Words and photos by Brian Losness

With only two rounds of qualifying for this event, it really put the pressure on both the crew chiefs and the drivers to make the show at Firebird Raceway near Boise, Idaho, on the May Day weekend. Eleven AA Funny Cars made the trip to the Ignitor for an NHRA Hot Rod Heritage event and they were greeted with not just cool but cold weather conditions. Twice on Friday qualifying was interrupted by of all things, snow. 

But when Saturday came about the snow had moved on, temperatures came up slightly, and many of the teams were baffled by the great air that was at the high desert facility.

Experience paid off in the first session as Brett Harris at the wheel of the “Nitro Thunder” laid down a very nice 5.98-second run at 244.43 MPH. The Utah Posse is testing a new combination that is paying off in spades, as the team has taken the 396 out of the top fueler and directly transplanted it into the funny car. 

According to Harris, “We dropped it right into the funny car. We had to make some minor changes to the fuel system due to the funny car fuel pump rules, but for the most part it’s the same system, stuck a tranny in it.” 

The results were very impressive. 

Speaking of fuel pumps, it wasn’t all peaches and cream for the powerhouse two-car team of Steve Plueger. The first session was very unusual for the “L.A. Hooker” Plymouth Arrow driven by Steve Rajcic. The car never really made a move forward, however the front end went straight up, bounced off the wheelie bar and proceeded to blow the tires off of it. That behavior was blamed on a bad fuel pump.