So, after the jets thrilled the crowd, the first round of qualifying was finally completed. The problem was that by this time the heat in the track was gone.

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The TAD drivers were concerned about the surface, so, in the interest of safety it was decided to run one round of qualifying on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. The jets came back one more time and the night was capped off with Benny the Bomb trying to do himself in, followed by a super fireworks display.

Sunday morning came and qualifying was completed. One small oildown by former Snowbird champ in Open Outlaw Charlie Gambino in his Alcohol FC meant he would not make the field. First round got underway at about 1 o'clock, and proceeded great.

With the addition of Super Comp, Gas and Street there was no downtime and by the time second round rolled to the line it was starting to get late in the afternoon with the sun already starting to go down.

Second round was going well until Mel Eaves pulled to the line to take on Eddie Ware. Eaves was third quickest qualifier with a 6.232/225.33 run. Off the line he pulled ahead as Ware shook and shut off. Eaves appeared to be on another mid-.20 run when, at about 1,000 feet, the Corvette suddenly made a hard right turn and slammed the guardrail at over 200 mph, exploded in flames and careened back across the track sending debris across both lanes.

As he slid to a halt, Fire Rescue was right on top of him and Eaves was able to get out virtually unhurt, although the '63 Corvette Pro Mod was severely damaged.

The damage to the guardrail was so extensive that it couldn't be repaired in a timely manner, so it was decided to just race to the eighth mile for the rest of the event.