Last updated July 24^th, 2004.

• First Round Exit Does Not Deter Paton’s Optimism: (06-30-05)
  
  Bud Park Edmonton, Alberta - Despite Todd Paton's first round loss to Rick Cooper in Edmonton, the team leaves with more optimism than they have had at any time this year. A thrown blower belt ended their day Sunday earlier than they expected though. “We were well out in front when the belt came off around 400 feet out. The car would of run another 4.70 according to the data, which would have been more than enough for Cooper’s 5.12 et”.
  
  After qualifying #2 with a career best 4.70 / 314 mph run, Todd and father Barry thought they may have put their season long gremlins aside. “It was good to get the monkey off our backs, stated Paton, not only for us but for the IHRA as well. They want us to succeed as bad as we do. Being the only full time Top Fuel team from Canada, it is important to represent the country well, especially with three events hosted in Canada. It shows we were capable. Now we only have to keep on doing it right”.
  
  “Unfortunately, we did not get another qualifier at Edmonton, as the rains came and prevented another attempt. If we would have had one more run in qualifying, it is likely the belt would of come off then and we could of made the necessary adjustments so it did not happen in elimination’s.
  
  “We dropped a hole and it loaded up with fuel, causing the belt to come off. There was no engine damage, so we will go the next event at the AC Delco Canadians Nationals at Toronto Motorsport Park with a bunch of confidence”.
  
  Todd and Barry want to thank their current sponsors Tim Hortons (John Hoey's franchise stores in Ontario) Lucas Oil Canada, Summit Racing, Crosbie Industrial Services, and their new tool sponsor, Jet Equipment Canada. They also want to thank the sponsors who came on board for Edmonton, including Eaton Cutler/Hammer, Shaganappi Chevrolet (Calgary) and Dave's Diesel Repairs (Edmonton).
  
  
• Todd Paton final qualifying pit notes: (06-25-05)
  
  Bud Park Edmonton, Alberta - Paris Ontario's Todd Paton had an ear to ear grin Friday night after the first round of Top Fuel qualifying, at Edmonton's Budweiser Motorsport Park.
  
  The team has had mechanical woes affect them on almost every run this season, yet they have perservered. Early incremental numbers on past runs have looked good, but the car would not run to the finish line. Last night that all changed when Todd, on the last pro run of the night ripped off a career best 4.703 @ 314.39. The run was .001 shy from being good enough for the top spot in the field, but I don't think Todd was too upset about that.
  
  "That was a good run for this team, and we needed it badly. A number of companies came on board in the last two weeks to help us with the costs of this 2000 mile trip. Our regular sponsors were behind us as well, but the costs of going to an event this far away are anywhere from $5,000 - $10,000. Just to qualify would pay those costs, but running a Top Fuel Dragster is not cheap. The slogan, "What could possibly go wrong in 4 seconds", is one that fits this class perfectly.
  
  "With the second round of qualifying looking like it will be cancelled due to rain, It was very important to get a good hit in. All the data gathered from that run will help tremendously in our tune-up for the rest of the year, and hopefully the mechanical gremlins will also be a thing of the past. RIght now if the field was not altered we are scheduled to run Rick Cooper in round one."
  
  Todd's crew will have to do double duty this weekend since the normal routine in Top Fuel is 8 -10 guys. This weekend, the crew is a bare bones six counting Todd and his dad Barry. Brother Tony is away this weekend. "Our crew here this weekend, Jamie Wildgoose, Mark Morris, Bob Ball and KC Kovacs will be up to the task, that I have no doubt."
  
  The sponsors to thank include John Hoey's Tim Horton's franchises in Ontario, Lucas Oil Canada, Summit Racing, Crosbie Industrial Services, and their new tool sponsor Jet Equipment Canada. For their season long support they would not be out, period! The companies that came on board for this race are Eaton Cutler/Hammer, Shaganappi Chevrolet (Calgary) and Dave's Diesel Repairs (Edmonton).
  
  Saturday night Pit Note: The call was made at 7:00PM Saturday that the the fields have been set after Friday's lone session. Persistent rain started 40 minutes before the 1st Saturday pro session was set to begin, and never stopped.
  
  Final qualifying sees Todd as the #2 qualifier. He will face #7 Rick Cooper in round one. The first round of professional elimination's start at 11:00 am, with the first round of Top Fuel set for 1:00pm.
  
  
• Electrical Gremlins Sideline Paton at "the Rock": (04-25-05)
  
  Two-time IHRA World Champion Todd Paton had a tough outing with the Tim Horton's/Crosbie Industrial Services Top Fuel Dragster at the recent Advance Auto Parts Spring Nationals in Rockingham, NC.
  
  After bad weather forced the cancellation of Friday's lone qualifying session, the team focused their efforts on Saturday's two remaining sessions.
  
  Unfortunately on Saturday's first qualifying attempt, a broken magneto drive prevented the Todd from making a complete run. The team made the necessary repairs prior to the final qualifying session, and were optimistic about making the 8-car program.
  
  Under the lights, Todd launched the Tim Horton's-backed dragster with the front wheels high in the air. Just past the 60' mark, the car began smoking the tires. Todd quickly pedaled the car, but again broke traction shortly afterwards. He pedaled the throttle once more, but this time the car backfired the supercharger, and Todd coasted downtrack, just missing the show.
  
  "It's really disappointing for all of us on the team," a dejected Paton said after the run. "We have the best parts, the best crew chief and the best crew, but luck hasn't been on our side for the last couple of events. We'll probably take the next event off, re-evaluate our program and try to come back strong for the race in Grand Bend."
  
  The team had planned to run this weekend's NHRA event in Bristol, Tennessee, but will sit out in an effort to rebuild the car and regroup for a return to the IHRA series.
  
  
• Paton Racing Teams Up With Misty Mountain Spring Water: (01-11-05)
  

  Two-time IHRA World Champion Todd Paton will enjoy additional support from Misty Mountain Spring Water for his Top Fuel Dragster at this year’s O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals. The company, a division of K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc., will be supporting Todd and his team for their 2005 campaign.

  This will be Todd’s second full year behind the wheel of a Top Fuel Dragster. After a successful career in Nitro Funny Car, which included victories over drivers like John Force, Ron Capps and Whit Bazemore, the 35 year-old Bluff City resident made the switch to the Kings of the Sport midway through the 2003 racing season, when he finished 3rd overall in the IHRA Points Chase.

  “I’m very excited to have Misty Mountain Spring Water join forces with us for the upcoming season,” Todd said. “They are a great company who produces a terrific product.”

  “With the crew having only 75 minutes to rebuild the car between rounds, they can get overheated quickly and Misty Mountain Spring Water keeps them cool and hydrated, so they can perform their duties to the best of their abilities. It also keeps the driver cooled off after a 4-second, 300 mph run.”

  Todd has had memorable performances at the Bristol Dragway. On the very run that clinched his 1993 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car World Championship, his car suffered an engine fire which nearly destroyed the car. In 2002, he drove the popular “Nitro Fish” Funny Car to round wins over Ron Capps and Dean Skuza, before coming up short in the semi-finals to Gary Densham, in one of John Force’s cars.

  Todd will have his Top Fuel car on display at several Food City stores in the Tri-cities region prior to this year’s Thunder Valley Nationals, which is scheduled for April 29-May 1, 2005.

  Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, Misty Mountain Spring Water is owned and operated by K-VA-T Food Stores which also operates 89 retail food outlets throughout the tri-state regions of Southeast Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.

• Paton Finishes Points Chase in Seventh Place: (10-22-04)
  

  Looking to continue their pace of career-best runs over the last couple IHRA events, Todd Paton and the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products Top Fuel Team entered the Bethesda Softworks World Finals looking to improve on their eighth-place standing in the IHRA Hooters Points Series.

  Prior to the event, Todd traveled to Winston-Salem, NC to do a couple of live radio interviews as well as a television interview, promoting the event. On Friday, he met with reporters to review the new XBox game, IHRA Drag Racing 2005 which features Todd and the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Dragster.

  With an astounding 16 Top Fuel Dragsters attempting to make the 8-car field, the team knew any miscue could cost them a chance at racing on Sunday. With that in mind, the team put their 4.78-second tune-up in from the Maryland event.

  The car launched hard, and then suddenly dropped a cylinder, resulting in severe tire shake, forcing Todd to abort the run. After reviewing the computer data from the run, Todd's father Barry decided to change superchargers. Saturday's run produced a similar, though less severe, shake caused by another "dropped" cylinder. Todd pedaled the car to salvage the run, but his 5.31 fell short of the 4.91 bump.

  The team made radical changes to the fuel system in an effort to cure the problem prior to Saturday's final qualifying session. Once again, Todd cautiously staged the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products dragster. When the green lights flashed, Todd's car leapt forward with flames high in the air, and began to streak downtrack. Unfortunately, as the car approached halftrack, the engine fell silent, taking the team's last hope of qualifying with it. Back in the pits, a post run inspection revealed that the crank hub had failed, causing the blower belt to snap and effectively shutting off the engine.

  "It's unfortunate that we had a weekend like this following two great events. We had a couple of components fail us this weekend, which made it very tough to tune the car. Fortunately we moved up one position in the points series during qualifying. Now we'll take everything back to our main shop in Paris to completely strip the car and go over every part that's in our inventory."

  "We are grateful to our fans and sponsors for all the support they have given us this year, and we promise to come out swinging for the 2005 IHRA Top Fuel Championship. We look forward to running for the championship with the assistance of Tim Hortons, JJ Hoey, Lucas Oil Products (Canada), Crosbie Industrial, Mac Tools, Fast Eddie Racewear, Optima Batteries, Execulink, Crane Cams and Cargo Pal."

• Paton's NHRA Top Fuel Start: (10-12-04)
  

  After having competed in the NHRA's Alcohol Funny Car and Nitro Funny Car categories, Todd Paton added a third class start to his impressive racing resume by qualifying his Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products Top Fuel Dragster in the 14th position at the Lucas Oil Nationals in Reading, PA.

  In previous years, Paton had experienced good fortune at Maple Grove, recording his first 5-second pass in an alcohol funny car in 1993, reaching the finals in 1997, and beating John Force with the "Nitro Fish" Nitro Funny Car in 2002.

  Blower belt problems hampered the team throughout qualifying, holding them to an early shutoff run of 5.11 at only 222 mph. "NHRA's 85% rules requires the fuel teams to increase the overdrive on the superchargers. As a result, some of the geometry on the blower belt and the pulleys that drive it are being pushed beyond their design specification. We'll have to make some changes to our pulley system following this event to allow us some latitude in our tuneup," said Paton. "For now, we'll go with what we've got. We'll put our best blower on and hope that the belt can stay on for a full quarter of a mile."

  Todd's first round opponent was Scott Kalitta. At the green light, Kalitta and Paton left with one-thousandths of a second of each other, and the Tim Hortons dragster pulled alongside Kalitta's Jesse James-backed entry. As the cars approached the first timing cones, Paton's entry began to shake the tires hard, forcing Todd to lift off the throttle, and let Kalitta go on for the win.

  "I'm pleased with our first race under the new NHRA rules. We qualified and got a chance to see what we need to do in order to run with 'the big dogs' at only 85% nitro," Todd said. "We'll revamp our supercharger program, and get the required belts and pulleys to get ready for Vegas."

  The Paton Racing team will now head to the World Finals, the last IHRA event of the season, in Rockingham, NC October 22-24.

• Paton Runs Career Another Best: (09-27-04)
  

  Following their career-best performance at the North American Nationals in Epping, New Hampshire, the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products Top Fuel team entered the President's Cup Nationals with high expectations for the event.

  On Friday night, Todd managed to run the first four-second Top Fuel pass of the event with a 4.93, 288 right off the trailer. The pass held up for fifth spot going into Saturday's qualifying rounds.

  Paton improved slightly on his first pass Saturday to a 4.91 at only 278 mph in the heat of the day. The team had their eyes set on the Night of Fire session, knowing that conditions would be good later on.

  Unfortunately, the team didn't get the shot they wanted, as an ignition malfunction just off the starting line allowed the motor to "hydraulic" under the impressive fuel load, lifting the cylinder heads off the motor and causing an impressive backfire that's sure to make the highlight reel.

  "We really don't know what happened," a dejected Paton said after the mishap. "It's the same motor we've had in the car for two or three races now. Obviously, we're going to change motors, the supercharger and cylinder heads, and before first round tomorrow morning, it's getting every component in the ignition system replaced."

  The team's 4.91-second run kept them in the field in the number 7 position setting up a meeting with Doug Foley, who had been running consistent 4.7-second passes throughout the weekend.

  Todd rolled the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products dragster into the beams against Foley who was already staged. At the green, both cars left together with Foley taking a slim .062 to .064 second advantage. The Tim Horton's dragster made that up in the first 60 feet of the track, and both cars appeared to be locked together as they ran side-by-side down the quarter-mile. Just past the 1000' mark, Paton's car dropped two cylinders, slowing him slightly and allowing Foley to slip by to take a narrow 4.777 to 4.780 second victory.

  "What a drag race," Paton said after the run. "I thought we won, because I didn't see Doug at all, but he must've snuck past me when it began dropping cylinders. He had the candles lit all the way, running 310 mph, while ours was only 298. I would've liked to have won for our fans, sponsors, and the crew who worked all n ight to put this car back together after last night's explosion, but we're thrilled with the 4.78, and we know that it's got more in it if we can keep all the cylinders lit right to the finish line."

  The next event for the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products team will be the rain-delayed NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals in Reading, PA on October 8-10.

• Paton Runs Career Best: (09-12-04)
  

  The Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products Top Fuel team entered the North American Nationals excited about their 4-second performance at Grand Bend's Thunder by the Beach event.

  During Saturday's first qualifying session, the team once again encountered traction difficulties. Shortly after the car left the starting line, it began hazing the tires. Todd quickly pedaled the car, but it didn't hook back up, forcing Todd to abort the run.

  The team approached the second run much the same way they did one week prior, when they came back from a tire smoking run to record a nice 4-second lap. The theory worked, as the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products car left the line and charged hard towards the finish line, covering the quarter mile in 4.87 seconds at 304.19 mph, the team's first run over 300 mph since switching to Top Fuel Dragsters.

  "That was a great run for all of us," an elated Paton said afterwards. "We ran over 315 mph back in our days with the funny car, but half of our crew has joined the team since we switched to Top Fuel, so it's their first 300 mph run as well. They're really pumped!"

  Due to the outstanding atmospheric and track conditions, Todd's 4.87 placed him eighth in the 8-car field. "It's a quick show this weekend, and I'm really proud to be a part of it. We've got Clay in round one again, so we're hoping for a repeat of Cayuga's first round."

  Todd brought the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products dragster to the line against Clay looking to repeat the first round upset he scored over the IHRA World Champion in front the partisan crowd in Cayuga, Ontario 4 weeks earlier.

  At the green light, Todd took a narrow .069 to .083 second starting line advantage, and stayed even with the world champ through the first part of the course. At half-track Clay's car began to pull slightly ahead of Todd's black and yellow dragster, and maintained that lead to score a 4.69 to 4.84 win.

  "It was a great drag race - we just came up on the short end of it," Todd said. "We've got nothing to hang our heads about. We ran our first 300 last night, and we just ran a career-best elapsed time (4.841 seconds) in the first round. Things are looking up for us. We'll go to Reading with some confidence in our tune-up, and make some good laps before returning to the IHRA circuit in Budd's Creek, Maryland the following week."

• Paton Sets Low ET and Top Speed at the 'Bend: (09-04-04)
  

  Todd Paton faced off against Jack Ostrander in a two-race exhibition as the highlight of Grand Bend Motorplex's "Thunder by the Beach" on Labour Day Weekend.

  In the first round, Paton's Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products dragster broke traction early in the run, forcing Todd to pedal the throttle. Todd frantically hammered the throttle two or three times in an effort to regain traction. Finally, the car made a violent move towards the centreline, and Todd wisely lifted off the throttle for good, coasting downtrack and giving the first round to Jack who ran 5.22 seconds while obliterating an engine at the finish line.

  For the final round, Todd and the crew decided they would back the tune-up down considerably, even backing the amount of nitro in the fuel mixture down from the legal maximum of 90% to around 87%.

  The car responded, as Todd streaked downtrack while Jack was forced to lift. The header flames from the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products dragster shot over the rear wing as Todd streaked downtrack and record low elapsed time and top speed of the event with a 4.94, 294 mph run.

  "We learned a lot from tonight's runs," Todd said afterwards. "I thought it might go a low 5, but I'm very pleased that we were able to give the crowd a four-second run. It was an excellent way to close the show for the capacity crowd."

  The next event for the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products team will be the IHRA North American Nationals in Epping, New Hampshire on Sept. 10-12.

• Coming off their victory over Clay Millican in the first round of the AC Delco Candian Nationals, Todd Paton and the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Products Top Fuel team felt that they had snuck out from under the "black cloud" that has seemed to plague them this season.

  The Paton Racing team had spent much of the two weeks between races changing over to a new "slide valve" fuel delivery system, similar to systems found on the cars of Clay Millican and Tony Schumacher in the NHRA.

  Friday's first qualifying run was a scheduled shut-off run, in an effort to ensure that the car would have the proper fuel volume for a full pass during the following session.

  The difference in power was incredible, as the black and yellow Tim Hortons dragster lifted the wheels hard into the air, and carried them for nearly the full 60', before coming back to earth. As Todd approached the designated point in the track, his 7000 horsepower dragster began to smoke the tires, causing him to lift off the throttle earlier than planned.

  "What an unbelievable change," an excited Paton said after the run. "It picked up the wheels and charged hard through the first second or so. We'll take a look at the computer data and see what changes are necessary for tonight."

  During Friday's "Night of Fire", the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil car was once again on a great run until the blower belt came off at about the 1000' mark. Paton coasted to a 5.00 at only 247 mph.

  "Another good run, until about the 4-second mark," said Todd. "The car was a little soft in the early part of the track, only because we didn't want to smoke the tires again like it did earlier. It locked up the clutch really hard at half-track, but dropped a couple holes after that, which is why the belt came off. It was going 255 mph at half track, so we definitely scrubbed off a lot of speed and elapsed time when the belt gave up."

  With one session remaining Saturday morning to try and bump their way into the field, the Paton Racing team pulled out all the stops. More clutch, more fuel, and more timing was the decision based on the data from Friday. Todd gently bumped his 300"long dragster into the staging beams, and then put the motor on the "high side", signalling that he was ready to once again tackle the quarter-mile.

  For the third consecutive time, the Tim Hortons/Lucas Oil Dragster pulled the wheels hard of the line, and streaked through the 60' timers. As the car made its way downtrack, the tires became unsettled, and the 36" tall Goodyear tires once again began to spin, forcing Todd to abort the pass.

  "It's a tough position to be in," Paton said in the pit area following the run. "It's hard to come up with a combination in three runs, but when you make a change like this midway through the season, you run the risk of not qualifying while you work out the bugs. I just feel really bad for the crew who worked so hard to get the car ready for this event, especially after beating the world champ at the last event. At least the data shows that we are close; we just got a little too aggressive on that last run. We knew we had to dig deep to come up with a career-best performance, and we just went a bit over-center."

  "The good news is that we were on the best run we've had all season up until that point. The incremental times are almost exactly what we were hoping for. We'll go back and do some more research and possibly some testing before the World Nationals in Norwalk."

  The Paton Racing team is proud to be sponsored by Tim Hortons, Lucas Oil Products, Crosbie Industrial Services, Mac Tools, Fast Eddie Racewear, Crane Cams, Optima Batteries, Cargo Pal.com, Performance Racing News, and DragRaceCanada.com.

  
  
• A Paton Positive: (08-13-04)
  
  Round one of racing at Toronto produced what was probably the single most important round victory in the Top Fuel racing career of Canada's Todd Paton so far. At the midway point of only his second season racing Top Fuel dragsters, Paton was able to accomplish what few on the IHRA circuit can claim a win over Clay Millican. While the round win was not pretty by most standards, the still very significant winlight was an inspiration to the family-operated Tim Hortons racing team.

  "We knew we were the underdog and our car didn't exactly run like it should have," reflected Todd Paton. "But Clay had problems too and we were able to take advantage this time. It was our third round win of the 2004 season and it came in front of that big home crowd and anytime you can take out the World Champion -- thats special. Our whole team took inspiration from it and even though we had some clutch problems the next round and lost out -- we fell we are moving forward. The whole event (with Doug Foley winning in an upset) just goes to show you that as long as you qualify you can win on Sunday."

  The Patons will now head to fabulous and revamped U.S. 131 Motorsports Park for this weekend's IHRA Torco Northern Nationals. Since Toronto, the team dragster has undergone some important upgrades including the new titanium shielding around the driver's compartment.

  "Our car is a 2-piece McKinney car so after the race at TMP we unbolted it and sent the front half to New Jersey for some upgrades," added Todd. "The rest of the car stayed in Paris so we could do all the servicing. It looked a little weird in our shop because all we had was six or seven feet of racecar to work on."

  The Paton Racing team in 2004 is receiving valuable associate sponsorship from Tim Hortons, Lucas Oil (Canada), Crosbie Industrial Services, Crane Cams and Dave Szybunka (Dave's Diesel Repair).
  

• Paton Rebounds In Front of Hometown Crowd: (08-01-04)
  
  Following a disappointing event in Milan, Michigan, Todd Paton and the rest of the Paton Racing team worked long and hard to ensure a better outing at the AC Delco Canadian Nationals, where last year the team ran their career best elapsed time en route to a narrow loss in the semi-finals.
  
  During Friday's first session, the Tim Horton's/Crosbie Industrial/Lucas Oil Products dragster was on what looked to be a decent run until the header flames began to "mix up" as Todd approached half-track. With questionable weather forecast for Saturday, Todd legged it on through to a 5.17 at only 276 mph. Upon further inspection, the team found that a plastic air fitting had shaken loose, and caused the fuel system to run incredibly lean, rewsulting in a significant loss of power and considerable engine damage.
  
  Saturday's rain cleared up early in the day, and the Tim Horton's team took advantage of the conditions, posting good early numbers, before smoking the tires at the 300' mark. The team decided to back down the combination for Saturday night's final qualifying session. Unfortunately, Todd's run was over before it began, as the Tim Horton's/Crosbie Industrial/Lucas Oil Products sheared the axle drive plate during the burnout, forcing Todd to abort his final attempt, and sit on the sidelines for a second event to see if he would get bumped from the show.
  
  This time, fate smiled upon the Paton team as their 5.17 stayed in the show, setting up a first round match with defending IHRA World Champion Clay Millican.
  
  Sunday's weather produced tricky traqck conditions once again. This time, Todd and the team were better prepared. At the green light, Todd took a .045 to .068 advantage, but dropped two cylinders just past the 60' mark. In the other lane, Clay's dragster began smoking the tires, and while he tried to recover, Todd continued to streak towards the finish line, giving the Tim Horton's/Crosbie Industrial/Lucas Oil Products dragster a monster victory in front of the predominantly Canadian crowd.
  
  "That was a huge win for our fans, sponsors and the guys on the team. It's been a rough couple of weeks since Michigan, and to come back with a win over the world champion in front of our hometown crowd is really special. Our shop is only 25 miles from herre, and many of us grew up around this facility. We're excited."
  
  The team's celebration proved to be short-lived, as Paton came up short in his second round match with eventual winner Doug Foley. In spite of another significant reaction time advantage (.074 to .206), Todd's dragster suffered the same fate as Clay's had one round earlier, striking the tires almost immediately, allowing Foley to dodge a bullet.
  
  "It's unfortunate that we were unable to capitalize upon the momentum we had after the win over Clay. We had Foley where we needed him, but the car had a different plan for us. Nonetheless, we're very pleased with the weekend, and we look forward to adding more round wins to our season total at the next race in Martin, Michigan."
  

• Thunder by the Beach!: (06-18-04)
  
  Todd Paton turned in a strong showing at the IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals this past weekend at the Grand Bend Motorplex in Grand Bend, Ontario.
  
  On Thursday before the event, Paton gave some of the local residents of London, Ontario, a bit of a preview of what they could expect at Grand Bend. In spite of some lousy weather, the Paton Racing team fired up their 7000 horsepower dragster under the awning, and hit the throttle a couple of times, causing the crowd to jump back as they heard, many for the first time, the awesome power of a Top Fuel engine.
  
  After trying to shatter the windows in the John Labatt Centre, Todd and the rest of the team set about preparing the car for Friday's qualifying session. The team made numerous changes to the car, including a new fuel pump, designed to flow even more nitromethane into their 500 cu. in. Hemi.
  
  The Tim Horton's/Lucas Oil Canada dragster launched hard, and pulled just past the 1000' mark, where Todd backed out of the throttle and coasted to a fine 4.94 second lap at only 237 mph(!).
  
  "The car was on perhaps the smoothest run I can remember. It left great, and really took off when it locked up the clutch. My brother Tony came over the radio and told me to lift, because the header flames began to get a little mixed up. It was the right call, as one of the fuel bypass valves had stopped functioning, and the car was beginning to slow. It's just a shame that it had to happen on that run. The car was running over 253 mph at the eighth-mile mark, and got there 4-hundredths of a second quicker than it ever had before."
  
  Saturday's attempts to improve on their 4.94 both ended in tire smoke, the second time due to a broken oil line that caused quite an impressive fire, but virtually no damage to the Tim Horton's dragster.
  
  Sunday's first round pitted Todd against rookie Doug Foley. At the green light, Todd took a .040 to .081 advantage. Paton's car developed problems by the 330' mark, allowing Foley to streak out in front. Determined not to give up, Todd began pedaling and pumping the brake in the cockpit, trying to coax his mount to the finish line after noticing Foley's car begin to falter. At the stripe, Todd took a 5.40, 267 mph victory over Foley's 5.42 at only 221 mph.
  
  "It was weird," Todd said after the round. "We had problems early in the run, and I was just about to lift when I saw him slow down a bit. I was hoping I could catch him, and it was very close at the finish line. I've never bracket raced before, but I took the stripe and stared at the win light on the wall to make sure I had won."
  
  In the second round, Paton took on 3-time and reigning IHRA world champion, Clay Millican. After leaving virtually together (.079 to .083), Paton's car went into serious tire shake, while Clay sped away to a 4.75, narrowly missing the top end cones.
  
  The semi-final finish helped Todd salvage his points total following to disastrous DNQ's. The former IHRA Funny Car world champion currently sits seventh in the IHRA Hooters Racing Series. The next event for the Tim Horton's/Lucas Oil CanadaTop Fuel Dragster will be the Rocky Mountain Nationals in Edmonton, Alberta on July 2-4.

• Lucas Oil Products Signs on as Associate Sponsor: (06-11-04)
  
  Lucas Oil Canada has signed on as an associate sponsor of Todd Paton's Tim Horton's-backed Top Fuel dragster. New signage on the front of Canada's Quickest Car will be in place in time for the upcoming IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals in Grand Bend Ontario.
  
  "This is very exciting for us," Todd said regarding the announcement. "Forrest and Dwayne Lucas, along with Don Baker here in Canada have supported our race team since our days with the Nitro Fish funny car. Their commitment to our team and willingness to expand their involvement speaks volumes about the company, their product, and their interest in Canadian motorsports. We began using Lucas Oil Products exclusively in our race cars in 2002, and it's now in every vehicle we have, including our tractor trailer and our own personal vehicles."
  
  Lucas Oil also sponsors many other series in Canada and abroad, including Flamborough Speedway, the NHRA's Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, International Hot Boat Association, and the American Tractor Pulling Association. Lucas Oil Products are available at better auto parts stores, truck stops and Canadian Tire.

• Top Fuel Full Circle: (06-10-04)
  
  When Todd Paton suits up for his first qualifying run on Friday during the IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals, it will mark the first anniversary for him and his Tim Hortons-sponsored team in the Top Fuel category...

  A lot has happened in the past year for the Paris, Ontario-based Paton Racing team. With one year of Top Fuel experience under their belt that included both high and low points, the aspiring Canadian Pro team is now poised for bigger and better things.

  "This event will mark one year almost to the day of our switch to Top Fuel," Todd affirmed. "We've had our growing pains for sure but we've also learned a lot and gained valuable experience. Much of the last year was a transitional period for us trying to apply what we knew about Funny Car racing to Top Fuel racing. Top Fuel is a much different animal and sometimes we found out the hard way. Now (in 2004) we have what I consider to be a full blown Top Fuel dragster tune-up. It's a whole new combination and we are dealing with considerably more horsepower then we've ever had before. We have the very latest in cylinder head technology -- the newest generation Veney heads that are identical to what the top NHRA fuel teams are running. Delivering fuel properly and effectively through them is currently our biggest challenge. We made some good progress in that department at the last race in Virginia. Although we did not qualify there we did run a 4.99 secs even though the car broke a main fuel line 3.5 secs into the run. We think we have put a lot of the little stuff away that was bugging us."

  Todd's expectations for his return to Grand Bend are simple: "Last year we qualified well, but this year we are poised for career best numbers and to go some rounds," he said. "For a Canadian Top Fuel team there is nothing more important than doing well at the Canadian events. We want to put on a great show for the folks at Tim Hortons, Crosbie Industrial Services and Lucas Oil Canada, especially here at home.".

• Paton Racing "Nitro Intern" Program: (05-08-04)
  
  In an effort to help give young drag racing enthusiasts the opportunity of a lifetime, Top Fuel racer Todd Paton announced today the creating of the Paton Racing Nitro Intern program.

  “I can’t tell you the number of resumes and requests I receive either via email or in person from fans who want to become part of a race team,” said Todd. “Several of our best crewmembers have come from academic co-op programs. Over the years, some members of our crew have moved to other teams. Currently, two of our former crewmembers now work on the Top Fuel cars of Bruce Litton and Brandon Bernstein.”

  For those individuals looking to break in to the fast-paced world of professional drag racing, this program will provide them with the background knowledge, experience and opportunity to build a career in the sport.

  “Many crewmembers have gone from working on cars to driving them. Look at Larry Dixon Jr. and Eric Medlen. I’m not saying that I’ll give up the seat of our Top Fuel car, but we will give our interns every possible opportunity to learn and experience as much as possible about what it takes to run a professional drag racing team. What they do with that knowledge is totally up to them.”

  “Our intern program is like many other internships; an opportunity to join the team for no pay, long hours of hard work, but a good time and a unique experience with a few perks along the way,” Paton remarked.

  Qualified interns will be fully trained for the specific tasks they will be performing at the races. They will travel with the team to each event for the balance of the IHRA season, where they will each receive a full event pass, crew uniform, food and drink, and a unique "behind-the-scenes" view of what it takes to run a 7000-horsepower Top Fuel car. Todd also indicated that there would be special awards given to some of the hardest-working individuals at the conclusion of the 2004 IHRA season.

  When asked about what kind of applicant they have in mind, Todd offered, “We’re looking for are a couple of enthusiasts who are familiar with the sport, willing to travel and work from dawn until the work is done.” Possible positions range from wiping pans to servicing clutch and building engines.

  So if you’re a die-hard drag racing fan, a mechanic bored with doing emissions testing or just looking for an opportunity to get “on the other side of the ropes” and would like to be considered for this program, send an email to intern@funnycar.net or a letter to: Racing Intern, c/o Paton Racing, 1 Victory Lane, RR#1, Paris, Ontario N3L 3E1.

  Added Todd, ”In your correspondence, tell us a little about yourself. We’re not looking for resumes but if you have one send it along. We're going to pick those who we feel will be a good fit and will consider every application. Good luck, and I look forward to having you join our team.”

• Paton Comes Close: (03-31-04)
  
  Todd Paton came thisclose to capturing his first IHRA Top Fuel title this past weekend at the Amalie IHRA Nationals in San Antonio, Texas.

  Paton, driving the Tim Horton's/Crosbie Industrial Services Top Fuel Dragster qualified fifth in the show with a 4.88, 288 mph blast. All together, 20 dragsters attempted to make the field, which ended up with a bump time of 5.02 seconds.

  In the first round, Todd took out Tim Cullinan, despite losing a cylinder early in the run. Paton's 5.00 handled Cullinan's equally-troubled 5.07. "I was surprised that we got passed that round," Paton said. "At 4-tenths of a second, our car put out the #4 cylinder, and I felt it lose power. I looked over, and decided to keep my foot firmly planted on the throttle."

  The semi-finals provided the most emotional round of the event. At the conclusion of his winning run against Grant Flowers, Bruce Litton suffered a tire failure just past the finish line which sent his dragster into the retaining wall at over 300 mph. Bruce was airlifted from the scene, and released from the hospital later that afternoon. However, for Todd, who witnessed the accident as he was sitting in the burnout box waiting to fire his car, it meant that the winner of his matchup with Clay Millican would be the uncontested winner of the event.

  "It was frightening to watch Bruce's car literally disintegrate in front of my eyes," Paton remarked."It was a very sobering moment for both myself and Clay. I walked around my car and double checked every nut, bolt and tire as a precaution while we waited to hear updates on Bruce's condition. As I got back in the car [Speed Vision announcer] Johnny Rocca stuck his head in the cockpit to tell me that Bruce was conscious, alert and responding to the doctors at the hospital. Having that information allowed me to relax and put my faith back in to the chassis builders and safety equipment manufacturers who build outstanding products that allowed Bruce to survive a nasty high-speed crash like that."

  When racing resumed, Paton took on the 3-time IHRA champ, and almost stole one for Canada. Millican smoked the tires, and pedaled the throttle in his dragster to regain traction. Meanwhile, Todd was frantically trying to get his machine to accelerate. Unfortunately for Paton, the studs which fasten the supercharger to the engine's manifold sheared on the launch, robbing the engine of the required blower boost necessary for maximum horsepower. Todd's resulting 5.97 handed both the round and event win to Clay.

  "There are disappointing losses, and then there's that one," a disappointed Paton said aterwards. "Clay practically gave us the win, and we let it slip through our hands. I honestly thought we had him beat at half-track, but he managed to stick the nose of his car in front just as we approached the finish line. I couldn't understand why our car wasn't accelerating hard. It didn't feel like I was smoking the tires, yet the car just didn't move. It wasn't until I downloaded the data from the run that I saw our blower boost dropped from our usual 43 pounds on the launch to a dismal 28 psi. Further inspection revealed the sheared blower studs, which explained the dramatic loss of power."

  Despite the loss, the Paton Racing team sits 3rd in the IHRA Hooters points standings. The team's next event will be the IHRA Spring Nationals in Rockingham, NC on April 23-25.

• Paton Just Misses First NHRA Field : (03-24-04)
  
  Canadian Top Fuel racer Todd Paton literally came within thousandths of a second of qualifying for his first ever NHRA Top Fuel show.

  Paton made his NHRA Top Fuel debut at the Gatornationals, the same race where he debuted in Alcohol Funny Car in 1991 and Nitro Funny Car in 2000. Both previous debut performances saw Todd reach the semi-final round in each respective category. Unfortunately, that did not end up being the case this year.

  Paton made his best run in Saturday's first qualifying session, running 4.896 seconds at only 276.75 mph, which stayed in the show until the last qualifying session, when Paton was bumped out of the field which was anchored by Cory McClenathan's 4.893.

  "With Rob Flynn's help, we were able to pick up where we left off last year, performance-wise, even with our new engine and clutch setup," Paton said. "Our goal was to come here and test to establish a solid baseline that we can tune from so that the car won't eat up parts, which we accomplished. It's unfortunate that we didn't stay in, but I feel confident that we'll do well at the IHRA event in San Antonio, which is our primary goal."

• Patons to Employ "Flynn Factor" : (03-16-04)
  Story by Bruce Biegler DragRaceCanada.com
  
  Canadian Top Fuel racer Todd Paton will bring the expertise of reputed fuel tuner Rob Flynn to his racing camp during next weekend's NHRA Mac Tools Gatornationals. Flynn's vast experience is expected to pay dividends....

  Rob Flynn, originally from Edmonton but who now resides in Indianapolis, will be a tuning consultant for Todd and Barry Paton during the Mac Tools Gatornationals at Gainesville Florida next weekend. The move is perceived as an important investment towards the future for Paton Racing who finished 3rd in final IHRA Hooters Drag Racing Series points last season. The Paton's plan to use the NHRA event as a tune-up prior to a full season assault on the IHRA trail which begins the following weekend (Mar. 26-28th) at San Antonio, Texas.

  "We have a bunch of new stuff on the race car and we needed somebody to help point us in the right direction," said Todd Paton. "We have always respected Rob's abilities and when learned he was available -- we hooked him up. Rob has worked with many Top Fuel and Funny Car teams in his career. Most recently he was along side Rick Cassels at Pomona with Scott Palmer's Top Fuel car. That car went a 4.63 (secs)."

  The Paton's deal with Flynn is at present for Gainesville only. The team has not however ruled out re-enlisting him for additional events this season.

  "Rob has other commitments this year with IHRA and NHRA teams," added Todd. "We felt it was the right time for us to invest in some knowledge. In Top Fuel our log book is only so thick and Rob has looked at 100X the computer graphs we have. We did make some progress improving our performance but hopefully Rob can help us "fast track" things. Parts attrition was a problem for us last year and that can take it's toll financially. We think Rob can help us to that end also."

  During his career Rob Flynn has been a crewmember and crew chief for numerous high profile NHRA nitro teams including but not limited too Darrell Gwynn, Don Prudhomme, Del Worsham, Alan Johnson and Cruz Pedregon. Flynn is regarded by many as the next in line to Canadian fuel tuning Hall of Fame members Dale Armstrong and Bernie Fedderly.

• Patons Power Up for '04 Campaign: (02-18-04)
  Story by Bruce Biegler DragRaceCanada.com
  
  Canada’s premier nitro stable, Paton Racing, have revealed details of their racing plans for the 2004 season. Driver Todd Paton and "The Captain", gave DragRaceCanada a bit of a preview of their upcoming sophomore year racing “long & loud” cars....

  “We feel we are a bit ahead of the curve starting out this season compared to last,” said Todd. “This time last year we were busy preparing to take our Nitro Funny Car to the Gatornationals, so our direction for 2004 is much more clear.”

  Despite their rookie status in the Top Fuel class last year the determined Canadian team still managed a 3rd place finish in final IHRA Hooters Drag Racing Series points. That experience holds well for the future.

  “We feel we did well given the fact we were pretty new to this,” added Todd, who sped to a career best 4.85 secs during the past season. “Last year we used a lot of the components from our Funny Car in Top Fuel and in some cases that was not compatible. We found out (the hard way) that a Funny Car tune-up does not necessarily work in a Top Fuel car. Although the motors are virtually identical between a Nitro Funny Car and a Top Fuel Dragster, the way the clutch operates to apply all that horsepower is considerably different. With the difference in weight transfer, you can get after the car earlier in the run than with the funny car. As a result, we feel that we gave up some performance -- particularly in the first half of the track.”

  The Patons have taken significant steps to improve both their performance and minimize parts attrition. Crew chief Barry Paton has been consulting with numerous NHRA Top Fuel racing contacts during the off season. In addition the team has acquired the latest generation clutch assembly from Scotty Cannon, which was subsequently transformed for Top Fuel racing by East/West Engineering. A new “V” belt blower drive similar to that which has been used by Clay Millican’s team is also on tap. Not to be outdone, Todd has taken some dramatic steps to improve the car's weight distribution by trimming 30 lbs off his own frame.

  “We have also done upgrades to our computer system and air timers,” added Todd. “This year the car will be more adjustable and we will have more information to work with.”

  The Patons have confirmed that John Hoey, with his chain of Tim Hortons stores will return for 2004, along with longtime Paton Racing supporter, Crosbie Industrial Services Ltd. The team's associate sponsors, Mac Tools, Lucas Oil Products and Fast Eddie Racewear have also renewed with the team.

  With their help, along with support from a few new sponsors the team is currently in negotiations with, the Patons will target primarily the IHRA tour this year, running all 12 of the Hooters Drag Racing Series events. They will also try their hand in NHRA running the traditional East Coast season opening Mac Tools Gatornationals at Gainesville. The NHRA event near Todd’s new adopted home at Bristol in April is also in the plans.

• Paton Secures Third at "The Rock": (10-20-03)
  When the IHRA's 2003 season began in San Antonio, Texas early this year, Todd Paton and the Paton Racing team were preparing their Nitro Funny Car for another season of NHRA competition. Campaigning a Top Fuel Dragster on the IHRA circuit was something that had never crossed their minds. Yet eight months later, the Paton Racing team found themselves needing to only qualify at the season-ending World Finals to clinch third place in the IHRA Top Fuel points standings
  
  During Friday's qualifying session, Todd appeared to be on a low 4.9-second run when the car dropped a cylinder early in the run. The team radioed Todd and he wisely clicked it off. The team then returned Saturday, and went on to record a 4.89 at 272 mph, dropping a cylinder just past half-track but putting them in the show, and locking in their third place ranking.
  
  That set up a first round match with John Smith, whose Prestone dragster had run 4.80 in qualifying. Paton staged his Tim-Horton's backed dragster in the left lane and waited patiently while Smith's crew had difficulty adjusting the throttle linkage. Smith took a .080 to .106 advantage off the line, but Paton was right alongside Smith to the 1000' mark when Paton's car broke the blower belt, allowing Smith to take the win with a 4.79, 294 mph run to Todd's coasting 4.96 at only 238 mph.
  
  I thought I could catch him," Paton said. "We were side-by-side most of the way down the track, but the belt snapped as we were approaching the finish line, and he jumped way out in front. We're pleased with what we've accomnplished this season. Finishing third in the points without attending the first two events isn't too shabby for a couple of 'funny car guys'. We're looking forward to next year already, and hope to put enough resources together to challenge for the IHRA World Championship."
  
  The Paton Racing team would like to thank the sponsors who have supported their 2003 racing efforts: Crosbie Industrial Services, Tim Horton's, J.J. Hoey, Lucas Oil Products, Fast Eddie Racewear, Fram, Wildgoose Performance, Mac Tools, Chatterson Machine and Millar's Performance Diesel.
  

• President's Cup Post-Race: (09-30-03)
  Todd Paton rolled into Budds Creek, Maryland sitting third in the IHRA Top Fuel World Points standings. A good showing at the President's Cup would virtually lock up that position with one race to go on the 2003 schedule.
  
  During Friday's sole qulaifying session, Todd's Tim Horton's-backed fueler launched hard, but dropped a cylinder shortly past the 60-foot mark. Todd aborted the run, but not before the motor pushed out a head gasket and igniting a small fire behind Paton's 7000 horsepower engine. The team changed the tune-up for Saturday's afternoon session. Once again, Paton's dragster launched hard, and was on a strong run, until it began spinning the tires just past half-track. Paton kept his foot planted on the throttle, and legged it out to a 5.05, 266 mph run.
  
  Sunday's opening round of eliminations saw Todd square off against Danny Dunn. Dunn had qualified with a 4.77 in Saturday's "Night of Fire", so Todd and the rest of the team knew they had to improve over their qualifying effort. Todd cut a deadly .020 light to Dunn's tardy .174, and appeared to be well on his way to victory when his car began to smoke the tires. odd pedaled it a couple of times, and then gave up as Dunn's car stayed planted until just before the finish line, taking an off-pace 5.36 to 10.02 victory.
  
  "The track threw us a curve today," Todd said afterwards. "We thought we had some room to move on the tune-up, but after seeing our car and a few of our competitors go up in smoke, it's obvious that we misread the conditions a bit. It's unfortunate, as we could've run another 5.05 and got the win, but you don't know when you come to the line. We were loaded for bear, and it bit us. Now we have to get ready for Rockingham and make sure we can do well there."

• Solid Outing for Paton Racing at North American Nationals: (09-09-03)
  Todd Paton and the Paton Racing team arrived at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire looking to shake their tire-smoking problems, which had plagued the team since their first round loss in Martin, Michigan. It marked the first time that the Paton team returned to Epping, New Hampshire in nearly ten years. One of their last appearances at this facility saw the team post an impressive victory with their alcohol funny car.
  
  With Top Fuel qualifying held to just two sessions on Saturday, the Paton Racing team knew that they would have to make a good run right away. They hit the tune-up right away, with an early shut-off 4.91 at only 267 mph. During the "Night of Fire", Todd launched hard, and began to shake the tires, so he wisely clicked it off, and the team's 4.91 held on for the number four position.
  
  That set up a match between Todd Paton's Tim Horton's-backed dragster and Don Sosenka's "Mr. Magoo" car. The last time these two met in the first round at Edmonton, it was Sosenka taking the win. This time, Paton took a convincing lead at the starting line, and held on for a 4.88 to 5.76 victory. "I knew it was on a great run," Paton said after the win. "I never saw Don, and then at about 300' our car started to move around a bit. I felt like I was driving the funny car again, working the wheel in the cockpit. I clicked it before the finish line, just to make sure that we didn't hurt the motor, so the speed was down a bit."
  
  The second round saw Todd match up with 2-time world champion and current points leader Clay Millican. The two left virtually together, with Todd taking a slim .002 second advantage, but by half-track, Millican began to pull away as Paton's mount dropped a cylinder. "That's a strong car, and we knew we'd have to come up with something for them," Paton later said. "We leaned out a couple of the cylinders, but it ended up biting us, as we dropped a cylinder and the resulting horsepower loss slowed us considerably. As soon as I saw him pull away, I shut it off."
  
  Paton's semi-final finish put further distance between himself and fourth-place driver Grant Flowers. The team will now travel to Budd's Creek, Maryland for the President's Cup Nationals on Sept. 26-28.
  

• Top Fuelers Light Up Grand Bend's Night of Fire: (08-31-03)
  Todd Paton and Louie Allison split their two-run match race, with Todd taking the first match after a wild, back-pedaling pass while Allison shut off after shaking the tires. "The track was a lot better than we expected," Paton said after the round. "Ron Biekx and his crew did their usual terrific job preparing the facility."
  
  "We were trying something different on the tune-up, but it put a lot of unburned fuel out of the pipes when I tried to launch. The car smoked the tires at the hit of the throttle, but we were able to recover before Louie. It blackened the crank on that lap so we'll have to change motors for the final run tonight."
  
  On the second run, Paton's Tim Horton's-backed Top Fueler again smoked the tires at the hit of the throttle, and this time Allison's mount was able to recover first, bringing an exciting conclusion to Grand Bend's "Night of Fire".
  
  "It wasn't pretty, but I think we put on a show for the fans. They seemed to like seeing these things sideways and out of shape. We were pleased that we found a problem that has been plaguing us at least since Norwalk. I can't wait for Epping now."

• Tough Outing for Paton Racing at the IHRA World Nationals: (08-25-03)
  With the World Nationals featuring the first 16-car IHRA Top Fuel field Todd Paton and the Paton Racing team were hoping to once again tune their Tim Horton's-backed dragster well into the four-second zone. Armed with a new fuel system and a crank-trigger ignition system, the prospects looked very promising for the Canadian team.
  
  On Friday's first lap, the Tim Horton's rail appeared to be on a career-best past, until it smoked the tires just past the 330' mark. "We recorded career-best incremental numbers that matched Bruce Litton's 4.72, but we were a little too aggressive past that point. We'll just try to calm it down a little before it gets there."
  
  Unfortunately, the car never made it to that point, as it smoked the tires during at the hit of the throttle during Saturday's afternoon session. Things didn't go much better during Saturday's "Night of Fire", as a leaking timer bled the CO2 from the air bottle during the burnout procedure. The crew noticed the low reading on the pressure guage, and signaled Todd to shut the car off.
  
  Armed with only the data from their Friday night run, the Paton team faced off against #3 qualifier Josh Starcher. When the lights flashed green, Todd took a slim starting line advantage, but again smoked the tires instantly and shut off. Starcher lost traction about 400' downtrack, but was able to pedal it, and take the win.
  
  "After Friday's run, we were really excited about the car's potential. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get the tune-up softened up enough for the track conditions. We'll use our match race at Grand Bend next weekend to test so we'll be ready for Epping."
  
  A good outing there could lock up Paton's current third place position in the IHRA national points. The North American Nationals are scheduled for Sept 5-7 in Epping, New Hampshire.
  

• Paton Racing "Heats Up" IHRA Northern Nationals: (08-12-03)
  Todd Paton and the Paton Racing team came to the Bethesda Softworks Northern Nationals fresh off a string of consistent 4-second passes from the previous event. Armed with a good tune-up, the team was confident about the car's ability to perform on the tremendous surface at Milan, Michigan.
  
  So confident, in fact, that the team elected to skip the scheduled Friday night session following an exhausting trip to the event, including a much longer than scheduled border crossing. Instead, the team decided to prepare for Saturday's two qualifying sessions.
  
  Paton was first in line for Saturday's afternoon session, but when the team was given the signal to fire, the 7000 horsepower hemi hesitated, and the backfired. The team quickly traced the problem in the ignition wiring, but were unable to complete the repair before their qualifying opponent, Louie Allison, was ready to stage. The team was forced to sit out another session, pinning their hopes on the third and final qualifying session later that evening.
  
  Once again, Paton's Tim Hortons-backed dragster was the first car in the session. This time, the fuel-injected nitro engine roared to life. Paton heated up the tires and staged for what the team hoped would be another 4-second pass to put them into the field.
  
  The car launched hard, and began streaking towards the finish line when just past the 660' mark, the engine began to falter. At 1000', Paton lit up the night sky as the aluminum engine expired in dramatic fashion. Despite coasting across the finish line, Paton made it into the field with a 4.96 at only 263 mph.
  
  "Obviously, that's not exactly how we wanted to do it," a frustrated Paton said after the run. "Coming off a weekend like we had in Cayuga, where the car went down the track four times, and didn't even hurt the spark plugs, we thought we were rid of this gremlin. We've got more engines, and we'll just look at the computer readings to see what caused this."
  
  The 4.96 placed Todd fifth in the 8-car field, placing him opposite Bobby Lagana, Jr. in what would be a rematch of the first round two weeks earlier. Lagana was certainly the Cinderella story of the weekend, running his first ever 4-second run after receiving some tuning assistance from Team Werner crew chief Mike Kloeber. In the meantime, Todd's father and crew chief Barry had found the problem in the fuel system of the Tim Hortons Top Fuel Dragster.
  
  Todd brought his black and gold dragster into the staging beams, fully aware that Lagana would be ready to avenge his first round loss to him at the AC Delco Nationals. When the lights flashed green, Paton took an early lead, but began smoking the tires at the 60' mark. Forced to lift, he watched helplessly as Lagana continued his fairy tale weekend.

  "Any loss is disappointing, but this one stings a little, because we've never smoked the tires on this car. Last night's explosion was caused by the BDK valve, which leaned the car out by about 8%. It made a fair amount of power like that, but now it had that much more, and it was just a bit too much at that point in the track. At least we found the problem, and we can tune the car like we did in Cayuga."
  
  The next event for the Paton Racing team will be the IHRA World Nationals August 21-24 in Norwalk, Ohio, which will feature a 16-car field for the Top Fuel Dragsters.

• Tim Hortons Returns with Paton Racing: (08-06-03)
  For the second consecutive event, Paton Racing and J.J. Hoey Inc., which operates several Tim Hortons stores in Mississauga, Ontario will again team up to campaign the Tim Hortons Top Fuel Dragster at the upcoming IHRA Northern Nationals in Martin, Michigan.

  "John Hoey is a drag racer at heart, and he helped us out tremendously at the AC Delco Nationals a couple of weeks ago in Cayuga. He was on the starting line when we ran the 4.85, and he really enjoyed the experience. Following our semi-final finish at that race, he offered to sponsor us again for the upcoming event in Martin, Michigan.”

  Tim Hortons restaurants offer customers quality coffee, tea and other assorted hot and cold beverages, along with a wide variety of baked goods, soups and sandwiches. The popular chain stretches coast-to-coast across Canada, and has opened approximately 200 stores in the United States as well.

  The Paton Racing team will try to put the Tim Hortons car in the winners circle this weekend, following what could be best described as a career weekend for the team at the AC Delco Nationals.

  Todd began the weekend with an “out-of-the-box” 4.98 and followed it up with a career-best 4.85 during Saturday’s “Night of Fire”. On Sunday, he ran back to back 4.98’s which allowed him to get past Bobby Lagana Jr. in the first round, but came up short against Bruce Litton in round number two.

  “That semi-final race with Litton was a heart-breaker,” Todd said. “I left on him, and was still ahead at the 1000’ mark when the tires began to spin. The motor revved up a little, and that’s all it took for the blower belt to come off.”

  The team is poised and ready to pick up where they left off. “We learned a lot about tuning the car, and we’re ready to apply it. Hopefully we can pick up the performance a bit, and prevent another Litton-Millican final round,” joked Paton.

  Consistency Pays Off for Paton: (07-28-03)
  A string of consistent 4 second passes was the key to Todd Paton's semi-final finish at the AC Delco Nationals held at Toronto Motorsports Park this past weekend.
  
  After running a 4.98 in Friday's opening session and a career-best 4.85 in Saturday's final qualifying session, Paton came into Sunday's eliminations with in the number two spot in the qualified field.
  
  In the first round of eliminations, Paton's Tim Hortons-backed Top Fuel Dragster handily beat Bobby Lagana Jr. with another 4.98 second, 283.14 mph run, despite Todd's backpedaling job at about 150' downtrack.
  
  "I felt the car start to shake, and I didn't see Bobby, so I quickly came back off the throttle, gave the car just an instant to recover, and slammed it back down. We'll have to fix that for next round."
  
  In the semi-finals, Paton squared off number three qualifier Bruce Litton, in what was sure to be the closest race of the afternoon. These two cars were separated by one-thousandths of a second in qualifying.
  
  The match lived up to its billing, with Paton taking a significant .104 to .178 second starting line advantage. At 1000', Paton was still ahead by approximately a half a car-length when he began to lose traction, and the supercharger drive belt snapped, which allowed Litton to squeeze by just before the finish line with a 4.82 to Paton's coasting 4.98 at only 248 mph.
  
  "We had him covered," Paton said afterwards. "He came over after the run and said that he saw us out there, and that if we hadn't lost the belt, he didn't think he'd catch us. We've had a great run here today with the Tim Hortons Top Fuel car in front of the hometown crowd, and although we came up one round short of the final, we hope the fans enjoyed the show."
  
  Paton's next event will be the IHRA Nationals in Grand Rapids, Michigan on July 8-10.
  

• Paton's "Coffee Run": (07-26-03)
  Todd Paton gave the Canadian fans a treat as he qualified his Tim Hortons-backed Top Fuel Dragster second in the field with a fine 4.98. Paton's finish line speed of 274 mph would probably have been significantly higher had he not lifted off the throttle just before the finish line.
  
  "It was a nice, straight pass," Todd said. "I clicked it a little early just to make sure it didn't hurt anything, and the motor looked good when we tore it down afterwards. After the rough weekend we had in Milan, it was good to get a representative run that we can tune from."
  
  During Saturday's "Night of Fire" qualifying session, Paton improved to a career-best 4.853 seconds at 283.61 mph, which kept him in the number two position going into Sunday's eliminations, just ahead of Bruce Litton's 4.854.
  
  

• Tim Hortons to Sponsor Paton: (07-24-03)
  Paton Racing is teaming up with J.J. Hoey Inc., who operates several Tim Hortons stores in the Mississauga/Oakville area for the AC Delco Nationals in Cayuga, Ontario.
  
  "We're really excited about representing a Canadian establishment like Tim Hortons on the side of our Top Fuel car," Todd said. "John Hoey sponsored Dick LaHaie back when he ran his own deal years ago. John's always loved the sport, and wanted to help us out for this race. We hope to give Tim Hortons some good exposure this weekend in front of our hometown fans.
  
  Toronto Motorsports Park is hosting the AC Delco Nationals, and is located approximately 25 miles from Paton's race shop in Paris, Ontario.

• Motor City Madness: (07-15-03)
  Todd Paton used up a lot of equipment en route to his semi-final finish at the recent IHRA Motor City Nationals in Milan, Michigan. During Friday's lone qualifying session, Todd placed sixth in the qualified field with an early shutoff 5.68. On that run, two connecting rods broke, taking that engine out of service for the weekend.
  
  On Saturday's early session, Todd appeared to have a handle on the tricky track surface, only to have a blower belt give up just before half-track. His 6.16 didn't improve his qualifying position, and once again that engine was taken out of service as it hurt a crankshaft.
  
  The team installed their third and final motor into the dragster for Saturday's "Night of Fire". In the pairing before Paton brought his car to the line, the team witnessed their 5.68 getting bumped out of the show. With their hopes riding on this one final qualifying attempt, the team rose to the occassion. The black dragster launched hard, but began burning a head gasket at about half-track. Just before the finish line, the supercharger backfired, sending flames high into the night sky. Todd's 5.17 was good enough to put him into the number 8 position for Sunday's eliminations.
  
  Todd's first round opponent was surprise low qualifier Tim Cullinan. Tim's 4.85 in qualifying stunned many of the fans in attendance, and gave Paton cause for concern as he prepared for the run. At the green light, Todd left on Tim by over a tenth of a second, and began to streak away as Cullinan began smoking the tires early in the run. Once again, the engine in Paton's dragster began to falter, and he wisely lifted, but not before another pair of connecting rods penetrated the engine block. Seeing Paton's difficulty, Cullinan tried to regain traction, but ran out of real estate, giving Paton his second round win of his young Top Fuel career.
  
  Back in the pits, the call came from crew chief Barry Paton that indeed the team's weekend would have to come to a close. With all three engine blocks in need of repair, there was no way for the team to meet Bruce Litton for their semi-final match.
  
  Following the run, Barry and Todd began comparing computer data and notes from the weekend's runs, and came to the conclusion that there was a problem in the pneumatic fuel control system, resulting in a lean condition, causing the motor to detonate and even backfire.
  
  "It's really a shame to lose that way," a disappointed Paton said. "We obviously had a problem with the car that we couldn't solve in time. It cost us all three of our motors, and now we've got an ambitious schedule to get everything ready for the Cayuga event in less than two weeks."

• Western Swing "Up's and Down's": (06-30-03)
  Following their brief return to the Funny Car category in Norwalk, Ohio, Todd Paton and the Paton Racing team headed west to on thier 41-hour drive to Edmonton, Alberta for the IHRA's Rocky Mountain Nationals.
  
  After sitting out Friday's lone qualifying session with a bad ignition control module, the team was looking forward to finally making a pass down Edmonton's quarter mile during Saturday's first session. The capacity crowd waved and cheered as Canada's quickest driver performed his burnout. Todd launched hard, and began smoking the tires just past the 330' mark. As the motor revved up, the car threw the supercharger drive belt, and Todd coasted to a 7.08.
  
  Encouraged by the strong 60' and 330' times the car clocked on their first run, the team "turned the screws" a little, and went up for the Saturday "Night of Fire" qualifying session. Once again, the Canadian fans were on their feet as Paton brought his Crosbie Industrial/Ron Hodgson Pontiac Buick sponsored entry to the line. They weren't disappointed as Todd recorded the best run of his young Top Fuel career; a 4.96 at only 255 mph.
  
  "That was a wild run," a visibly excited Paton said afterward. "It really pulled hard until the 1000' mark. I felt it nose over, and then it stopped running entirely. When I got out of the car at the far end, I saw that the blower belt was once again missing. The computer shows that it ran for a little over 4.3 seconds, so who knows how much quicker it could've gone. The speed definitely would've been better, but who cares? Speed doesn't win races; it's all about elapsed times."
  
  That placed Todd 4th in the 8-car program, giving him Don Sosenka as his first round opponent. By all accounts, this was Paton's round to win. Don even commented to Todd prior to each driver donning his firesuit saying, "I know the only way a 5.20 car can beat a 4-second car is if something goes wrong." It was almost like he knew...
  
  As Todd backed up from the burnout, he radioed to the crew that something was wrong with the engine. Knowing that there was nothing he could do to correct the misfiring that the engine was experiencing, Todd reluctantly staged the car, a took a slim starting line advantage when the lights flashed green. Shortly thereafter, it became obvious that the engine would not respond propoerly, and Todd wisely got off the throttle, handing Sosenka the win.
  
  "It was a disappointing loss, after running so well in last night's session," Paton said after the round. "We put on a fresh set of heads that had just come back from being repaired, and it appears that a valve seat let go during the burnout, breaking an intake valve and piston in the motor. It was hurt when I went to the starting line, but I staged it anyway, on the chance that Don might have a problem. He didn't and we ended up going home early. However, we've moved up to fourth in the points after only three events, so we'll take what we learned with the car yesterday and apply it at the next race in Milan."

• Paton "Feeling Funny" Again: (06-20-03)
  Just when you die-hard funny car fans were about to give up on Todd and the rest of the Paton Racing team, they are coming back with their wild 2003 Chevy Camaro. On Saturday, June 21st Todd will climb behind the wheel of the team's Nitro Funny Car for the "Night of Fire" at Norwalk Raceway.
  
  Paton will square off against fellow funny car competitors John Force, Tony Pedregon, Gary Densham and Del Worsham, among others in a special 8-car Nitro match race.
  
  Norwalk's "Night of Fire" has been a tradition for over 40 years. The one day event will draw in excess of 35,000 spectators. More information can be found at www.norwalkraceway.com.
  

• Paton Racing to Help at Tim Horton's Camp Day: (06-11-03)
  Todd Paton and the Paton Racing Top Fuel Dragster will be on display today, Wednesday June 11, at the Tim Horton's store at the junction of Highways 5 and the 403 in Mississauga to help raise funds for the Tim Horton Children's Foundation.
  
  Every year, Tim Horton's donates the proceeds from their coffee sales to help send less fortunate children to one of the Tim Horton's Camps during the summer. Local celebrities assist by spending time helping out, including stints behind the counter serving coffee. Todd and the team will be trying to attract visitors to the location be displaying Canada's Quickest Car just in front of this high-traffic location from 10:30 until 2:00 PM. Stop by and help send a kid to camp!
  

• Paton Beats the Rain; Heats up Eliminations: (06-09-03)
  Todd Paton didn't expect to be in the field for the AC-Delco Nationals this past weekend in Richmond Virginia. The former two-time IHRA World Champion limped down the track in Friday's lone qualifying session to a less than spectacular 9.43 at only 94 mph.
  
  For