J. R. Todd Loses Traction And In First Round

Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 12 qualifier at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals. During the final qualifying session Saturday afternoon, Todd posted a 4.040-second pass at 316.52 mph. It was also the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge in which Todd defeated Matt Hagan to take his second challenge victory of the season and his third overall.

Eliminations: Todd and the DHL Toyota team lost to Alexis DeJoria in the first round of eliminations when the Todd’s tires lost traction immediately after the run began. It was Todd’s only first-round loss of the season.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Chicago in fourth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails third-place John Force by 11 points and leads fifth-place Bob Tasca by 27 points.

Todd on Chicago: “We smoked the tires when I hit the throttle – there was no mechanical issue or anything like that; we just overpowered the race track. It happens sometimes, but we hate it for DHL, Revchem, SealMaster and Toyota. We’ll get ready for New Hampshire in two weeks and get back at it.”

Next Race: Team Kalitta will be back in action May 31-June 2, 2024 at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.  For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com.  For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com.

J.R. Todd Photo Courtesy: Chris Hall/Kalitta Motorsports