NHRA at Denver Words by Darr Hawthorne Photos by Tom West and Darr Hawthorne 7/27/04

Friday was quiet with some sportsman qualifying sessions in the morning but the now-patented NHRA rain was the winner. Chief Starter Rick Stewart walked the starting line one last time as the announcement was made that time trials would begin again early Saturday morning.

This was also the first race without the smiling face of Darrell Russell. A fitting video tribute played on Motel 6-Vision to highlight Russell's very short career.

This race also found a new Goodyear slick that had been mandated by NHRA and the new D2300 tire proved to the liking of most nitro teams without the chunking and separation as was common with the D2096 used by the nitro teams since Bristol earlier this year. A half dozen Goodyear tire experts checked tire pressures and top-end temperatures after every run and made detailed notes on each slick.

Having lost two professional sessions due to rain, Saturday would be critical with Whit Bazemore leading 19 floppers and setting two track records in qualifying; a best of 4.842 bettering the one Ron Capps set in 2001, a 4.949. A total of seven other Funny Cars bettered that number too, but Capps failed to qualify for this meet, getting bumped by Utah's Robert Schwab in the 16th slot. Rookie Eric Medlen grabbed the speed mark with his track record 318.24 mph.

Top Fuel was led by Brandon Bernstein's 4.677 at 308.43, his fourth #1 of the season, and the field was rounded out by "Mr. Magoo" Don Sosenka at 5.547 (above).

Greg Anderson continued his Pro Stock dominance by grabbing the #1 slot in qualifying once again, posting 7.159 for another new Bandimere record.

Eliminations on Sunday were a series of upsets with none larger than Robert Schwab's 5.665 come from behind win over a tire smoking Whit Bazemore.

Schwab, a Caterpillar tractor mechanic at Wheeler Machinery Co. in Magna, UT, builds his own chassis from scratch and brings a crew of friends who also work on heavy machinery.

"This day has just got so out of hand, I don't even have an idea what tune-up is in the car. We didn't expect this to happen," Schwab said. Happen it did with Schwab taking out Eric Medlen in the second round and finally losing to Cruz Pedregon in the semis.