In just her fourth race behind the wheel of a 2,700 horsepower Pro Mod, Melanie Troxel, driver of
the ProCare Rx VooDoo '63 Corvette, blasted to a quarterfinal finish in the Get Screened America
Pro Mod Challenge presented by ProCare Rx at the NHRA Virginia Nationals in a record-smashing
side-by-side spectacle.
After qualifying No. 4 in the ultra-quick field, Troxel was paired against veteran Rickie Smith in
the first round and delivered an Al Billes-tuned 5.877 at 245.63 mph to best the nitrous-runner's
5.949 at 237.63. Her victory set the stage for a face off with her teammate Raymond Commisso in the
quarterfinals, something she called "bittersweet."
Troxel held a slight advantage off the line and crushed the previous ET world record with an
astounding 5.829 at 247.79 mph, but her best wasn't quite good enough as Commisso ran her down and
set a new record of 5.817at 246.03 mph.
R2B2 Racing owner and teammate Roger Burgess said, "That was a great race. You've got Melanie who
breaks the record only to have Raymond beat her and break it. You just don't expect to run a 5.829
and lose. Great driving on both sides."
Because there were no points implications with the round, the teams were able to enjoy the rivalry
leading up to the race. Jokingly dubbed the "VooDoo Queen" for the weekend by NHRA announcer Alan
Reinhardt because of the VooDoo themed paint scheme on her Corvette, Troxel hid a plastic skeleton
in the driver's seat of Commisso's car earlier in the day.
Troxel said, "When Reinhardt coined the name 'VooDoo Queen' we just decided to have a little fun
with it. It's a great paint job on the car and fans love it, they've been coming up to the back of
the pit asking about it so we decided to go with it. Sunday morning we brought a little skeleton
and started shaking it at Raymond trying to work a little VooDoo on him. But obviously it didn't
quite work."
Although her spells didn't work and she lost the round, she still clocked her personal quickest ET
- the second quickest ET in Pro Modified history - and was a party to the quickest-ever
side-by-side Pro Mod drag race.
"It's a bittersweet situation going up against your teammate because you know someone isn't going
to go past the round, but when you go up there and run a pair of runs like that, fastest
side-by-side runs in history, it's hard to be too upset about it. It was a really good, close
race, and it's really fun to be a part of that," she said.
