She sealed the deal on Friday.

Krista Baldwin, the third-generation drag racer, daughter of the late Bobby Baldwin, and granddaughter of the ageless wonder Chris Karamesines, captured her first fan-vote series championship by winning the Mickey Thompson VRHRA Golden Gate Nationals Top Fuel event title, beating Shawn Langdon in the final round. 

The victory was No. 7 seven in eight races contested thus far in the 2021 - 2022 season. 

"Being the champion is awesome," Baldwin said. "Definitely wish it would happen in real life. I got to thank all my fans for voting for me. Shoot, that's a testament of them liking the underdog winning."

Even before she was old enough to race a dragster in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series, Baldwin was a champion for the straight-line sport with all the enthusiasm she could muster. 

"The fact that we get to run 330 miles an hour, It's just mind-boggling," Baldwin said emphatically. "Like I keep saying, you just got to take a step back from that and just marvel in what the phenomenon that we are able to put ourselves in, and it just... shoot, it just jazzes you up. I just can't get off this high, and the biggest thing is that I love what I do both on and off the track, and so that's the big thing is, if you love what you're doing, there's no need to have a bad day."

Dale Creasy moved closer to clinching the Funny Car championship and effectively breaking the stronghold two-time champion Tim Wilkerson has held onto the eliminator. He holds a 72 point lead over Wilkerson, meaning he'll essentially need to qualify to secure the series championship in this week's CompetitionPlusApparel.com World Finals. 

Kenny Delco won the Pro Stock division, stopping defending series champion Bruno Massel, who trails points leader Rodger Brogdon by 62 points. Delco is mathematically still alive in the championship chase with longshot odds. 

Jianna Salinas scored her second Pro Stock Motorcycle title of the season, stopping a resurgent Jerry Savoie, who was in his second consecutive final round. With a 100 point lead, Steve Johnson seemingly has to qualify to clinch the title over Karen Stoffer. 

Jim Whiteley scored his first-ever fan-voted event win, stopping Alex Laughlin in the final round. Lyle Barnett, who clinched the series title with two races to go, uncharacteristically lost in the first round of eliminations. 

The ninth and final event of the VRHRA season kicks off today with qualifying for the World Finals from Ontario, Ca.