Saturday’s nitro F/C show saw Peter Gallen shock the crowd and his opponents with a 5.72/250 lap. IHRA regular John Dunn huffed a blower and blew his new Mopar body off the car starting the IHRA new season just how he finished the 2010 season.

Arch-rivals Gallen and Romine met in the final round that not only determined the overall nitro funny car winner but also produced the Championship points leader going into the next IHRA show.

Just how serious these two racers are when racing each other? Both Gallen and Romine delivered their best RT’s of the meet. Gallen’s .081 leave gave him a .01 advantage over Romine who had a .091. But on a track that was growing rapidly cooler and slicker as the temperatures dropped, the three-time IHRA Top Fuel World Champ displayed his driving skills and pedaled his way to a 6.01/237.80 win over Gallen’s out the back door 6/14/244.96 effort and gave him overall Funny Car title.

“It has been 10 years since I last raced IHRA and 10 years since I won one of these things,” Romine said. “The format has changed a lot over the years, but we had a lot of fun. The track was perfect, the fans were great and we beat Gallen, so what more could you ask for?

“Gallen and Sanders are both very tough competitors and of course ‘Mr. Explosive’ got us last night, but we got Gallen tonight. Actually, going back over the last few times we have raced Gallen, he was one up on me in wins so now I think we are one up on him , o that is definitely a good ending.”