Who’d have thought it? Six races into the season and eight rounds behind point leader Mark Thomas, defending IHRA Hooters Funny Car World Champion Rob Atchison surely didn’t think he could win a second straight world championship. In fact, he considered just handing over the title earlier in the season. He laughs and admits that’s about the time he woke up from getting hit in the head.

Anyone who knows the London, Ontario-based driver who pilots the Erickson Tie Downs and Tow Straps–sponsored flopper knows that conceding victory to an opponent is not something Atchison is keen on doing, especially to friendly rival Mark Thomas. In fact, when Thomas was consistently drilling the champion a new one on the starting line and laughing all the way to the stripe, Atchison was reluctant to give him credit.

Though Thomas put a substantial holeshot on Atchison in the quest for the 2004 championship, the champ had the necessary horsepower to track him down at the final event. One round removed from the last round of the season, Atchison clinched his second career championship.

One has to love the sixth race in a season or at least Atchison should. Just one event away from lucky number seven, Atchison found the turning point in his season during the Motor City Nationals in Milan, MI.

"I had a nothing-to-lose attitude at that time in the season," Atchison said. "We were running well and the car was running fast, but we just weren’t putting it together like Mark was at the time. When we went to Milan we were eight rounds out of first and it was half way through the year. I said to myself, ‘Forget it, how could I possibly catch him?

"At the time, the competition we were running against was not putting up enough of a blocker effort for Mark. He had to really screw up for me to catch him at that point, but when you are on a championship run like he was, you don’t screw-up."

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But things slowly began to fall into Atchison’s lap. He had a holeshot win here and there over Thomas and there were times when his adversary just encountered pesky tire shake.

Atchison called it payback, justified payback. There was no doubt that Thomas had gotten under his skin a time or two in the early part of 2004. He held no punches either, once referring to Thomas as a "lucky ass."

When queried as to what he thought about Atchison’s assessment that Thomas was just guessing at the tree when it came to his early holeshot wins. Thomas responded with, "Maybe he needs to guess better than me, then."

That’s the kind of good-natured rivalry Atchison enjoyed.

"He did get under my skin a time or two," Atchison added. "I have always said Mark’s a better loser than he is a winner. That is from a friendship point of view. I did not want to lose to him because it was tough. The way he was winning made it personal."

If Atchison reeled off an .04 reaction time, Thomas would counter with an .01. It was clearly evident that up until July, multi-time champion Thomas had clearly developed the practice of one-upmanship.

"You know I have seen the footage and in the video the car never stops rolling," Atchison says with a laugh. "That is just lucky. When we ran in Virginia it was the third final we’d been in together and I had one of my crew guys watch his car. It never stopped rolling.

"If you can time it right all the power to you. He was telling a story that he was a fantastic leaver and he was cutting good lights. On average, my reaction time was way better than his. Every round was better until I raced him and finally I pushed it to see what would happen. If he was going to cut a light I was going to have to push it. I had a good light and he had a horrible light. That was the turning point.

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"We decided to just keep racing and let it go. When he red-lit at Budds Creek, it was no fluke. He likes telling a story that there was something wrong with the tree or the rollout was not right. If you are always rolling and not stopped you are going to red light.

"We were getting under each others skin all right. As the season went on, though, I was coming back and the races I gave up earlier in the year only served as motivation. We were racing each other in the finals every single time. It came to the point we knew we would be racing each other in the finals rounds. When you are facing each other across the ladder in the final rounds you can’t make up rounds."

Atchison got behind the eight-ball earlier in the season when he contracted food poisoning during the second stop on the tour. Showing true grit, Atchison suited up and climbed into his seat despite feeling as physically low as a person could and still be driving a 240 mph race car.

"He got four rounds on me there and we dug a hole for ourselves. If I had gone one round, it would have made things different. The year before was a lot easer to win a championship. I had always heard that the second one is tougher and it is."

While Atchison cites without question that Milan was the turning point, he adds that Norwalk was where the momentum had shifted to the point that he knew the championship was his to lose even though he was behind in points. Even the misfortune of not qualifying well at Budds Creek (something Atchison denies was done on purpose) set up a second round meeting between the two. Atchison won.

The one thing that Atchison says threw the team behind in the early going was their insistence on testing during the event. Three races into the season, Atchison knew he had to return to ground zero if he wanted to have a chance to defend his crown.

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"It took us much of the first part of the season to get back to where we needed to be," Atchison added. "As you test stuff, you follow a path and you almost have to be clairvoyant to know in the early going when it isn’t going to work. By the time you find out you’re going wrong, it’s often times too late."

Atchison struggled even though the team was on the pole in nine of the twelve races. He knew it even though it wasn’t visibly present to the competition.

One thing that is visibly present to the competition is the fact that Atchison is a determined man.

"We were testing stuff and the car was running well," Atchison said. "We thought we hadn’t learned a lot, but when we looked back at the data from the pervious year we realized that we had actually learned quite a bit. I feel really confident going into next year - even more so than this year. Last year was a fantastic year for us. We are going to try a few new things and we have eliminated a few others that did not work.

"The eight-car field will make it a lot tighter for everyone," Atchison added. "We will take it easy at first to make sure we get in the show on the first hit, and then we will step it up a bit. Cutting the field in half will definitely make it harder. I know we have a good car and we have always qualified well, so it won’t hinder our program like it may hinder others.

"I guess I am pulled both ways with the future because I hear the talk and see what is on the Internet. Mark and I are probably torn at heart because we want to see the class grow and bring in new faces. It is one less run for us and more money. That is a drag racers dream, right?"

Atchison gives the lion’s share of the credit to his crew in winning the championship.

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"The crew - Les Mellows, Pat Ryan and Kyle Harris - have worked hard on the car this year. I know you hear it from all the guys, but to put a championship car on the track every time and go the number of rounds we do takes a lot of effort and knowledge, and my guys do it all.

"Of course, I couldn’t be doing this without the support of my wife Julie and my parents Maxine and Bob."