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That it did. Thanks to the efforts of crew chief Gary Henry, Wilson
never emerged above 6.50s all weekend as he dusted off Jerry Yeomen, Jason
Collins, John Montecalvo, and finally Miller with a 6.579 at 212.36 to
a losing 6.628 at 210.37 mph.
"The motor on that last pass down the dragstrip here, I think it injured
itself a little bit more," Wilson said. "But nonetheless, it was there
with us the whole time. It hung in there like it was a member of the
team."
Wilson appeared loose and relaxed all weekend, but later admitted to
feeling the pressure within.
"This was the single most important run that I've ever made in my life,"
he said. "That final round; that one pass; I said to myself, 'You know,
you've made mistakes before, you've done this wrong, you've learned
that, but it's gotta' all be here right now.' That's what my mentality
was up there on the starting line. It was all or nothing.
"Here's the reason why. Winning races and championships, that's good,
and a lot of people do it, but when you have a chance to put your name
beside such an icon, such a legendary hero of Pro Stock drag racing
as the name Bob Glidden, you know, that don't come along too often,"
the 28 year-old realized.
"I've said all along this has been a storybook year for us and it certainly
has, but I knew that that one final round could mean the difference
between it happening or not happening. I knew that I may never get another
chance to do this. I may never, ever have another chance, so all the
experience and all the things I could call on to do everything I could
to win that race, it was putting a lot of pressure on me, but I was
determined to get it done."
|
|
| Gene Wilson, flanked by crew chief Gary Henry
(L) and clutch specialist Toby Johnson, signify the eight wins they
combined for in 2001. |
Long-time IHRA team owner Charlie Hunt obviously was enjoying the victory
lane proceedings and had nothing but praise for his two young guns.
"That Gene, that kid can drive a race car and Gary has done an outstanding
job setting the car up. I don't think they got near the credit they
deserve because they done it all," Hunt declared. "We've got a good
bunch of guys back at the race shop, but the two main ingredients was
Gary Henry and Gene Wilson, I mean there's no way I can overemphasize
the job they done this year."
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