“Going to all these million-dollar races for the last 25
years, I always wanted to be in that spotlight.”
into a groove. He lost second round in Maclosky’s
Camaro, but Bertozzi’s Nova kept rolling.
“It was one of those things where I felt confident
and it felt like everything was working out
the way I wanted,” Sisko says. “I’d tell my wife,
‘We’re starting to roll into where they’re starting
to split the money, so we’re doing good.’ It was
just one of those things where I told her after like
fifth round, ‘I could win this race. Just beat one
person at a time.’ It just worked out that way.”
Sisko was winning rounds even while he was
fighting what he believed was a traction issue.
When the Nova picked up the front wheels in
one of its infamous wheelstands during the second
round, Sisko felt a vibration in the seat that
usually means it’s starting to spin the tires.
“I was trying to adjust stuff all day,” Sisko says.
“I was going to put tires on the car after I won
fifth round, which is crazy in itself, but the Mickey
Thompson trailer didn’t have any tires left.
We added weight to the car to see if we could get
it to hook better, which is even crazier to add 50
or 60 pounds to the trunk of the car sixth round
of a million-dollar-to-win race. But it just made
me stay on my game. I was making changes to
August 2020
make sure I could run under my number.”
In the quarterfinals, Sisko’s .047 package
slipped by Brian Cireddu, who was .010 on the
red side of the tree. He tightened it up for the
semifinals, which was the final round on the
door car side of the ladder. With his .018 light
and 6.301 on a 6.29 dial-in, he moved past Jason
Hemerline and his breakout run.
Sisko was oddly calm as he headed to the
staging lanes to face Bill Swain, who defeated
the red-hot Hunter “Hunny Wayne” Patton in
the dragster final round to advance to the main
final round with Sisko. The crowd stayed clear
of the staging lanes and instead headed to the
starting line to see who would come out on top.
“I kind of zoned everything out,” Sisko says.
“Everybody left you alone and knew what you
were racing for, so nobody was going to be that
person coming up to you asking dumb questions
right before you get in the car.”
As Sisko fired up the Nova and made the righthand
turn from the staging lanes into the water
box, he was right where he wanted to be. Hundreds
of fellow racers, fans and family members
flooded the water box, the starting line and the
beginning parts of the grandstands for the final
round. All eyes were on Sisko and Swain.
“Going to all these million-dollar races for
the last 25 years, I always wanted to be in that
spotlight, but when I was there I really didn’t
notice it,” Sisko admits. “It sounds weird being
that you were racing for so much money, but I
actually felt like it was more calm. I don’t know
if it’s because you already knew you had so much
money even if you lost, but none of that ever
crossed my mind.”
Sisko was trying to be .010 on the tree and
run a couple thousandths over his dial-in, and
that’s basically what he did. He cut an .011 light
and went 6.281 on his 6.28 dial-in for a solid
.012 winning package. In the other lane, Swain
had the advantage out of the gate with his .004
bulb but broke out with a 4.644 on a 4.65 dial.
“When it left, it actually felt better than it did
the last few runs,” Sisko says. “I thought, ‘I have
a feeling I’m going fast again.’ I just got to a spot
and said I have to kill two hundredths. I got on
the brakes, I looked up and I was dead-on with
a one and all the win lights were on. I kind of
just laughed to myself, like, ‘Holy shit, what did
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