Final Qualifying Order:

1) Chris Stouffer (Cleburne, Texas) – 4.68 at 153 mph
2) Willie Brainerd (Mounds, Oklahoma) – 4.71 at 145 mph
3) Rich Witko (Denton, Texas) – 4.72 at 148 mph
4) Steve Matthews (Ardmore, Oklahoma) – 4.74 at 148 mph
5) Mike Wheeler (Paradise, Texas) – 4.870 at 139 mph
6) Leonard Ament (Denton, Texas) – 4.872 at 141 mph
7) Eddie Taylor (Arlington, Texas) – 5.09 at 128 mph
8) Rick Grindstaff (Dickinson, Texas) – 5.10 at 140 mph
9) Wes Breiten (Wolf City, Texas) – 6.70 at 141 mph
10) Bobby Bebout/Tryon (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) – 6.78 at 87 mph
11) Dustin Johnson (Davis, Oklahoma) – 7.06 at 117 mph
12) Don Holley (Denton, Texas) – No Time

With a few bugs shaken out and two passes under their belts, the TBFA teams drew cards to establish first round pairings and made their final tuning adjustments before heading to the lanes for the opening round of eliminations.

North Star Dragway owner and the lone TBFA blown funny car driver, Rich Witko, rolled through the water in the “Terminator” with another huge burnout, then lined up with points leader Willie Brainerd and the “Black Gold” blown dragster. This was a big match-up as the number two and three qualifiers crept into the beams. Brainerd got a slight advantage off the line as the cars blasted down the eighth mile in a great side-by-side pairing. Witko’s flopper went .001 under the index with a 4.649 at 149 mph giving the win to Brainerd who clicked off a nice 4.80 at 150 mph. Witko had a solid outing, qualifying third and running strong numbers but was a blink too quick at the stripe. 

Chris Stouffer lined up with Don Holley in the next pair as Holley’s car lost fire after the burnout. Holley climbed out and safely exited the racetrack while Stouffer caught the news of his first round gift, a bye run!

Stouffer hiked the front wheels and ran it through the traps lighting the boards with a 4.644 at 152 mph, .016 under the index, which put him in a bad spot despite the round win. If three of the remaining eight cars win their first round with legal elapsed time, Stouffer would be sidelined due to the index violation. With their fingers cross, team “Defiant” could do nothing but wait and watch as eliminations continued.
     
Dustin Johnson rolled out along side Eddie Taylor in an altered vs. dragster battle. Taylor got the starting line advantage and put down his best run of the night with a 5.01 at 141 mph but Johnson drove around him with a 4.92 at 143 mph in the closest race of the first round (mov: .09 of a second). Taylor made three consecutive low five second passes and had a strong first outing of the season, but Johnson was moving to the semis.
     
Wes Breiten and Bobby Bebout lined up their blown altereds as eliminations continued. This one was wild from the get go as both cars fought for traction early, the drivers pedaled their way down and Bebout earned his first TBFA round win in his debut event with a 6.31 at 126 mph to Breiten’s 7.06 at 80 mph.
     
Steve Matthews had the luck of running the defending 2010 TBFA Champion Leonard Ament in his first elimination round with the series. Despite the name in the other lane, Matthews had a strong advantage over Ament on paper but, we don’t drag race on paper. Matthews over anticipated the tree and went red by -.379 while Ament clicked off a 5.39 at 98 mph to advance to the semi-final. Ament’s winning elapsed time also bumped Stouffer from a chance at competing in the semi-final due to his breakout.