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Bill Dunlap (above) took the Mike Fuller prepped entry to an arrow
straight 6.06 and sat on the pole as number one qualifier for the event.
The second round of Saturday qualifying was marred by the horrific
wreck of Lee Jennings Sr. With his own son racing down the other lane
a mere car length ahead, Jennings got out of shape at half-track, went
to the guardrail and sheared off the right rear tire which led to an
airborne trip to the big end of the track. Jennings was airlifted to
the hospital, but thanks to the safety features built into the chassis
of a modern FED, wasn't seriously injured and was seen walking around
the pits on Sunday.
Saturday qualifying also saw former World Champion NHRA Fuel Coupe
driver turned nostalgia digger pilot, Dale Pulde, on fire in the lights,
but not upside down and still managing to post a 6.10 elapsed time.
But the abundance of melted aluminum engine parts spelled the end of
the weekend for the Ground Zero crew.
Header flames mixed with the haze of tire smoke under the lights as
darkness fell on the desert. In a charge for the big numbers against
Roger "Radar" Lechtenburg, the Belleville, Illinois entry of Fred Bach
and Larry Gould broke a camshaft which in turn broke the head creating
a large fire that engulfed the SOCH.
Nostalgia Fuel Funnies and Altereds closed out the evening's qualifying.
Vicky Fanning's '72 Charger Fuel Coupe ran a throttle-pedaling, flame
on and off, half-mile trek down the quarter-mile while, oddly enough,
Mike Boyd took the Marcellus and Borsch "Winged Express" down the track
in an uncharacteristic, straight line with full wings flying.
Nathan Bugg and the "Lil Nate" Fuel Coupe sat out the action and rested
on a Friday night seven-flat. Rob Bruce and the Zombie Pontiac Firebird
Funny also found its way to Fallon, bringing to three the total number
of cars for the class. As a final bonus the "Hell on Wheels" wheelstanding
tank sparked its way down the quarter on two wheels recording a stellar
and scary speed of over 128 mph.
Round one eliminations Sunday saw Troy Green's hemi-powered entry put
away the big block Chevy-equipped "Birky Bunch" digger and driver Mark
Malde. Green got out in front off the pad and stayed there for the win
light with a 6.34 at 203 mph.
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