First there was the thrill of victory.

Now there’s the agony of the feet — and the seat.

The foot aches will be reserved primarily for the transport driver of the Kelley Motorsports Team as he puts metal to pedal for the 14-hour drive to Tulsa today. The rest of the gang — including IHRA driver Andy Kelley — will be constantly shifting in their seats, trying to find a comfortable position for the long ride. Once the destination is reached, the task at hand will be making several short drives – ones that last just a handful of seconds and take place at speeds in excess of 200 mph.

It’s not all glamorous, the life of a drag racer, but Kelley wouldn’t have it any other way. After earning his first career IHRA victory recently in Michigan, the Piedmont native is now trying to make it two in a row when the series moves to the Skull Shine Sooner Nationals in Tulsa this weekend.

And while the victory in the Northern Nationals was a signature moment for Kelley, the race in Oklahoma last season was significant as well.

“Last year, this event was our first trip to the Finals, and, until a couple weeks ago in Martin (Mich.) I was thinking it might have been our last,” Kelley said. “We caught some breaks here in the early rounds and wound up facing Dale Creasy, Jr. in the Finals, but we smoked the tires and didn’t even give ourselves a chance. Hopefully this year will be different.”

Kelley had considered parking his Funny Car for the remainder of the 2008 season due to financial difficulties, but the win in Martin gave his team a financial boost and allowed the campaign to continue.

Instead of worrying about being a spectator for the balance of 2008, Kelley has been able to look back at the 2007 Tulsa competition and figure out ways to do improve.

“Last year we felt like we made one good pass every three or four laps,” Kelley said. “This year, we’ve been able to go down the track without spinning the tires or having something else go wrong in 16 of our 23 national event passes, and that doesn’t even include the run we made to win the Northern Nationals. We smoked the tires at half track on that run, and that’s what we’re trying to avoid.”

Consistency — and patience — is the key.

“Last year we learned a lot,” he said. “As the season progressed, we found ourselves qualifying in the top half of the field more often than not, but then losing in round one when we’d smoke the tires, or do something else, and we would look at the winning ET’s (estimated times) and kick ourselves for not being more patient.”

So today when the team piles out of their respective vehicles, a little sore and a little tired, the discomfort won’t last nearly as long as it might have. Now that a season has been saved, Kelley can concentrate on finishing with a flourish.

There likely won’t be an IHRA championship this year, but 2009 isn’t that far off.

“It’s probably not very realistic for us to catch (points leader) Terry Haddock for the championship,” said Kelley, who is currently fifth in the Nitro Funny Car standings. “But our goal is to stay consistent, go rounds, and see if we can overtake one of the guys ahead of us. Paul Lee is in second, but only four round wins in front of us.”