(Jeff Burk photo)

In the other lane  on that qualifying lap was the East Coast’s best AA/FC Peter Gallen in the “Poverty Stricken” Monza who ran 5.787/244.69. It was one of the quickest side-by-side run in DRO series history and set the tone for the rest of the race.

The only car not in the sub-six-second zone in qualifying was Californian Mike Halstead driving Jim Broome’s Candies & Hughes tribute Cuda. Among the non-qualifiers were Canadian Tim Boychuck, Delaware racer Steve Nichols and Texas racer Ronny Young in the “Blue Max”.

Veteran Texas Funny Car racer Ronny Young had a tough outing at Maple Grove. On his first qualifying attempt he brushed the guard wall and was DNQ’d. His feelings were hurt more than the car was. Then on his second and last qualifying effort he just had too much power and struck the tires almost as soon as he hit the pedal, making for big header flames and smoking tires. (Jeff Burk photo)

Racing began promptly at 6 p.m. Saturday with the first two pair being number-one qualifier Mike Lewis’s ‘71 Mustang racing East Coast hitter “Crazzzy” Jake Crimmins’ ‘79 Mustang. Crimmins had the better RT  by 0.003 but the Paul Smith power in the “Brand X” Mustang made up the difference immediately. However, just as he had on his track record 5.77 lap on Friday, the tires started to shake at around 300 feet and the Mustang began drifting toward the center line. On Friday Lewis experienced the same deal but pedaled the car and recovered for a 5.77. That wasn’t to be the case this time as the car didn’t recover and Crimmins motored to a 5.971/232.35 win over Lewis’ dead game 6.186/248.07.