Top Alcohol Dragster – Marty Thacker is out of the gate with a stellar .003 reaction and keeps ahead of Shawn Cowie for a 5.415 to 5.488 victory to collect his second Indy win.

“This is better than the first,” said Thacker. “As I get older, I learn to appreciate these things so much more. There are millions of people who dream of doing this kind of stuff. I get to do it, and it's all because of my crew, my family, god above, all these NHRA fans, the sponsors who come out here and give us support. Spitzer Race Cars just gives us a Cadillac. I'm going to put a radio in it and drive it around town tonight.

“It's been a frustrating year. We run good and the driver makes errors. We run good but we have freak little things that break. If anything could save the year, it might be a U.S. Nationals win.”

Top Alcohol Dragster – Marty Thacker is out of the gate with a stellar .003 reaction and keeps ahead of Shawn Cowie for a 5.415 to 5.488 victory to collect his second Indy win.

“This is better than the first,” said Thacker. “As I get older, I learn to appreciate these things so much more. There are millions of people who dream of doing this kind of stuff. I get to do it, and it's all because of my crew, my family, god above, all these NHRA fans, the sponsors who come out here and give us support. Spitzer Race Cars just gives us a Cadillac. I'm going to put a radio in it and drive it around town tonight.

“It's been a frustrating year. We run good and the driver makes errors. We run good but we have freak little things that break. If anything could save the year, it might be a U.S. Nationals win.”

 

Top Alcohol Funny Car – Double takes abound as Tony Bartone pulls up to the starting line next to Jay Payne. Bartone shook the tires and lost in the semi's to John Bojec, but Bojec came up light at the scales and was disqualified. Payne sails ahead and turns on the win light when Bartone shudders and shakes. He's been a winner here before in Pro Mod, but this is the first Indy win in Top Alcohol Funny Car for Payne.

“We've struggled here a lot, but we had a great weekend here this weekend,” said Payne. “I have to thank FireIce and our crew. They are the ones who work relentlessly.

“The easiest round we had was when Fred Hagen didn't show up, and he probably would have kicked our rear ends. If we'd have been in Vegas, we would have won 40 grand this weekend because we were just lucky. Our car wasn't the fastest, we were just the luckiest.”

Comp – Turbo charged Bruno Massel throws it all away at the starting line with a -.001 reaction and Al Ackerman gets the automatic win. Ackerman is the incoming points leader.

“I just wanted to look at the yellow light and leave at the right time,” said Ackerman. “This is great. I wasn't planning on coming to Indy and Lee Zane kind of twisted my arm. He said, you won a lot of races and you need to go out there and gain points. I didn't think I could do it and he was right.”

Super Stock – Jimmy DeFrank is a smidge better at the tree and it makes the difference at the top end; he earns a long-coveted win at the biggest event of the season with a final round defeat of Irvin Johns.

“To be honest, I cried down there first, then I went into shock,” said DeFrank. “This was one of the things that I really wanted to accomplish, and we have a lot more to go. We've won some world championships, and this was the biggest thing left to do. I'm so grateful to be up here today.

“I'm very blessed to even accomplish a win, and to do it at Indy is awesome. I'm so thankful because I get to have my mom and dad here; what a great feeling.”

Stock – Brad Burton turns on a .013-second red light, sending '97 Firehawk pilot Tim Bishop straight to the winner's circle. It's the first national event win for Bishop.

“I've been trying to do this for 45 years,” said Bishop. “There were lots of tough competitors, but when I got past Dan Fletcher, I saw that win light, and I said, that's it, I got him! He took out my best friend at a points race at Atco, so I got him back for that and I knew I was going to the final.

“When I made it to the turn around up there at the top end, and guys like Jeff Taylor come up and congratulate me for winning in a stick car, and that was a big deal for me.”

Super Gas – Shawn Langdon didn't go as far as he would have liked in Top Fuel competition this weekend, but he scored big in Super Gas with a closer to the index 9.922 to David Tatum's 9.930.

“This is impressive,” said Langdon. “This is what it's all about. [This is my] hometown, so I had all my friends and family out here. I'm not really the most well-spoken guy, so they take you to these classes to learn to talk, and then you win Indy and you're just flat out speechless.”

Super Comp – Troy Coughlin Jr. becomes the sixth member of the Coughlin family to go to a final at the prestigious event, and he follows through with an 8.921 to 8.954 victory over Don O'Neal.

“To win this race, it's just hard to describe,” said Coughlin, a former Jr. Dragster racer. “This means a lot and we'll definitely be celebrating all week. With the help of Kenny Underwood, my dad, my sister Megan, Uncle Jeg, Uncle Mike, Uncle John, I could just about make it anywhere.”

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