The defending champion in TREMEC PURE STREET, Gene Hindman, came out swinging by qualifying on top of the 14-car field. He and Darin Hendricks were the only cars I n the 10s, but he next 10 cars were all in the 11s, making this a fairly tight field. As fate would have it, Hindman and Hendricks met in the final round. They had identical .503 reaction times and were door-handle-to-door-handle all the way down the

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track. Hendricks got there first with a 10.895 to the champ's 10.940, making this one of the closest races of the whole weekend!

BFGOODRICH FACTORY STOCK seemed to be a repeat of the 2002 Bradenton race, with Michael Washington once again coming out on top to win this naturally aspirated eliminator. Washington, who teamed up with last year's champ Justin Burcham, qualified number one and laid waste to everyone he lined up against, including Dedpedal Racing's Tim Duncan in the final round. Duncan actually got a huge holeshot on Washington, but Washington ran his quickest pass of the weekend, a 12.014.

VORTECH MODULAR MUSCLE saw 41 overhead-cam cars compete in Bradenton, led by Shane Williams in qualifying. But after six rounds of eliminations, it came down to the winningest Modular race of them all, Robert Hindman, facing Rick Doern. On the .500-second Pro tree, Doern just missed a killer leave, redlighting with an oh-so-close .489. Hindman cut a fantastic .509 and won by virtue of his opponent's red bulb.

Toyo Tires Open Comp was predictably one of the biggest classes of them all, with 31 Fords entered. Darryl Cannon's '63 Falcon was the quickest in the class, running a 9.171 at 148mph, but it was class veteran Larry "Mr. Open Comp" Geddes that took the win. Geddes beat Randy Conway's '94 Cobra in the final with a hole shot. Both racers broke out, but Geddes was the lesser offender and got the win light.

NITTO TIRES TRUCK & LIGHTNING had a full 20 trucks entered, led by Mark Morales and his V8-powered '88 Ranger. Four rounds of racing later, and Morales found himself in the finals, facing Jim Owens and his 2001 Lightning. Owens got to leave first, but Morales got a big hole shot and chased him down, crossing the finish line first with a 9.97 at only 127mph to Owens' 13.32 at 101.

The SUPERCHIPS BRACKET classes were packed with all sorts of interesting Ford bracket machines. In Superchips Pro Ford (electronics), Gary Varney (Reynoldsburg, OH) beat Bill Parrett (Brooksville, FL) when Parrett red lit with a heart-breaking .498. Superchips Super Ford was won by Wayne Stewart of Lakeland, Florida, taking out Jeff Keen (Palmetto, FL) when Keen also red lit, this time a .496. Ouch times two! Superchips Street Ford saw David Ritchey (Deltona, FL) take out Nick Bailisco (Englewood, FL) by running closer to his dial-in.

Todd Wynne's new Pro 5.0 car, driven by Tim Savell, caught everyone's eye at
Bradenton. Watch for this one to make some noise very soon.

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