Story By: ROB GOODMAN / KALITTA MOTORSPORTS – YPSILANTI, MI – J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra team found something they’d lost last weekend in Seattle: consistency. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes July 26-28, 2024 at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals in Sonoma, Calif.
For the first time in quite a while, Todd’s DHL Funny Car went down the race track consistently with four strong runs in qualifying followed by more on race day. It was a welcome development that ended with cylinders dropped in the semifinals, but it was progress for the driver ranked fourth in the Funny Car standings.
“It was definitely a good turn-a-round from where we’ve been this season,” Todd said. “We struggled a little bit keeping the thing running on eight cylinders, and that definitely cost us in the semifinals. All in all, it was a good weekend. It felt good. It’s nice to be able to throw down and make runs when you need to. We just have to fine tune it with it dropping cylinders, and hopefully, we’ll be in good shape the rest of the season. Conditions are gonna be good in Sonoma so we’ll definitely have to run hard there.”
Which is exactly what they did last year when Todd ended a lengthy winless streak with a Sonoma Raceway win followed by the traditional Sonoma winner’s circle glass of wine. It was his fourth wine-country win.
“It was good because we’d struggled for however long and hadn’t had a win so it was nice to reward the guys,” the 2018 Funny Car champion said. “You never know if or when your next win is gonna come so after all the struggles, it was nice to finally get another one. Any win is special. I’ve definitely had success at Sonoma in the past, and it’s definitely my favorite track on the tour so it’s always good to return as the defending winner. We went into that race last year with a little momentum from Seattle like we will this week so hopefully, we can parlay that into another win this weekend.”