Friday’s other big storyline came from the Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car camp as Peter Gallen, who had already clinched the championship in the popular class entering the weekend, didn’t hold anything back and recorded a potential world record lap of 5.709, 244.60, while picking up his fourteenth career Ironman over Greg Jacobsmeyer. 

Gallen recorded the lap in Friday’s final, blasting down the track in his 1974 “Poverty Stricken” Vega with little challenge from Jacobsmeyer who recorded a 6.548, 213.77 in the runner-up effort. In the consolation pairing Funny Car veteran Laurie Cannister recorded a round win over John Dunn. 

Now all Gallen had to do was back up his 5.709-second time on Saturday to own a new world record to go along with his championship Ironman. 

Another big winner on Friday was Ron Maroney who drove to his fourth win in the last five Fuel Altered championships over Jason Richey. Maroney drove the “Nanook” machine to a 5.389, 227.54 lap to defeat Richey who posted a 6.557, 224.66. 

The win, Maroney’s fifth of the season, essentially sealed the championship for the “Nanook” team entering Saturday’s season finale.