It took longer than she expected, but Angelle Sampey finally got a win aboard her Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson.

Sampey, a three-time world champion, who initially agreed to a four-race trial with the Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team in January of 2019, was celebrating her first victory with the team Sunday at the inaugural Dodge NHRA Indy Nationals presented by Pennzoil in Indianapolis.

Sampey clocked a 6.880-second elapsed time at 197.07 mph to defeat Chris Bostick’s 6.950-second lap at 191.78 mph in the finals at Lucas Oil Raceway.

“This is my 43rd win, but it feels like my first every time,” Sampey said. “The last time I won was in June of 2016 in Englishtown (N.J.) and it was my first time as a mother. Of course, that one felt like the first for real, but this one, it was the first time in Harley-Davidson, first final on a Harley-Davidson, first everything for Harley Davidson this weekend.

“I didn't even think we were going to make it. My clutch broke at the starting line. They had to take a couple minutes to fix it. Thank God for Chris Bostick and his team being so patient. They didn't have to wait for us the way they did but they waited, and we got it fixed and somehow, by the grace of God, I remained calm. I had an .001 light, that is not what I wanted. Not what I wanted by any means, but hey, it was on the green side this time.”

Sampey competed in the full 16-race season last year and had a season-best semifinal finish in Dallas in the fall and came in seventh in the points standings.

“I got the win and it took a load of pressure off, a million pounds of pressure off my shoulders because I wanted to do this so bad for Harley Davidson for giving me this opportunity and I started to believe that they didn't believe in me anymore,” Sampey said. “As a matter of fact, I said on the camera at the end of the track, ‘I bet you thought I was dead. But I'm not dead.’”

This was Sampey’s 43rd career NHRA national event win and her first since Englishtown, N.J., in 2016. Sampey’s 43 wins are the most ever for a female driver in NHRA history.

On Sunday, Sampey’s victory parade consisted of wins over Steve Johnson, reigning world champ and teammate Andrew Hines, Scotty Pollacheck and Bostick, which was full of drama because of the Harley’s clutch.

“What it mainly was, like I said, was by the grace of God,” Sampey said. “I closed my eyes and I looked up at the sky and I just ignored what was going on and I put all my trust in God and trust in my team because they're awesome.

“They remained calm, they got it fixed in no time at all, where some people may not have even known what to do. They knew exactly what to do and they got it fixed in no time. I was a little doubtful what was going to happen when I let the clutch go at the starting line, but just like they told me, ‘it's gonna work, it's gonna run, just do your thing.’ And that's exactly what happened.”

Before competing at the 2019 U.S. Nationals in Indy, the last time Chris Bostick was at Lucas Oil Raceway was in 2004 and he was competing in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class.

Bostick made his NHRA debut 20 years ago at Lucas Oil Raceway in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class. He competed in the class until Gainesville 2005.

“It's a really good bike,” Bostick said. “It’s a really fast motor. There's probably more in it. It's just a really hot day (Sunday). But we went a 6.95 in the heat of the day and so we were very pleased with that. That was our best pass of the entire weekend. So, for us to continue to progress and improve it was a big credit to Gary (Stoffer) and Greg (Underdahl) and them teaching and schooling me and their guidance. I've got to thank all of them.”

Bostick, 60, defeated Angie Smith, Ryan Oehler and Vance & Hines’ Eddie Krawiec before falling to Sampey in the finals.

“It was surreal,” Bostick said about his Sunday performance. “It's been so long since I've gone one round and to be able to go all the way to the finals was just unbelievable, a blessing. I'm glad that it was my friend Angelle in the other lane. She's been a role model to so many people and is just a good person inside and out. If I got to make it all the way to the final and I had to lose, I'm glad that it was her that I lost to. It was great.

“We had so much help from Greg (Underdahl) and Gary (Stoffer) and his whole crew, Karen (Stoffer) who's here and the calmness that she brought to me on the starting line just by her words of wisdom and such and I just love them all. I mean, it's great. And of course, my wife, Terry, who is here being supportive. So, it was amazing. What can you say? You're at a United States event, it's a national event and you go to the finals. So amazing.”