J.R. Todd is a past champion in NHRA Funny Car racing. He’s won a lot of races on many different tracks, but one that’s eluded him is New England Dragway. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.
After a solid season start, Todd and his DHL Toyota team backed up a bit in performance, but a test session prior to the last race near Chicago was helpful. The team posted its best qualifying effort of the season one race ago when it was third quickest. The race-day results did not follow, but still, the improved qualifying effort was a point of light in what has been a rather dark period of the season.
Todd enters the NHRA New England Nationals in 10th place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings a far cry from his early-season standing following a runner-up finish at the season’s first race. The team continues to do all it can to find its way back to that early-season performance.
“We didn’t get to this point overnight, and there’s no way we’re going to fix everything with one test session,” Todd said. “We made progress in testing, and we made a little more progress during the race in Chicago. That’s great, but it’s a process; nobody is satisfied with where we are. I’m really fortunate to have some of the hardest-working guys in the sport working on our DHL Toyota team, and I promise you, we’ll keep thrashing until we get where we need to be. I’ve never won at Epping, and it would be great to take care of that this weekend in front of the huge crowds they get there and get our season back on track.”
This story was originally published on May 31, 2023. 
