ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 1) - ProtectTheHarvest.com driver Rodger Brogdon attitude has changed so much recently that a semifinal finish is a disappointment.
Brogdon charged to the semifinals from the No. 5 qualifying position at the 45th annual Toyota NHRA Summernationals on Sunday at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park before falling to Greg Anderson.
"I'm happy we went to the semis," Brogdon said. "I'm not happy the way it ended. I would've rather gone up there and raced and just got outrun; it's a lot easier to take."
Brogdon's semifinal battle against Anderson went awry before it ever started. As Anderson pulled up to do his burnout, his team noticed Brogdon's car wasn't starting. Anderson backed up to the waterbox and waited as Brogdon's team took the nose off his Camaro to get it started.
NHRA eventually ordered Anderson to fire and do his burnout, but Brogdon's Elite Motorsports engine finally started.
"It just wouldn't start," Brogdon said. "We are behind the eight ball since this morning, trying to catch up. We had clutch issues, valve spring issues, and everything else. It just got overlooked.
"We always start 'em up before we leave the pit, and we didn't do it this morning for some reason. It came back to get us up there."
After an abbreviated burnout, Brogdon knew his chances were slim.
"When you can't burn one of these things across the starting line, you have about zero chance," Brogdon said. "But we went to the semifinals, so it's not all bad. It could've happened in round one."
Brogdon's car got loose immediately at the hit, and he pushed the clutch in and coasted to a pass of 15.406 seconds at 54.34 mph while Anderson sped to the final with a 6.535-second pass at 214.25 mph.
"Greg and them were first-class," Brogdon said. "They waited on me as long as they could. You can't expect anything else out of anybody. That's what we would've done, and I'm really appreciative of it."
Brogdon started the day with a fortunate win over Larry Morgan. After leaving first on Morgan with a .034-second reaction time, Brogdon needed to pedal his car in a 7.788-second pass at 170.82 mph. That usually is nowhere near fast enough to win, but Morgan had problems in a 9.916-second run at 101.76 mph.
Brogdon then made a run of 6.558 seconds at 214.04 mph to take out Jason Line's pass of 6.599 at 213.60 mph and advance to the semifinals.
"I would've taken one last week, the week before, this week," Brogdon said of reaching the semi's. "We'll take a step back and see what we're going to do next."
