No racer ever forgets their first career NHRA national event victory, and Taylor Vetter certainly won’t forget hers. The NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster racer closed our her rookie season in the category in the wildest of fashion Sunday afternoon, collecting her first-ever national event crown and entering the highlight reels at the NHRA Auto Club Finals at Pomona, California.

• The Challenge Of Top Alcohol Dragster Intrigues Rookie Taylor Vetter

Vetter, from Las Vegas, Nevada, qualified fifth in a record field and carded a series of low 5.2-second runs to punch her way into her first career national event final round, where she met newly-crowned world champion and fellow blown alcohol racer Joey Severance. Severance got way first, .044 to .086, but by the 1/8-mile Vetter had begun making up the distance. As she was doing so, however, her Plan B Motorsports dragster wandered out near the wall — determined to get her first career win, Taylor legged her machine through the finish line, nearly collecting the finish line block as the car turned onto its side and slid through the shutdown area.