Winning sixteen national events didn’t do it. Reaching 21 final rounds didn’t either. Neither did finishing in the top ten amongst points earners seven times or being third in all-time wins in the IHRA Torco Race Fuels Pro Stock division.

“It” was validation. Validation was something Robert Patrick felt his storied driving career was missing until the final event of the 2007 IHRA season.

As odd as the connotation may seem what validated Patrick’s career was a second round win last Sunday in Rockingham, NC, during the IHRA World Finals. It wasn’t necessarily that round victory that did it, but rather what it stood for. By stopping Frank Gugliotta, Patrick clinched his first world championship.

A world championship, Patrick felt, was the missing accomplishment needed to make his career legit, at least in his estimation.

“Many years ago, I finished second to my good friend Billy Huff and while I wanted to win that title, it didn’t hurt my feelings so much because I felt there would always be next year,” Patrick said. “But there were so many times we came close and at the last moment something happened. That was disheartening. I said to myself before this season started that I was going to make this year the one we finished the deal.”

Patrick has led the point championship chase several other times, only to lose in the last few races. This year provided a bit of déjà vu as the Fredericksburg, Va.-based Patrick lost the lead in the next to last event, the IHRA President’s Cup Nationals in Budds Creek, Md.

Patrick pointed out it was losing the point lead which inspired him to fight back.

“I couldn’t believe it was happening again,” Patrick said. “There comes a time in a fight that you get knocked down and although you may have remained on the ground before – there comes a time when you say I’m not going to take this ^&%$ anymore.”

Patrick used the time off between races to test his combination. He tested different combinations on his Jerry Haas Race Cars Mustang Shelby. Through the test Patrick said that he flogged away during the test, wringing every ounce of horsepower out of his Bob Ingles-prepared engine that he could during the week prior to Rockingham down in Darlington, SC.

Meanwhile a world of pre-race promotions touted his imminent point championship showdown with incumbent champion Pete Berner. Patrick vowed not to get into the hype.

“I stayed about as far away from the Internet as I could get,” Patrick said. “I told my PR agency that I didn’t want to be bothered with all the talk about points. I’m not counting points. I’m not talking points. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. I’m was so ticked off that I told them I was coming in there and I had every intention of trying to be the quickest and fastest car every time we went out there.

Whatever was going to happen – was going to happen. I told them I was over it.”

That’s what Patrick said. Often what a man says and does are two different things.

“It was eating me alive inside,” Patrick said. “I knew I couldn’t let my team down and for that matter my family who has put up with my moodiness throughout these years of falling short. There was no way I was going to let anyone down. I must have read my Rockingham log books a million times. I even got up in the middle of the night to check that stuff again.

“That’s when I looked a lot to Scotty Cannon. He’s the man. He’s won six of these things, so I figured that he would know better than anyone else what it took to win. He kept me in the ball park a lot of times. We go way back and I won’t hesitate to say that I’ve learned a lot from him.”

Patrick said looking at his Rich Purdy-led crew put extra pressure on him.

“You know, I can be a tough person to work with at times, but I looked at these guys every day,” Patrick said. “I looked into their eyes and I saw the fire. So many times I wanted to look at them and say guys, ‘I will go down in flames before I will let you down this year.”

“I wanted to grab them and say, ‘We’re winning this thing.”

“That’s not cockiness,” he continued. “That’s just a man that wanted to win. I wanted to deliver for them. If anyone deserved a championship – they did.”

Patrick came into Rockingham and fired an impressive first salvo that put him atop the 16-car field. He entered the event only nine points behind Berner and gained one back temporarily by landing one spot ahead of him. However, the IHRA’s Last Man Standing Award, reward the driver with the quickest winning qualifying time with five bonus points.

Berner won that bonus and gained four points on Patrick.

Patrick was adamant that he wasn’t counting points but Saturday’s forecast gave grounds for wanting a second set of eyes looking over what he and the crew were doing. He was confident but another experienced veteran in the camp wouldn’t hurt.

That’s when Patrick called in the 1995 World Champion Mike Bell to help them with a Saturday hot weather tune-up. Their first run netted a whole lot of tire spin and even more shaking.

“The first thing Mike suggested to me when we got back to the pits is to leave it alone, and if we do anything to throw more at it,” Patrick said. “Sometimes you can’t explain it, but I knew he was right.”

Patrick drove his way to a 6.29 to land in the second spot behind Berner, who had tied the current world record down to the thousandth. He also scored the quickest winning qualifying lap to reclaim the five points he lost on Friday.

Sunday’s first round threw a curve when Patrick was forced to abort the run early and get back in the throttle to make some semblance of a full run. He already had a secured victory because opponent Dean Goforth had launched before the tree was activated.

Three pairs later, Patrick got the break he was secretly looking for when Berner fouled. That miscue combined with Patrick’s victory was enough to enable him to pass Berner in the points.

Patrick was not out of the woods yet. Third place Frank Gugliotta was still in the show and had a slim, but mathematical chance to grab the point lead from Patrick. It just so happened, they were to meet in the second round of eliminations.

“A lot of people look past Frank, but he’s a very good driver,” Patrick said. “He could very well be the champion this year. I knew he was going to be coming at me with everything he had. Missing it like we did in the first round wasn’t a comforting feeling when you have to meet someone like him. Racing him was a real championship test.”

Patrick stood the test as he beat Gugliotta on both ends of the track.

“I said to myself, ‘So that is what having the weight of the world lifted off of your shoulders feels like,” Patrick said. “You want to stay focused but you are drained at that point. I guess I just saw how hard we’d fought for this.”

Patrick eventually lost to Jeff Dobbins on a holeshot in the finals, but for him – he didn’t have one iota of frustration in the loss.

“We really wanted to win but to see someone like Jeff Dobbins win at his home track is good,” Patrick said. “This has been a heart-wrenching, but exciting experience that I will never forget. I know 2008 starts now.”

Then as Patrick’s voice choked with tears as he acknowledged how difficult winning a championship is and how he was honored to follow a noble champion like Berner. He could no longer hold back.

“You know we worked as hard to lose those championships as we did to win them,” Patrick said. “We worked hard. When I go into that shop and look my guys in the eye, I can do it knowing that we gave it every bit we had. We are the champions and that says it all.”