NHRA Quotes from Reading
Compiled by Ian Tocher
Photos by Todd Dziadosz
10/5/06
The rain-delayed 22nd annual Toyo Tires Nationals went off Sept. 29-Oct. 1, at historic Maple Grove Raceway, where rookie J.R. Todd scored his third Top Fuel win this season, Phil Burkart Jr. won in Funny Car for the first time in more than two years, Greg Anderson continued his winning ways in Pro Stock, and Karen Stoffer finished first in Pro Stock Motorcycle. And as always, the racers told the story from Reading, PA, through quotes taken from NHRA and team press releases.
“We beat good cars today and we earned the win."— J.R. Todd on getting past Cory McClenathan, Tony Schumacher and David Grubnic before going a personal-best 4.494 at 324.12 mph to beat Melanie Troxel's 4.538/327.26 in the final round
"We were both a little too aggressive with our tune-ups and we got in trouble early. I did everything I could to get it to hook up. I pedaled the car six, seven, eight times, I grabbed a
big ol' handful of brake, I turned sideways both ways, I almost hit the wall twice. The thing is I could se him right next to me and he was in trouble also so I just kept racing. He gathered it up just before I did and that was the difference. It was a great race. The NHRA always talks about giving the fans their money's worth. We definitely did it that time. I'll tell you what, I hate to lose more than anyone but that one was fun either way. Brandon and I just laughed and shrugged our shoulders at the other end. What else can you do?”— David Baca on his tire-smoking battle against Brandon Bernstein in the opening round"That was a challenge. I tried to ease the throttle, but the tires kept popping up off the track and it was hard to steer. It was definitely a ride.”— Bernstein on his view of the race against Baca
"It was nice to get back in the rhythm on making some runs on Sunday. It's been a while since we've done that, and we almost forgot how to do it a little bit.”— Troxel after reaching her eighth final round this year, but her first in the second half of the season