Drag Illustrated Issue 152, January 2020 | Page 57

The Champions of 2019
T
o be a champion in drag racing, there’s one
quality that you have to have no matter what class it
is, no matter how fast or slow you go,” says esteemed
drag racing announcer Brian Lohnes. “The moment
can never be too big for you. You have to be bigger
than the moment.”
In 2019, drag racers around the world and across dozens of series, sanc-
tioning bodies and classes were bigger than the moment. Together, drivers,
tuners and crew members rose to the challenge presented to them and
stepped up when it mattered most.
Stevie “Fast” Jackson, who vowed to come back in a big way after a
D r a g Il l u s t r a t e d . c o m
final-round crash derailed his 2018 season, laid down a dominant string
of performances to win the NHRA Pro Mod championship in just his
third season in the class.
Travis Davis, the 2017 and 2019 PDRA Pro Nitrous Motorcycle world
champion, had to race his championship challenger in the semifinal round of
the last race of the season for the championship. Did he red-light or otherwise
mess up? Nope, he left first by a sizable margin and laid down perhaps his
best run of the season to get the job done. He was bigger than the moment.
These stories – and many more – are told on the following pages. It’s
our salute to the 2019 champions, the drag racers who rose to the top and
proved they were bigger than the moment.
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Dr ag Illustr ated