Melanie Troxel Quotations

Beautiful area, great facility. We've got a great group of guys at Don Schumacher Racing. He gives us incredible resources to work with. He gives you everything you need to get the job done. Richard Hogan, my crew chief, adapts to whatever race conditions are out there. I'm excited about the next few races. Can't wait to get back into the car.

It doesn't matter how good of a driver you are, if you're not working with a team that has a car that has the capability of going out and winning, then it makes absolutely no difference. Nobody's going to know how good of a driver you are.

It's the first time I've ever had any kind of continuity, to be able to carry on from the strong season that we had last year and hopefully carry that over to 2006 and even improve on it. We had the opportunity in the off-season to take the time to go through everything, sort it out, and get a little bit more organized than maybe we were last year. Last season we had to put everything together in such a hurry. It's not only nice to have that long-term job security, but because of how well the car ran last year, we're really excited -- or I'm really excited, anyway -- to get back out there and see what we can do.

It's nice to have somebody who's as passionate about it as you are, and it's never a problem with all the demands on my time. He completely understands what I'm going through, because he's going through the same thing. It's also nice having somebody who knows when to leave you alone. When you're trying to get ready to race, get your game face on, he knows when you're in that kind of zone and gives you some space. If you've had a bad day, he knows when to kind of leave you alone.

I admire what she's done in the sport. She came out and had to fight her way in. She kicked the door open - 'Not only are we going to be here, we're going to win, so get used to it.' Now it's normal. This is not an issue in drag racing.

I think that being teammates with Tony is a very good yardstick to try to measure up to. I think it just makes you try harder to be a better team. I certainly want to be a better driver, and whether we were teammates with the U.S. Army team or not, obviously we would be competing against them on the track. But, being a little bit closer to them than just another competitor, it definitely makes you want to be better. It's a good opportunity to keep you motivated to make everything perfect all the time.

While being the fastest and quickest female driver in NHRA history is an interesting and noteworthy item, I'm more excited that the car is running so well. Our big goal is to be the best team on the track and win some races, and, with any luck, be in the chase for the championship at the end of the year.

The guys waited on the ground with a cooler full of beer. They had no interest in jumping out of a plane.

A lot of the teams have run this one-piece body. I don't know what all the benefits are, but certainly with the situation we had in Las Vegas, where we lost several body panels off the right side of the car, it should keep that type of thing from happening. I also think there are other benefits. It's something that Richard had considered doing previously and I think this is just the right time.

The Strip is a very nice facility. It's a little bit of an altitude track. I don't know if we expect to see huge numbers here, but certainly we'll see a lot of really good racing. I think the more passes all of the teams get on this new tire the better the racing is going to be.