Tony Scarlata

"I didn't know Bill red-lit and it's a lucky thing because we are still battling an ignition problem where right when the motor revs up it starts killing cylinders," a relieved Scarlata said. "I saw him out in front of me and I was praying he red-lit but I didn't know so I still had to try to get down the track and get to the finish line. My hat’s off to those guys. They’ve really come around and they are a definite force, not just another team we’ve got to race.

"It was a great weekend for Cat Spot, Tommy Thompson, Lucas Oil and Lifeline. I just have a whole litany of people to name but my crew, they are just so awesome. We have such a blast, through good times and bad, no matter what we keep our composure, have fun and make it happen."

Scarlata's best run of the day came in the semifinals when he beat Doug Darnall with a 5.310 at 156.35 mph.

Shawn Reed (near) against Marty Logan in “Livin’ the Dream.”

The third driver to double-up on the young season was Pro Mod winner Reed, the part-time Top Fuel dragster driver who also pilots "Top Secret" for boat owners Floyd and Barbara Hughes and Jason and Miranda Sutton.

"It’s always nerve wracking to try and keep a streak going but we managed to continue what we did in Phoenix and get another win," Reed said. "We had a couple of little problems in the second round but we just plugged away at it and survived.

"Anytime you can win out here against these guys it's a great day. Pro Mod is the toughest class, I think, in all boat racing, and any one of these guys can win. Some of these new guys coming up, they want it more than anybody else, so it’s tough every round but we made it through so it’s all good."

Although he benefitted from Jimmy Booher's -.033-second, red-light foul in the final, Reed was on his game all day, running a near-perfect 7.001 at 168.12 mph in Round 1, a slightly safer 7.026 at 168.12 mph in the semifinals, and another 7.026 at 168.80 mph against Booher.

Tyler Speer

Rick Blethroade

Living up to their class moniker, Pro Outlaw came down to a duel between Speer's aptly-named "Georgia Outlaw" and Rick Blethroade's "Wild Thing," with Speer screaming away, unopposed, to a 6.404 at 123.66 mph to win the race.

"It was an awesome day," Speer said. "I couldn’t be happier with everybody who helped out: Lucas Oil Racing TV, Hedman Husler Hedders and Georgia Outlaw. You know, we bumped up a class so we have no notes to go off. I know we got a little bit of luck this weekend.

"We need to do a little bit better on the tune up. Dad did an awesome job tuning this weekend though, getting us right, so I can’t thank him enough. Mom, Dad everybody. This is what we need to be doing, making it to the finals and winning races. We'll just take one at a time."

Speer, the top qualifier, beat Phoenix winner Cole Allen, sport kingpin Tommy Thompson, and got a bye run to the final against Blethroade. His quickest run came against Thompson when he blistered the course with a 5.527 at 160.93 mph.

The Sportsman finals also delivered lots of great racing.

Phoenix runner-up Brian Schmidl took things one step further this weekend, topping Stan Tweedy in the Pro Eliminator finale with a pass of 8.127 at 131.11 mph to Tweedy's game 8.146 at 131.72 mph.

Vince Nelson Jr. was outrun on the river but beat Jeff Luehring to take Quick Eliminator when Luehring ran under the six-second limit, an automatic disqualification.

Bob Prigmore enjoyed a bye run in the Top Eliminator final when No. 1 qualifier Garrett Breistig couldn't make the call.