Koontz ran a 7.315 elapsed time on a 7.31 dial to Thigpen’s 7.370 on a 7.35. Koontz also claimed a slight advantage on the tree with a .018 light to walk away with his first IHRA championship.

“I have been racing for 15 to 20 years and this business is very tough. Everybody out there was real tough,” Koontz said. “But today was just my day. Everything worked out my way. The truck was running fantastic and kept running the numbers I needed.”

Koontz defeated Thigpen, Chris Gulitti and Bruce Thrift in the first four rounds and received a bye in the quarters on his way to the win with the eighth spot on the ladder as determined by reaction time during time trails.

“Right now it feels great, but you will have to ask me again tomorrow how it feels when it actually sinks in,” Koontz said. “We went to a lot of races in 2009 and with the way the IHRA did everything last year it just worked out for me. We won one of the sportsman nationals and that got us here and that seemed to work out for a lot of people.

“It opened the door for a lot of great racers to have a chance.”

In Top Dragster Urban dominated on his run with a .007 reaction time to help put up a solid 7.227 on a 7.22 dial to win his first IHRA title. Harvey, however, wasn’t far behind with an equally impressive 7.184 on a 7.18.

“It was just one of those days where you couldn’t do wrong. Somebody was definitely riding with me to do as well as we did against the type of competition I had against me, but the runs that I had just worked in our favor,” said Urban. “The cars fell my way and to top it off and run Travis in the final, one of my best friends in the world, was an unbelievable way to cap the day.

“It couldn’t have been scripted any better.”

Urban, also known as “Hollywood,” defeated Harvey, Dylan Stott, J.R. Baxter and Casey Spradlin on his way to the victory.

“I know someone was riding with me. I lost my grandmother and four really good friends within the past six months and I just think everything lined up today because they were watching over me,” Urban said. “I have been fortunate to win what I have over the years, but this is just one of those days I am really proud of.”

IHRA’s Stock classes produced another batch of incredible tight races as Cummings (Hammond, La.) defeated David Simmons and Beard (Seagrove, N.C.) won over Brent Darrooch.

Cummings won his second career Super Stock championship with a perfect light leading to a 9.093 E.T. on a 9.07 dial. Simmons ran a 10.176 on a 10.16 in his runner-up effort.

“I had been very good on the tree all day and so was David so I knew I had to be good on the tree and not cut him any slack,” Cummings said. “I was set up for a perfect tree and that is where I left it. It feels really good. You look at the final eight of Bertozzi, Folk, Lyons – you have a bunch of champions who should be there.

“They were all there to win the world championship and they earned their spot there. To win against that group feels really good.”