For a man of faith, Chris Rivas didn’t have much confidence in his chances of contending for a championship
after his bike failed to start in the first round of the NHRA Carolinas
Nationals in Concord, N.C., the first race in the 2008 Countdown to the
Championship.
Then he won the next national event.
He kept on winning and in Las Vegas, scored his third national victory
of 2008 – effectively pulling him within 39 points of point leader Matt
Smith.
“Charlotte was so disappointing,” Rivas recalled. “That’s why we had
that turn of events in Dallas. It was so disappointing in Charlotte,
that’s when we really thought we were out of it. I told them the only
way we’re going to do this is if we make drastic changes. We have to
start winning events back to back and we have to keep winning events. I
don’t know if I can answer why we have been able to do this but I just
feel like my season has been blessed. I just feel blessed; I don’t know
how to explain it I just feel like God has had his hand on me.