Virginia’s Jared Brunner qualified his turboed ‘85 Mustang third at 4.589 second and 158.39 mph at Huntsville. He made a 4.62-second bye run in the first round before slowing to a 4.70 against Huddleston.

The Huntsville event marked the competition debut of a blown 1969 Nova built and piloted by well-known chassis builder Dave Sheppard. Powered by a supercharged Brad Anderson-built, 510 c.i. “Fathead” hemi, Sheppard qualified it 12th with a 4.655/156.79 combination, but fell in the opening round of eliminations to Tony Johnson.

Following a recent race in Houston, Rob Hale discovered a broken frame member on his ’68 Camaro, so he decided to scrap its entire mild steel back half and replace it with all-new 25-2 chromoly tubing from the firewall back. Hale said he completed the new chassis at midnight the night before qualifying began in Huntsville and arrived at the track at 4 a.m. that morning. He slotted in at eighth with a 4.621-second pass at 156.96 mph, but said a bad ground on his ignition box cost him the first round against Michael Robinson.

Billy Stocklin was one of three Texas-based racers who made the long tow to Huntsville and qualified the best of them in ninth place with a 4.639-second pass. Stocklin made it to the quarter finals, where he posted a career-best 4.578 at 157.40 mph, but unfortunately it came against the Robbins juggernaut, with Robbins going 4.506 for the win.