Puyallup's Paine wins first national drag racing event - TheNewsTribune.com
2 is actually No. 1 — at least for Glen Paine Jr. The roofing contractor from Puyallup won his first national event in the Super Gas class Sunday at the 28th annual NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Kent. Paine and Vancouver’s Gene Heaton both finished too quickly for the class’s allotted index of 9. 90 seconds. “You want to go fast to the finish line,” Paine said, “but not too fast to where you’re breaking out. Just barely — Paine finished with a 9. 888-second elapsed time, Heaton four-thousandths of a second quicker. Paine, who has raced competitively for 10 years, but in only three events on the national scale, likened the field of drivers to Murderers’ Row. Sunday was also the first time Paine — who drives a 1994 Chevrolet Beretta — has qualified for a national final. I cannot believe it. ”. Paine modestly attributed some of the success to luck — in the form of his wife, Tina, and daughter, Kylie, who attended the event Sunday. “Tomorrow I’ll go, ‘Wow, I still can’t believe it,’” Paine said. Proudly toting around his Wally — the official NHRA trophy named after founder Wally Parks, and one of 24 awarded to drivers — Paine certainly seemed to. Longtime Puyallup drag racer Jody Lang’s bid for a 26th national event win slipped away in... Source: www.thenewstribune.com
