{"id":6756,"date":"2025-06-04T00:30:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T00:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=6756"},"modified":"2025-06-05T00:11:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T00:11:16","slug":"back-to-victory-lane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=6756","title":{"rendered":"Back to Victory Lane!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

J.R. Todd returned to the NHRA winner\u2019s circle for the first time since the season-opener in 2024, when he defeated Canadian rookie class sensation Spencer Hyde in the final round to win the NHRA’s New England Nationals (June 1st). JR was up to the task delivering a standout run of 3.888 at 332.43 in his DHL Toyota GR Supra. It\u2019s the 22nd career victory for the former world champion and this one came at an ideal time, snapping a 25-race winless streak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This one took some impressive work, too, as Todd and his team suffered an engine explosion during the final qualifying session on Saturday. But they bounced back in stellar fashion, as crew chief Dickie Venables won for the first time since joining Todd\u2019s team in the off-season. To reach the finals, Todd defeated Cruz Pedregon, Phil Burkart and Alexis DeJoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the final round, Todd easily chased down Hyde, who got into tire shake, to get the win, moving to sixth in points in the process. He was 10th entering the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Talened driver JR Todd<\/strong> returned to victory lane in FC racing at NHRA’s New England Nationals<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just glad we got that win out of the way for Dickie\u2019s sake,\u201d Todd said. \u201cI\u2019m not saying there was pressure, but when you hire a guy of that caliber, people expect you to win. Coming in, I knew this was a good place for us. Dickie and (Matt) Hagan had a lot of success here. I was excited, but we\u2019re still learning. Then Q4 happened and we blew it up. The guys worked until midnight rebuilding the car. Today felt like a fresh start, and we ran super consistently, exactly how Dickie\u2019s won here before.
 
\u201cThese guys have been grinding since last season when we had a miserable second half. I think Brainerd was the last time we even made a semifinal. But they never complained, never gave up. Even last night after the fire, they were joking, saying maybe we should catch on fire every weekend if it means we win. They keep it light and the only way to pay them back is with a trophy.\u201d
 
Hyde (from Stratford Ontario) continues to impress in his rookie season behind the wheel of the Jim Head Racing Mustang. At Epping he advanced to his first career final round after defeating Hagan, Buddy Hull and Jack Beckman. Beckman suffered a wild crash in that semifinals match when his car made hard contact shortly after leaving the starting line versus Hyde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Canadian class rookie sensation Spencer Hyde<\/strong> had a very inspiring R\/UP — his best NHRA finish so far!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The day prior, Beckman claimed the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory over Matt Hagan in that final going 3.913 secs at 316.52 mph to get his second win in the specialty race this season — driving the JFR PEAK Chevrolet SS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jack Beckman had a very wild ride in the FC semi final round!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At Epping, defending world champ Austin Prock (the low qualifier @ 3.860 secs) stayed in the points lead despite a first-round loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NHRA New England Nationals \u2013 Funny Car Class Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WIN: JR Todd \u2013 3.888 secs 322.43 mph (Career win #22)
R\/UP: Spencer Hyde \u2013 5.098 secs 161.88 mph
Low ET: Austin Prock \u2013 3.860 secs
Top MPH: Bob Tasca III \u2013 335.40 mph
Bump: 4.190
Entries \u2013 16 cars<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Buddy Hull<\/strong> had a bright spot season effort racing at New England – qualifying the Jim Dunn Racing Dodge and then upsetting low qualifier Austin Prock (below) in the first round. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Posted with files by NHRA Communications & Bruce Biegler
Photos by Dave DeAngelis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to more Funny Car class photos from New England within our LMLC Media event gallery: HERE <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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J.R. Todd returned to the NHRA winner\u2019s circle for the first time since the season-opener in 2024, when he defeated Canadian rookie class sensation Spencer Hyde in the final round to win the NHRA’s New England Nationals (June 1st). JR was up to the task delivering a standout run of 3.888 at 332.43 in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[209,18,82,195],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6756"}],"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=6756"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6765,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6756\/revisions\/6765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}