It's been sixteen months since Melanie Troxel strapped into a Funny Car and it's not like riding a bicycle – you don't just jump on and ride.

“Oh it’s a little a nerve wracking going out there after that long kind of like starting over,” Troxel said, adding, “especially after spending you know the last six months driving a different type of car.”

Troxel drove a Pro Mod in 2009 while awaiting for the right opportunity to get back into a Funny Car. She will continue to drive the Pro Mod in 2010 while running eight events in the Funny Car, both for R2B2 and both backed by IN-N-OUT Burger.

It's been sixteen months since Melanie Troxel strapped into a Funny Car and it's not like riding a bicycle – you don't just jump on and ride.

“Oh it’s a little a nerve wracking going out there after that long kind of like starting over,” Troxel said, adding, “especially after spending you know the last six months driving a different type of car.”

Troxel drove a Pro Mod in 2009 while awaiting for the right opportunity to get back into a Funny Car. She will continue to drive the Pro Mod in 2010 while running eight events in the Funny Car, both for R2B2 and both backed by IN-N-OUT Burger.

The starting line procedures for both cars are very different.

“You definitely notice when you’re backing it up,” said Troxel of the difference between the two types of cars. “(The Funny Car) steers different. I tried to go over the starting line procedure in my head a lot just because everything about these two cars is different.

“It was good to just get that out-of-the-way, though. I know we were all anxious.

Anytime you bring out new stuff like this it's good to shake the cobwebs out. We got out there and didn’t get very far down the track but in reality we got a lot of stuff done today.  We got the computer checked and the bodies checked.”

While the equipment is the same equipment the team used in 2008, the faces are quite different. It is as important to be able to work together at the track as it is to get the car through tech. There is so much work to be done prior to even making a first run.

“It started,” said Troxel. “It went to the starting line, did the burn out, so are set to go if the weather will hold out tomorrow I think we’re ready to start doing some laps.”

For all the intensity of getting back into a Funny Car, all the butterflies in the stomach, Troxel admitted there was a pleasant side to the experience. There was a sense of settling into a favorite chair.

“Ya, I mean, it’s funny when I first got in that car, with all my gear on, and was getting strapped in - it’s like your nervous about everything but I had a definite sense of home that kind of came over me. Once I sat in it’s like this feels right so ya it was nice to get back in there. It doesn’t mean there weren’t still little nerves backing up through the burn out and doing all the stuff.

“It's like I said, it’s good to get one launch out-of-the-way; just kind of refresh all those memories. To get that feeling of yes, I’ve done this before I remember all this.”