The first pair down the track saw Anthony Bronge in the “Punisher” Camaro, who qualified second with a 6.03, blow the tires off and watch veteran Doc Halladay in the “Telstar” Arrow cruise to a 6.135 win in the right lane.

The next contest saw Shawn Bowen racing Joe Haas at the wheel of Ted Guth’s “White Trash” Duster. The race was a classic “pedal fest” with both drivers in and out of the throttle a couple of times. At the 1000-foot lights Haas was ahead of Bowen by nearly a full second but Bowen recovered, got back on the pedal and drove by Haas at the finish line. Bowen’s charging 8.132 at 236.90 mph was enough to overcome Haas’s slowing 8.198 at just 156.08.

The third pair in the first round featured the ‘69 Mustang driven by team owner John Hale from Dallas, TX, versus Todd Lesenko and his ‘75 Camaro. In the upset of the race Lesenko lost when he blazed the tires right off the starting line and watched the “Texas Boss” Mustang tuned by Guy Tipton motor down the track on a tire-spinning 6.393/238.22 winning lap.

The final paring of the first round found two-time Series Champ Romine against Danny Miller’s Maverick driven by Randy Baker. Baker, in the right lane, blazed the tires to no one’s surprise, but in the left lane Romine stunned his peers and the crowd with a stellar 5.924/239.36 lap -- this after qualifying with a best of 6.16 on a track that no other car was able to get a hold of up to that point.