15 Quotes by Melanie Troxel

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 it's great for her and for promoting women in motor sports. She's done a lot of good things to draw attention to women, which is somewhat necessary when you're looking for the funding to run these teams.

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.

Just a week ago I was thinking that we can't possibly keep up this pace, and I was almost bracing myself for a first-round loss. I thought that this was just too good to be true, fate's going to get me back.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.