Stevie “Fast” Jackson was feeling bold Sunday afternoon. After all, the two-time NHRA Pro Modified champion had just beaten Justin Bond in the Pro Modified final, and it was his first win since April 2021. 

Please understand that Jackson admits to having only two heroes in drag racing - six-time Pro Modified champion Scotty Cannon and 17-time Funny Car champion John Force. 

So when Jackson decided to fire his supercharged Bahrain-1 Camaro in the winner’s circle and drive back to the pits, he made a stop before heading to his hauler. With Scotty Cannon retired from drag racing and no pit area, it left only one place to stop. 

Right there in the nitro pits, Jackson stopped the car, put it in neutral, and proceeded to rev the car to the chip for long enough to get Force’s attention. 

“I promised a guy on my team when he started working for me that if we ever won again, I was going to drive it back to the pits,” Jackson explained. “We got over there, and I said, ‘I don’t know if it will run.” 

“We cranked it up, and I said, ‘I’m going to stop by my hero John Force’s.”

Jackson remained true to his word and navigated the zMax Dragway pits.

Mind you this; this car has a screw supercharged Hemi in it,” Jackson explained. “It doesn’t have nitro in it, but it can be pretty sporty. I just wanted to let him know the kid can still do it. I gave it a few raps of the throttle. The crew was loving and eating it up. They were high-fiving my guys. Dropped her in gear and drove back to the pits. So that’s some old Scotty Cannonish stuff right there.”

Just like Cannon did when he challenged Force to a Million Dollar Match Race back in 1999, Jackson got the greatest of all time’s attention. Force heard all the racket going on outside of his pits and walked out of his lounge to see what the commotion was. 

Force saw him and just smiled.

“Having John Force come into my trailer [on Saturday] and wish me good luck this weekend was all the inspiration I needed to do that,” Jackson said.

Jackson needed all the inspiration he could get after he channeled his inner Force in qualifying by exploding an engine and setting his Pro Modified entry on fire in Saturday’s Q-2 session. 

“We aborted the first run, second run, I pedaled it and burned the motor to the ground,” Jackson said. “I ain’t talking about tweaking the piston; I’m talking about it’s got to go to the hospital. Third round of qualifying, run like s***.”

Jackson said his “Mama” was at the track on Saturday and saw the look on his face. In a scene that could rival the Adam Sandler movie, The Waterboy, she gave him a good “talking to.”

“I said, ‘Mama, I’m trying to get you in the winner circle, but it ain’t looking good.” 

“And she told me, ‘I raised you to be a winner and quit messing around.” 

“I said, ‘Yes, ma’am.” 

Jackson didn’t have the gumption to tell Mama he was on the murderer’s row side of the ladder, starting with Khalid alBalooshi (5.746) and then Lyle Barnett (5.747) before stopping defending world champion Jose Gonzalez (5.735). He saved his best for last, a 5.715, 254.62, to beat Justin Bond, who finished runner-up with a 5.745, 249.90.

The only one tougher and sweeter on Jackson than Mama has been zMax Dragway. While he considers his relationship with Mama to be love-love, the track outside of Charlotte is complicated, a love-hate deal.  

“Man, we come to Charlotte with a car named Charlotte because this track, I got a love-hate relationship going on here,” Jackson explained. “This track almost killed me. I almost died crashing here once. Clinched my first world championship here. Won a Four-Wide here and now won another race. It’s like a woman, we either kill each other, or we’re happy, but there ain’t no in-between. 

Before the race even started, Jackson knew his team was going to work “at a whole ‘nother level” to win this one.

“I told my guys this morning, ‘if we are standing at the top of the podium at the end of the day, we’re all going to be tired, wore out, and out of parts,” Jackson said. “We left her all hanging out there, made a really good run in the final. All that sounds good. And the car is running good. It’s all fun coming out of turn road and hearing all the people calling your name when you haven’t heard it for so long. It makes you realize why we do this. You get kicked in the nuts 90% of the time, and the time that you get to kick them in the nuts makes all the difference in the world.”

And, yes, Mama taught him how to do that.

Revving the car at Force’s pits just came naturally.