The driver of this Opel-bodied flopper left before DRO caught his name, but we know he’s from the Knoxville, TN area, he bought the car last October after being away from the sport for 10 years, it carries Buick power between the rails, and is headed to the paint shop shortly.

Patsy Cannon, a Brainerd regular, qualified her beautiful ’70 Nova fourth in Limited Street and made it to the semis against Jeff Cooner.

Patrolman Joe Warren of the Chattanooga Police Department was on hand with the force’s 1996 Mustang GT powered by a nitrous-assisted 4.6L engine transplanted from a 2003 Crown Vic police car. Warren stressed that no taxpayer dollars support the police race team; it operates solely through donations (“even the lightbar”), with ongoing sponsorship from Honest Charley Speed Shop, Firestone-Bridgestone at Chattanooga’s Northgate Mall, J.J.’s Classic Mustangs, and Howard Racing. The car is used as a P.R. tool by the department, making stops at car shows and high schools, as well as regular appearances at Brainerd’s test-and-tune sessions, where anyone who beats him in a race at the track wins an “I Beat the Heat” T-shirt, Warren said.