Troxel ousted in Denver first round, relinquishes points lead

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 13 of 23
Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals
Bandimere Speedway
Morrison, Colo.
Race Date: July 14-16, 2006


MORRISON, Colo. (July 16, 2006) - Colorado native Melanie Troxel did not
have the homecoming she wished for today after being knocked out of the
Mopar Mile-High Nationals in the first round of Top Fuel eliminations at
Bandimere Speedway, her hometown track. With the loss, she also yielded the
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Top Fuel points lead, which she had held
through the first 12 events of the season.

With Doug Kalitta's loss to Troxel's teammate Tony Schumacher in the
semifinal, Troxel is now in second, 22 points behind Kalitta.

She entered eliminations in the Skull Shine/Knoll Gas-Torco Race Fuels
Top Fuel dragster as the No. 12 qualifier and faced off against David
Grubnic in the first round. She nailed a solid .087 (of a second) reaction
time (.000 is perfect) to Grubnic's .100 and was heading for a victory until
half-track, when the engine started popping and banging. Grubnic grabbed the
win with a 4.847/304.19, while Troxel slowed to a 5.247/220.44. Margin of
victory: .3871 of a second.

"The Skull Shine car was on a good run, and then it dropped three
cylinders (two left, one right), which is kind of along the lines of
what we've been doing here all weekend," said Troxel. "It's only one
time a year we run this kind of altitude (5,860 feet above sea level),
then on top of it, we have to face 100-degree-plus temperatures," she
added about the unusually hot conditions the teams faced this weekend in
Denver.

The team battled tough conditions all weekend. "We started out the
weekend and made a couple passes before we decided what we were doing
wasn't working, and we needed to make some pretty big changes," said Troxel,
who celebrated her one-year anniversary with Don Schumacher Racing this
weekend. "We started making changes on the third qualifying pass, and we
were seeing improvement. We just didn't have quite enough passes to get it
all sorted out.

"I feel like we were kind of behind the 8-ball all weekend. We didn't really
have a good setup coming into this event, so that hurt us. When we came here
last year it was our first event as a team, so we were using all
hand-me-down parts and equipment, and what we had did not really translate
to the new equipment we are running this year."

On her falling to second in the points for the first time this season: "The
last couple of races we've had that points lead narrowing and narrowing, and
everyone was commenting on it. This may not be a bad thing; it will kind of
get that off our back. Now, Doug can be the leader and have that. There's
still plenty of races left and I know that this Skull Shine team still has a
lot left in it. It's a little disappointing to not have the lead, but in the
end, it might be a blessing.

"It's sad to say this because it's my hometown track, but we are looking
forward to getting out of here and going to Seattle."

Troxel travels to Seattle, Wash., next for the Schuck's NHRA Nationals at
Pacific Raceways, July 21-23.

TOP FUEL POINT STANDINGS:
1. Doug Kalitta, 978
2. Melanie Troxel, 956
3. Brandon Bernstein, 850
4. Tony Schumacher, 769
5. Larry Dixon, 740
6. Dave Grubnic, 729
7. Rod Fuller, 722
8. Morgan Lucas, 622
9. Cory McClenathan, 611
10. Hillary Will, 551