Edelbrock Hot Street also saw an underdog make it to the final. Max Gross used his traditional starting line prowess to get past John Paterimos and the always tough Mike Curcio to meet Charlie Booze Jr. in the final. Booze won the first two events of the year and was looking for the hat trick in Columbus. He got it, running a 9.06 to overcome Gross’s 9.22.

ProCharger EFI Renegade had 15 Mustangs entered, led by defending class champion Kurt Gallant. But when Monday came, Gallant ran into trouble and fell to Brian Mitchell in the second round. The semis featured Mitchell taking on Zoop Zellonis and Bob Cook facing veteran Renegade racer Bob Kurgan. Mitchell took out Zellonis, and Cook pulled off the upset to get past Kutgan, setting up a blower versus nitrous final round. Mitchell had been marginally quicker all weekend, so the odds were in his favor, but Cook got him on the tree and stayed out front, winning with an 8.856 at 151 mph to a quicker and faster 8.842 at 153 mph.

All 12 of the BFGoodrich Drag Radial field stayed for Monday’s eliminations, and all eyes were on number one qualifier Trace Meyer. Meyer took out Jason Lee in the first round and looked to put a hurtin’ on Chip Provenza in the second, but Provenza unloaded an insane 8.450 at 167 mph pass to get past Meyer’s also great 8.505 at 164 mph. Phil Clemmons took our class champ Chris Little with the quickest pass in the class’s history, a brutal 8.343. Dave Hopper also advanced, and then took out Clemmons in the semis, while Provenza got the bye. In the final, Hopper left first, but slowed to a 9.00 while Provenza won with an 8.936 at 169 mph.

5.0 Mustang Real Street also had all 14 cars stay for eliminations. Tim Matherly, winner of the first two events, qualified in fourth place with his supercharged modular Mustang, behind Bruce Hemminger, Chris Tuten, and Robin Lawrence. But it was Matherly in the final round, thanks to consistent 9.80’s. In the other lane was Hemminger who had run as quick as 9.73 in eliminations. Matherly got out first with a .063-second advantage and laid down a stellar 9.69 at 139 mph pass to take out Hemminger’s nitrous car.

For the third race in a row, Gene Hindman and Rich Groh met in the final round of Tremec Pure Street. Hindman won the first two races at Bradenton and Silver Dollar, so Groh was looking for some payback. He got it at National Trail in one of the closest races of the weekend. When the two cars crossed the finish line, the scoreboards showed identical elapsed times of 10.579! Groh’s .020-second starting line advantage made him the winner.