Nichols had just had Neil and Parks Chassis rework his car dropping the engine down in the chassis and moving it forward a couple of inches. "I've been running 75 lbs of weight in the front of the car and I have an 18 gallon tank and it still was wheelstanding." said Nichols. Nichols who was the number two qualifier was heavily favored to win of Lenon but after warming up in the pits with no problem the ignition failed when his crew applied the start and Nichols had to watch Lennon make a single for the upset win. Next up were rivals Randy Baker and John Dunn, Baker left first with a .118 RT to Dunn's .291 and he had a better 60 ft time but then the Maverick started ot pull up lame and by the 1000ft mark was trailing Dunn slightly. Dunn ran a 6.322 to Bakers 6.53 and got to the strip .0096 of a second before Baker to put himself into the second round by the narrowist of margins in another upset. Next up it was the number one qualifier Peter Gallen and his potent '74 Vetga and number 8 qualifier Paul Romine who had not goine down the track more than 69ft under power all weekend. The smart moneywas on Gallen. Gallen left first with a .155 RT to Romines strange .291. Gallen had a .997 sixty foot time to Romines 1.038 and was well ahead of Romine at the 330 but then ignition woes overcame Gallen too and he fell  back at the eighth-mike mark and Romine mad up the holeshot tp win his first round of competion since returning to Nostalgia racing with a 6.283/229.00 clocking to Gallen's coasting powerless 7.15.

The last car down the track was Shawn Bowen on a single since Walls had damaged his motor and couldn't answer the call. Bowen ran low ET of the round at 5.171/222.44

The second round of Funny Car Eliminations follows Top Fuel at sometime after 10:00AM in the morning. Be there or be square.

Top Fuel Eliminations

In the First round of Eliminations Saturday Afternoon in Top Fuel Denver Shutz showed that he has the car to beat as he ran a stout 5.837 to drop number eight qualifier Jeff Miller. Shutz's 1000ft marks were a 4.953/203. Miller left on Shutz with a .097 to a .193 for Shutz but it was all Shutz from that point on.

The second pairing matched up Rick Rogers against Illinois racer Robert Bridges. Bridges ran his personal best ET with a 6.05 clocking that buried Roger's 6.219. The Midwest's best AA/FD belongs to Dale Suhr and Roger "Rader"  Lechtenberg drove it to its best ET so far at Indy with a 5.985/254.09 that easily covered Kevin Brewer's 6.248 in the third pairing of the first round. And the last pair out matched up Howard Haight and Brandon Murry in his Arias-headed Chevy, Haight ripped off a 5.960/245.40 to make short work of Murry's 7.881/127.89. In keeping with their tradition the Goodguys will run a "B'' field for the Top Fuel cars that didn't make the quick 8 and they will run tommorrow.