In life, there are trips to the beach, and then there are trips to the mountaintops. J.R. Todd made both in the last week, going into the runoff area in Charlotte and then climbing to the top of the qualifying sheet Friday at South Georgia Motorsports Park.
Todd grabbed the provisional No. 1 spot at the NHRA Southern Nationals with a 3.887-second pass at 339.28 mph. He led Jordan Vandergriff at 3.924 and Matt Hagan at 3.933.
The run was the quickest Funny Car elapsed time of the season and the fastest speed of Todd’s career. It also put him in line for his second No. 1 qualifier this season and the 16th of his career.
The bigger story was not the number. It was how quickly Todd’s team turned a bad Sunday into a fast Friday.
“Yeah. Yeah. I’m just happy that the car is going up and down the track and making good competitive runs,” Todd said. “We just need to put all that together on Sunday, which I think we’re really close. And we just didn’t need that mishap there in Charlotte run off the track and swapping cars and what have you. But this is the primary car here this weekend and I think that we would have been in good shape there in the final round if we ran this thing.”
Last weekend in Charlotte, Todd’s DHL Toyota went off course in the second round and into the runoff area. Those kinds of moments can stay with a team if they let them.
Instead, the same primary car was back on track Friday and back at the top of the field. That gets attention in any pit area.
“We just went through the primary car that ran off the track there, E2 in Charlotte,” Todd said. “Honestly, we most likely could have run it for the final. We just didn’t have enough time to go through it and get it all cleaned up.”
“Sunday night, I drove around the pit area, and we decided to change the steering box and came here and scaled the thing. But with the backup, the guys went over it Monday in Charlotte really well, then brought it here and scaled it and drove it around again. The thing seemed to be fine so I went out there and ran Q1 with it, which I had no doubt in my mind these guys would do a great job making sure everything was good front to back. And sure enough, it was.”
The scales told the team what they needed to know. If something is bent or out of line, it usually shows up there.
“No, not that we can tell,” Todd said. “Usually when you scale it, if something’s really wrong, it’ll show you on the scales. So no, we’re happy with what we saw so we figured it was good enough to make a run. And sure enough, it was.”
Friday also continued the best trend of Todd’s season. He is qualifying near the front and giving himself better Sundays.
That has not always been the case. Too many times in recent seasons, Todd’s team was digging out from the lower half of the ladder.
“Yeah, a lot because it means that we’re going down the track, making respectable runs, where in the past our tuning window was very small and our success rate wasn’t all that good going down the track consecutive times and being consistent,” Todd said.
“So we get stuck qualifying eight, nine, 10, 11. You’re at the back of the pack on race day, just not ideal. So now, not that there’s any easy draw in Funny Car, but ideally you want to be up there qualified in the top five if you can.”
Todd credited crew chiefs Dickie Venables and Todd Smith for reading conditions that gave several teams trouble Friday. The track was usable, but it demanded smart decisions.
“Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, hit the ground running there in testing. Got a really good car,” Todd said. “And what I’m happy with is Dickie and Todd adjusting to the conditions. Even here, the track is good, but it’s still tricky.”
“You see a lot of people are struggling getting down, and we made that good run Q1, the speed surprised me when I got out and saw the time slip. And then a lot of people were struggling with the left lane. The starting line doesn’t seem to be as good as the right early on.”
“So we went back and slowed it down, just wanted to make sure we got down the track. We weren’t trying to throw down like we did there in Q1.”
That second run, a 3.930, may have pleased the team as much as the 3.887. It showed they could adjust and still stay strong.
Back in the pits, Todd said the crew believed they had nearly all of the first run. Drivers like hearing there was not much left on the table.
“Back in the pit area after that first run they said they pretty much got all of it,” Todd said. “So that was refreshing to hear that we didn’t leave anything on the table. And now we’re just trying to manage what we have and get ready for hopefully tomorrow, but if not Sunday.”
The speed number got noticed everywhere. Todd’s 339.28 was another sign Kalitta power is hitting this season.
Moments later, teammate Shawn Langdon added more proof on the Top Fuel side. Todd knows mph is not everything, but it usually means something.
“Yeah. The speed is definitely an indication of big power,” Todd said. “I always say the speed doesn’t matter, it’s just a number, but it also shows that you are making good power.”
“And that’s something that I feel like we lacked in the past. We could run some 80s, but the speed typically wasn’t as high as a lot of the other guys out here. But now, across the board, it shows that I think the parts that we’re running between the Top Fuel and the Funny Car, how similar they are because all three cars are running big speeds this year.”
One week ago, Todd was trying to save a race car in Charlotte. Friday, he looked like the kind of driver nobody wants to see first round on Sunday.
And if there was any doubt where this team stands now, Todd answered it himself: “We just need to put all that together on Sunday, which I think we’re really close.”
