n what may have been the most anticipated drag racing match-up of the summer, Don Burton and Jarrett Halfacre met for the MSD Super Street Outlaw title at the NMRA Motive Gear Nationals at Halfacre's home track, Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, IL. After battling through a massive field of legal "Ten-Five" (Editor's Note: Those cars actually run on tires with 10.5 tread width instead of the 10.5W tires that are actually 11.5 inches wide.), machines which included the quickest and fastest runs of the year, fans around the country had cell phone towers and Internet message boards overloaded with the news that the two rivals were scheduled to meet for the championship.

NMRA event director Gene Bergstrom met with both drivers prior to the final round. "I told them in no uncertain terms that we would allow them to approach the race however they wished", said Bergstrom. "We would not interfere with a staging duel, if one happened, in any way. However, I also told them that, because of the intensity of their relationship and the nature of their previous meetings, we would run the MSD Super Street Outlaw final round as the last thing down the track for the event. This way, their race would not affect any other final round in any way. I instructed the starting line crew to let Burton and Halfacre do what they want. I told the crew I'd bring chairs out to the starting line for them if things got really serious."