ELIMINATIONS

The first round of Eliminations started in front of a large crowd at around 7 p.m. The first pairing found series rookie Bazz Young and his Jerry Newman-tuned Camaro racing Paul Romine making his first appearance as the driver of Frank Ousley’s Duster. Young left on Romine by just .002 and even though he ran his best speed and ET of the event (6.155/225.88), it wasn’t enough to hold off Romine and the Duster. Romine slowed to a 6.10/222.31 but had enough to overtake Young and advance to round two.  

First-time DRO series competitor Wayne Mellinger gets our vote for best burnout of the event with this one.

Next up were series regulars Anthony Bronge in his “Punisher” Camaro and Missouri driver Marc White. White left first followed quickly by Bronge. Both cars shook at almost the same instant but Bronge pedaled his engine and drove down the track to overtake White who had lifted when his car shook but never got back in the throttle. Bronge’s 7.642/198.90 just got around White’s 7.858/118.35 to advance to the semis.

Next pairing found defending series champ Hale versus Minick. At the green Minick “double-stepped” the throttle while Hale streaked to a 5.714/237, easily covering Minick’s 12.076/65.18. Hale’s engine broke a rod on the pass.

The last pair in the first round had Bowen driving the “Violator” Firebird versus the Vette bodied car driven by Wayne Mellinger out of Ohio. Mellinger did a huge burnout and blew the supercharger in the process giving Bowen a single and the opportunity to set the speed and/or ET series records of 5.71/252. Bowen ran yet another lap of over 250 mph but neither his 5.873 ET nor speed (250.57 mph) were enough to set a record.