The next pairing brought a battle of heavyweights as Leonard Ament and the “Black Magic” blown Fiat squared off with points leader and currently undefeated Willie Brainerd in the “Black Gold” blown rail.  Ament got a huge advantage off the line and was out front by a nose as the cars passed the eighth mile.  As they neared the traps it sounded like Ament pedaled it to ensure he didn’t break out, then saw Brainerd pull ahead and got back on the throttle, but it was too late as Brainerd took the stripe and the win with a 7.86 at 145 mph to Ament’s 8.17 at 150 mph in a great drag race. 

Next out was a pair of silver blown front engine dragsters as Chris Stouffer and Steve Matthews lined up in what would be another great side by side drag race.  Stouffer had the advantage off the starting line, the best reaction time of the first round (.073) which earned him the Good Vibrations “Quick Reaction Time” Bonus.  As the slingshots blasted down the quarter mile side by side, Matthews pulled ahead at the top end to take the win and knock out the number one qualifier with a 7.70 at 149 mph over Stouffer’s 7.78 at 172 mph. 

In the final pair of the opening elimination round, Rich Witko lined up his “Terminator” blown funny car against the “Fair Warning” blown altered of Dustin Johnson.  Johnson had discovered a broken front end frame rail preparing for the opening round and answered the call knowing he couldn’t go safely down the track, simply idling to the starting line and staging the car, hoping to benefit from a red light or crossed centerline from Witko, who laid down a monster eighth mile burnout.  Witko was off the line with a green light and ran it to the eighth mile, taking the win with an 8.54 at 114 mph and advancing to the semi-final.