At the first race of the season contested at Byron (Ill.) Dragway, last year’s series champ, Dan Beale met Mike Volkart in the first round and got trailered. Beale got some revenge at Eddyville. Despite a less than stellar .116 RT, Volkart couldn't run the number in the first round at Eddyville and Beale could. Beale was vulnerable with a .116 RT and Volkart had a respectable .04 light, but a 6.67 on his 6.50 index handed the victory to Beale who eased his Pontiac down the track for the win.

Beale stepped up his game after his first round gift and was deadly on the tree for the rest of the race with an average RT of .031.

While the defending champ was making up for a bad first race, Al Corda, who tied for the points championship last year, continued to have bad luck this season with a rare red light against veteran Mitzi Herzing, who was obviously ready for the NHRA Stock Eliminator hitter as she a great .025 light and ran just .300 over her 6.25 index.

Other first round notable winners included BJ Bax who cut a .03 light and then ran just .010 over his 7.50 index defeating Jim Hagenhoff's hard-charging ‘65 Hemi Plymouth. Phil Cathey's bad luck continued when, after mechanical problems in the first round had sidelined him at the season opener at Byron, he left .0003 early to turn on the red light at Eddyville. 

In quarter-final action Diepenbrock used a .034 light combined with  a 7.03 on his 7.00 index to trailer the always-tough Russ Berens and his ’67 Hemi-powered Plymouth .

Series rookie Scott Bourrell showed that Super Stock cars with four-speeds can be both fast and consistent. In the semi’s his ’64 Hemi Dodge ran a winning 6.01 on a 6.00 dial-in at 115 mph.