Melanie Troxel was destined to be a drag racer from birth. Her late father, Mike, is listed among the best Top Alcohol Dragster drivers of all time, and her mother, Barbara, is an accomplished airplane mechanic. As a child, Melanie’s playgrounds were the pit areas at racetracks throughout the Midwest where her father competed and her mother helped out as a mechanic.Melanie competed in her first drag race at the age of 16 in a car with an engine she rebuilt herself as a high-school project.
Her professional career began driving a Top Alcohol dragster in 1997 and captured two NHRA national event victories in 1999 (Seattle and Topeka). Her first opportunity in a Top Fuel dragster came in 2000, and in her 10 events that year, she was runner-up once (in the 2000 Dallas 2 event).
In 2002 and 2003, she drove a limited schedule, and in 2005 she started mid-season. Melanie completed the 2005 season with eight round wins in 11 of 23 races and began her streak of final-round appearances at the year-ending event in Pomona, Calif. At the start of 2006, she multiplied that result to five more consecutive final-round appearances, becoming the first Top Fuel driver to reach the final round five straight times to begin a season. She also became the quickest and fastest female in NHRA history in 2005, after clocking a 4.458-second pass and 330.31-mph speed in Dallas.
The next two years, she continued to improve her record and skills, becoming one of the top competitors in NHRA POWERade drag racing. In 2007, she scored event wins in St. Louis and Memphis, twice runnered-up, and ended the season ranked No. 9.
Explaining her desire to move to the Funny Car ranks, Melanie says that since she first began racing, she had the desire to drive a nitro flopper. She looks at the new class as a challenge and something that will help her continue to round out her abilities and ultimately reach her goal of being listed among the sport’s very best.