{"id":4557,"date":"2021-03-17T14:46:20","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T14:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=4557"},"modified":"2021-03-17T15:03:52","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T15:03:52","slug":"todd-to-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=4557","title":{"rendered":"Todd to the Top"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kalitta Racing\/DHL Toyota driver wins NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season opener at Gainesville<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

J.R. Todd\u2019s first-ever Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals victory has given him a sweep of the NHRA \u201cGrand Slam\u201d of the four biggest races in the sport \u2013 the Winternationals, the Gatornationals, the U.S. Nationals and the NHRA Finals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also won the 2018 Funny Car world championship. This was his 19th career NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series victory and his 10th in a Funny Car since moving to the series in 2017. He becomes just the 18th driver in history to win 10 Nitro Funny Car events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JR Todd and his Kalitta Racing\/DHL Toyota team scored a marquee event FC win at the NHRA’s AMALIE Motor Oil Gatornationals <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was nice to put our DHL Toyota Camry in the winner\u2019s circle,\u201d said Todd. \u201cOur goal every week is to show up and win. 2021 is a new year and it\u2019s a good way to start off the season with a win here at one of the biggest races of the year. Now we need to ride that momentum as long as we can. This is one you want to check off the list when you see the schedule whether it\u2019s the first race or the third race. It\u2019s the first time this has ever been the first race of the season and I guess we\u2019re the points leader until we get out west.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting the Gatornationals win secured his place in history as a \u201cGrand Slam\u201d NHRA event winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be able to win all the majors that are on the schedule, that\u2019s pretty awesome,\u201d said Todd. \u201cThis is Don Garlits country. When you think of the Gatornationals you think of all the legends of the sport that have done well here. Connie (team owner Kalitta) has won this race and I lost my really good friend Eric Medlen here, so it\u2019s a pretty special event for me. For whatever reason, I\u2019ve always had terrible luck here in the past. It\u2019s nice to finally turn that around for the DHL Toyota guys.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s win was the third for a Kalitta Motorsports Nitro entry in the last four Gatornationals. Richie Crampton previously won in Top Fuel in 2018 and 2019. For the 2018 Funny Car world champion this weekend and the start of the 2021 NHRA season are steps back towards normalcy that disappeared just over a year ago prior to this race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe crowd today looked more like a normal crowd that we\u2019re used to seeing in Gainesville,\u201d said Todd. \u201cI hope this is a sign of things to come in the future so we can run all of the events on the schedule and we can get fans back in the stands because they are the ones that make this happen. I have a lot of friends from my hometown of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, that came down here and it felt great to put our DHL Toyota into the winner\u2019s circle in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first round Todd had to race Blake Alexander and the Jim Head tuned Funny Car. Todd set the tone for his day with a dominant 3.933 second run dramatically quicker than his best qualifying effort and one of the strongest runs of the first round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the quarterfinals Todd outran veteran driver Tim Wilkerson and set himself up with lane choice over two-time Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon. In the quarterfinal race with Wilkerson Todd grabbed a starting line advantage and never trailed in the race posting a winning time of 3.940 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The semifinal race against Pedregon continued to show how well the DHL Toyota Camry was dialed in to track conditions and optimal performance. As the No. 6 qualifier he was facing the No. 7 qualifier in the semis and Todd took the win with a 3.970 pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final round against Robert Hight was a race Gatornationals fans will be talking about for years to come. Todd took a starting line advantage but almost immediately his Goodyears overpowered the track. Luckily, Todd did not panic and right after he experienced his issue Hight also lost traction. Todd was able to gather control of his DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car and he mashed on the throttle repeatedly to get his race car to hook up and he blast to victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After being absent for the majority of the past 2020 NHRA season – Robert Hight’s first race back produced a runner-up finish.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a little warm and the sun was on the track and at this place, the later in the day with the sun out, the track can just get hot and nasty,\u201d said Todd. \u201cThat was definitely the case in the final. The starting line wasn\u2019t as good as it was early and we both blew the tires off. I thought for sure that he was going to be driving away from us. I never saw him and just rolled back onto the throttle and was able to go all the way down with it and turn on the win light.  It\u2019s pretty special to do here in Gainesville.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a classic pedalfest and Todd\u2019s skill behind the wheel was once again evident on the race track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy first Funny Car win came on a pedalfest at Sonoma back in 2017. We don\u2019t get a lot of practice to do that.  It just comes with seat time. It was more lucky than anything,\u201d added Todd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posted with files by:  Luke Fath and Elon Werner<\/p>\n\n\n

Event Essentials:  Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals  (Mar. 11-14th, 2021) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
 <\/td>\nNAME<\/strong><\/td>\nET<\/strong><\/td>\nMPH<\/strong><\/td>\nCAREER WIN<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Winner:<\/strong><\/td>\nJR Todd <\/td>\n 5.184<\/td>\n286.38<\/td>\n 19th<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
R\/UP:<\/strong><\/td>\nRobert Hight<\/td>\n 6.591<\/td>\n144.41<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Low ET:<\/strong><\/td>\nRon Capps<\/td>\n 3.895<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Top Speed:<\/strong><\/td>\nBob Tasca III<\/td>\n <\/td>\n330.47<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bump Spot:<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n 4.204<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Event Entries:<\/strong><\/td>\n 18 Cars<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n
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Ron Capps set low ET while qualifying #1 with a 3.895 secs run.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Pre race dark horse favorite Paul Lee qualified #12<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jim Campbell raced “Big Jim” Dunn’s new look Dodge Charger at Gainesville — he qualified on the bump<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Independent driver Dave Richards qualified his Ford Mustang #14 — but lost out in round one.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Living Legend John Force returned to NHRA racing — he qualified #5 (3.934 secs) before losing out to his teammate Robert Hight in round #2<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Alexis DeJoria was the second quickest FC at Gainesville – driving her Toyota to a 3.914 secs during qualifying.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To view additional Funny Car class photos from this event link to LMLCMedia <\/em>Gallery: HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos by Dave DeAngelis & Gary Nastase <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kalitta Racing\/DHL Toyota driver wins NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season opener at Gainesville.  J.R. Todd\u2019s first-ever Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals victory has given him a sweep of the NHRA \u201cGrand Slam\u201d of the four biggest races in the sport \u2013 the Winternationals, the Gatornationals, the U.S. Nationals and the NHRA Finals.  He also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4557"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4571,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4557\/revisions\/4571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}