Darrell Water left slightly quicker at the starting line, but horsepower wins with the e big 464 inch AJ power turning in another 6.514, 209.69 mph to eliminate veteran Tony Waters and his son at 6.736, 189.69 mph as Darrell clicked it early. Kumre showed some great driving skills against 2010 Champ Kin Bates, as he reeled off a reaction time of .004 and it was all over with his best pass of 6.501, 205.10 mph. Dr. Bates shook the tires badly and wisely shut off.

It looked like a dead even match for the final but the “Pain n Pleasure” team could not piece their dragster back together in time so Bill Wayne’s legged out another fine 6.528, 214.42 mph for this fine team!

JR FUEL

Seven of the nostalgia’s best Junior Fuel cars were on hand at the Strip for the Rockabilly/Heritage Series event with Mr. Consistent, Dean Carter, and his Lucas Oil-backed injected 402-ci dragster into the top spot at 7.078 and 185.99 mph. Carter then got the odd lot single and what did the red, white and blue dragster do? A 7.074, 187.11 mph this time.

Veteran racer Don Enriquez, who been doing this for many years, got the holeshot (.016 RT) against the other real veteran in the class 69-year-old Bud Hammer (.093) but at the 1320 marker, it was Hammer in the Hammer n Hansen orange JR Fueler at 7.231, 183.82 mph. Talk about a close race! Enriquez ran 7.341/182.87 and with his starting line advantage no one knew who won except for the win light!

Bob Lander, who was the quickest JR for two sessions, got a free ride into the next round when Mark McCormick could not stay on Monday either.

Fred Notzka of Ventura, Calif., easily defeated the team of Jeff Jones and company all the way from Garland, Texas, with their immaculate show quality dragster. Notzka ran 7.206/177.72 over the Texas team’s 7.677 at 173.92 mph.

In the closest JR fuel race of the day Sebastopol, California’s Landers left first and stayed there 7.187, 183.23 mph to Netsuke’s 7.222, 184.27 mph. Carter, who had run nothing but 7.07’s fell off a bit to a 7.100, 186.30 mph, but it was good enough to edge Hammer’s 7.2442, 183.32 mph.

The final was a great one as Lander knew he had to cut a number on Carter in the Lucas car. He had a fine reaction of .025 to Carter’s decent .059 but you just can’t outrun Mr. Consistent with another 7.071, 186.46 mph to a close but losing effort of 7.196/184.62 for Lander.  (Donna Bistran photo)