Whether it was Loan’ s pep talks or not, Verdi found his confidence as he went into eliminations in the eighth-mile Spring Fling Million competition. He grabbed a first-round win, then things really got rolling.

“ A few things happened that were lucky breaks that don’ t normally happen. The guy got timed out on me second round. I couldn’ t believe that because, hey, we’ re talking about a $ 2,000 entry fee. I think he bumped the transbrake button by accident when he was bumping in. I could see him moving out of my peripheral vision. I was saying,‘ Man, he better hurry up.’ Then the tree lit up red on his side. I was kinda’ feeling bad for him for a second there,” Verdi says, without so much as a hint of sarcasm.

A third-round win came over big-money bracket race regular Hugh Meeks. Both drivers were dead-on with a two, but Verdi’ s. 006-second reaction time sealed the deal over Meeks’. 012 light. Verdi kept it going with wins over Rodney Snider and Scott Carpenter before the remaining racers were put onto a ladder. Verdi’ s first draw on the ladder was none other than multi-time NHRA Super Gas world champion Luke Bogacki in his dragster, but the Virginian moved on by just 17-inches.

On to the quarterfinals, Verdi met up with Paul Russell, who found himself in the Super Pro portion of the Spring Fling Million after winning six rounds in the Pro 32 shootout. Russell was closer to his 6.48 dial-in, but his. 075 reaction time negated any advantage he had over Verdi’ s 5.930 on a 5.90 dial. Jeff reeled it back in with a 5.909 in the semifinals against heavy-hitter Kevin Brannon, setting up a final round meeting with Lane Dickey’ s rail.

Dragsters seemed to have the advantage through eliminations, but Verdi didn’ t see it that way.

“ We run against dragsters at home all the time,” says Verdi, with a smile.“ I said if I get a dragster I have the advantage because he’ s gonna’ lift. He’ s run against fast cars all day long. My car ain’ t slow but it’ s a whole lot slower than a 4.50 dragster. He’ s gonna’ lift. He’ s gonna’ look like he’ s going by me no matter what. He’ s been racing side-byside all day and now I’ m out there 150 to 200 feet. They’ re going so fast that it’ ll look like he’ s gonna’ catch me no matter what. They will catch me, but maybe a foot after the finish line.”

Racing in the dry atmosphere of the Vegas desert, Verdi was facing weather conditions vastly

different than those he typically encounters in the southeast. Also unlike the swampy southern conditions, the air at The Strip was as consistent as Verdi.

“ I knew I was in a good spot,” he says.“ The humidity was so low and the temperature was 60-degrees when the sun was out. When the sun went down it stayed 60 degrees. The humidity never changed. The weather stayed exactly the same, it was just the headwind. If I felt the headwind hit the car and I had to drive it around, I knew the car would run over the dial. If I didn’ t feel it hit the car I figured I would be dead-on. That’ s what it felt like every time it went a 90; I didn’ t feel the wind hit the car. But when it went the. 91, I definitely felt it hit the car. Luckily, I had a good light or the other guy couldn’ t hit his dial.”

After 16 hours and eight rounds of racing, Jeff Verdi spun the starter and pulled his Firebird around the bend and under the famous arch at The Strip. He rolled through the left lane water box, laid down a patch of rubber and brought the Top Gun Firebird into the staging beams. His tree dropped and he was off with a. 014 reaction time, Dickey chasing with his quicker dial-in and. 009 light. Just under six seconds after he left the starting line, the win light illuminated in Verdi’ s lane. His. 015 package defeated Dickey’ s. 026 pack.

“ That final round I was deadon with a one. I like to be anything under a 20 package. If you’ re anything better than a 20 package then it takes a double-oh on both ends to beat you. I try to be. 009 or. 010 on the tree and dead-on with a mid number, and that’ ll get you a lot of rounds. It might not get you to all of them, but it’ ll get you a lot without taking the chance of red-lighting or breaking out. That’ s just from years of points racing at my local track. I’ m leaving first most of the time so I can’ t turn it red. I’ m setting up. 010,” Verdi reveals of his strategy.

“ I’ ll race my opponent,” he says.“ Some people don’ t race their opponent. They’ ll just try to throw packages down no matter who they’ re running. I’ ll race who I’ m running. I feel this package or what I can do right here can beat this guy, so I’ m gonna’ try to do what I want to do here and if I get beat, I get beat. I’ m actually racing my guy versus just throwing something out there. I’ ll watch my buddies back here( in Virginia) red-light against someone who’ s never been to the track before. He’ s terrible on the tree and doesn’ t know what he’ s doing and my friend is out because he’ s trying to be triple-oh.”

Verdi’ s local experience played a part not only in the on-track action, but also in the staging lanes when the racers were deciding how to split up the winnings in the late rounds.

“ It’ s interesting to see the caliber of racers who race for a living and how they want to split up the money versus people who maybe race as a hobby,” explains Verdi.“ The guys who race for a living, they’ re looking for money for the next race. Coming home and going bracket racing locally isn’ t costing me anything.

“ Some of the deals I didn’ t want to do as much. We paid two grand to race for this much money so we don’ t want to chop it up too crazy. A lot of those guys seemed like they’ d be fine splitting it all up. The winner ends up losing because the winner ends up giving away the money that could’ ve been. But I could’ ve lost any round that I won. If you look at it playing the odds it’ s good to split the money up, but when you do end up winning and you look at what you gave away, you’ re like,‘ Oh, my God,’” Verdi laughs.“ But that’ s just part of racing. On the local level when you’ re racing for $ 1,200 and you split it up, it’ s whatever.”

The check in the winner’ s circle photos says $ 270,000, but Verdi says his split of the winnings was actually around $ 100,000. The six losers at 13 cars walked away with $ 10,000, and the takeaways increased by $ 10,000 increments as the rounds continued. Proud of his competition, Verdi was amazed by the lack of attention that these payouts received.

“ I feel bad for a lot of these other guys who went rounds,” says Verdi.“ There was a guy who had a GTO who was still in at four cars. He had a Pontiac motor in his car so at four cars there were two Pontiacs with Pontiac motors, which is a rare thing at big races like that – actually anywhere. He ended up red-lighting in the semifinals. He got forty grand for losing in the semis and the guy who lost in the finals got $ 65,000. Nobody even talks about them. Isn’ t that a shame? These guys won more money than they’ ve ever won in their life and nobody is even talking about it.

“ That’ s just the way it is. I just feel for those guys,” he continues.“ They had a great day. I never saw them again. I felt kinda’ weird because when you’ re racing at the local level, you get down to four cars and you talk to each other and you’ re drinking a beer after the race, hanging out. At that race I got whisked away in a limousine down to downtown Vegas without talking to nobody.”

After returning to the starting line for the winner’ s circle celebration, Verdi and Loan were treated to a VIP Las Vegas experience. While not widely advertised as a part of the prize, the extravagant treatment is standard operating pro-

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