The absolute best in small-tire racing gathered Mar. 22-24, at South Georgia Motorsports Park (SGMP) to be part of history in the inaugural Sweet 16 promoted by Donald "Duck" Long's Duck X Productions. Under a unique format that saw 16 Radial vs. the World qualifiers going after a $101,000 winner-take-all purse in front of a minimal live audience, it was Mark Micke left standing at the end of a record-setting weekend.

"It's really not about the money; the car's going to eat that up pretty fast anyway. We race for the trophy and the satisfaction of beating the best and that's what it was all about here," Micke insisted in victory lane. "We had a great time, the car worked perfect and it all worked out for us. I really couldn't be any happier right now."

Micke started his twin-turbocharged '78 Malibu from the number-one position in the elite RvW field, qualifying with an outstanding 3.62-seconds pass at 214.79 mph that lowered the previous elapsed time record by nearly a full tenth. In an earlier session, he'd already established a new official RvW speed with a whopping 221.20-mph pass. Meanwhile, Mills became the first-ever RvW racer to run in the 3.60s, with a 3.69 at 212.69 earning the honor in Thursday's third and last qualifying round, but he and his "Golden Gorilla" twin-turboed '68 Camaro eventually started 6th after nine rounds of qualifying were in the books.

Micke posted a solid round-one win over Ty Tutterow competing in his first drag radial race, then advanced past a red-lighting Tim Slavens to reach the semi-finals. On Mills' side of the ladder, he opened with a career-best 3.66 at 213.57--the only 3.60 run by anyone during eliminations--to beat NHRA Pro Stock star Alex Laughlin, then caught a break in round two when he struck the tires off the launch, but Stevie Jackson left way too soon.

"That wasn't a red light, that was me leaving too soon," a dejected Jackson said of his -.136 light. "It was a long tree and I almost left twice before I finally just pulled my finger off the button. It made me sick when I saw him having trouble over there. I guess that's why they call it racing and not winning."

The semi-finals saw Micke run 3.75 at 219.86 to take down Canadian Paolo Giust and his blown '69 Camaro, followed by a lengthy wait while Keith Haney's crew fixed his nitrous-fed '16 Camaro before he could take on Mills. Prior to eliminations starting, Long had made an announcement specifically stating that for the RvW semis and final at Sweet 16 competitors would be allowed "as long as it takes" to make repairs.

Once Haney was ready, he and Mills faced off in an all-Oklahoma semi-final, in which Haney left too soon by just two-thousandths of a second, while Mills ran 3.73 at 211.83 to earn lane choice for the final round.

"Yeah, I knew I had to push it, but I'd rather lose like that than with a .080 light or something," Haney said later. "I want to add that I appreciate Duck and especially DeWayne Mills for waiting on  us to get the car ready. Turned out it was sheared off bolts on the flywheel that caused the problem, which was a lot better than burned pistons or broken rods, but it takes a long time to drill the bolts out and remove them."

Anticipation ran high as Mills and Micke lined up to decide the richest round of racing in drag radial history. When the tree flashed green, Mills moved first with just a .006 advantage, but by the time his Camaro reached the 60-foot mark it entered into tire shake that was so sever by 150 feet out that Mills said he "could barely see" and had to pedal the throttle. Simultaneously in the right lane, Micke stayed busy laying down a string-straight run of 3.72 seconds at 214.01 to handily defeat the 4.07 at 205.16 salvaged by Mills.

"I knew I had to be pretty good on the tree because I know DeWayne is and once I got going I kept waiting but I didn't see DeWayne, I didn't see DeWayne, and then the win light came on," Mills stated matter-of-factly. "I wasn't too worked up because I really felt like this was our race to lose. If I just did my job we should be okay. 

"I'm speechless now, I don't know how we could do any better, we just came out and kicked ass," the Sweet 16 record setter and inaugural winner concluded. "What else is there to say?"