Each fall, there’s a gathering in north-central Illinois unlike any other assembly of race cars on the planet. A group of hardcore racers with one very distinct calling-card all gather at the Byron Dragway to slug it out and determine their king of the hill for the next year. These guys aren’t vying to be the quickest or fastest, they’re not trying to have the best reaction time or run closest to the dial-in. In fact, some of them don’t even make it to the finish line and still bring home the win. We’re talking, of course, about the annual World Power Wheel Standing Competition, an event that never fails to produce a ton of ohhhhh’s and ahhhhh’s from the crowd and at least a little carnage left on the track.

This year’s winner, Jason Schubert, brought out his show-quality ’78 Oldsmobile Cutlass to take a shot at his third WPWS title, and video man victoryredcolorado captured his journey, beginning the Saturday before the competition and following him all the way to Byron’s Winner’s Circle.

The footage starts with Schubert making a shakedown run the Saturday before the WPWS event, where he struggles to keep the nose in the air as long as he hoped. Unfazed, he thrashed Saturday night to fabricate a pair of de facto wheelie bars built into the bumper to help carry the nose farther downtrack. He came back out Sunday to test, where a series of violent slams actually ripped the 100-pound weight off the front of the car, but Jason felt confident enough in the Cutlass to load up and head back to Byron the following weekend.

At the Wheelstand event itself, Schubert managed to power the front into the air and tote it nearly to the 1/8-mile mark, and despite a slight scrub with the opposite retaining wall, that was enough to earn him his third World Power Wheel Standing Competition victory. While we hate to see Schubert’s beautiful hot rod get banged up, we certainly appreciate the sacrifice he made to bring home the victory. For video of the entire competition, also from victoryredcolorado, click here.