Best run of the weekend has Zizzo seeing red
MADISON, Ill.  - T.J. Zizzo made the best of his qualifying effort, taking his 11th position into a first round showdown with the number 6 qualifier, Shawn Langdon. Zizzo was anxious to make a good showing in his first outing of the season with his PEAK / O'Reilly Top Fuel Dragster. Maybe a little too anxious.
"I just wanted to bring my reaction time average down a little," Zizzo joked about his red light start in round one action at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals. "Honestly, I know Langdon is good on the tree and I know he has a good car. So, I knew if we were going to have a chance at beating him I needed to take a shot at it [the tree]."
The first round effort proved to be the best of the weekend for Zizzo Racing as they posted a 3.961 seconds elapsed time at 285.89 mph. "I clicked it off a little early," Zizzo said. "So, the run was a little better than our time slip indicated. But, when I started to get near the finish line, I began to worry a little. I didn't see Langdon anywhere and I thought, if he smoked the tires I was going to be really mad at myself for red lighting that much."
As it turned out, Langdon put together a stellar performance in the match up, posting a 3.886 second pass at 311.05 mph. "It would have taken a perfect light to make a race of it," Zizzo said. "I'm proud of our team's effort. We're looking forward to our next race."
