The car itself was finished with one day to spare before the travel deadline, after just three weeks of fabrication and assembly by Ironman Chassis specialist and Crew Chief Aaron Sipple. The entire setup is now lighter by over 125lbs. In theory, this should allow the supercharged, methanol-powered Top Dragster race car to be quicker by 1/10th of a second. In the process, a few things have changed for lighter components and on its maiden run the new car ran 6.5@218mph on a mere 1/4 throttle opening. This was confirmed in reviewing the track photos of the qualifying passes and closer inspection revealed a broken throttle cable anchor. With a little help from the Rob McKinley camp a PXD member, the component was welded and Sheldon was able to proceed into competition at full throttle.

After qualifying in the number three position and completing the mandatory First Round of Top Dragster dial-up, Bissessar won his first Elite 8 heads-up all-out elimination round easily as his opponent Ricky Adkins slowed immediately after launching with a finish time of 10.578@83mph. The Trinidad Rocket however was eager to see what the new car could do and ran a 5.998@226.35mph, the fastest and only 5-second Top Dragster time of the entire meet. After qualifying number one, previous IHRA world record holder Troy Stone forfeited his place in Round 1 by leaving before the lights were activated, putting Rob McKinley into Round 2. The launch pad was super-sticky and a few competitors struggled with the excess traction, with one race car damaging drive train components after experiencing what is called a "dead hook". In this rare situation, the car launches so hard that the rear of the chassis hop up and begin spinning from not having enough contact patch to the racing surface, causing extreme Tire Shake.

 

Round two would see the Trinidad Rocket square off against McKinley who cut a brilliant 0.007 light against Bissessar's 0.058 giving him the lead at the start. Sheldon's methanol-fueled supercharged Hemi tuned by Aaron Sipple came through for the PTRT team though as the Rocket caught McKinley at the 330-foot marker (about 1/3 of the way) and thundered on for a 6.004-second pass at 230.49mph. McKinley was no match posting a 6.426 @ 213.54  . It was a close call but an exciting win nonetheless in front of over 20,000 spectators at the Martin Michigan US131 Motorsports Park Dragway who showed up for their share of the IHRA racing action.

In the final round, "Fast Eddie" Carrecia could not make it to the line due to an oil pressure drop on his engine and thanks to a Top Fuel oil down in the final round, Bissessar was declared winner without making the run, also winning the Pro X-Treme Dragster (PXD) Elite 8 challenge in the process. This win represents a huge victory not just for Sheldon Bissessar but Ironman Chassis and ASE tuning for turning out a record-breaking race car in such a short time. Trinidad & Tobago is proud to have Sheldon Bissessar the Trinidad Rocket as a representative, demonstrating that even at a moment's notice he is ready to win!