Bill Dunlap

The car in third position was a pleasant surprise as Bill Dunlap driving the High Speed Special gave “Great White” a solid ride to a 5.77 at only 204.60.

A bigger surprise occurred in the second qualifying session when the defending CHRR top fuel champion Adam Sorokin in the Champion Speed Shop dragster did not make the field. On the first run the car was shut off when a fuel line fitting cracked. On a planned early shut off second pass Sorokin had trouble just past halftrack.

“It got just past halftrack and I saw a flash out of the left bank and I stepped off of it. Then the canopy was soon covered in oil and I pretty much knew when I made the turn off the run would be disallowed and we would be done,” stated a dejected Sorokin on Sunday morning.

The first half of round one started according to plan as the quicker qualified cars advanced. White at 5.68, Dunlap ran a 5.76, Jim Young ran a 5.84, and Rick McGee in the new “Overtime Special” at 5.82, all moved on to round two.

Then Rick Williamson and Denver Schutz pulled to the starting line. At the green Williamson in the Team Craig digger moved first and was able to hold off Schutz to the stripe, 5.80/252.90 to The Raisin Express’s slowing 5.82 at 227.19.

Terry Cox in the “Cheetah IV”

The next pair pulled to the starting line were Dusty Green in the “Circuit Breaker” and Terry Cox in the “Cheetah IV”. At the green the “Circuit Breaker” moved first by almost six hundredths and had a huge advantage on Cox, but then the Breaker ran into issues that allowed Cox to go around for the win 5.87/226.58 to 6.52/168.56.