Powell, who hails from Dolly Parton’s hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee, joined Knoxville racers George Simpson, Kaden Harrill and Aubrey Loy as recent champions. Knoxville was also the home track of 2009 Top ET champion Chad Hedgecock.

The IHRA Summit SuperSeries track champion at Knoxville wasn’t brimming with confidence early on. He missed the tree in round 3 of eliminations at the previous night’s Race of Champions and said he got lucky in round 1 of the main event when Wayne Turman red-lighted by a mere -.001 second.

But, the 25-year-old Army veteran and plumber by trade proved to be unstoppable as the day wore on. It culminated in a $3,000 check from Summit Racing Equipment, an IHRA Gold Card and a special IHRA Ironman trophy he can see as a reminder of his accomplishments. There’s also an IHRA World Championship ring coming to him.

“I didn’t expect it. The day started out rough, but I had to keep it together,” Powell said.

Powell races a stock 2011 Suzuki Hayabusa with a FuelTech system. He loves the competitiveness of the sport and that showed throughout the later rounds. There was a perfect start in round 4, combined with a 5.716-second run at 122.38 mph on a 5.71 dial-in to beat John Markham from Gleason Raceway Park.

He got a bye in the semifinal round before matching up with Baley Miles, a Music City Raceway rider who qualified through the IHRA Sportsman Spectacular at Ethridge Motorsports Park, in the final. Once again, Powell was excellent at the tree with a .001 reaction time, along with a 5.718-second run at 121.70 mph on a 5.70 dial-in.

Powell is a huge admirer of how Gaige Herrera has dominated the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle ranks over the past couple of seasons. Now, Powell can lay claim to being the best-of-the-best in his form of the sport, winning the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Championship, the most prestigious title in all of bracket racing.