The last car to make an attempt was Will Martin in his beautiful red and black Mustang. The car was fired up, but before they could even move up to make a burnout, it was shut back off. The oil tank reportedly became over-pressurized and split one of the welds. In the words of Firebird track announcer Scott New, “it was looking like the Exxon Valdez.”

The second session would prove to be even more interesting. All six teams came out to make attempts. Neither Hale nor Obalek could improve on their times, while Davenport continued to struggle, only picking up four hundredths, bring him to a 6.65 run. The real improvement was Rupert, who just crushed everybody else, running a nice 5.82 at 250.06 mph for a new track record, not to mention the thrill of victory.

Now for the agony of defeat. Essentially all Martin had to do was stage the car under his own power and he would be in the show. The Brett Johansson-tuned car fired right up and all looked good as Martin did the burnout, but as he backed up, liquid, which appeared to be fuel, was spotted on the ground. Chaos set in as team members and track and NHRA officials were giving contradictory signals to shut off or to hurry up and back up to stage. Just as the car got to the Christmas tree, oil started coming out of the car and Martin was told to shut off. Seldom does a car fail to qualify for a short field, but this was one such time.

The first round on Sunday would find Rupert with a bye, Obalek and Davenport meeting, and Hale vs. and Kurt Cruise. 

Obalek continued to impress as he set Low ET of the round at 5.86 to cover Davenport’s troubled run. Up next was Rupert, who ran a 5.89 on his single.