Joey Gladstone came to Topeka, Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor at Heartland Motorsports Park, to show that his first Pro Stock Motorcycle victory at Sonoma, Calif., was no fluke. 

No one can doubt him after this weekend’s dominance. 

He blistered the Heartland Motorsports Park quarter-mile as the No. 1 qualifier, set low elapsed time of every round on race day, and dusted off four-time champion Eddie Krawiec in Sunday’s final for his second consecutive victory. (The bike class was not on the schedule for Seattle two weeks ago.)

“This is what dreams are made of. I feel like I’m dreaming. I always thought that it would feel like this, and I’m so thankful,” the Precision Service Equipment Suzuki rider said after shining in his fourth consecutive final round. 

He won with a 6.876-second elapsed time at 195.59 mph. Krawiec countered with a 6.935, 195.36 aboard the Vance & Hines Mission Foods Suzuki.

“This weekend was a dream weekend. My team did such an awesome job. I give them so much credit. The bike was perfect every lap,” Gladstone said. “Nobody's been here in 25 years, so data is irrelevant. You just go off of other tracks. We made a real good decision, and we nailed it, and we really didn't have to do much for the entire weekend. It was really relaxing, and it was really fun. It was awesome with these guys. We had a blast all weekend.

“I flew under the radar for quite a number of years. So really, the only people that knew about me were the ones that followed my career earlier. But it's cool. I love when new people come up and say they're new fans. It's great. It's fantastic. I love this sport,” he said. “I love the people. I love every part of this. And to do this with the group of guys that I got, it's a dream come true.” 

Saying he felt “a lot less pressure than I felt in other previous finals, because you're trying to get that monkey off your back of the first win,” Gladstone said he’s looking ahead to Indianapolis and the six-race Countdown to the Championship that begins in September at Reading, Pa. 

He said of his four final rounds – at Norwalk, Denver, Sonoma, and Topeka, “That's over and done with. That's ancient history. So it's all just about moving forward now and making proper decisions. It's starting to feel like my whole Pro Street days, when we were very successful. We had a lot of success for a string of five years. And it's not bad. It's hard to get up top, but you have to have a burning desire to stay up top, and you don't rest on your laurels. Keep working. Keep on the right path. And I think we can do that.” 

Maintaining his energy level Sunday in the torrid Topeka heat was a challenge, Gladstone said. 

“I had to drink a lot of water. I probably drank a little too much Miller Lite last night after the No. 1 [after securing the top qualifying position], and I could feel it today. I was a little dehydrated, but I got it. That's a shout out to the RFC crew and the Safety Safari for looking out for the racers all weekend. Without them, there would've been some heat stroke, heat exhaustion down on the starting line and the finish line. We all saw Justin Ashley that had heat stroke that one time [last summer at Pomona]. It's a serious deal. And for them to take the time out of their day and sit in the 100-degree heat and just make sure we're all hydrated, thank you guys for that. That means the world to us.” 

He said what he wants fans to know about him is “that anybody can do this. If you have a goal and a desire to do something and you dedicate enough time and effort into it, things will happen for you.” Gladstone, who turned 31 years old last month, said, “Twenty years ago, I was dreaming of this, and I felt that I wanted it bad enough to dedicate my life to get here. And you can do it, too. I know that there's no real avenue for junior drag bikes, but if you want to race these motorcycles, see if you can get Mom and Dad to get you a little dirt bike or something. Learn how to ride these things. You race the dirt bikes, if you want to, but Cory [team owner Reed] will tell you that could be pretty painful. But no, learn how to ride a bike. And when you get old enough to do it, you can go bracket racing and eventually you can do the same thing. So if you want to do it, go do it.” 

He leads No. 2-ranked Angelle Sampey by 64 points as the bike class looks toward the Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis the first weekend in September. (The class is not on th schedule for the Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd, Minn., this weekend.)