Finally.

After years of trying, Goforth finally got the monkey off his back and picked up his first career victory Sunday afternoon at the 38th annual Spring Nationals at Rockingham Dragway.

“Three years of hard work, that is what is going through my head right now. We are living proof that you can buy the best stuff in the world, but if you don’t have the people to help you run it it doesn’t do you any good,” Goforth said. “You have to have the total package. Beating somebody like Pete in the finals, the class that group has, it is incredible. We are trying to get on their level and we aren’t quite their yet, but we are getting there.”

And Goforth couldn’t have picked a better time to pick up his first win, doing so at the oldest and most prestigious event on the IHRA circuit.

Finally.

After years of trying, Goforth finally got the monkey off his back and picked up his first career victory Sunday afternoon at the 38th annual Spring Nationals at Rockingham Dragway.

“Three years of hard work, that is what is going through my head right now. We are living proof that you can buy the best stuff in the world, but if you don’t have the people to help you run it it doesn’t do you any good,” Goforth said. “You have to have the total package. Beating somebody like Pete in the finals, the class that group has, it is incredible. We are trying to get on their level and we aren’t quite their yet, but we are getting there.”

And Goforth couldn’t have picked a better time to pick up his first win, doing so at the oldest and most prestigious event on the IHRA circuit.

“I want to say that the Rockingham experience, for me, has been great. I was telling some guys how good this place has been to me. I qualified for my first national event here, I made my first semi-final round here and it has been great to us,” Goforth said. “I just can’t say enough about the people on my team. I am so proud of my crew; everybody did a fabulous job for me. I could not do any of this if they are not turning the wrenches on the car.”

Goforth, from Holdenville, Okla., came into the 2009 season with the goal of picking up his first career victory and contending for a championship.

He can now check one of those things off of his to-do list.

Goforth knocked off defending world champion Pete Berner (Crete, Ill.) in the Elite Motorsports Pro Stock final Sunday afternoon at “The Rock” in possibly the best drag race of the entire weekend.

Goforth edged Berner at the line by a .0072 margin, running at 6.357 at 219.79 mph to Berner’s 6.359 at 220.01 mph to claim the win.


“Racing Pete is a very intimidating thing. If you can imagine, it would be like going against Tiger Woods in a golf match, it is just crazy,” Goforth said. “You are overwhelmed and you just hope you can do good enough just to stay with him. And to actually get by Pete, that is a big deal for us.”

And even after taking the win light, it took some time for Goforth to realize what he had accomplished.

“I was thinking that the finish line can’t come soon enough. It looked like they added 30 or 40 more feet of finish line,” Goforth said with a laugh. “I didn’t even know I had won. They didn’t tell me until they got around the corner. The rescue team were the ones that were patting me on the back. I thought they were lying to me at first, I had to pinch myself to make sure I was still here.”

The incredible finish was just one of many close battles in the Elite Motorsports Pro Stock division which produced many great races throughout the weekend.

In the semi-finals Berner ended a spectacular weekend for Robert Patrick with a 6.340 pass at 220.22 mph to Patrick’s 6.433 run at 217.74 mph and Goforth ended Frank Gugliotta’s day with a holeshot win on a 6.377 pass to Gugliotta’s 6.345. Goforth nipped him at the start with a .026 light.

Patrick qualified in the No. 16 position and never really had the car where he wanted until Sunday’s eliminations. And once Patrick found the car, he couldn’t be beat.

Patrick knocked off No. 1 qualifier John Montecalvo in the first round and then sent Elite Motorsports entry J.R. Carr packing in round two.

Gugliotta came into Sunday’s eliminations as the No. 2 man on the charts and was nearly unbeatable all weekend long until Goforth ended his day with the holeshot win.

In the quarters it was Patrick over J.R. Carr, Berner over Richard Freeman, Gugliotta over Dean Goforth and Goforth over Bob Bertsch.

A big win wasn’t the only thing Goforth gained at the Spring Nationals, he also took over the Elite Motorsports Pro Stock points lead with 165 points. Baton Rouge winner Jason Collins sits second with 146 points, followed by Gugliotta (134), Berner (133) and Montecalvo (131).  

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