The team had been rapidly sinking in a sea of failure since the untimely crash of their new Vanishing Point Race Cars Pontiac GTO crashed in San Antonio, Texas, in March. This weekend there was nothing but smooth sailing as Cannon, Jr., drove flawlessly to a #2 qualifying position and the eventual victory.

“I don’t know that a team deserved success more than ours,” Cannon, Jr., said. “It has been rough but the measure of success is truly measured by how you deal with adversity. Today, we stood up to the challenge. Our mindset was to win and when you get like that things seem to fall into place.

“Besides, the old man [dad Scotty] was getting pretty cantankerous anyway. We needed a good showing just to make sure he could still smile.”

Scotty was smiling heartily as Cannon, Jr., drove the Knoll Gas – Torco Race Fuels entry to a 6.09 to qualify second. He also ran 236.84 miles per hour for a new track record.

Eventually, that track record would go by the wayside as Cannon, Jr., laid down a blistering 238.72 miles per run.

Cannon, Jr., was on a torrid pace as he used a 6.071 elapsed time coupled with the new speed mark to eliminate Glen May. He soloed to a 6.14 when Trevor Lowe was a no-show.

In the final round of eliminations, Cannon, Jr., got the best of Glenn Kerunsky with a 6.101 at 235.10.

This showing sets the stage for a potential rebound in IHRA Knoll Gas – Torco Race Fuels competition this weekend at the IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals in Edmonton, Alb., Canada.

“We have spent a lot of time in this area testing,” Scotty said. “We’ve been up here about two weeks. I feel really good about our chances. As far as I am concerned, our season starts all over this weekend and I think this championship is still very much wide open still.”