IN
THE
WIND
P26
SAVOIE WINS ON NHRA'S BIGGEST STAGE
A
fter two bitterly disap-
pointing losses in NHRA's
signature event, the historic
U.S. Nationals, White Alligator
Suzuki's Jerry Savoie captured
the biggest prize in drag racing
when he defeated Chip Ellis
in the final round at Lucas Oil
Raceway in Indianapolis, Indi-
ana, September 2-7.
Savoie, a runner-up in 2011
and 2014, made his slowest
run of the weekend in the final
round with a 7.01, but it didn't
matter after Ellis left the start-
ing line too soon, triggering a
red-light start.
"This has been a great day,"
Savoie said. "It was not the way
we wanted to win but I managed
to hold my composure and we
did it. Here we are; we're U.S
Nationals champions. Actually,
I feel lucky to be here because
after the semi finals, we had to
work just to get the bike back
together because we destroyed
our clutch. I don't know what
went wrong but we took out the
bearings, the basket, and every-
thing else. We got it put back
together but evidently we didn't
get it right because as soon as
I let the clutch out, it spun the
tire."
While some teams struggled
with the hot and humid condi-
tions that were present through
out the weeklong event,
Savoie's team flourished. After
qualifying number three in the
field, he advanced to the final
round with wins over Chaz
Kennedy, Steve Johnson, and
Lucas Oil Buell's Hector Arana
Jr.
"We're from Louisiana so
we're used to the heat," said
Savoie. "I'm out in it every day.
We have a good tune-up for
when the weather gets hot and
we have a good tune-up for this
track because I was in the final
here last year. When those two
things came together, we knew
we were going to be tough to
beat.
With the win, Savoie also
clinched his spot in the Count-
down to the Championship,
NHRA's six-race playoff to de-
termine the season champions.
Savoie will be joined in the play-
offs by Eddie Krawiec, Andrew
Hines, Hector Arana Jr., Hector
Arana Sr., Karen Stoffer, Scotty
Pollacheck, Chip Ellis, Jimmy
Underdahl, and Matt Smith.
"Last year, I missed the
Countdown by one damn point
and that was only because we
couldn't go to the Denver race.
That hurt me a lot so I'm glad we
were able to make up for that
this year. Now, we can go work
on winning a championship. I
think we've got a team that can
do it."
Kevin McKenna
Jerry Savoie came away with the big
win at the U.S. Nationals.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
KEVIN
MCKENNA
