Veteran Pro Modified and street legal racer Jeff Lutz made official his second career Hot Rod Drag Week overall title on Friday at the National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio, doing so in historic fashion.

Lutz, who won Drag Week in 2014 in his “Evil Twin” 1957 Chevrolet, avenged the bad fortunes he experienced a year ago when he was forced to withdraw on the second day of competition — after setting an event elapsed time record of 6.05-seconds — by successfully completing the more than 1,000 mile tour with a record average elapsed time of 6.191-seconds at 240.01 mph.

Lutzs’ week wasn’t without its drama, nor did his achievement come easily. On the way to the U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan, he had a front wheel bearing fail on his “Mad Max” Pro Mod Camaro, causing extensive damage to the strut and forcing him to repair the car on the shoulder of the highway. Without a wink of sleep in nearly four days, he had to swap out a pair of main bearings upon arrival at 131, and snuck in just before the bell on Wednesday afternoon to record what would be his quicker elapsed time of the entire tour  — a 6.106 at 243.51 mph.

The chassis builder and occasional Street Outlaws reality show personality survived through the next two days and rolled back into National trail, where the grueling test of man and machine had begun five days earlier, intent on pushing his machine into the five-second zone and into the Drag Week history books. That magical run, however, did not come, as he closed the week with a 6.256 at 235.19 mph.

Lutzs’ final tally included a 6.195 on day one in Columbus, a 6.255 in Norwalk, a 6.106 in Martin, and a 6.147 in Indianapolis, along with the 6.255 on day five. His final average bettered Unlimited class runner-up Michael Wenzler by more than 1.5 seconds, and Ultimate Iron champion and second overall Bryant Goldstone by over six-tenths. His average was also more than half a second quicker than Tom Bailey’s winning average (6.78) from one year ago.