Hudson Toyota: BERNSTEIN LEADS TOYOTA AS GREMLINS RULE THE DAY IN TOPEKA

BERNSTEIN LEADS TOYOTA AS GREMLINS RULE THE DAY IN TOPEKA

TOPEKA, Kan. (May 20, 2012) In an often bizarre day of racing, Brandon Bernstein advanced to the Top Fuel semi-finals to lead Toyota in Sundays NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Dollar General Summernationals at Heartland Park Topeka.

With drastically changing wind and weather conditions, the days racing action appeared to focus not on who was the fastest, but simply who could make it down the Kansas track. In fact, the second and third rounds of Top Fuel combined to see just one dragster able to make a clean pass. Unfortunately, those gremlins extended to the Toyota contingent as well.

Ironically, the day began with Toyota driver Morgan Lucas running a blistering 3.745-second pass (third-quickest in NHRA history) to establish a new track record as early times bettered those seen in qualifying. He would then square off with his Morgan Lucas Racing teammate Bernstein, who ran an impressive 3.787 opening round run to set up what appeared to be an epic battle between the two drivers who had led four of the five Top Fuel sessions up to that point. The result would be both drivers spinning their tires and Bernstein advancing to the semi-finals by a matter of inches in a pedal-fest with a 4.267-second pass.

After advancing to the semi-finals for the second race in a row, Bernsteins day came to an abrupt end when his car broke while preparing to stage and he was unable to attempt a semi-final run.

Gremlins seemed to stretch throughout the Toyota camp to both number one qualifiers, as well. Antron Brown red-lighted in the second round of Top Fuel, while Cruz Pedregon appeared to have point leader Robert Hight beat in the second round in when his Funny Car suddenly veered across the center line just before the 1,000-foot mark, disqualifying Pedregon and his 4.14-second run from competition.

Rounding out the Toyota contingent, Alexis DeJoria, Jeff Arend and Tony Pedregon each were eliminated in the opening round of Funny Car. None of the three were able to make a clean pass as the changing weather conditions played havoc with the Funny Car field. This weekend marked Pedregons first race campaigning the new 2012 Toyota Camry Funny Car body. Shawn Langdon and Khalid alBalooshi also were eliminated in the first round of Top Fuel as Langdon was unable to complete a clean run, while alBalooshi was defeated narrowly by Lucas despite running the second-lowest ET of the weekend and a career-best 3.768-second pass.

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series resumes in two weeks at the Toyota SuperNationals in Englishtown, New Jersey, June 1-3. The race will mark the first-ever NHRA event where Toyota serves as title sponsor.

Toyota Drivers, Results Topeka, Qualified/Finish

Top Fuel:
Brandon Bernstein, Lucas Oil/MavTV Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, 3/Semi-finals
Antron Brown, Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, 1/Rd. 2
Morgan Lucas, GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, 6/Rd. 2
Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi Racing Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, 4/Rd. 1
Khalid alBalooshi, Al-Anabi Racing Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, 11/Rd. 1

Funny Car:
Cruz Pedregon, Snap-On Tools Toyota Camry Solara Funny Car, 1/Rd. 2
Alexis DeJoria, Patron Toyota Camry Funny Car, 11/Rd. 1
Jeff Arend, DHL Toyota Camry Solara, 13/Rd. 1
Tony Pedregon, Herzog Toyota Camry Funny Car, 14/Rd. 1

2012 Wins (3) Brown, Phoenix; Lucas, Gainesville, Houston

2012 Poles (9) Lucas (3) Pomona, Gainesville, Las Vegas, Houston; Langdon, Phoenix; Brown, Topeka; C. Pedregon (3) Gainesville, Houston, Topeka

QUOTES:

Brandon Bernstein, Lucas Oil/MavTV Toyota Top Fuel dragster: "The team did a hell of a job. The MAVTV car was just great all weekend. It just felt like it was our weekend, unfortunately it wasn't. We really thought we had the car to beat. It's just unfortunate it broke when it did. It could have just as easily happened at any point during the weekend. It's really disappointing and unfortunate that it happened when it did. We wanted a win. And of course to add insult to injury, Dave (Grubnic semi-final opponent) smoked the tires on his run. I knew that was coming. It's now two races in a row where we've gone to the semi-finals. Both of those races were there for us to win. It's put a lot of confidence into the guys. They know we've got a great race car and we'll keep plugging at it until we break through for that win."

Morgan Lucas, Geico Powersports/Lucas Oil Toyota Top Fuel dragster: "This is the best both our cars have ever run, easily. It's good to have that feeling that this is the best car I've ever had. Plus, we got to do something that no one else has even been able to do, which is a nice consolation to end the weekend with. We made a lot of progress that first round. We threw down an awesome run, but in the second round the track just went away on everybody. We thought we'd peeled the motor back enough. Both of us smoked the tires in the same spot, and I just got beat by the better driver. I'm proud it was the guy we hired to drive our second car because Brandon is doing just an awesome job. I got a little excited and probably could have pedaled my car a lot better. I could have been a little smoother with that. At the time I did what I thought was right, and it wasn't. All you can do is learn from that mistake."

Antron Brown, Matco Tools/Toyota Top Fuel Dragster: "We always qualify well here. I just pushed the envelope too much. It taught me a lesson. Sometime you have to be reminded not to push so hard. This is a racetrack that we just want to win at real bad. I just hate losing, it doesn't matter how. I didn't need to go up there and push it like I did. I have all the confidence in our team that all I have to do is my job. Just trying to press too hard, I know better.

Cruz Pedregon, Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry Funny Car: Looks like we got some oil on our left tire and it flat out got away from me. I feel bad for the team. We made the right calls today, though. We just need to come back strong at Englishtown and get it right.

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