MOTOR SPORTS: ROOKIES MANAGE TOP RUNS TODD, WILL LEAD TOP FUEL FIELD.

Byline: Louis Brewster Staff Writer

So much for that experience factor.

After his second competitive run, J.R. Todd is atop the Top Fuel dragster field at the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series Winternationals, just ahead of fellow rookie Hillary Will.

``I'm supposed to be making mistakes,'' Todd said after recording a time of 4.508 seconds at 321.65 mph Friday afternoon at Pomona Raceway. ``It dropped a cylinder near the end. It might have cheated me of a 0.49, but I'm glad I didn't shut it off.''

Will had the best time of the session at 4.518 seconds until Todd, who drove a dragster in 2000 in the rival IHRA, made his pass. Clay Millican, the leader after Thursday's qualifying, dropped to third.

There was no change atop the Funny Car field.

After Tony Pedregon's run that put the Chino Hills resident in first, John Force responded with a 4.712 at 327.35 to reclaim the position. Pedregon was second at 4.713.

``Pedregon set the pace,'' said Force, leading an entourage of television personnel filming his reality show ``Driving Force.'' ``We had it set up soft, but after we saw what Tony and those guys did ahead of us, (crew chief Austin) Coil got in the box and made it a little more aggressive.

``Qualifying good is great for the ego, and if you qualify No. 1, it puts the slowest car in the pack against you in Round 1,'' the 13-time champion said. ``But the problem these days is the slowest car isn't that slow, and that guy can beat you as easy as anyone else. That's just the way it is, so you have to be up for it.''

And Todd is.

The 24-year-old driver, who first made contact with owner Brad Tuttle in 2004 about driving, arrived in Pomona with intentions of simply qualifying for the season opener. He has achieved that goal, but that will not alter his overall approach.

``With each run, I just want to get better and better,'' said Todd, a crew member on Bob Gilbertson's Funny Car a year ago. ``We weren't thinking about running low ET (elapsed time). But we'll take it. If I do my job and don't screw up, we might have some fun on race day.''

Fun is eluding defending series champion Tony Schumacher. He is mired in the 15th spot, 0.054 of a second from No. 17 Alan Bradshaw.

The pressure on Todd, who replaced Jack Beckman in the car this year, is self-applied.

``This is what I've always wanted to do,'' said Todd, who was matched up against Melanie Troxel Johnson. ``I don't let the pressure of running against guys like Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon get to me. I try not to even think about it.

``But it is very cool.''

Dixon, a Van Nuys High graduate, was fourth with a 4.533-second pass at 322.88 mph.

Will has a slight advantage over Todd. Crew chief Jim Oberhofer and several team members worked on Scott Kalitta's dragster last year when he drove off with the Winternationals title. Kalitta, a former two-time Top Fuel champion, has since switched to Funny Car.

``I expected it from this team,'' said Will, a Wheaton College graduate. ``It's a championship-caliber team. So I have to be a champion-caliber driver. But let's not get carried away, it's only Friday.

``We have two more qualifying runs remaining. I just have to be consistent. I'm pretty excited. Life's good right now.''

Louis Brewster, [phone]

l-brewster(at)dailybulletin.com