Steve Romanazzi from Visalia, CA piloted his Donnie Couch-tuned “Warrior” 1979 Vega-bodied funny car to his first nitro funny car win from the #2 qualifying position. In the final round Romanazzi defeated a red-lighting Kris Krabill to take the win.
Top Fuel qualifying was lead by Brad Thompson’s 5.746 247.11 MPH in this round two pass sequence by Bryan Ellis. Thompson was defeated in the semi-finals by eventual Top Fuel runner-up Jim Murphy.
Fourteen Nitro Funny Cars made the tow to the Patch and Dennis LaCharite’s new ’69 GTO showed up with a new Murf McKinney chassis and a beautiful hand formed carbon fiber body made over the winter by the team. LaCharite qualified third with a 6.114 at 239.36 MPH and was defeated by event winner Steve Romanazzi in the semi-final round in a door handle to door handle race. LaCharite went out in that round with an improved 6.073 239.61 pass to Romanazzi’s better 6.039 231.95 MPH run.