Words by Brian Losness - Photos by Brian and Amanda Losness

If you are a drag racer in the western part of the United States, the second weekend of August means just one thing, the Pepsi Nightfire Nationals at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho.

Now since this is a stop on the NHRA Heritage Series, and only one of three where both Top Fuel and Funny Car are running at the same event, it brings to the event that nostalgic feeling, as it should.

Therefore, when the event concluded late on Sunday evening, Aug. 11, there was truly a nostalgic feeling in the winners circle.

With diesel being over four dollars a gallon and airline tickets continually getting more and more expensive, there was a minor decline in the number of nitro cars, as there was seven cars for the eight-car show, and only a dozen floppers for the sixteen-car show. Pro Mods made up for May’s stop at Firebird, bringing eleven competitors for the eight-car show.

TOP FUEL

After qualifying there was a bit of a surprise as Brett Harris in the rebranded “Nitro Thunder” now called the “Nitro Hemi” top fueler and Ron August Jr. anchored the field at the helm of Mike Fuller’s “Forever Young” fueler.

In the first round, Harris got the first round bye. Murphy handled Brendan Murry in his beautiful old school dragster. Rick White had the closest scare as he and Long Island’s own Tony Bartone were in a real dogfight until Bartone’s car started to get loose at about 700 feet and T-Bone decided to shut the car off and save it for Epping, New Hampshire, in September.