Number one qualifier and race winner Juarbe wowed the crowd during qualifying with some long smokey burnouts that got the fans on their feet.

In a truly international final round, Juarbe wheeled his immaculate 96-inch  wheelbase, all-steel Toyota Corolla to the win over Canadian Carl Brunet’s turbocharged 4-cylinder Saab-engined ‘08 Pontiac GXP for the title.

Juarbe’s win earned his team the $20,000 first prize money plus their 6.696 winning ET in the second round was good for Low ET of the meet and an additional $5,000 payday. So the Puerto Rico team left the event with $25,000 of track owner/promoter Carl Weisinger’s money. Carl Brunet got $4,000 for his runner-up effort.

The race, co-promoted by track operator Weisinger and his friend David Vidal, is unique in drag racing history for several reasons. I can find no record of another heads-up, no break-out race like this one with just one class of cars and a documented 118 entries Also, it was certainly the largest payday ever for an Import car drag race winner.