Unfortunately for the rest of the 16-car Open Outlaw field, that was about a half-second faster than anyone else and Gambino just trashed the field on his drive to the winners circle. Gambino had such an advantage over the rest of the competitors that his average light was a .334!!! He had his best light in the final against Richard Rozema's digger when he cut a .239 but his 6.187/225.73 was more than good enough to cover Rozema's game 7.20.

HEADS-UP DOORSLAMMERS

The Snowbirds had a class for heads-up doorslammers of the "street legal" variety which ran in the "King of the Street" class. Twelve cars entered the class and qualifying times ranged from number one qualifier Jeff Shawver's 7.456, driving his '90 Camaro with a 622-incher under the hood, to number 12 qualifier Sam Berardi's slick '53 Studebaker that

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recorded a respectable 8.98/135 using a "small" 516-inch Chevy for power.

In elminations Wade Gullet, who was the third of the three cars that qualified with a 7-second pass, ran his '69 Camaro just quick enough each round to get to the finals. His 8.044 in the semi-finals was just enough to edge out Tim Stokes' 8.066 and put him into the final round against the "Cinderella" of the class, Berardi and his '53 Studebaker.

Berardi got to the final round courtesy of a redlight in the first round, an unconscious .530 by his opponent in the second round (in the spirit of the season we won't mention that racers name) and a bye run in the semi-finals. The party ended for Berardi in the finals when Gullet ran him over with an 8.307/144 lap to Berardi's dead game 8.79/147.