May 19, 2008 -Vroom. Vroom. Another car racing record falls and another woman finds a place in the history books.
With her weekend funny car win at the 8th annual O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., Melanie Troxel became the first female driver to win in both nitro classes (funny car and top fuel).
Last month, Ashley Force made drag-racing history by becoming the first woman to win a NHRA funny car race. This weekend, Troxel had to defeat Force in a historic second round matchup to get her Gotham City Racing Dodge Charger to the finals, where she beat Mike Neff with a pass of 310.27 mph to win the event. To date, Troxel and Force are the only female event winners in funny car history.
Troxel’s win underlines the driver diversity in the National Hot Rod Assn., arguably the broadest among the premier levels of professional motor sports. The Denver native, who now lives in Indiana, grew up playing in pit areas at racetracks where her late father was a drag racer and her mother helped out as a mechanic. Troxel drove in her first race at 16 in a car with an engine she built as a high school project.
Troxel was already an established driver, having won four times driving top-fuel dragsters in 2006-07, before switching to funny cars this season — where her husband, Tommy Johnson Jr., also competes. With her victory Sunday, Troxel joins 13 other drivers who have won in both funny cars and top-fuel dragsters — her husband among them.
Janet, Shirley, Lyn, Sarah, Danica, Ashley, Melanie - the club keeps growing. What’s the next record to be smashed and by whom?
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