“This team has been the reason for the great success of the Pontiac Trans Am and our trips to the winners circle. Kevin Dobbs, our crew chief, and Tyler Scott take care of the bottom end stuff. Londos D’Arrigo came on board with us for the last two races and is great with the clutch. George Monoghan handles the valve train and plugs. Bruce Ellison and Andy Kittle contribute to the overall maintenance and my nephew, Jim Granger lent us a hand this weekend. Last but certainly not the least is Avril Tomimatsu who looks after so many things like our team shirts and starting line passes and keeping the whole crew fed. She is priceless!”

The NDRA Pro Doorslammer Series championship was especially coveted by 13 trophy-hungry competitors in the division’s first year.

As the last round win light flashed, Tom Stuart of Chatham, Ont., powered down his ’92 Pontiac Firebird and headed for the winner’s circle.

(Darwin Kent photo)

"Winning the last NDRA event of 2013 was a great way to end the year. It also puts a bull’s-eye on our back for next year, which is a good feeling to have.

"Thanks go out to the Dale Boeru and the NDRA staff and the rest of his team for all their efforts this season.” Stuart added, “Special thanks to my family and crew, wife Cathy, Cameron, Brandon, and my two biggest ‘little’ fans Holley (5 years old) and Carson (2 years old). We definitely could not do this without a full team effort."

As for the series championship, the competition between Trevor Deeks of London, Ont., and Dave Earhart of Strathroy, Ont., was a nail-biter as predicted. Each driver had one win during the preceding three events and there was a mere three-point gap going into the event with Earhart above Deeks on the NDRA spreadsheet.

The qualifying round put Deeks in #1 position with a 6.64/212 and Earhart came in a close second placing with a 6.65/213. Both worked their way to the semis where they lined up together. Again, it was a tight competition.

Dave Earhart  (Stacee Kenington photo)

Deeks beat Earhart on the light with a .025 to Earhart’s .035. Then it was a side-by-side dash all the way for the stripe. When the beam was broken, Earhart’s 6.604 at 212 mph was just a wee bit better than Deeks’ 6.624 at 211.

Earhart went on to face Tom Stuart in the final but he broke and gave the race to Stuart.

Dave Earhart earned the first prestigious National Drag Racing Association Pro Doorslammer Drag Racing Series championship. (Stacee Kenington photo)

“This season was a tough battle for us with lots of engine and parts issues,” said Earhart. “I certainly spent a lot of next year’s budget on this year’s effort to stay in the hunt. Despite the seemingly continuous hurdles, we prevailed. I couldn’t be more pleased.”

“In the end, it came down to that one round, one race and 1/100th of a second at the finish line. It’s the closest race that I have ever had in my fourteen years that I have been racing this car.”

Earhart continued, “When we got to the semis, Trevor beat me on the tree by exactly 1/100th but I ran 2/100ths quicker, leaving the finish line to me by 1/100ths of a second and what looked like about three feet when I looked out the passenger window at the stripe. Trevor and I were looking at each other all the way down the track! Yeah, it was a really close race!”

Earhart continues, “I want to thank my crew; Simon Couto (Crew Chief), Chris Melo, Sherry Earhart, and Tanya Vieira for their countless hours in the shop and the pits. The expertise and support that I get from them is no less than outstanding!”

The Low E.T. of the event went Earhart too, for his 6.604 in the semi-final.