MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- With the way Melanie Troxel has her Vietnam Veterans POW/MIA dragster running for the 20th annual O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park, she is truly dedicated into wrapping up her Top Fuel career with a flashy finish.

She qualified fourth at the season’s biggest race, the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indy, advancing to the semi-finals defeating Bruce Litton and NHRA Countdown contender, Brandon Bernstein before bowing out against eventual winner and nemesis, Tony Schumacher.

“We’ve known for several races now that our program has made some huge improvements,” said the hard-driving Troxel. “That’s makes it exciting to go race right now, because we know we have a car good enough to win. That’s really the goal for me is win more races this year. We’re heading to Memphis and the best part of going there is it looks like the weather is going to be so much better than it can be. I think it will be a great situation for both the racers and the fans to see some good racing in some comfortable weather.”

That cooler weather will give Troxel and the Vietnam Vets team more options to choose from in how their powerful dragster will be set up to meet the optimum sea-level weather conditions.

“I can’t remember a time when I was driving a Top Fuel car and it was cool, so it’s definitely going to be better racing conditions,” said Troxel. “The track surface is going to be better. We expect to see decent performances out of the cars, it still remains to be seen how that will work for us. I think we have a tune up right now that works well in hot conditions. When we start getting to some of these tracks, where we will have really cool weather, then we’ll see those incredible night sessions where you expect to see record performances.”

Troxel announced in Indy she would be heading to the Funny Car division of the NHRA to campaign a Dodge Charger nitro Funny Car owned by Mike Ashley and sponsored by Evan Knoll’s Torco Race Fuels in 2008. She has only five races remaining on her Top Fuel schedule to finish up some uncompleted business in the railer ranks before changing over to the fabulous floppers.

“I think everybody is excited about our chances yet, this year,” she said. “I think we have a positive, confident outlook right now. I hope the guys are excited as I am to get to each race. We know I won’t be back with the team next year, but that’s something I would really like to have and that is a race win with this group of guys.”

The start of the 20th annual O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals begins at the Memphis Motorsports Park on Friday, Sept. 14, with two qualifying sessions starting at 4:30 p.m.
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(CDT) with a second session at 7:00 p.m. Saturday's time trials start at 12:45 p.m. for the nitro classes followed by a second session at 3:15 p.m. The race starts promptly at 11 a.m. on Sunday, September 16.

www.torcoracefuels.com

TORCO RACING DRIVER NOTES:

Melanie Troxel has three Top Fuel victories (07 St. Louis, 06 Pomona1 and Las Vegas1) after 13 final round appearances. She finished fourth in the 2006 NHRA Top Fuel Point standings with 1,471 points. She established a new NHRA record with her impressive drive into the 2006 season after racing to five consecutive final rounds, taking two wins along the way. That led to two ESPY nominations for Best Female Athlete of the year and Driver of the year. Hono red by the Billie Jean King Sports Foundation as“2006 Sports Woman of the Year”.

Troxel’s quickest elapsed time is 4.458 seconds, set on Sept. 23, 2005 at the Texas Motorplex. She sped to his fastest top speed of 332.51 mph on Feb. 10 in her final round of qualifying at the 2007 CarQuest Winternationals in Pomona, California.

She has won three Technicoat low qualifier awards in her career. Her first on May 4, 2006 at the Bristol Dragway recording a time 4.539 seconds, May 26, 2006 at Heartland Park Topeka setting the pace with her run of 4.567 seconds and at the Bandimere Speedway, her home track, on July 14, 2007 when she ran a time of 4.610 seconds. Melanie Troxel’s first Top Fuel event came behind the wheel of the Jerry Darien-owned dragster at the 2000 AutoZone Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. DOB: August 31, 1972.

O’REILLY MID-SOUTH NATIONALS
TELEVISION ADVISORY
(ALL TIMES EASTERN – ALL PROGRAMS ON ESPN2 HD)

QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS
Sunday, September 16
12:00 A.M. – 2:00 A.M.

NHRA RACE DAY
Sunday, September 16
11:00 A.M. – 11:30 A.M.

FINAL ROUND COVERAGE
Sunday, September 16
7:00 P.M. – 10:00 P.M.

Encore Performance
Thursday, September 19
4:00 A.M. – 6:00 A.M