Milwaukee’s Steve Dorn led the Screamin’ Eagle Top Fuel field with a blazing 6.34/213.10 effort but the big news came during Friday’s test session when the Latus Motors entry hit a remarkable 4.11/179 eighth on an early shut-off pass to come within four hundredths of a second of the two-year-old AHDRA eighth-mile record. With only two qualifying sessions completed, Joey Sternotti’s New Jersey entry was only one hundredth behind Dorn with a 6.35 at Top Speed of the Meet, 227.31 mph.

A tremendous battle was brewing in AHDRA’s heavily restrictive Pro Stock Eliminator. The bright yellow Dyno Power Buell of Mark Venia unleashed a string of 8.0-second passes with a best of 8.06/160.56 to pace the field before the final qualifying session was scrapped.