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"To win Indy is everything," said Bazemore. "The U.S. Nationals is what this sport is all about. You struggle, and you dream and you look at other people ahead of you and you ask, 'what do they have that I don't have?' You just keep plugging away and suddenly you've won Indy - twice! It's an unbelievable thing - you pinch yourself. It's so hard to win any of these races and to win Indy means a lot. In '97 we got to the finals for the first time and I was telling myself how rare these opportunities come - do not throw it away! You can't be defensive though. You have to be really aggressive and that's what I was thinking today." For Greg Anderson, it was the second time that he'd appeared in a U.S. Nationals final round. He was runner-up to Warren Johnson in '99, but this time he didn't let the opportunity slip away. Driving one of the '00 Firebirds, Anderson demonstrated during Sunday time trials that he'd be tough to beat. After jumping to the No. 2 spot during qualifying, he defeated Hurley Blakeney, Mike Edwards and Bruce Allen before matching up with Osborne in the finals. Anderson held lane choice all day running 6.948 seconds in round one, 6.953 second in round two and 6.970 seconds in the semifinals. In the championship stanza, Osborne left the line fine, but Anderson's Pontiac Firebird ran down the Dodge, tripping the timers in 6.958 seconds with a trap speed of 198.58 mph. Osborne tallied a 7.016 e.t. at 198.70 mph. It marked the second time this year, and the second time in his career that the 40-year-old North Carolinian had won a Winston national drag racing event. "I can't believe it happened," said Anderson. "How in the world did I win Indy? I probably had my worst day of driving but that Pontiac Firebird was awesome. It outran everybody all day long. When it's your day, it's your day I guess. The Big Man upstairs was looking down on us. "We came here last Tuesday to test and realized we had a pretty good car. The first three runs this weekend were okay, but the fourth run was flawless. We ended up No. 2 and almost ended up on the pole. We knew we had a car that would qualify we just didn't realize how good it was. I can't believe we were that fast - it was just incredible." INDY BRINGS OUT DIFFERENT EMOTIONS IN DRIVERS By Susan Wade The pro-class winners of the NHRA's U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis displayed a range of emotions Monday. Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon, upstaged by both team owner Don Prudhomme and usually low-key crew chief Dick LaHaie, stuck to the politically correct line after pocketing $85,000. Whit Bazemore was contemplative about his Funny Car title. Pro Stock winner Greg Anderson simply was trying to figure out why he won. Angelle Savoie said she was excited about her Pro Stock Motorcycle victory, while Mike Coughlin said capturing the NHRA's final Pro Stock Truck race at Indianapolis' famed quarter-mile was bittersweet. Dixon, who lives in neaby Avon, Ind., gushed that "everybody who was anybody always came to Indy. (Don) Garlits and Shirley (Muldowney) didn't come back to race at Atlanta - they came back to race at Indy." He said he focused on winning the race and not on stretching his points lead over Kenny Bernstein. "If you win the race, you get the points," he said. "We don't have a John Force lead. If Winston (were) writing checks this week, it'd be great. But they're not." Prudhomme and LaHaie, however, jabbed at the competition with delight. Prudhomme said when top qualifier and Budweiser billboard Bernstein lost to Dixon and his Miller Lite Dragster in the semifinals, his reaction was "Good! But we know he's not going to roll over and play dead after this." LaHaie said his strategy against Bernstein and No. 3 Gary Scelzi is
"Wear 'em out." He added, "It's no magic. It's common sense. We make
it look too easy. All I thought about today was not beating ourselves."
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