Three Toyotas Advance to Second Round at NHRA Gatornationals

GAINESVILLE, FL – Alexis DeJoria advanced to the second round in Funny Car, while Antron Brown and Shawn Langdon did the same in Top Fuel to lead Toyota at today’s Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.

After matching a season-best fifth in qualifying on Saturday, DeJoria drove her ROKiT Toyota Camry to a first-round win over Jim Campbell with a solid 4.051-second pass. In round two, she matched up against Ron Capps and registered another solid run, but fell just short, losing 3.968-4.014.

In Top Fuel, Brown qualified third and then defeated Cameron Ferre in the first round with his best pass of the weekend with a 3.821. In the second round against Terry McMillen, Brown had an .019 advantage at the tree, but was up in smoke early with McMillen taking the win.

Langdon, coming off a win at the U.S. Nationals, opened his day with a first-round win over Justin Ashley to set up a match-up with Billy Torrence in round two. Langdon left .034 quicker, but Torrence made that up by the 300-foot mark and went on to win with a margin of victory of .035 seconds.

Three Toyota drivers fell in Sunday’s opening round.

Doug Kalitta had a starting line advantage against Terry McMillen in his opening run, but then dropped a cylinder, giving McMillen the win, while fellow Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher took an early lead against Steve Torrence, but was up in smoke by 300 feet and clicked it off.

In an opening round match-up between drivers that entered the weekend third and fourth in points Funny Car points, J.R. Todd narrowly lost to Tommy Johnson.

The Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads to World Wide Technology Raceway in suburban St. Louis next weekend for the NHRA Midwest Nationals, October 3-4.