helping us put in engines, pistons, transmissions— as soon as something’ s broke, here they come. That means a lot not only to me, but to Gene.”
With a fresh bullet in the car, King took out six-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders in the quarterfinals. After a bit of a staging duel, both drivers were killer on the tree: King left with a. 023 reaction time, but Enders was even better with a. 007. However, King’ s 3.654 at 203.34 was more than enough to drive around Enders’ 3.836.
“ She’ s one of the best drivers in the business, if not the best driver period,” says King.“ She ran well the whole weekend. When you run someone of that stature, you have to get up on the wheel because you know she’ s good every run. I wasn’ t trying to stage last or first; I was just taking my time making sure I was getting up on the wheel.”
He would then meet his long-time rival, and reigning back-to-back PDRA Pro Boost world champion, Jason Harris in the semifinals. Harris suffered parts breakage, while King stayed in the. 60s with a 3.638 at 203.80, setting up a final-round matchup with Jackson.
“ Jason’ s program is probably the hottest in Pro Modified over the last two years,” King says.“ He drives great and his car is always one of the quickest every session. You come back after a win against Erica and pull the chips, I’ m like,‘ Man, it just doesn’ t get any easier.’ I mean it’ s absolute chaos when you got to run these guys like that.”
In what will go down in the record books as the closest final round in WSOPM history,
TEAM OWNER GENE PILOT( CENTER) WAS UNABLE TO ATTEND WSOPM AND JOIN IN THE WINNER’ S CIRCLE CELEBRATION, BUT HE MADE UP FOR IT BY PRESENTING EACH TEAM MEMBER WITH THEIR OWN WSOPM TRO- PHY. THE TROPHIES WERE DELIVERED TO THE PDRA EAST COAST NATIONALS BY BLUE RIBBON AWARDS’ ERIN DAVIS AND PRESENTED BY DI’ S MIKE CARPENTER AND WES BUCK.
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