Laurie Cannister can see a world championship on the horizon for her Kalbones Grill'n Sauce team but she's not ready to start celebrating yet. The former IHRA Pro Outlaw champion has the higest point total of any IHRA professional racer yet that's not enough of a cushion to satisfy her into a comfort zone.

With two races left on the IHRA tour, she leads second place Paul Noakes by 231 points.She has been to the final round of all but one IHRA event in 2008.

Cannister could mathematically claim the IHRA Alcohol Funny Car championship next weekend in Epping, NH., and while such an honorable accolade could easily divert one’s attention elsewhere, she says nothing will change about her approach.

Laurie Cannister can see a world championship on the horizon for her Kalbone's Grill'n Sauce team but she's not ready to start celebrating yet. The former IHRA Pro Outlaw champion has the higest point total of any IHRA professional racer yet that's not enough of a cushion to satisfy her into a comfort zone.

With two races left on the IHRA tour, she leads second place Paul Noakes by 231 points.She has been to the final round of all but one IHRA event in 2008.

Cannister could mathematically claim the IHRA Alcohol Funny Car championship next weekend in Epping, NH., and while such an honorable accolade could easily divert one’s attention elsewhere, she says nothing will change about her approach.

“We come out here to win every race,” Cannister said. “If it happens [winning a championship], when it happens, it will be great and we’ll enjoy that then but we aren’t going to change our ways of focus for it. We’ve been doing it a certain way and we want to keep it that way.”

Doing it the Cannister way often calls for a No. 1 qualifying effort and national event win.

“We are coming out to win every event because that’s what it’s really all about,” Cannister said. “Everything else just kind of takes care of itself once you do that.”

Nevermind the fact she’s built a sizable points lead, Cannister’s competition still makes it a point to let her know they’re gunning for her. Her winning tendencies haven’t created any enemies along the way, at least that she knows of.

“I told them all if it was me I’d be doing the same thing,” Cannister said. “And they’ve always been the same way to me as they were at the start of the season. It’s a good thing for our class that we all get along. It has, at least to my face, hasn’t gotten nasty yet. They’ve all been terrific since the very beginning. Like I said if it was me I wouldn’t do it any different either. If you give up you might as well not even show up.”