King faced off against two-time NHRA Pro Mod world champion“ Stevie Fast” Jackson. Jackson was first off the line with a. 029 reaction time to King’ s. 052, but King’ s 3.629 at 204.82 was just enough to drive around Jackson’ s 3.653 at 203.55 mph at the stripe— a miniscule. 001 margin of victory.
“ I don’ t think there’ s been a tougher path through eliminations,” King says.“ We all know Stevie is going to go up there and he’ s not scared. If he has to blow it up, he will. And he did. That’ s how he races. I went through the finish line and I’ m like,‘ Who won? Who won?’ I heard Stevie bang the blower right in the lights, and then I hear the guys on the radio start hollering and it’ s like,‘ Holy shit, we just did it. We really did it.’”
As the winner’ s circle celebration unfolded, there was one individual notably absent: the aforementioned team owner, Gene Pilot. As the owner of a New Jersey-based company that builds sewer treatment pump electrical motors, Pilot is what King calls a“ seven days a week guy.” The special moment created when King finally got to see Pilot and show him the huge trophy made it worth the wait.
“ The man was absolutely ecstatic,” says King.“ He was actually out in front of his house doing burnouts. I think he tore the transmission out of his daggone vehicle, and he was laughing about
KING FLEXED ALL WEEKEND WITH HIS SCREW-BLOWN POWER TUNED BY JON SALEMI.
it. He was just so damn happy. He’ s put so much effort into this behind the scenes to not only own one of these cars, but to do what it takes to win at this level. And he wants everyone involved to know that they were a part of it. That’ s why he went and bought all those World Series trophies.”
With a win as big as the WSOPM, public notoriety is bound to follow. Although not necessarily his cup of tea, King is jumping into the brave new world of social media. At the behest of ET Editz owner and Pilot Racing Social Content Creator Jess Miliante, King recently started a new podcast with co-hosts Jason Harris and Jeff Rudolf.
“ We’ re just trying to stretch our wings a little bit with the podcast,” King says.“ For me, it’ s all new, but I do enjoy a little smack talk in the evenings. And I’ m slowly getting comfortable with it. I never thought I’ d come out of my shell as much as I have. It’ s all things that have to be done to stay relevant and to bring in new potential sponsors in the world of drag racing.”
Now, having claimed the biggest win of his career and following it up with the semifinal finish at GALOT, King says he and his team have no plans of slowing down in 2025. Before long it will be time to make the haul to Virginia Motorsports Park for the PDRA Mid-Atlantic Showdown presented by Red Line Shirt Club. They’ ve secured one bucket list item this year already— now it’ s time for another.
“ Gene wants to win a championship, and we’ ve got the right guys in place to do it,” says King.“ I’ m like a kid living a dream right now. We’ re carrying a lot of momentum with us and are very confident. But at the same time, the competition wants to take us out. They want to put our name on their list and say,‘ Hey, I took out the guy that won the World Series DI.’”
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98 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 194