The final round originally scheduled for 10 p.m. didn’t go off until 11:45 p.m. Traditionally, dew starts forming on the cars and track at about 10:30 p.m. at Cordova but miraculously the dew didn't come in even at almost midnight.

After the semis both the Jimmy Young team and the Paul Romine team with tuner Mike Cavalieri started preparing for the all important final round. The mood around the pits before the final round was much more serious in both camps than for the previous rounds.

(Jeff Burk photo)

Young, who had made the field only as an alternate, knew he would need a career effort to give Romine -- who had already made four laps in the 5.80 zone -- a run for the title so there was a sense of urgency in his pit. In the “Man O’ War” camp it was equally serious. Romine has had a win at the World Series on his personal “bucket list” for over 15 years and this was his first final round appearance. They had their serious “race faces” on. There was a lot of double checking and cross checking by the Romine crew led by car chief John Bullard.

As the midnight hour approached the cars were fired and with a dead calm around the track soon the starting line area was enveloped in tire smoke and nitro fumes after the burnouts. Then both cars staged carefully. A peek into Young’s cockpit found him staging with his hand brake and not releasing it as the tree activated. Romine did his normal staging procedure. At the green Romine left first with a .120 RT, his worst of the race.

Young’s RT was also way off his normal. In the first two rounds of Eliminations Young had RT’s of .090 and .087. In the final he had a .140 and that was the end of his race. Romine led by .049 at 60 feet and .192 at the stripe. He had a 5.859/246.93 ticket to Young’s 6.051 ET at a slowing 213.30.  

Romine with his grandson, Carter. (Jeff Burk photo)

After the win a jubilant Paul Romine had only one question, "Where's my trophy? I've been wanting to win this race for almost 20 years. My crew gave me a bad hot rod on every lap this weekend!"

Runner-up Jimmy Young was happy too as he and his team took advantage of a break and went from not qualifying and getting no money and points to runner-up points and a nice check. 

"I left the line every time with a hand full of brake, with the little tires I just couldn't put the power in the engine I wanted to,” Young said. “I'm thrilled we made it to the final."

Conclusion

The World Series of Drag Racing is the Midwest’s version of the March Meet for Nostalgia nitro cars, fast dragsters and doorslammer racers, and bracket racers and fans. For racers many would rather win the World Series than the U.S. Nationals. For the fans it is a must see event rain or shine. This year, despite rain falling everywhere including the track on both days, the fans came. There were about 2,000 hardy fans to watch the Friday night qualifying under threat of ran and a crowd of 6,500-7,000 Saturday despite rain falling until noon.

The track is a gem for old school racers and fans alike and, like the March Meet at Bakersfield, it has a casual family vibe to it you don’t find at many of the NHRA’s super tracks. And that is why racers, fans, and a lot of media can’t wait until each year for the annual World Series of Drag Racing to come around.