Nick Poloson and Donnie Massey rolled out to kick off the season with side by side burnouts and get the first round of qualifying underway. Poloson went 4.37 at 166 mph while Massey got out of shape and lifted early. Jack Hodgson fields one of the baddest blown alcohol altereds in the circuit and laid down a monstrous 3.93 at 177 mph in the “Southern Outlaw.” Brad Rigler’s “Toxic” clicked off a very respectable 4.14 at 171 mph in the other lane as the two set the pace early.
The OFAA’s youngest pilot, 18-year-old John Broussard, set a new career best mark with a 4.20 at 163 mph in the Louisiana-based “Purple Haze” machine. Defending champ Bobby Marriott brought out a new look “Shockwave” car and picked up right where he left off last year with a strong 4.06 at 188 mph.
Tim Hay’s “High Voltage Hayride” went on a wild guardrail to centerline ride and tripped the clocks with a 4.55 at 131 mph. Anthony Whitfield’s “Mighty Mouse” Chevrolet went 4.60 at 127 mph, which was enough to slide into the bottom half of the field. The “Nitro Madness” gang from Des Moines, Iowa, made the tow to Denton with new pilot Sean Belt wheeling the beautiful Fiat bodied hot rod. Belt’s 4.78 at 113 mph was good enough to get him in the field after first session. Poloson and Hay were the two quickest winners out of the Lufkin elimination rounds and would line up in the second qualifying session to decide an event champ.
Donnie Massey improved on his career best with a very nice 4.05 at 172 mph, his best pass since switching to fuel. Whitfield improved to a 4.51 at 154 mph in the other lane, good enough to qualify at his first OFAA event in the “Mighty Mouse.” Rigler stayed strong with a 4.30 at 166 mph with Missouri runner Howard Knowles in the other lane who struggled to a 6.92 and failed to make the cut.
The next pair resulted in an extremely scary incident with OFAA rookie Chris White in his race with Marriott. White started getting out of shape around half track and he worked the steering wheel hard in an effort to get in the show. As he closed on the finish line White lost control when some welds failed in the steering system and sent him cross track into Marriott’s lane who skillfully avoided hitting the out of control car. White collided with the wall past the traps and the fuel tank split open and the car caught on fire as it came to a grinding halt. The fire got more intense as each second passed with White still strapped in the car. Ironically, White is a 21-year-old fully trained firefighter.