TODD TAKES CAMRY TO GATEWAY NHRA SEMIFINALS
MADISON, IL – J.R. Todd extended his consecutive round win streak to 10 before eventually falling to Tim 
Wilkerson in the Funny Car semifinals of the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park in suburban St. Louis. Todd currently sits second in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs after two of six races, just 30 points out of the lead.
After previously driving his DHL Toyota Camry to victories at Indianapolis and Reading, Todd opened his day with a victory over teammate Shawn Langdon in the first round. He then defeated fellow Toyota driver Cruz Pedregon in round two after Pedregon red-lighted. In the semifinals, Todd had a .017-second advantage at the light, only to strike the tires early. Wilkerson went around him, but also lost traction. Todd would attempt to pedal his car, but couldn’t recover giving Wilkerson the victory.
“We definitely got a lucky break there in the second round against Cruz,” said Todd, a four-time winner this season. ”We had a hole out pretty early and I thought it was over. I didn’t realize he had red-lit. Then in the semis, we had a fuel leak out of the header on the right side and that caused us to smoke the tires. Then I just couldn’t get it to hook up and get by Wilkerson. It’s a shame to give up the points lead that way, but it’s still early in the fight. We’re not going to give up. We’ll go to Dallas and be ready to compete there.”
Pedregon advanced to the second-round match-up with Todd by defeating Ron Capps on a holeshot, 3.992-3.978, after getting a .034 advantage on the light. He has registered round wins in each of the first two Countdown events.
Del Worsham ran a solid 4.00-second pass in the first round as he fell to Tommy Johnson Jr.
In Top Fuel, Antron Brown defeated Doug Kalitta in the opening round, 3.728-3.792. Brown’s run was the overall quickest pass of the day. As temperatures rose to the highest numbers of the weekend, Brown’s Matco Tools/Toyota team would back off their set-up in round two against Clay Millican, but it proved to be a little too much as they fell by .021 seconds.
Richie Crampton was unable to get a clean pass down the track and went down to defeat to Tony Schumacher in the first round.
The Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads to Dallas in two weeks for AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex, October 5-7. The race marks the midway point of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
