Paul Raby, of Las Vegas, Nevada, has hit the quarter-century mark of his racing career. He said this championship is up there in the rankings as his best moment in the sport.

“I’ve been racing for over 25 years and to me the Western Conference Majors championship is equal to the Southern Pacific Division Championship I won in 1995,” Raby said. “I was 40 years old when I started. To be able to win this now was unexpected.”

Raby said that his year started out on a high note with a properly handling car. Throughout the year, he was able to keep that momentum moving forward until the end of the season.

“The year started out great,” Raby said. “The new Goodyear tire, for some reason, made the handling of my car magic. I went to the first event at Auto Club Speedway and qualified on the pole. Then, electrical gremlins attacked and I could only manage a fourth on Saturday and couldn’t finish on Sunday.

“I couldn’t get to Chuckwalla for that event, but went next to Thunderhill. The car was back and I won both races. At Buttonwillow, I managed two third-place finishes. At that point, I thought I might have shot at the championship. Two fourth places at Portland sealed the deal.”

Raby had some very important people to thank for his success.

“Mike O’Callaghan and all the guys at Flat Out Racing gave me a solid car,” Raby said. “My longtime friend and co-racer Lee Fleming, who was racing an SRF Gen 3, always gave helpful advice.”