Rodger Brogdon has first hiccup of stellar start to 2015

CHARLOTTE, NC – Rodger Brogdon’s stellar start to the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season took its first stumble on Sunday in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway.

Brogdon encountered transmission troubles during his first-round pass, ending his chances at advancing to the semifinals.

“When I went to shift into fourth gear it dead-headed,” Brogdon said of when gears don’t correctly mesh. “That was that. We can’t be too upset because we’ve had a lot of great things happen this year. We’ll bounce back in Vegas.”

Brogdon came into the Four-Wide race as the Pro Stock points leader after winning in Phoenix and going to the semifinals in both other races this season, but he didn’t have much luck in Charlotte.

For starters, both of Friday’s scheduled qualifying sessions were rained out. Then Brogdon was timed out of one of Saturday’s session, so he was able to only make one pass on the resurfaced zMax track, grabbing the No. 10 qualifying spot. That put him against No. 2 qualifier Jason Line, No. 7 Larry Morgan, and No. 15 John Gaydosh.

Brogdon had a decent reaction time, but while Line set the national elapsed time record of 6.455 seconds at 214.48 mph and Morgan had a .006 light and a good 6.501-second pass at 214.42 mph, Brogdon coasted across the finish line. The official numbers were 7.919 seconds at 125.44 mph.

“It would’ve been tough to beat Jason and Larry,” Brogdon said. “Larry was great on the Tree, and Jason’s pass — wow. We are certainly capable of running with those guys but not that time. We have to be better and that includes me, but we will be better.”

Brogdon is second in the Pro Stock standings after Line’s big day, which included a 20-point bonus for setting the national record.

“Oh, man, I’m not worried about points yet,” Brogdon said. “It’s way too early to be thinking about that. We’ve had a great start, and we know we’re contenders every time we show up. That’s all I’m worried about right now.”