Mike Lewis between the pipes of the Brand X Mustang set Low ET in qualifying with an off the trailer 5.77 thanks to Paul Smith power. (Dave Milcarek photo)

Hall of Fame announcer Bob Frey (left) introduced Lewis before the first round. (Jeff Burk photo)

The Maple Grove management decided to revive a promotion that was very popular in the heyday of nitro funny car, a “foxhunt,” which means all women are given free admission. The results were a very nice crowd on hand to witness nitro cars qualifying under under the lights. The only word to describe qualifying for this race was “brutal.”

Lex Dudas’s Maple Grove crew had the track in perfect condition. The teams knew it would take the best just to qualify so mixed in with record speeds and ET’s were crashes, oil-downs and some fancy driving. Seven of the eight qualifiers made the field with a sub-six-second pass. Qualifying was led by hometown racer Mike Lewis in Henry Gutierrez’s Paul Smith-tuned “Brand X” Mustang with a track record 5.775/247.11.