“ When I staged that car against Steve King, and I left the starting line, I was like,‘ You’ re dead, son.’ Like that’ s it. I’ m cruising away into the sunset.”
doesn’ t have to make another run.
“ I’ ve been in hundreds of final rounds,” Jackson continues.“ There are final rounds where nerves defeat you, and this was not that. I was calm. We’ re sitting there, and Wes Buck’ s got the rock music going on. So, every round we made before we started the car, I was singing whatever song was blaring in my ear on the speaker. I don’ t remember what song that was, but I’ m singing it to the guys to loosen them up and everybody’ s joking around. You know it’ s a real-deal team, and you know that you got a shot.”
With nearly identical screw blower setups between them, Jackson was first off the line with a. 029 reaction time compared to King’ s. 052 and felt victory was within reach until mechanical disaster struck once more when a connecting rod broke mid-run. King’ s 3.629 at 204.82 mph was just enough to edge past Jackson’ s 3.653 at 203.55 mph by a minuscule. 001-second margin, marking the closest final round in WSOPM history.
“ When I staged that car against Steve King, and I left the starting line, I was like,‘ You’ re dead, son.’ Like that’ s it. I’ m cruising away into the sunset.”
“ When I staged that car against Steve King, and I left the starting line, I was like,‘ You’ re dead, son. Like that’ s it. I’ m cruising away into the sunset,’” Jackson shares.“ The thing breaks a rod at 3.50 into the run, and he beats me by a thou. I can see that thing coming, and my engine’ s blown up, and it’ s the most terrible feeling in the world. I still had the gas pedal down even though it wasn’ t running, and then they come and getcha.”
Reaching the WSOPM final wasn’ t just redemption – it was proof positive that even the toughest racing luck can turn around.
“ We got a really bad hot rod that can win, and we got a group of folks around us that are second to none,” Jackson says.
“ Yes, it gives me motivation. I want to win one of these things. They’ re hard – to compete against 80 of the best people in what you do and just to be the last two cars standing, that’ s a win, and that’ s a win for our team,” he adds.
Finally, Jackson recognizes that no racer does it alone, and thanks Motion Raceworks and Doug Cook, RIFE Sensors, and TBM Brakes.
“ They have stood behind me when nobody else would. Doug brought me back from the dead, and a big portion of the success you see at KTR is because of Doug Cook,” Jackson says.“ He’ s poured a lot of money and resources into our sport. Folks like that who are on the way up and not the way out are the ones we need to support DI.”
DI DI
DI DI DI DI DI DI DI
104 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 194