On a day when Mopars reigned supreme, not even “Big Daddy” Don Garlits could have beat Vieri a.k.a. V. Gaines and his Kendall-sponsored Dodge Stratus.

With the NHRA CSK Nationals victory, Gaines upped his career national event victory total to three out of eight final rounds. He entered the event tied for ninth place in the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock points.

”It’s been a long dry spell,” said Gaines, whose last victory came in 2001. “When I beat Greg Anderson today, it marked the first time I’d beat him since 2001 also. When you do those kinds of things, it makes victory bittersweet.

On a day when Mopars reigned supreme, not even “Big Daddy” Don Garlits could have beat Vieri a.k.a. V. Gaines and his Kendall-sponsored Dodge Stratus.

With the NHRA CSK Nationals victory, Gaines upped his career national event victory total to three out of eight final rounds. He entered the event tied for ninth place in the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock points.

”It’s been a long dry spell,” said Gaines, whose last victory came in 2001. “When I beat Greg Anderson today, it marked the first time I’d beat him since 2001 also. When you do those kinds of things, it makes victory bittersweet.

“When you beat the drivers we did today, that makes for a fantastic day. The only way you can do something like that is with a fantastic crew. The car is awesome and I’m telling you, you’re going to see some wins out of this car. It’s a good one and it is incredible off of the starting line.”

Just how incredible is it out of the gate? In four rounds of competition, his worst reaction time was a .02. The quickest was a .007.

“Running this class is such a learning experience that you learn something new every time you race,” Gaines admitted. “We learned a valuable lesson over the last few years. We had a car that had 600 runs on it, we were so proud of that car but it would not leave the line. We finally put a new car together thanks to Roger Holmgren and Clyde West.

“I haven’t had any worse than a .03 light since I brought this new car out.”

While the car might gain the lion’s share of the credit, we must note that Gaines has also taken up racquet ball and even did a course with Frank Hawley instructor Jack Beckman.

Gaines might have even consumed an energy drink or two. After all, under one of his many business hats, he’s the second largest Red Bull distributor in the country.

Gaines gets to drive a 200-mile per hour NHRA Pro Stock. Life couldn’t possibly provide a more exciting experience than that.

Or, could it?

Gaines’ trucking company was recently retained by the federal government to transport $1 Billion dollars of currency from the Federal Reserve Bank of Seattle from the former location to a new building on the other side of town.

“There's a lot of planning going on,” said Gaines of the incredible task.  “The guys at the Federal Reserve are very specific about how it's going to happen and the way it's going to happen with the people and the equipment.  For example, we had to have two huge tow trucks on scene in case something broke down.  We've done it before and hopefully we'll get a chance to do it again.  It's a lot of fun working with the Federal Reserve people.”

Just to think, the drag racing community calls Kenny Koretsky captain Chaos for his multitude of responsibilities away from the race track. Gaines could give him a run for his money.

“You just do what you can do,” explained Gaines, when talking about his hectic lifestyle. “Pro Stock racing is my form of relaxation.  I just love this stuff.  Love the competitive nature, I love the equipment and it's easy to get addicted to.”

Gaines admits transporting the “money train” provides a rush, but so does his beloved 500-inch Pro Stock racing. Now a veteran of the class for fourteen seasons and 260 national events (counting Phoenix), he’s witnessed a phenomenal growth in the class.

“It's very competitive,” said Gaines. “More guys are running better, and overall there are less guys competing because it's so expensive -- so it's hard.  We've got some new guys in to kind of stir it up a little bit to see how they do.  It's going to be a fun season.”

Gaines admits that he’s having more fun than ever.

“Oh man, you have to pinch yourself now and again to make sure you're really awake and enjoying it as much as you are,” said Gaines.

Consider this path for Gaines. In the first round he had to race a former Lucas Oil Sportsman champion in Greg Stanfield. Beat him. The second round, he faced a three-time NHRA Pro Stock champion in Greg Anderson. Beat him, too. What did those grand accomplishments earn him? He earned a match with the current champion Jeg Coughlin, Jr. in the semis. Guess what? He beat him too to reach the final round.

That feat earned him a match against the 2006 NHRA Pro Stock World Champion Jason Line. He beat him too.