Mike Lucas ended a 32-year drought Sunday at Northland Dodge Motorsports Park.
And when it came right down to it, all it took was 8.172 seconds of hard work.
That's how long it took for Lucas to beat Ed Van Der Kooi to the quarter-mile finish line to win the Summit National Open top comp class Sunday and claim his first National Hot Rod Association Wally trophy.
"I've been chasing this guy for 32 years," said Lucas. "I've been to lots of Wally events over the years and I've been sometimes a semifinalist and sometimes runner-up, but never won."
Lucas clocked a quarter-mile pass of 8.172 seconds at 162.33 miles per hour. Van Der Kooi, from Barnwell, Alta., was disqualified for breaking out of his 7.85-second racing bracket, covering the track a little too quick in 7.829 seconds at 169.93 mph.
The two-day meet attracted 142 entries. Lucas, 50, has been racing in Prince George since he first started the sport as a teenager and he was impressed with the new 660-foot concrete start area and the extensive improvements to the track.
"This was the holy grail in the early '80s and it's so nice to see somebody resurrect it back to the way it used to be," said Lucas.
In the junior dragster class, 16-year-old Mikayla Fedderly of Fort St. John captured her first Wally after eight years of racing, a day after her friend Jordan Patterson of Dawson Creek was tops in the class.
"I've been racing with her since I was eight," said Fedderly, who covered the one-eighth mile track in 8.33 seconds at 69.14 mph. "It was Jordan's last race today. She's not doing it anymore and she won [a Wally] yesterday."
Prince George was also good to Fedderly's brother Brady, who bagged a Wally 10 years ago on the same track driving the same junior dragster.
Other class winners Sunday with their elapsed times and top speeds were -- Stock/super stock: Cam Chowen, Prince George, 11.609 seconds at 112.05 mph; Super gas: Dean Peterson, Courtenay, 10.099 seconds at 148.02 mph; Super comp: Nikki Schultz, Warman, Sask., 9.089 seconds at 142.4 mph; Super pro: Keith Pederson, Grande Prairie, Alta., 10.137 seconds at 146.57 mph; Pro: Andy Closkey, Quesnel, 10.272 seconds at 122.78 mph; Bike/sled: Dave Toth, Medicine Hat, Alta., 9.201 seconds at 139.57 mph; Super street: Gerry Epp, Abbotsford, 11.121 seconds at 134.08; Sportsman: Gerald Patzer, Abbotsford, 15.462 seconds at 85 mph.
