Mid-Season Review

NHRA’s 2012 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season schedule hit the halfway mark during last weekend’s Toyota Super Nationals held at Englishtown NJ. So far it’s been quite a ride for Edmonton’s Todd Lesenko within his first full year in the brutally tough fuel FC category….

Todd Lesenko

There is no denying that after a very rapid start to the 2012 season; Lesenko’s racing fortunes have taken a turn. In more recent times a string of DNQ event efforts have dashed his standings in the points chase, and placing outside the field last weekend (17^th at E-Town 4.267 secs) did not help matters.

But For Lesenko and his Jim Dunn Racing teammates the future truly does look bright and optimism continues to ooze from within.

“Unfortunately in recent times the nitro Gods have not been all that kind to us,” Todd reflected. “We have had some issues with getting a handle on our clutch. The motor has been loading too far down and dropping cylinders. We think we have that figured out now however and we are working on getting our tune-up in the car to coordinate with the clutch.”

“This is all part of the learning curve however,” Todd continued. “Where we race there is very fast fields and there is really no sneaking into any shows. Racing at this level requires you have to be both aggressive and on your game plan — just to qualify. That’s the ongoing challenge.”

Lesenko added that part of the team’s issue is the reality that they have not done any testing this year to date. All of their runs have been contained within NHRA race events and race conditions only.

Going forward however there are some big things on the horizon for fans to watch for. The team will be announcing some additional new sponsorships and they will have a new look and major car change in time for NHRA’s annual Western Swing this summer beginning with Denver’s Mopar Mile High Nationals (check back for more information on that soon!)

Posted by: Bruce Biegler – Photo by: Bruce Biegler www.DragRaceCanada.com