Early in his NHRA career, he rode
bikes that were largely uncompeti-
tive. He was also sidelined briefly
last year after suffering multiple
injuries when he came off a 200-
mph bike during a test session.
Gladstone missed just one race
and returned to finish number
eight in the standings. His desire
to win never waned.
"When I was 12 years-old I went
to my first NHRA National event,"
Gladstone said. "I raced in my first
drag race when I was 16, now I'm
31. This means more to me than
you could ever imagine."
It was fairly easy to peg Glad-
stone as NHRA's next first-time
winner, especially after the Reed
Motorsports team took delivery of
a pair of Vance & Hines-prepared
four-valve Suzuki's last year.
With teammate Cory Reed
sidelined due to injuries he suf-
fered in an on-track accident late
last year, the team has put all its
resources into Gladstone's bike,
and the results have been impres-
sive. Gladstone rode to the final
of the two most recent rounds in
Norwalk (Ohio) and Denver but
came up short both times.
In Sonoma, one of the fastest
tracks on the tour, Gladstone
was third-quickest in qualifying
with a 6.757 and was incred-
ibly consistent during Sunday's
final eliminations. with four runs
between 6.735 and 6.759 in
his wins against Jianna Evaristo,
Katie Sullivan, White Alligator Su-
zuki's Jerry Savoie and Krawiec.
Gladstone's only hiccup came in
round one when his bike encoun-
tered an electrical issue.
"The race gods smiled on us
in the first round, and I had to
shut the bike off and shove some
wires around and refire the bike,"
Gladstone said. "Some days you
feel like you can't lose and today
was one of those days. I want to
thank [team owners] Jim and An-
nie Whiteley and Corey Reed for
helping me realize my dreams."
Krawiec was nearly equal to
Gladstone in just about every
area, running a string of mid
6.7-second runs of his own to
reach the final round for the 90th
time in his career. The four-time
World Champion defeated Kelly
Clontz, teammate Angelle Sam-
pey, and reigning champ Matt
Smith before facing Gladstone.
As a result of the Sonoma race,
the championship standings are
closer than ever. Gladstone is
now just two points out of the
lead, which is held by Norwalk
winner Sampey. Steve Johnson is
third but is just 12 points behind,
while Matt Smith and Krawiec are
36 and 69 points behind. The top
seven riders are separate by less
than 100 points, which is equal to
just four rounds of competition.
There are seven races remaining
in the 2022 season with the next
round scheduled to take place in
Topeka, Kansas, August 12-14.
Kevin McKenna
FINAL
1. Joey Gladstone (Suz)
2. Eddie Krawiec (Suz)
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 30 JULY 26, 2022 P33
Eddie Krawiec
gave Gladstone a
fight to the finish.
