Andrew Hines found his way back to the winner’s circle Sunday and he was thrilled to be there.

Hines clocked a 6.858-second elapsed time at 194.91 mph on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to defeat Angelle Sampey’s 6.893-second lap at 193.40 mph in the finals at the K&N Filters Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

“This win means a ton,” Hines said. “I made the final at the last race at Norwalk and now another win, it doesn’t get much better.”

This was Hines' second win this season as he also was victorious at Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, N.C. (April 24). He and his teammate Eddie Krawiec have won five of the six Pro Stock Motorcycle races this season.

This also was Hines’ 44th career NHRA victory, leaving him just one win behind Dave Schultz for the most all-time wins in NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class. Schultz died from cancer in 2001. Hines now has three career victories at Chicago (2007, 2012, 2016).

Hines, who has won five NHRA world championships (2004-2006, 2014-15), was far from dominant at Chicago. He qualified No. 8 with a 6.881-second pass, but found his groove on race day by beating Chip Ellis, Michael Ray, and Steve Johnson before ousting Sampey in the finals.

The focus of Hines in the semis and finals was obvious as he had outstanding .012 and .002 lights.

“Pro Stock Motorcycle is so tough right now, that if you don’t get every thousandth of second all the way down the race track, you’re just not going to turn on win lights. (Sunday) in the first round, we took a swing at the tune-up because we knew where we messed up (Saturday) and man it set the track record (6.833 seconds) there in the first round of eliminations and it was on a rail, straight chalk line runs all day (Sunday) and that’s what allows you to go turn on four win lights. It was easy to ride. My brother (Matt Hines, Andrew’s crew chief) had the 60-foot tune-up nailed down, and it would shake here and there, but it would hook up on the 1-2 and keep going.”

Hines acknowledged he enjoys competing at Route 66 Raceway.

“I’ve always loved Route 66 Raceway and it (this race) is in the middle of the summer and I always seem to excel at the very hot race tracks. It just turns me into a better rider and maybe I can focus a little better and not overthink things. I’m just worried how hot it is.”

Surprisingly as good as Hines’ reaction times were Sunday – his worst of the four rounds was .049 in his second-round win – it is something he doesn’t devote extra practice to before races.

“I actually never practice for reaction time,” Hines said. “I just come here and race and I’ve made so many runs over the years I’ve become accustom to reacting to the yellow.”

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