Mark Pawuk’s 50-Year Journey Culminates in Second Straight Championship
It’s often said that the second championship is harder to win than the first. For Mark “Cowboy” Pawuk, a veteran who has seen just about everything the drag strip can throw at a driver, 2025 proved that old adage wrong, but it wasn’t without a little drama to keep things interesting.
Fifty years after he first started chasing the dream, the Ohio native has done it again. Pawuk drove his Empaco Dodge Challenger Drag Pak to a second consecutive Flexjet NHRA Factory Stock Showdown world championship, proving that experience, grit, and a fast Mopar are a tough combination to beat.
A Dream Deferred, Then Doubled
“Last year, winning my first championship, it was a dream I’d had all my life,” Pawuk admitted, reflecting on his long career. “I really can’t believe it happened again. After the first one, my wife, Bonnie, suggested it might be time to retire but I said, ‘What do you mean? I have to try for a repeat.’ Lo and behold, I did it. Now I have to go for the three-peat.”
It’s that kind of spirit that keeps fans in the stands. We love an underdog, sure, but we also love a legend who refuses to hang up the helmet. Pawuk started racing in the mid-70s. He’s been through the Pro Stock wars, the highs of national event wins, and the lows of heartbreaking losses. Seeing him hoist the big trophy two years in a row feels like a little justice for all those years of grinding.
From Heartbreak to Triumph
The 2025 season didn’t exactly start with champagne and confetti. In fact, it started with a gut punch. At the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Pawuk’s team thrashed all night to swap an engine, only for the car to shut off at the starting line in the first round.
“I thought I was done,” Pawuk said, recalling that sinking feeling. “Here I go, out in the first round at the first race, thinking the chance of another championship was already lost.”
But in drag racing, momentum is everything, and the Cowboy found his stride. A runner-up finish in Charlotte showed the car had pace (clocking a massive 181.28 mph), and a win at Bristol Dragway, a track that had historically been tough on him, put him right back in the hunt.
The Magic of Norwalk
Every driver has that one track that means more than the rest. For Pawuk, it’s Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. It’s home turf. And for decades, a win there had eluded him.
The 2025 Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals looked like they might follow the same script. Tricky weather and track conditions left Pawuk outside the qualifying field heading into the final session. The pressure was immense.
“It reminded me of when I won… in Columbus in 2000,” Pawuk said. “Going into the last session, I wasn’t in, and storms were coming… But somehow, the weather cleared.”History repeated itself. Pawuk bumped his way into the No. 2 spot in the final session and then proceeded to tear through the field on Sunday.
He finally got his Norwalk Wally and the famous ice cream scoop trophy.“That was on my bucket list,” he said. “To get that famous ice cream scoop and check that one off the list was absolutely awesome. It might have been the highlight of my career.”
Sealing the Deal
By the time the tour rolled into St. Louis for the Midwest Nationals, the math was on Pawuk’s side. He held a commanding 153-point lead over Taylor Dietsch. All he needed to do was avoid a catastrophe. Instead, he put an exclamation point on the season.
He qualified No. 1 and won the first round, officially locking up the title. “This last year was probably some of the best driving I’ve had in a while,” Pawuk noted. “I’ve had a fire in me. I wanted to show them that this old guy can still race with these young whipper snappers.”
Final Thoughts
And show them he did. In a sport where reaction times are measured in thousandths of a second and youth is often king, Mark Pawuk proved that there is no substitute for wisdom, patience, and a relentless desire to win. The Cowboy rides on, and honestly? We can’t wait to see if he gets that three-peat.
