JR Todd speeds in the left lane at Sonoma Raceway. (Jerry Jones photo)
It’s been a while since JR Todd was reminded of what it felt like to be among the winners of the NHRA.
In fact, there were 52 races, nearly two full seasons, and 869 days between Todd’s national win at the Gatornationals on March 14, 2021 and his last win at the Sonoma Nationals on July 31.
“If you don’t win a race for more than two years, you start asking yourself, ‘Am I doing something wrong?’ Is the team cursed or bewitched? Are we ever going to win again?’” Todd said. “There are so many things going through your mind.”
The 2018 Funny Car Champion has had a long series of low points since his title race. In the last four years he has never finished higher than sixth place in the overall standings.
Aside from his last-round appearance at the season-opening Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., this year wasn’t much different in terms of results. In the seven races to Gainesville, Todd achieved one semifinal result, five first-round losses and one DNQ with his team Kalitta Motorsports.
To add to the difficulty, Todd was faced with extraordinary circumstances at the Winternationals in Pomona, California – the third race of the season – in which he damaged both his lead and reserve cars over the event weekend.
“We had an incident where the tires were spinning, and the next thing I do is drive a convertible, which is not what you want to do in a nitro funny car,” Todd recalled, explaining the engine explosion that destroyed his replacement car.
JR Todd celebrates his victory at the top in Sonoma. (NHRA photo)
The damage to his main car was the result of a qualifying accident involving John Force.
In less than a week, the crew drove from California to the team’s headquarters in Ypsilanti, Michigan, to the chassis shop in Brownsburg, Indiana, back to Michigan to finish the car, and then to Las Vegas for the next race.
“We have quite a lot of new people on the team for the most part and they don’t really have any experience of winning races and being in contention for the championship,” said Todd.
“Going through everything we did earlier in the year… The only way I could try to get them to reciprocate all their hard work was to go out there and try to win a race.”
Fortunately for Kalitta Motorsports, the points list finally got longer as the series began its famous western swing.
The pendulum picked up speed when Todd made it to the semifinals at the Mile-High Nationals in Colorado and continued to accelerate after the DHL Funny Car made an appearance in the finals at the Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Washington.
“In Seattle, there was a feeling that we couldn’t go wrong,” Todd said. “The team felt we had a car that was good enough to win Sonoma.”
In fact, the next Sunday in Sonoma, Todd defeated Blake Alexander, Bob Tasca III, Matt Hagan and Chad Green en route to his first win of the season.
“When the victory meter lit up, it was like an instant relief. I was on the radio yelling and yelling at the guys and I couldn’t wait to get out of the car at the top, celebrate and claim the trophy,” said Todd. “I think when I got out of the car I was like, ‘I’ve forgotten what that feels like.'”
Having started the season with a new combination and a brand new chassis, Todd is confident that Kalitta Motorsports have finally found the competitive advantage they were looking for. And with his Sonoma win putting him eighth in the points standings, the former Funny Car Champion has more than just a Wally in his sights as the countdown to the championship nears.
“Now I feel like we’re capable of competing in the championship and I think that’s something we wouldn’t have talked about a few months ago,” Todd said.
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