Paul Romine (near lane) and Steve Nichols. (John Bisci photo)

Boychuck qualified in the sixth spot, which got him the honor of racing number 1 qualifier Paul Romine in the “Man O’ War”. Romine and tuner Mike Cavalieri came off the trailer with a qualifying lap of 5.743/244 on their very first lap of the season. Boychuk and Leong were ready for the Hoosier, defeating Romine with an impressive 5.773/245.36 lap to Romine’s troubled 6.822 at 176.50 mph.

Jason Rupert in the “Black Plague” defeated Ronny Young in the “Blue Max” with a 5.897/245.83 effort. Young had AA/FC champion turned Big Show Funny Car driver John Hale’s crew chief, Guy Tipton, helping at this race but had engine problems and coasted to 16.255 ET.

Washington State racer Mark Sanders in the “Mr. Explosive” Mustang defeated Maryland racer Steve Nichols’ 1970 Camaro with a nice 5.840/250.97 pass to bury Nichols 8.278/105.94 mph.

Because of the short field Boychuk singled into the finals while on the other side of the ladder defending IHRA Champ Rupert spanked Sanders with a 5.979/247.32 to get around Sanders’ slowing 6.129/231.30.

In the final Boychuk ran a 5.867/235.72 mph to a trailing 5.993/245.43 for Rupert.

“This is big for us,” Boychuk said in the winners circle. “We struggled for the last year-and-a-half or so and it’s been really painful. We started off winning a lot, then it kind of all went away on us. Now it’s back – the car’s back. I bought out my partner, Ron Hodgson ... he didn’t want to race as much as I did. Now we got Twig Ziegler and Roland both working on the car and they’ve got it back again.”

Drag racing legend Roland Leong poses with Miss Nitro Jam and her Nitroettes. (John Bisci photo)