Following Lang, Murphy, and Joseph were (in order) Vogt (6.56/211.46), David Schorr’s EFI/gas-burning Ford Escort (6.67/208.62), and Bill “the Thrill” Hill’s 6.78/209.44, which was preceded by a hellacious sideways burnout from the waterbox in his blown Budweiser ’53 Corvette. The remainder of the field included Bruce Micetich in the Micetich & McCormick blown ’57 Chevy (6.87/197.71), Dan Saitz’s turbo-charged Ford Probe (6.88/210.00). Mike Bodine’s nitrous ’68 Camaro (6.89/200.89), John Hocking’s nitrous ’68 Camaro (6.92/ 201.47), and Steve Bruce’s flaming blown ’68 Camaro at 7.61, 177.51. On the “bubble” was Jeff Belloma’s problem-plagued turbo-charged “The Beast” Corvette, which had everything it could do to get out of the waterbox.

The Kansas City track was “iffy” at best in qualifying with the side-by-side six-second runs being at a premium. The lanes, mostly the left one,  would come and go at will creating a situation where just one of the six pairs  in the first round produced side-by-side six-second runs. Throw in the fact that the temperatures were in the high 90s, the track temp hovering around 140 degrees, and, if nothing else, Zach Barklage’s 6.35, 224 track record looked like it would hold up through the event. It did.

In the six-race first round, Schorr ousted Saitz, 6.76/205.00 to 6.97/204 in the frame’s only dual sixer, and Joseph began his trek to the winner’s circle with an easy 6.58/212 win over a tire-shaking and shut-off Hocking. Murphy fired Little’s Camaro to low ET of the round

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when his 6.51/210.62 embalmed Bruce’s 7.14, 196.65. Vogt’s white Corvette cranked a 6.68/209.54 to bop Bodine’s tire chattering 8.58 and Micetich and Hill’s Budweiser Corvette both went nuts fighting traction woes, the former prevailing with a 7.62, 190.58. Lang’s Corvette closed the round with a 6.57/207.42 solo when Belloma hung it up and no showed.

Remarkable performances improved in the very hot, as in spectator-melting, and unexpectedly well-performed second round, as five of the remaining cars ran in the sixes. Lang s 6.62/215.52 sent Micetich back to Iowa at a 6.85/202.93 clip, and Murphy’s 6.61/209.38 was unneeded when Schorr fouled. The last race of the second stanza was maybe the best of the eliminator when Joseph’s 6.66/211.41 eclipsed Vogt’s close 6.70/208.96.