Be careful what you wish for. It just might come true.

It has for J.R. Todd, and the NHRA POWERade Series rookie is loving it.

Todd is enjoying a quick rise to NHRA stardom this season. He just wrapped up a successful Western Swing by winning two of the past three events - both times against Top Fuel stalwart Tony Schumacher - and is the obvious favorite for the Auto Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award, which is annually presented to the NHRA Rookie of the Year.

He's living out his dream.

With two wins in 11 starts, Top Fuel racer JR. Todd is a leading candidate for NHRA Rookie of the Year honors...

 

Be careful what you wish for. It just might come true.

It has for J.R. Todd, and the NHRA POWERade Series rookie is loving it.

Todd is enjoying a quick rise to NHRA stardom this season. He just wrapped up a successful Western Swing by winning two of the past three events - both times against Top Fuel stalwart Tony Schumacher - and is the obvious favorite for the Auto Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award, which is annually presented to the NHRA Rookie of the Year.

He's living out his dream.

"You couldn't write it any better than this," said Todd, who has won 14 elimination rounds since the Tuttle Motorsports entry received major backing from Evan Knoll's Skull Shine and Torco Racing Fuels. "Beating Tony and (the U.S. Army) team once for your first trophy ever is like a dream. To do it twice in three races is unreal. I can't even believe this is happening. You work so hard just to get to this level and you don't even think what it will be like to actually win.
 
"I knew when Evan Knoll stepped up and gave us the backing to run full-time that we were really increasing our chances to win rounds and maybe even a race. This is beyond my expectations. Two races ago people were asking me where the driver was. Now they're screaming my name. It's so cool."

---

But Todd's road to NHRA stardom hasn't exactly been an overnight trek.

In fact, it's been a long and winding six-year path. It began in 2000 when veteran Bruce Litton tabbed the then 18-year-old to drive a second Top Fuel car in IHRA competition. Later, when Litton decided to field just one car, he stayed on as a crewmember the next season before moving on with Nicky Bonifante Jr., who was tabbed to be Bob Gilbertson's crew chief in 2003. Todd credits that experience with the Autolite/Prestone team in providing him with the necessary tools to succeed in his present situation.

"Gilbertson helped me get where I am today," said Todd, the left-side mechanic on Gilbertson's Dodge nitro coupe. "You can't just go home and wait for someone to call, because they are going to forget about you. While I was working on Gilbertson's car I was still talking to some teams, beating down the doors hoping for a ride. Team owners knew I had driven in the past and that I wanted to drive again, so when the ride opened over here, I talked to Dexter Tuttle and Jimmy Walsh about it, and I was fortunate enough to get the ride."

But it was his experience working for Gilbertson that Todd believes helped him adapt quickly to controlling the 8,000-horsepower four-wheeler. "When I first started driving for Litton, I was 18 years old and really didn't know a thing," Todd said. "I couldn't tell you one thing about the car. I would just get in it and drive it. Now I know what's going on, and if I feel something that's going on, I can relate it to Jimmy and the guys. They'll look at the computer and ask me, 'Is this what happened?' I can say that's what I felt. It definitely has made me a better driver."

The team, which originally was just going to run a limited schedule in '06, began the season strong by qualifying No. 3 at the CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals, where they also lost in the first round to veteran Doug Herbert.  A DNQ followed at the next event in Phoenix before Todd skipped four of the next five events.
 
Then the phone rang.

It was Evan Knoll, who already sponsors Melanie Troxel in Top Fuel and Dave Connolly in Pro Stuck to name a few. He was calling to provide major backing for the Tuttle Motorsports entry for the remainder of the season.

Slowly but surely the team started to step up its program.

They opened with first-round losses at the next two events, but by June their performance started to pick up. Todd advanced to the second round at Chicago and Englishtown, N.J., and then advanced to the semifinals at St. Louis, losing to Schumacher despite running a very respectable 4.612-second pass.

He then surprised even himself in Denver, winning the Mopar Mile-High Nationals by stunning Schumacher in the finals. He followed it up with a victory in last weekend's Fram-Autolite Nationals in Sonoma, Calif.

"It was a big shock," said Todd, who now has two wins in just 11 starts and is 14-6 during eliminations since Skull Shine and Torco came aboard. "I didn't expect to win this early in my career. But after we won (at Denver), I definitely expected to us to win again."

He showed it again last weekend. And while most of the national media has paid attention to Todd becoming the first African-American to win in Top Fuel, he tends to refer himself as a Top Fuel winner who just happens to be African-American.

"The way I look at it, I'm just an African-American who won a race," Todd said. "I was more excited about winning the race in Denver, more than anything because it was my first win. It's cool to be the first African-American to win in the Top Fuel category. I hope by doing something like that it opens up the door for more minorities because there's lack of them (in motor sports), not just drag racing, whether its blacks, Hispanics, females...NHRA has always been the leader in minorities in motors sports, but there still is a lack of them. Hopefully, I can be a role model for younger African-Americans to stay out of trouble and get involved in racing."

Todd's recent success has him now aiming at a top 10 finish in the POWERade Series standings. After winning two of the past three events, he is 12th in points and trails No. 10 Cory McClenathan by just 60 markers with eight races remaining in the season.

"Coming in, I wasn't sure if we could finish in the POWERade Top 10 because we were only going to be a part-time team," Todd said. "I still didn't give us a shot even after we got the opportunity to go full-time, because we had missed five races. But now that we've been going rounds I think we have a shot. We could finish as high as eighth, so that's definitely one of my goals for the rest of the season. We're still in the Rookie of the Year chase, and hopefully by Pomona we're standing on the stage with the rest of them.
 
"Evan knows what we're capable of, and he sides with us no matter what we do. I was really happy to get a win for him and his company. I'm not really trying to think of the whole top 10 and the Rookie of the Year thing. I just want to win rounds and win races and if we do that everything will fall into place."

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