NITRO FUNNY CAR Qualifying

DRO’s Bret Kepner calls it “Suicide Qualifying” when describing professional qualifying where competitors get just one lap to make a qualified field. That is what the IHRA professionals faced after their Friday qualifying was completely rained out at MIR. That meant they would not only qualify on Saturday but then face three more rounds of eliminations the same day. Winners of an IHRA pro class win a trophy they call “Ironman” and never has that name been more appropriate.

Defending IHRA Nitro Funny Car champ Peter Gallen made the haul from Pennsylvania for this event and showed that while he isn’t going to be at every IHRA event he will be a force to deal with when he shows. He qualified in the number 1 spot with a stout 5.778, 245.85 while Hale, with a refurbished and refreshed program, was second at 5.795, 251.77 and second generation racer Mike McIntire Jr. surprised with a 5.828, 234.49 for the third spot. The top half of the field was rounded out by Mike Smith in the Henry Gutierrez Vega with a 5.847, 232.55 and St. Louis-based Greg “Jake” Jacobsmeyer held down the bump with a 5.957, 241.54.

Astonishingly the runaway points leader and winner of half of the IHRA Nitro James this year, Jason Rupert in his “Black Plague” Camaro, qualified last when he had severe tire shake caused by a defective tire and coasted to a 11-second effort. Reportedly, the tire shake was so bad the California driver had a severe headache for a couple of hours after the lap.

NITRO FUNNY CAR Eliminations

After the one qualifying session for all classes the IHRA went straight into eliminations and a resurgent Hale marched through the all 5-second field. He set low ET for the first round using a 5.800/250.41 to trailer a troubled Tim Boychuck who coasted through with a 11.075/76.21 losing effort.

Mike Smith defeated Bruce Litton with a 5.831/250.51 that was good for Top Speed of the round.

In the second round Gallen set Low ET of eliminations with a 5.790/245.18 that easily covered Smith’s 5.845/243.90 effort and in the other semifinal Hale beat McIntire in a pedal fest with a 6.515/191 to a 6.850/177.

The final was anti-climatic. Gallen driving his "Poverty Stricken" '77 Monza, consistently had the best reaction times all weekend and kept that streak going in the final leaving on Hale, but the engine quickly gave up in a ball of fire while Hale pedaled his way to the stripe with a 6.319-second pass at 237.05 mph. Gallen limped across the line with a 10.817, 84.95.