Sun, 15 Nov 2009, 03:22 PM It's Finally Over - Edwards Claims First NHRA Pro Stock Championship

Courtesy of John Miller Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc.

POMONA, Calif. --

Mike Edwards

The run for the ultimate prize in the NHRA vault finally came to an end for Mike Edwards at the conclusion of qualifying for the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, when he was handed the Pro Stock championship hardware. What was a mere formality of Edwards securing his first championship had to wait until qualifying concluded before he could be crowned the 15th NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock champion.

"What an honor this is," Edwards said. "This team worked so hard to reach this goal and now I am proud to stand here with the championship trophy for them."

Edwards took away any doubt that the champion trophy would be going home with his Young Life/A.R.T. team in qualifying. In the first session he blasted to the pole. In the last qualifying round of 2009, Edwards put the exclamation point on his first career championship with the quickest pass of the weekend, a 6.562 at 210.64 mph. It was Edwards' 16th No. 1 this season, matching the all-time single-season high in NHRA history (Greg Anderson in 2004).

"It's an unbelievable feeling. I'm surrounded by a great bunch of guys. I feel like there's times I've let them down and they've never given up on me," said Edwards, who made his pro debut in 1982. "It's been a long time coming, we've all just been pulling from the same end of the rope. it's been worth the wait.

"We gave everything we had to make this happen this year and it's paid off, it really has," said Edwards, who was awarded the $250,000 Pro Stock champion's purse.