"We started in March and had four wins by June, so things looked pretty good heading into the summer months." – Lee Zane

Four years ago, at the beginning of his venture into competing at the top level of NHRA Sportsman competition, Stock racer Lee Zane set a number of goals that were challenging but not outrageous: win a Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series divisional event, earn enough prize money to justify racing full time, and maybe even win an NHRA national event title. As Zane began to hit those early goals and establish himself as a driver to watch, new goals became more challenging: win multiple national events, secure the Division 1 title, and, most important, finish in the top five or top 10 of the national points standings

Now, after completing a championship-winning 2004 season, Zane finds himself with an interesting problem: After reaching the pinnacle of his sport, what exactly can an LODRS national champion set as new goals? Put another way, how is it possible to finish higher than first place? It's a problem, though, that Zane would prefer to deal with personally rather than watch another driver try to figure it out.

"Hey, there are 1,100 other Stock racers who would love to switch places with me and be up on that [awards ceremony] stage at the end of the year," Zane said after clinching the 2004 Stock championship and ending good friend Kevin Helms' three-year reign as NHRA Stock champion. "It feels like a huge goal has been met and that some weight has been lifted off me. It's a great accomplishment for me and everyone who helped out. Already, though, I'm thinking about plans for next year and what to do and where to travel."

From the beginning, Zane made it clear that he would seriously contend for the 2004 national title when he escaped the cold of Pittsgrove, N.J., and won the Division 2 LODRS event in Orlando, Fla., in March. Just like that, Zane had one win in one race, 100 points deposited into his 2004 account, and what looked like a bicoastal battle brewing with Toby Lang, a perennial top 10 finisher from the Pacific Northwest. Lang had opened the season with consecutive national event wins in Pomona and Phoenix.

"They always start a little bit earlier out West than we do, and seeing Toby Lang bang out two wins in a row made me feel like I was already playing catch-up," Zane said. "Winning Orlando definitely took some pressure off. When you can win your first event, you can say, "All right, that's done with. What's the next goal?"

With very few chances to influence Lang's season - the two did not end up at the same event until October - Zane logically chose to focus on his own season and his own goals. A national event win at April's Houston stop gave him the maximum 105 points for that side of the ledger, and a semifinal showing a month later in Bristol didn't hurt, either.

It was upon returning to his familiar Northeast Division roots, though, where Zane really made his mark and established himself not just as a top five candidate but as the man to beat for the 2004 title. In a three-week span in early summer, Zane won the Division 1 opener in Reading and the Englishtown national event to score a combined 210 points and put a huge amount of pressure on any other serious candidates for the title. Although five months remained in the season, Zane's record of four wins in only nine appearances clearly established him as the favorite.

"I think that showed a few people that they were going to have a lot of work to do to catch up," Zane said. "We started in March and had four wins by June, so things looked pretty good heading into the summer months."

After enduring a mini-slump through July and most of August, Zane bounced back to win the Division 1 event in Rising Sun, Md., cementing his place atop the points standings and, as it turned out, closing out his points-scoring events. What came next was almost as difficult as facing Dan Fletcher or Peter Biondo in a final: Throughout the fall, Zane could only watch the standings and hope, unable to do much more than play a blocker's role through the end of the season.

By the time the NHRA tour rolled into Pomona in November, Zane controlled his championship destiny with one exception: Jeff Hefler could have conceivably won the title, but only by winning the event. As matters developed, not only did Hefler lose in the first round, but Zane - strapped into his car and sitting two pairs back - saw him do so. That left only the small matter of trying to race with tears in his eyes.

"A year's worth of emotions started to come out," said Zane, who wound up reaching the quarterfinals. "I'm in the burnout box with tears starting, and I'm thinking, 'I don't want to win the championship, then get beat in the first round.' With tears in my eyes, it wasn't the easiest Tree I ever hit in my life."

Zane's 2004 Track Record (703 points)
Orlando Speed World Dragway (Div. 2)	Won event
Montgomery Motorsports Park (Div. 2)	Third round
O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals	Won event
O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals	Semifinals
Maple Grove Raceway (Div. 1)	Won event
K&N Filters SuperNationals	Won event
Old Bridge Township Raceway Park (Div. 1)	Third round
Cecil County Dragway (Div. 1)	Won event