Adding to the pressure was the fact that both Halfacre's yellow turbocharged 358-cubic inch '88 Mustang and Burton's nitrous-aided 440-inch '80 Mustang had clocked 7.713-second passes in the third round of eliminations. In the semi-finals, Halfacre disposed of current NMRA SSO point leader Manny Buginga with a career-best 7.68/185.21 while Burton opted to save his equipment on a scheduled bye run.

When the match finally commenced at 6:00 PM, most racers felt another staging marathon would take place. Both drivers had filled fuel tanks to capacity and had iced down

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induction systems since their semi-final runs. However, since Halfacre had won both previous matches, some felt that Burton would stage his Aberdeen, Maryland, Mustang quickly for the third bout.

After a brief burnout by Halfacre and a 200-foot tire-heater by Burton, the two inched to the beams and pre-staged. Almost instantly, Halfacre "put 'er on the chip" and staged; Burton followed three seconds later and, in a flash, watched Halfacre jump to a holeshot of eight hundredths of a second. In one of the best races of the year, Burton powered to a career-best 7.69/179.40 to tackle Halfacre's 7.82/181.28 only 12.2 feet before the finish line.