Melanie Troxel's first season in NHRA Funny Car competition came to a premature close -- as far as she and the R2B2 Racing Pro Care Rx Dodge Charger R/T are concerned -- Sunday in the quarterfinals of the Auto Club Finals.

Troxel, the No. 2 qualifier, got past Jim Head in a tire-smoking first round. She led all the way, despite running into traction trouble, and won with a time of 5.192 seconds at 189.95 mph to Head's 6.730 at 80.17 mph. But her hopes of closing the campaign on a winning note fell victim to Jack Beckman in the second round.

She got off the line first (.065 to .086) but Beckman passed her close to the 1,000-foot finish line, winning in 4.148 seconds at 301.00 to Troxel's 4.184 at 299.33.

"We lost a good, close race in the second round," she said. "We're not disappointed with that by any means. We would have liked to have won the race, but it is still a pretty strong finish in the last few races of the season and we feel we have a lot of momentum to carry into next season."

And that begins back at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Feb. 5-8, 2009.

Melanie Troxel drove the R2B2 Racing Dodge Charger R/T to a holeshot victory over Gary Scelzi in the opening round of Sunday's ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and it helped her move into 11th place in NHRA POWERade Series points.

She didn't qualify for the six-race playoffs in her first season at the controls of a Funny Car, but Troxel is the "best of the rest" with only one more event remaining at Pomona, Calif.

Her .091-second reaction against Scelzi's .111 provided the nine-thousandth of a second winning margin -- 4.134 seconds at 301.80 mph to 4.123 at 299.33 mph. She left first against second-round foe John Force, too, but he got the victory with a 4.077 at 309.77 to her 4.150 at 304.87.

"The car is running great," said Troxel. "We just lost a good race to John second round. We’ve got a car that can go up, I think, and race anybody. We need a few breaks here and there, and just a little tweak on the tune-up.

"I think everybody on the team is very happy with the performance. We have no complaints; we’re just running out of races to get that last win of the season."
The Southern California Automobile Association Finals unfolds Nov. 13-16 in Pomona.

Her 309.98 speed still fastest in 1000-foot competition

Melanie Troxel and the R2B2 Racing team left Virginia Motorsports Park Sunday with her best elapsed time in a Funny Car (4.407 seconds), the category's fastest 1000-foot speed (309.98 mph), and quarterfinal to series point leader Tim Wilkerson.

Her qualifying performance was stellar and she began competition by beating Gary Scelzi. Troxel had the better reaction time (.082 to .123) and lit the win light first in 4.604 seconds at 305.91 mph to Scelzi's 4.106 at 295.21.

But tire spin against Wilkerson slowed her car to a 4.491 at 264.65 mph while he ran 4.109 at 302.28.

"We were glad to get a round win," said Troxel. "We have made improvements over the last three races and we continue to have a really quick car and a better qualifying car than we've had."

Just two more race remain on the POWERade Series schedule -- at Las Vegas (Oct. 31-Nov. 2) and Pomona, Calif. (Nov. 13-16).

Melanie Troxel's competitive Sunday at Memphis Motorsports Park, was ruined by tire smoke in her first-round pairing against Tim Wilkerson in the O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals.

After turning in four solid qualifying laps and starting sixth, her R2B2 Racing Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car spun the tires on the 1000-foot run and erased any chance of catching Wilkerson. She left the starting line first but he gradually pulled away to the win in 4.186 seconds at 295.21 mph to Troxel's 4.672 at 238.30.

Wilkerson, the series point leader, went on to win the event.
"The car moved left and reacted differently than (crew chiefs) Brian (Corradi) and Mark (Oswald) expected," said Troxel.

"To run four good laps like that in qualifying and then have that happen is frustrating," said Oswald.

A loss of traction interrupted what Melanie Troxel hoped would be a first-round win over Gary Densham Sunday in the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.

Troxel bolted from the starting line first and stayed there for the first half of the 1000-foot track before the tires spun, enabling Densham to go by. He won with a 4.327-second time at 280.31 mph to her 4.465 at 236.59.

"More cars were making it down the right lane than we expected," Troxel said. "I think the consensus was we were a little too aggressive on a certain place on the track because when we smoke the tires it's the same place on every run.

"That's good news. We have a consistent car except for that one place. So if we fix that problem, we feel pretty good about how the car is going to run. We still have a car that runs really good."