{"id":5206,"date":"2014-04-22T13:55:23","date_gmt":"2014-04-22T20:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=5206"},"modified":"2014-04-22T14:23:15","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T21:23:15","slug":"j-r-todd-gets-the-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/j-r-todd-gets-the-call\/","title":{"rendered":"J.R. Todd gets “The Call”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1012875_679354898767410_1962108482533272328_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos: Courtesy NHRA, Kalitta Racing<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not every day opportunity knocks, and in J.R. Todd\u2019s case, it rang instead, via cell phone. Every sporting event has that final step that can only come after “The Call.” On a Friday before the NHRA race in Las Vegas, Todd got his summons from the big time.<\/p>\n

Todd didn’t have any plans to go to Vegas that weekend. He was heading home to listen to the first round of qualifying online. His parents were coming up that evening.\u00a0 They were going used car shopping in hopes of trading in Todd\u2019s car, and were going to take in some of the NCAA tournament happening downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe met up with my family at Buffalo Wild Wings and watched the Kentucky-Louisville basketball game,\u201d said Todd. \u201cI had sat down and was having beer with my family\u00a0 around 9:30 or 10:00 p.m…I just happened to check my phone and noticed that Cowboy Bob (Coffman) of Technicoat had called.\u00a0 It was really loud at the BW3 and I got a text from Bob telling me to call him ASAP.\u00a0 You know whenever he calls or texts he\u2019s joking or just fooling around and I didn\u2019t think much of it.\u00a0 I texted him back saying I\u2019m sorry I missed your call and that it was really loud in here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I called him back, got him on the phone and he said, ‘I\u2019ll call you right back as soon as I can’.\u00a0 I was waiting for him to call me back and at that time, I figured something was going on…Around 15 to 20 minutes later, the phone rings again from Cowboy Bob.\u00a0 So I answered and said \u2018Hey Bob, what\u2019s going on?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThen this voice said, \u2018This is Connie\u2019,\u201d said Todd. \u00a0\u201cIt caught me totally by surprised and he asked me if I could check out flights to be in Vegas the next morning.\u00a0 He said he was having some driver problems and wanted me to come out there to see if I could drive that thing.\u00a0 Sure enough, I wasn\u2019t going to tell him \u2018no\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Connie called, I called Cowboy Bob back and he explained to me what was going on.\u00a0 I asked him to find out what their plan was. If it was just for this weekend, I had no problem with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I called Connie back and asked what his intentions were and he said \u2018let\u2019s get through the weekend.\u2019\u00a0 I called JimO (team manager, Oberhofer) after I got off the phone with Connie to just reassure myself that Connie wasn\u2019t making a knee-jerk reaction.\u00a0 He talked with Dougie (Doug Kalitta) and said to me, \u2018no matter what, just come out here and we\u2019ll see what happens. \u201c<\/p>\n

From that instant, it was a whirlwind.\u00a0 Todd and his family immediately headed to the house to make a reservation for a 6 a.m. nonstop flight\u00a0 to Las Vegas, and then headed over to Bob Vandergiff\u2019s shop to grab all his driving gear.\u00a0 He returned home around 12:30 a.m. to start packing, getting about two hours of sleep before heading to the Indianapolis Airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe arrived in Vegas around 7:30 a.m.,\u201d said Todd. \u201cFrom there I headed to the track and once the guys got there, I got to sit in the car and figure out what we needed to do to make changes in the cockpit where I could at least drive the thing.\u00a0 We added a bunch of padding to the seat insert that was in the car.\u00a0 Basically, that\u2019s all we did.\u00a0 From there on I could reach the pedal and steer the thing, so that was the main thing.\u00a0 Before you knew it, we were pulling up to the line for qualifying on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got there, I thought there\u2019s no way I\u2019m going to able to fit in this thing.\u00a0 Grubby (David Grubnic) is 6\u20193\u201d and I\u2019m 5\u20196\u201d.\u00a0 I was laughing to myself thinking we\u2019re going to have duct tape some 2 x 4s to the pedals and put some phone books in this thing for me to be able to drive it.\u00a0 Like I said, all we really had to do is change the padding in the seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a perfect fit for the 32-year old driver, but it got him through the weekend. \u201cWe were fortunate to get the car qualified 11th<\/sup>,\u201d said Todd. \u201cThen we went on to win the first round against Richie Crampton.\u00a0 Got beat second round by (Steve) Torrence.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the race he got a chance to talk with JimO, and from there it was \u2018Hey, I have to decide\u2019 because they offered him the ride.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity,\u201d smiled Todd.\u00a0 \u201cA great team like the Kalitta group has all the resources and parts and pieces to go out there and win races and contend for a championship.\u00a0 All along, that has been my goal, since day one of my racing career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thankful for the opportunity that Bob Vandergriff gave me in the years past, because if it wasn\u2019t for him, I would be probably working a nine to five job. He gave me the chance to keep my face out there and to race his car part time which we were trying to find money to hopefully get that car out there full time.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to find the funding for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Todd then had to call Bob Vandergriff to clarify his situation and the opening on the Kalitta team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a pretty difficult phone call I had to make to Bob that Monday evening after Vegas,\u201d sighed Todd.\u00a0 \u201cExplaining my situation and what I thought was best for me and what I wanted to do.\u00a0 He sounded more bummed out than anything on the phone.\u00a0 He and I have been buddies way before I even started driving for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs time has gone since then, I think he\u2019s gotten a little aggravated and frustrated about the situation.\u00a0\u00a0 At the end of the day, you have to look after what\u2019s best for yourself.\u00a0 I think this is the best opportunity in drag racing, yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Todd now has to focus on his reaction times and the new car coming within the next race or so.\u00a0 He\u2019s excited about that and the opportunities for the rest of the season, especially since reaching the championship round in his second outing in the car at the Charlotte 4-Wide Nationals<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now we\u2019re 10th<\/sup> in points and would have been ninth if I could have gotten around Shawn (Langdon) in the finals at Charlotte,\u201d said determined Todd. \u201cIf it keeps running the way it has been, there\u2019s not any reason we can\u2019t go out there and win a race or more.\u00a0 Once you do that, I think we\u2019ll solidify our spot in the top 10 of the Countdown.\u00a0 Once you make the Countdown, anything can happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, my goal is to go out there and keep winning rounds.\u00a0 Hopefully keep chipping away with the little points ahead of us.\u00a0 At the end of the day, we want to win races.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putting yourself in the seat of a Kalitta Top Fuel Dragster with the name \u2018Bounty Hunter\u2019 on it is a little bit overwhelming for a shot like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t consider myself a \u2018Bounty Hunter\u2019,\u201d laughed Todd.\u00a0 \u201cI consider myself extremely fortunate and lucky to be driving for the Bounty Hunter.\u00a0 When I was driving in Las Vegas, Connie put the names of other crew chiefs on the car, just like he had \u2018Back in the Day\u2019 having other driver\u2019s name on his car.\u00a0 When we beat Richie (Crampton) first round, the crew grabbed the black tape and striped it through Aaron\u2019s (Brook, crew chief for Crampton) name and that was pretty neat just as he did it.\u201d<\/p>\n