NITRO FUNNY CAR

Nitro Funny Car was the only pro class at this race with more entries (11) than the qualified field and nitro funny racers had to qualify Friday night to race on Saturday. Jason Rupert led qualifying from start to finish in the class, driving the ”Black Plague" Camaro to the top of the qualifying charts with a blistering 5.780-second elapsed time at 249.03 miles per hour on the second and last qualifying lap Friday night. 

The surprise qualifier Friday (at least based on previous performance numbers) was Mark “Mr. Explosive” Sanders who ran a career best   5.816, 246.98 in qualifying Friday night thanks to tuner and son, Jake “Snake” Sanders. 

Greg Jacobsmeyer (near lane) and Mike McIntire Jr.

Behind that pair in qualifying were John “Bodie” Smith in Henry Gutierrez’s Jungle Jim Vega tuned by his dad Paul Smith. Smith was followed by another second-generation driver Mike McIntire Jr. (5.886) and Greg Jacobsmeyer (5.917). Tim Boychuk, John Hale and Ronny Young rounded out the all five-second field.

In the first round of Funny Car eliminations Saturday night Rupert opened by driving by Texan Ronny Young in the famed “Blue Max, then besting Missouri racer Greg “Jake” Jacobsmeyer.

Bruce Litton (J.M. Hallas photo)

While his car was on a rail throughout the weekend, Rupert received one lucky break in the semifinals when his car went up in smoke just after the hit of the throttle. Seemingly out of it, Rupert received a break when his opponent also ran into trouble allowing Rupert to coast to the line and into the final.

In the final Smith left first and was in front by a hundredth, but he couldn’t hold off Rupert and the “Black Plague” powered around Smith and won going away with a 5.746/252.38. The 252.38 is the fastest speed ever for an IHRA Nitro Funny, according to IHRA.

"When you look at these cars, all of them are just so competitive. We are lucky to have the great help and great team that we have to make this all happen," Rupert said. "Today we knew we were going up against a Paul Smith-tuned car, so when you are racing that guy you had better not be bashful at all. I knew we could run a good number, but I also knew they could run a good number. We just had to be on our game and thankfully we put it all together on that last run."