Eddie Krawiec had quite the adventurous Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

Krawiec ended his semifinal and final runs in the sand trap at the top end, but he could smile about the mishaps as he won the event.

Krawiec beat his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate Andrew Hines in the finals.

Krawiec clocked a 6.926-second elapsed time at 194.72 mph to edge Hines’ 6.937-second lap at 193.29 mph.

“It’s been an interesting day for me to say the least,” Krawiec said. “I knew going into (Sunday) it was going to be some really good, tight racing. I had Chip Ellis first round and anytime you race Chip Ellis you can’t take that team lightly, because they can run up front. I just had to stay focused and do my job and focus on some win lights, and that’s what I tried to do. Second round, I got past there, and then going to the semis, I get the win light and go to grab my brakes and I realized quickly I don’t have any. I squeeze the lever a couple of times and I tried pumping the brakes and they just wouldn’t come back. So, the first thing I did was shut the engine off and squeeze my legs and arms as tight as I could to that motorcycle and sorta beached it. I figure if it’s about 95 degrees out here and we can’t go to the beach I will just bring the beach to me. I managed to get that win light and get it sorted out.”

This was Krawiec’s 34th career NHRA national event victory and third of the season in five races. He also had wins at Gainesville and Atlanta.

Krawiec ousted Chip Ellis, Hector Arana, Jerry Savoie – on a holeshot – and then Hines.

Once Krawiec made it to the finals it was a win-win situation because he was racing his teammate, but unfortunately his personal drama didn’t end.

“Win lose or draw it is still a great weekend,” Krawiec said. “We went back to the pits and had to take out 30 pounds of pea gravel because we weighed it on the scale just to see. We got all that out of there and I had a couple other racers come over and help clean up the bike and get everything sorted out and we put new brake pads on it, check the fluid, drained everything and we stopped fine going to the (staging) lanes. I saw my fourth round win light against my teammate and I go to squeeze the brakes and then I realized not again. All I did is let the clutch out because I won the race and it hurts the motor, now is the opportunity to hurt it. I threw the clutch out and let it come down on motor and I quickly realized it was still not enough to slow me down. I pulled the clutch in and held on for a ride, and it only went in (the sand trap) about 15 feet that time, it was a lot better than the last one. I tell you, I’ve never been in the sand in my career, but to do it twice in one weekend caps it all off.”

Krawiec acknowledged in the finals, he was prepared for the unexpected.

“It sounds kind of stupid, but I was ready for it in the final,” Krawiec said. “OK, I know what to do, let the clutch out and try to get thing to keep slowing down, and I will just hold on. As racers, we are kind of weird, put all that aside, and look for the win light first who cares about everything else, we will worry about that after we get the win light. I was fortunate enough to get by those four rounds (Sunday) and I drove really well and my crew chief gave me an awesome motorcycle.”

The act of cutting and pasting articles from this publication to a message board is a clear copyright violation as is pulling photos to post on social media sites. All articles and photography published in CompetitionPlus.com are protected by United States of America and International copyright laws unless mentioned otherwise. The content on this website is intended for the private use of the reader and may not be published or reposted in any form without the prior written consent of CompetitionPlus.com.