After one month, hundreds of thousands of votes and 56,549 words, a champion has emerged.

Bill Doner, drag racing promoter extraordinaire from the 1970s, will go down in War Stories Showdown history as the first contestant since the inaugural event to win in his first participation.

Doner and finalist Pat Musi battled down to the wire with less than 15 votes deciding the winner. The three day voting was deadlocked last evening, but Doner pulled ahead on Thursday afternoon and never relinquished his lead.

Musi, a doorslammer drag racing legend, scored a bit of history as well, by becoming the first two-time finalist of the event.

For Doner, his one participation will be his final one, as War Stories Showdown rules only allow a contestant to win the competition once.

Doner joins Scotty Cannon and John Force in the champion line-up.

“This thing was great fun,” said Doner, following Thursday’s voting. “I must have had people email me from all over the world, from Sweden to the middle of Canada.

“Pat Musi was so tough in the finals I felt like voting for him ... almost.
Perhaps in a year or two we'll have a Champions Showdown and I can see just how tough John Force is with the written word. I know for sure how tough he is in real life.

“We got to relive some super old times and I know I speak for all the people who voted, "Under the lights and on that trick traction compound, God it was sensational."

Doner entered the competition as the ninth qualifier, a seeding determined by fan voting. He reached the finals by stopping Tommy Ivo, Billy Glidden and Rickie Smith.

Musi was the third seeded contestant and reached the finals on the strength of victories over Jim Rockstad, Gary Densham and Louis Force.

For Doner, there's going to be a celebration for years to come.

"These War Stories have revived an entire era for my friends," Doner added. "Moments ago, and you can use this, Wild Bill Shrewsberry called me and said, " I'm so excited over your story, I'm going to get the LA Dart out of storage and we'll (I guess I'm included at this point) get it together and run down the race track at Bakersfield in March to start the race."

"Imagine? If only Linda Lovelace was alive to ride with him. But then again, perhaps we can use all this in the new Linda movie. Don't bet against this happening."

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