“I did alright last year. We thought we had enough to take the division, but I had a guy who came out of nowhere and won a couple races and knocked us down to third so I didn’t get any money. I just barely got in this race by finishing third, but I didn’t even have money to get here,” Mayers said. “It was quite a battle to get here, but here we are and we are winners.”

In Quick Rod diehard Clemson fan Upton – with a replica of the Tiger football helmet on his racing helmet – roared past Matt Weston in the final with a solid 8.906 to Weston’s 8.895 in the 8.90 class to claim his first career IHRA championship.

“I have been racing since I was 15 and I am 38 now. I am going to tell you that I am fortunate. I drove good all day. I had a heck of a run in the finals and the track was great all day,” Upton said. “I have raced for a long time and I didn’t get to travel a lot to run for the world title so to have a system like this, I don’t know how anybody could have anything bad to say. It is amazing.”

Upton took down Weston, Jacob Elrod, Tony Helms and Allen Constantine on his way to the championship.

“I told my boy Thursday morning we were running for the championship and I got up Thursday before I left and I got them ready for school and he said ‘Daddy, daddy, you are the world champ’ and I said ‘Not yet son,’ but he kept staying it so I guess that was a good omen,” Upton said. “This deal IHRA has going is phenomenal. We had a good year, didn’t tear anything up and won some races. I have to thank my dad, my wife Jackie and my boys Bo Henry and Tucker for this.”

Maedgen wrapped up the championship bunch with his first title over Webb. Maedgen ran a 9.913 on the 9.90 index to Webb’s 9.892 in the final.

“It was a heck of a day. It started when I backed out of the trailer to warm it up and my starter fell in half. I was scrambling to get the new starter on and get ready, but I got everything worked out and it all seemed to fall in place,” Maedgen said. “I beat a few great guys in a row including Todd Thompson and Brian Folk and when I beat them I knew today was my day.”

Along with Folk and Thompson Maedgen also eliminated Webb and Dale Koncen in the win.

“I got in by finishing third in my division and I thought how good can I be if I am just third in the division? And then we won the last sportsman national at Rockingham in the fall so we thought we would give it a try,” Maedgen said. “It is ironic, when we got to a new track we always do well. I told my wife this track likes us so we came back here and won it again.”

Final rounds 

Top Dragster: Donny Urban, Dragster, 7.227, 170.11, def. Travis Harvey, Dragster, 7.184, 169.89.

Top Sportsman: Mike Koontz, S-10, 7.315, 179.04, def. Billy Thigpen, Chevy, 7.370, 182.26.

Quick Rod: Bo Upton, Dragster, 8.906, 170.23, def. Matt Weston, Dragster, 8.895, 162.29.

Super Rod: Tommy Maedgen, Corvette, 9.913, 147.44, def. Donald Webb, Camaro, 9.892, 144.33.

Hot Rod: Keith Mayers, Porsche 944, 10.868, 136.18, def. Doug Wood, Cutlass, 20.884, 42.37.

Super Stock: Slate Cummings, Cavalier, 9.093, 133.38, def. David Simmons, S-10, 10.176, 125.47.

Stock: Michael Beard, Volare, 11.116, 112.05, def. Brent Darroch, Camaro, 10.667, 119.94.