DHL Toyota GR Supra and Todd Race to Quarterfinals at Four-Wide Nationals

Las Vegas – Two-time NHRA Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals Funny Car winner J.R. Todd was looking to add a third trophy to his collection this weekend. Through four rounds of qualifying Todd and the DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car were qualified No. 9 with a 3.943 second run at 327.27 mph. The tough Funny Car category had Todd aligned with reigning Funny Car champion Ron Capps, veteran Tim Wilkerson and Jason Rupert in the opening quad.

Todd was first off the starting line and had his hands full as his Toyota GR Supra Funny Car lurched down track and he was on and off the throttle. The wildness of the four-wide racing style was in full effect in this quad as Wilkerson was loose off the starting line and had to abort his run in the first second of competition. Rupert smoked the tires at the hit of the throttle and was not a factor. While Capps was on a smooth pass Todd crossed the finish line right behind him after his own eventful run.

Todd’s second round opponents included Capps as well as Matt Hagan and Bob Tasca III. Three of the four drivers were world champions and the opportunity for advancing to the final quad left little room for error. Once again Todd was the first off the line and made his best run of the weekend for the DHL Funny Car, a 3.936 second blast at 326.08 mph. Unfortunately, it was not enough to get around eventual event winner Ron Capps and Hagan.

“We’re still learning and making adjustments with this new GR Supra body, but this weekend we really feel like we’ve made some good progress with the race car overall,” said Todd. “We had some good qualifying passes and had to really drive our DHL GR Supra into the second round. Of course, we wanted more and wanted to be in the final round, but we’re learning and improving each race weekend.”

Statistics:
Qualified: No. 9 (3.943 sec., 327.27 mph)
Bonus points: 0

Race Details:

E1
Qual/Driver                                                     RT        ET        MPH
No. 1; Ron Capps                                            .073     3.970   268.65 (W)
No.9; J.R. Todd                                               .072     4.419   245.85 (W)
No.8; Tim Wilkerson                                       .079     8.045   97.06
No. 16: Jason Rupert                                      .101     No Time

E2
Qual/Driver                                                     RT        ET        MPH
No. 1; Ron Capps                                            .073     3.902   329.91 (W)
No. 4; Matt Hagan                                          .060     3.919   320.43 (W)
No.9; J.R. Todd                                               .047     3.936   326.08
No. 5; Bob Tasca III                                         .073     3.949   323.12