As we waited in the bleachers for the final, Brian Lohnes, NHRA Announcer, Official DW Announcer, and BangShift.com co-owner was explaining over the speakers, how John was driving the car previously owned by Steve Bowyer, who had passed last year during the event. His voice cracked several times, and it was clear that the emotion of the moment was pushing his considerable professionalism to the limit. It occurred to me at that time that I was wrong in thinking Steve's siblings were the only ones who were drawing healing and closure from John bringing the Valiant on Drag Week 2014. It was, in fact, providing the same for the entire Drag Week family, and all the participants who had seen Steve at Checkpoint #1 in 2013, sitting in the Valiant, and had never seen him again. It also occurred to me that it was a fact not lost on John at all this week, and that has to carry a little pressure all it's own. The aplomb with which he handled every facet of Drag Week, and the panache he has raced with for some time, gave me comfort that the situation was not beyond his reach.

It's quite easy to spot who has the best light in a pro tree heads-up race. It's more difficult to determine when the tree is staggered, and one competitor is in deep, but it appeared from my vantage point that John gave up a little at the hit. When they drove by us at half track he appeared to be in a good position to make up the two tenths head start he had given with the dial-ins. It looked for all the world like both guys just decided to let their big blocks do the talking in the last 320 feet, as both cars ran within a couple tenths of their best MPH for the whole event. John and the Valiant carded a .002 over 11.122 on an 11.12 dial to take the measure of Chad and the Chevelle's 11.37 on an 11.35 for the win!