Performance wise, Pro Mod, to state it gentlemanly, was sub par. Just two sevens were run. Friday winner Loren Braseth used a 7.03, 198.85 to handle Dennis Begyn’s broken Daytona, and Dan Provenzano’s “Purple Throbber” ’53 Corvette clocked a 7.68, 188.46 to beat Chuck Weck’s tire-murdering 8.07, 198.06 in a ’53 Studebaker.

The rest? Weellll … Bill Graziano’s Nova broke giving Terry Murphy an easy single in Donnie Little’s “Punisher” Camaro and in a battle of Jeff, Elam’s blown ’57 Chevy lost in a the upset of the decade to Belloma’s “The Beast From the East” ’63 small block Chevy powered Corvette’s 8.02, 148.43.

One of the absolute best passes of the first round came in the Front-Motored Nostalgia Top Fuel when Roger Lechtenberg’s “Orange Krate” logged a track record 5.868, 239.36 (one of the top half dozen front-motored Top Fuel passes in Midwest nostalgia history) to cover

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Bob Beedy Jr.’s 6.89, 186.20 in an injected Desoto. Former Southern California teen alcohol dragster star Mendy Fry pushed the MasterCam dragster to a 6.21, 230.45 beat Dan Russell’s 7.42, 185.74.

The BEST eliminator of the feature cars, according to this sot, was AA/Fuel Altered. Ricky Ruiz remained unbeaten for 2005 when his 6.18, 238.64 covered Randy Baker’s 6.47, 211.46. Baker’s roadster was especially noteworthy in that his 526-cid Hemi is hooked to a TORQUE Converter. Hey, that 6.47 was almost a two-tenths better than his qualifying run.

The next race of the night came with the next pair when Wayne Minick just missed tracking down Randy Kraft’s flame-bedecked roadster when his 5.83, 251.77 just missed Kraft’s 5.90, 234.70. Kraft had a .042 reaction and a 1/8 mile 3.890, 192.28; Minick a 3.901, 198.79.