in slight tape-delay later Sunday afternoon.
