LEWISTON — Jamie Madison’s customers don’t spin around long in his barber’s chair before they notice the unusual decor.

Trophy behind the sink. Picture of a race car adorning the wall above the shampoo.

They squint, flash Madison quizzical looks and wonder aloud which member of the stylist’s family has race fuel burning through his veins.

“It is quite a combination. They’re always surprised,” Madison said. “Most people don’t think of somebody cutting their hair and then going off and driving an 800-horsepower car.”

Madison, 35, has aptly wielded both scissors and a steering wheel most of his adult life.

For the last seven years, the Lewiston man has piloted one of his family race team’s rear-engine dragsters at events throughout the United States and Canada.

All that time and travel culminated in a quarter-mile of glory and a windfall of national acclaim recently at New England Dragway in Epping, N.H.

In a major regional event sanctioned by the International Hot Rod Association, Madison captured top honors in the quick rod division and drove off with the coveted Iron Man trophy.

“I still can’t believe it,” Madison said. “I dreamed of winning this deal for a long time. I thought I could do it, but I didn’t think I would be the first one in my family to get it.”

Madison competes with Marsters Family Racing of Canton. His stepfather, Doug Marsters, and brother, Dougie, also are fixtures on the drag racing circuit.

Doug campaigns a 1964 Chevrolet Corvette. Dougie started in junior dragsters and advanced through the ranks until graduating into the car Madison now drives.

“He got a new car, and that opened a window of opportunity for me to drive the old one,” said Madison, whose racing background was street cars at Oxford Dragway.

Madison describes the transition matter-of-factly, but the similarities between his familiar Ford Mustang at Oxford and the ride that earned him bragging rights at Epping begins and ends with the gas pedal.

Somewhat sheepishly, Madison reported his winning time in the low eight-second range for the quarter-mile. Top speed: 164 mph.

“It has the capability to get in the seven-second zone,” Madison said. “I’ve been in the sevens. But you know in racing, sometimes faster isn’t always better.”

With cars lined up at staging two-deep as far as his eyes could see, Madison isn’t sure how many drivers he defeated to get his hands on the Iron Man metal.

Similar events in Florida and New Jersey feature fields approaching triple digits in his division.

“My step-dad and my brother and I all have been after this thing for 15 years,” said Madison. “We‘ve been all over the place, and it’s funny that when we finally got one it was right in New Hampshire. Oxford is probably my home track, but (Epping) is like my second home.”

Madison’s championship ride in the quick rod dragster is essentially an annual gig.

Not long ago, Madison left his chair at Marcel’s after 15 years, relocating to Flawless Hair Studio on the corner of Webster and Pine streets.

The costs of travel and maintaining a purpose-built dragster to compete at a national level are prohibitive.

“This is only the second time in a year that we’ve pulled this car out,” he said. “There’s just so much involved. It’s a financial thing why we don’t race it more often.

“It took a year to put this deal together. We went down to this race last year, and I before I knew it a year had gone by on me.”

Of course, when you win, that kind of schedule guarantees bragging rights all winter, spring and summer long.

Not to mention plenty of fodder for conversation with the next person in the swiveling seat.

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