NORWALK, Ohio (November 7, 2013) – John Dustin did not have a good weekend at the Summit World Finals.
Well, not to start out at least.
In
the days leading up to championship Sunday in the Summit Racing
Equipment Tournament of Champions at Memphis International Raceway,
Dustin had just about everything you could imagine go wrong. First
off, his wife and young daughter couldn't make the trip due to work
obligations and the drive itself left him second guessing the trip. Once
on the road, the driver out of Rockville, Maryland found himself on
the side of the road with motorhome trouble.
John Dustin
Finally, once at the track, Dustin came down with a bug and spent the rest of the weekend not feeling well.
"It was a rough weekend, to say the least," Dustin said.
But
once the sun rose on Sunday, things began to take a turn for the
better. Dustin said he began to feel better around noon and once he got
on the track all he could focus on was taking home the biggest win of
his life.
Around
five hours and four rounds later, Dustin was standing in the winner's
circle having just won the IHRA Quick Rod World Championship over a
field of the toughest 8.90 racers in the world.
"I
knew all the racers here were the best of the best. I have had some
friends tell me about my competitors, so I kind of knew what I was up
against," Dustin said.
John Dustin
In
the final Dustin found himself matched up with series veteran Vernon
Rowland from Blanchard, Oklahoma for the Quick Rod title. With the
championship on the line, Dustin left little room for error as he got
off the line first with a .012 reaction time to Rowland's .023 and ran
nearly dead-on the numbers with an 8.912 second elapsed time at 141.31
miles per hour, while Rowland crossed the strip with an 8.930 at
159.87 mph.
"That
was definitely the biggest round of my life. I wanted to make sure it
was a good race. I definitely didn't want to do something stupid like
red light or drop too hard and go way over. I wanted to make it a solid
run," Dustin said. "I saw the win light come on and I was excited, but I
didn't get too excited. I had people in the shutdown area
congratulating me, but I don't think I took a breath until I got that
paper in my hand that said I was a winner. That is when it all sunk in."
Dustin,
who won the Division 1 championship in Quick Rod on the Summit Pro-Am
Tour in 2013, recorded round wins over Otis Henry, Jake Levatino and
Jeremy Mason on his way to the final. In the other lane, fellow
divisional champ Rowland, winner of IHRA's Division 3, had wins over
Chris Scarlata, Dale Scates and Mark Miles.
In
all four round wins Dustin got it done on the tree, recording lights of
.005, .012, .006 and .012. In his first two rounds both Henry and
Levatino broke out, while in the semifinal Mason missed the top end
with an 8.998 on an 8.90 index. Dustin had an 8.954 to move into the
finals.
Quick Rod Final – John Dustin (near) vs. Vernon Rowland
Dustin's
win capped an incredible year where he recorded two wins in four
finals, getting it done in a car that many felt should have been sent to
the scrapyard by now.
"I
bought this car in 1997 and a lot of people think I should have
replaced it by now," Dustin said. "Everyone around me has been getting
new cars and they are all getting onto me about driving this older
car. The thing is, it is just a perfect car."
Now Dustin will have an opportunity to put a coveted No. 1 on the side of that "older car."
"I
really want to thank my mom and dad, my wife Lenore and my little baby
Danica. We love racing IHRA and we love Summit Racing," Dustin said. "To
be honest we debated about the weekend. It is a long haul for us, but
we felt confident in the car as long as the driver got it done. I think
it all turned out just fine."
