For the second time in the last three races, Rodger Brogdon drove the Charter Communications
/Attitude Apparel Pontiac past the first round with a hole shot win, this time defeating Kurt
Johnson 6.691, 206.95 to Johnson's quicker but losing 6.688 207.27. With a quicker reaction time
(.054 to Kurt's .072) Brogdon was able to take the win by a mere fifteen thousandths of a second.
For the second time in the last three races, Rodger found his second round opponent to be none
other than fellow Cagnazzi powered racer Jeg Coughlin. And despite the claims of one internet
website, there are no season championship "team orders" as Brogdon left on Jeggie by .016 only to
see Coughlin run quicker by .016 to eke out a seven ten thousandths of a second margin of victory
in what was essentially a dead heat race.
"That was a tough race to lose," lamented Brogdon after the second round defeat. "I really thought
we had him this time. It seems every time we've been able to get by the first round, Jeggie has
been there in round two, Atlanta, Indy and now here today. But you know what, we keep getting
closer. Can anyone even grasp just how close seven ten-thousandths of a second really is, mere
inches," said Rodger as he answered his own question, shaking his head.
"Now it's on to Memphis, and like Dallas, it's another track where we've had success in the past
with our Comp car. Tommy (Utt), Dr. Phil, Jerry, Weasel and the rest of the team will have us ready
to go and we'll see what we can do there. One thing about it, with the schedule having these four
races in a row, win or lose, you don't have much time to dwell on what just happened before you
have to refocus and get ready for the next event."
With just four races to go in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle tour, Brogdon and the Charter
Communications / Attitude Apparel team are still looking for their first final round appearance of
the season. With the performance this team has shown of late, don't be surprised to see them make
it before the season comes to an end.
