As Densham was shutting down from his best ever pass, he reached for the parachute lever and the mechanism came off in his gloved hand, propelling him deep into the Pomona top end sand trap. “We have been very fortunate to qualify at every race and have a lot of fun doing it,” said Densham. “It was a good run. I feel I got the best team in drag racing. They do more with less than anybody out here and I think we’ve proved that every time we come out here. We’ll carry on the best we can. It’s gonna be a great weekend.”

Densham was fine, but the newly painted ’10 Charger was missing a large chunk of the front end up to the headlights and may have slight, but fixable front-end damage.

Johnny Gray  (Tim Marshall photo)

Second, and showing no indication of a sophomore slump, Courtney Force was right behind Densham with a 4.071 with Top Speed for Thursday of 311.49 mph in her ’12 Mustang. Johnny Gray sits third in a DSR ’12 Dodge Charger with a 4.087 ET at 308.78 mph.

The first session of Pro Stock was fun to watch as seven Pro drivers carded 6.5’s on what should have been a green Pomona track. Colorado’s V. Gaines’ Dodge Avenger grabbed the #1 qualifier running a solid 6.58 ET at 211.49 mph. Gaines has not won in four years, but finished last season seventh in Pro Stock points, a career best.

V Gaines  (Tim Marshall photo)

“We had a really good end of last year and made a lot of progress,” Gaines said. “We’ve got a hot car and a fantastic engine program. We are looking forward to this year. For a single-car team to do what we’re doing I think it is phenomenal. It’s extremely gratifying when you’re doing it all yourself.”
Jason Line’s Summit Racing-backed ’12 Camaro was close behind Gaines in second with his 6.541 ET at a top speed of 212.43 mph, followed by Mike Edwards 6.454, Erica Enders #4 at 6.555, Vincent Nobile #5 at 6.579, Greg Anderson #6 at 6.580 and Greg Stanfield at 6.585 elapsed time for #7.