Coby Rabon tried to turn his back on drag racing. And he was pretty successful at it -- for a couple of years.
 But what once had sapped all of his energy has re-invigorated the quietly determined man from Ridgeway, S.C.
 
Rabon's plan to approach the sport at a sensible pace and with leaders in the industry paid off in a major way Sunday at the World Street Nationals. He earned not only the $10,000 winner's share of the Super Pro Street purse but an extra $1,000 and trophy as No. 1 qualifier, as well as another grand and a third trophy as the "Clean Sweep Award" recipient. The honor goes to the driver who wins from the top spot and posts low elapsed time of the meet.
 
The crowd at Orlando Speed World Dragway got a thrill Friday morning, when Rabon sent a message to the rest of the class with a 6.269-second elapsed time (at 235.31 mph) in his '05 Mustang that held up through fives sessions for the top qualifying position.
 
"That first pass was awesome. I knew then that we had something," Rabon said. "With that pass, we knew we were going in the right direction. I felt like if we could just get down the track that we would stay No. 1 the whole time."
 
His hunch was right. But Rabon treated fans to more thrills Sunday, opening his march to victory by setting both ends of the track record with a 6.235-second pass at 237.92 mph against Greg Denis. The fast Ford with the 67-cubic-inch Steve Petty-engineered Pro-line power plant made consistent 6.2/6.3-second runs all during eliminations before Rabon denied Mike "Hitman" Hill a second consecutive WSN title in the final round. Rabon capped his weekend with a 6.273/234.21 effort to Hill's 6.365 / 223.17.
 
Rabon also advanced past experienced Super Pro Street drivers Tony "The Sandman" Williams, Steve King, and Tony Christian.  (Hill, who took home $4,000, drove past Mike Moran, Mike Stavrinos, Doug Horween, and Chris Rini to reach the final in his '07 Pontiac GTO.)
 
"It was nine rounds here, and we were low E.T. seven rounds," Rabon said. Then with a grin that suggested he might just continue to vex his competitors for some time, he said of the car, "It's got potential."
 
What makes Rabon's domination even more remarkable is the fact he was making his on-track debut at this race.
 
"This is the first time we've been to Orlando. This is the first time we've rolled in the gate," he said. "This is just the beginning."
 
The well-worn racing surface always is prepared to its optimum. Nevertheless, it was "green" because of a brief shower Friday morning and no real pre-race activity, save a Thursday night golf-cart drag race, to lay down any rubber.
 
"This track is a challenge," Rabon said. So was the entire weekend for the man who knows first-hand now why a trophy from the World Street Nationals is so valuable.
 
"We broke a tranny one round. It hasn't been easy. We took the tranny out three times this weekend. Behind the scenes, there's a lot of work, but we had fun," Rabon said. "It was worth it."
 
Was drag racing "worth it" to Rabon? For awhile it was -- then it wasn't -- and once again it has become a passion. So what happened to Rabon? Why did he leave the sport for two years?
 
"We had an Outlaw car. We ran it for a year or two," he said. "We tried to go somewhere every weekend. We burned our bearings out. We got tired of it. I got totally out of it. I went to a couple of racetracks about a year ago, and the bug bit me again. So here we are again."
 
And how did Steve Petty get involved?
 
"I already had a turbo car, so turbos were on the top of the list. I went to Pro-line, struck a deal, and here we are," Rabon said.
 
Ah, but it wasn't that easy, really. After all, a lot of outlaw/street-legal drivers would love to have Steve Petty's attention.
 
"I went to him and I said, 'Look, I want you to be a part of this. Y'all know what I want to do.  So let's do it together.' I'm loyal. I told 'em, 'I need your help,' and they gave it to me. It took a little bit of talking and when they finally realized I was serious, everybody came together. It didn't take long, about a month."
 
This young business relationship -- Rabon owns and operates the car, while Petty orchestrates the tuning -- seems to be working splendidly.
 
"Steve's a character. He's a big part of what we're doing right now. Steve's everything to us right now," Rabon said. "He really helps us. He does whatever he can. We try to help how we can.
 
"He does all our tune-ups. He's the brains behind it. He's the brains of the operation on the computer. He comes in there and mashes a couple of buttons, and I just watch and try to keep up." Said Rabon, "We're still learning."
 
That's all reassuring to Rabon -- but not to the rest of the Super Pro Street drivers.

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