K&N's Own Steve Williams Wins NHRA Super Comp Title at NHRA Winternationals

Steve Williams took home his third Winternationals win in a row

Williams won the NHRA Super Comp title in Pomona, defeating Dave Alves in the final round by 0.0028 seconds. It was the last of a long weekend of close races and tight challenges. It was his third win in a row at Pomona putting him in company with Don Prudhomme and Greg Anderson, NHRA drivers who have won at least three races in a row at the same event.

“We went from having really bad luck at Pomona to really good luck,” said Williams, who is the Chief Engineering Officer at K&N.

There was a time when Williams did not have success at Pomona. He was a runner-up five times at the track. His cars, championship cars at other tracks, had mechanical failures and malfunctions. Sometimes it was difficult to pinpoint the problems. But for the last three years, no one has been able to beat Williams at Pomona.

“The coolest part is I’ve had success at a lot of different race tracks across the country,” Williams said. “Pomona has not been one of them. I lost a lot of finals here because of breakage. Just crazy stuff. All of a sudden in 2015 it turned around. We won last year in the dragster and I won again.”

The 2017 Winternationals win made for 12 national wins and 42 event wins of Steve's NHRA career

Williams brought two cars to Pomona. His other car was not working well. He had transmission problems, which forced him and his team to focus on the Super Comp car.

“It was one of those strange weekends where I lost second round in my other car,” Williams said. “It was a much better car than the dragster.”

His Super Comp car, on the other hand, was nearly flawless.

“I honestly raced with a pretty fast car all weekend,” Williams said. “All of a sudden I just noticed the car was so consistent. The last three or four rounds, I just started to trust it. We just had some killer races. I think in the fourth round I won by three-thous (.003 seconds).”

He won his 12th national event and the 42nd event of his NHRA career. But in the finals, he was at a little disadvantage. Alves won the right to choose lanes and put Williams in a spot with the setting sun in his eyes.

This third Winternationals win in a row puts Steve in the same category as greats like Don Prudhomme

The celebration after he won the final race was huge. People from K&N celebrated with Williams’ team and family. He said nearly 50 people were on stage with him for the celebration photo at the track.

“Considering we dodged rain the first couple of days, it was pretty uneventful to be honest with you,” Williams said. “Sunday went off without a hitch. We were pretty much just round-robining. Cool the car down, 15 minutes, they call you back. They had a good crowd. Sunday was a beautiful day.”