Valdez told me that Sullivan "womped" once at the finish line and let his opponent, Johnny Labbous Sr., around him by inches.

Final-run numbers at the 2003 B&M Million were a .508 (.008) reaction time for Johnny and a 5.236/129.33-mph shot off his 5.22 dial-in, and a .519 (.019) for Terry and a 5.646/119.22-mph drive off his 5.62 dial --- good numbers for a final round of a 10-round race.

But how do you "really" describe Johnny Labbous Sr., hitter or unknown?

Hitter, yes. Unknown, no, not really. Johnny Sr., of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, is certainly well-known around these parts, and probably the rest of the bracket world as well. Now, as then, he has been a professional, or at least a semi-pro, bracket racer who moved northward from Rome, Georgia, several years ago to be nearer to the heart of bracket racing. When he's not racing, he's either building racing engines or doing minor work in his small shop.

"I used to race him way back when," Howard told me a week after the big race. "I'd beat him, he'd beat me. In those days (say, the early 1970's through the '80s), there were three bracket racers around here who KNEW how to bracket race --- Don Young, David Rampy and Johnny Labbous." Today, Young is deceased, the victim of a horrible on-track accident, Rampy is racing as an NHRA "Sportsman" professional, and Labbous ... well, he's still at it. You'll see him in either his Mopar-powered, forest-green dragster or one of his same-green door cars, an '85 Lazer or an '85 Omni. Both carry the familiar "Loose Caboose" name on both sides, a name he earned when a track announcer --- long ago, it seems --- once said, when Johnny was making rounds in a big-money bracket race, "Well, looks like the Caboose is loose tonight." What a perfect name for a bracket car. What a great competitor, said George Howard.

Sr. has a son, John Jr., who also races, helped by his wife of five years, Jennifer. John Jr. was the first person to reach Sr. when he came up the Memphis track after his win. They hugged. There were yells all around. Flashbulbs were popping off everywhere, and Labbous remembers that there were about 100 people gathered around him on the starting line and it was fast approaching the late hours Saturday night. It seemed like the people there were awfully glad that Johnny Labbous Sr. had finally won the Big One, the B&M Million.

"I wouldn't have had it any other way," he said of his victory hug with son John Jr.

In all his years of bracket racing, the $90,000 was the most he has ever won in a single race.

Two notes of irony (Luck? Fortune?) on Johnny Labbous on his million dollar weekend --- his birthday was Monday, and his granddaughter Morgan was 11 months old on Sunday. He won a race last year on his birthday, too. Also, Johnny hit three .500 trees in competition. "I told Pat that was the best lights that I could do, I couldn't do any better," he said.

"I've won a lot of races in my life that I've been fortunate enough to win, but I've never won anything like this. This is the biggest race that I've ever won," he admitted. "To the Top Fuel and Funny Car guys, this (money) ain't nothin' to them, but this race probably has most of the best bracket racers in the country, 90 percent of the best entered in it. So there was nothing easy, but it was just a good day for me."

Labbous has been married to Pat for 37 years, and within the last few months, he revealed, they have been talking about racing, specifically about racing in a slump. "I told her", said Labbous, "you know what, we've done this all of our lives, but we've never won anything like this.' You see these young guys, this young generation, they've come in here and won $60,000-70,000 and they're making all kinds of money, and if I can't do something like that, I need to do something else."

"I've been close. Maybe it's a mental thing for me, but I've never in my life drove like I drove that Saturday night," said Labbous. It was in our interview Johnny revealed his three .500 reaction times came one by one, straight in a row, one following the other, following the other.

"And I had a good car, there's no doubt about that," Labbous added. "But I took a different mental attitude to everything I've done these past two months. I think I've concentrated more. In my Lazer, I've been doing good in it, but I ain't won. So I got my dragster out. It's been sitting for two or three months, and the first night I took it out, I won at Music City (Dragway in Nashville). Next night, I got to four cars, and it was then that I told her, You know, I'm gonna take this car to the Million Dollar Race."