IHRA Champion Profile: Mike Koontz - Top Sportsman

Mike Koontz

Want to see how the Tournament of Champions is truly designed to work? Look no further than Top Sportsman driver Mike Koontz.

Koontz, of Warrenton, Va., found himself in the tournament after winning a TOC qualifier at Richmond Dragway during the early portion of the 2009 season and a little over a year later he was hoisting his first career championship Ironman after taking out some of the best in the business at Rockingham Dragway last month.

“We went to a lot of races in 2009 and with the way the IHRA did everything last year it just worked out for me. We won one of the sportsman nationals and that got us here and that seemed to work out well for a lot of people,” Koontz said. “It opened the door for a lot of great racers to have a chance including us.”

Once at Rockingham Koontz qualified 11th and then mowed through the competition with wins over Gary Bingham, Bruce Thrift and Chris Gulitti before meeting up with Billy Thigpen in the final behind the wheel of his 2000 Chevy S-10. In the final Koontz ran a 7.315 elapsed time on a 7.31 dial to Thigpen’s 7.370 on a 7.35. Koontz also claimed a slight advantage on the tree with a .018 light to walk away with his first career IHRA championship.

“I have been racing for 15 or so years and this business is very tough. Everybody out there was real tough,” Koontz said. “But today was just my day. Everything worked out my way. The truck was running fantastic and kept running the numbers I needed.”

Along with the championship Ironman Koontz also took home a cool $10,000.

In the opening round of the TOC Koontz received a quick bye into the second round when Bingham went red setting up a big test early in the day. Going against the always tough Thrift, both drivers hit near perfect trees and ran right on the numbers with Koontz getting the edge by approximately 20 inches at the line. With the win Koontz earned a bye in the quarters setting up another big matchup with Gulitti.

As expected both drivers were spot on in the semifinals, but Gulitti broke out sending Koontz to the finals against Thigpen. In the other semifinal matchup Thigpen defeated Gilmer Hinshaw in an incredible drag race.