A/FUEL

Even the water couldn’t dampen Grisel’s enthusiasm.  (James Drew photo)

Along with standout A/Fuel Dragster hitters like Kin Bates and Darrell Waters, young Casey Grisel and his father, Gary, brought their new Jerry Darien-tuned dragster to fight it out, carding the #1 qualifying position with a solid 6.179 at 229.66-mph effort.

Second qualifier Kin Bates could only muster a 6.420 in the high altitude Vegas air, although he would improve in eliminations. 

Grisel plowed through the eight-car field eventually meeting Bates in the final, however Bates didn’t back up from his left lane burnout giving the single and A/Fuel trophy to Grisel with another stout 6.289 et at 228.69 mph.

JR. FUEL
Dean Carter of Glendale, Arizona took Jr. Fuel honors over Bud Hammer of Oxnard, Calif. Carter’s 7.106 took the stripe over Hammer’s 7.224 ET.

In a short field, the sleek ’68 Camaro of Tim Krupa from Lincolnton, N.C., won the AA/Gas finale with a 6.875 over the 6.966 of #1 qualifier Cecil Matthews’s ’57 T-Bird from Redwood, Calif. (Darr Hawthorne photo)

7.0 PRO
Glendora, California’s Will Martin in his ’69 Camaro led the ten-car 7.0 Pro field with his 7.022 qualifying effort and took home the trophy over Rich High’s dragster who left the starting line before the tree was activated.

NE1 
Jordan Frolka from Simi Valley, California and newlywed Alex Barrett from Beaumont, California posted identical reaction times (.047) but the win went to Frolka in the Nostalgia Eliminator 1 finale. Frolka’s dragster ran a 7.737 to Barrett’s 7.751 in the “Rocketeer” funny car.