Three Toyotas Advance To Second Round In NHRA New England Nationals

EPPING, NH – J.R. Todd advanced to the second round in Funny Car, while Doug Kalitta and Antron Brown did the same in Top Fuel to lead Toyota at the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway, Sunday.

Todd was one of just three Funny Car drivers to register a pass in the 3’s in the opening round, handily defeating Cruz Pedregon to advance to a second-round match-up against eventual race winner John Force. The DHL Camry driver had the advantage on the tree, but Force was able to run him down by the 300’ mark and led the rest of the way.

Coming off another top-five qualifying effort, Alexis DeJoria had a sizable lead over Robert Hight at the 330’ but was up in smoke at 660’ giving Hight the first-round victory.

In Top Fuel, Kalitta qualified fifth and then defeated his Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon in the opening round, 3.842-4.080, before being eliminated in round two by Mike Salinas after losing traction early.

Brown earned a first-round victory over Brittany Force with a stellar 3.773-second run at 324.98 mph. In round two, he squared off with Billy Torrence. The two left together with Brown surging ahead early, leading through 330’.  At 660’ the two were side-by-side only to see Torrence pull ahead in the final 330’, with a margin of victory of just .014-seconds.

The Camping World Drag Racing Series will return to the track, June 25-27 at the Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.