Rex Kelley was top qualifier among the nitrous contingent at Huntsville, slotting into eighth place with a 4.337-second pass in his 1963 Corvette.

Gardner left just .004 ahead of Stokes and his flamed '53 Corvette in the final round, but pulled away to win with a 4.196 pass at 172.31. Stokes slowed to a 4.375 at just 141.06 mph. "We just stayed where we were at and made them chase us," Gardner said afterward, referring to his qualifying set-up. "We struggled all year last year with tires, but finally went back to the Goodyears. I guess they're worth the extra money."

Featuring an all-new red paint job, "Buck" Gardner's 1998 Silverado made its 2004 debut at the Huntsville race. The truck, which originally raced in the Super Chevy Nitro Coupe series, is motivated by a 525 c.i. Olds motor built by Alan Johnson.

FUNNY CAR

Top qualifier John Sullivan (3.960/186.68) was the only Funny Car pilot to run in the threes at Huntsville, and he did it all day on his way to winning the final round over Jim Phillips, driving Monty Todd's '55 Chevy-bodied flopper. Still, it wasn't an easy weekend for Sullivan's Montgomery, AL-based team, as they had to thrash between the second and third rounds of qualifying. "We broke a rod and blew up a brand-new engine," Sullivan said. "We just barely got it back together in time to run that 3.96."

On raceday, Sullivan took it easy in a first-round bye run, then strapped a 3.953 on Jerry Freeman in the semis. Phillips, who qualified third, took out Dusty Sims in round one and ran his best pass of the weekend, a 4.14 at 170.68, in his semi-final win over Don Roddy.

John Sullivan (near lane) took an obvious advantage from the start and never looked back on his way to winning the Funny Car title at this year's 'Bama Nationals.

It was all Sullivan in the final round, as he laid a .115 holeshot on Phillips and streaked to a 3.3996-second pass at 184.46 mph, while Phillips put together an off-the-pace 5.734-secs effort. Car owner Todd later said he knew Phillips' ride was "sick" when it went to the line, but there was nothing he could do about it at the time.

Sullivan gave credit to crew chief Tommy Payne for being able to tune the car "consistently and conservatively," stressing, "that's key on a tight budget like we have. If you can run fast and consistent passes like that, that's how you wear people out."