Jimmy Young’s “Young Guns” rail. (Scott Bessee photo)

There were 10 Nostalgia Funny Cars and four Nostalgia Top Fuel dragsters on hand. The dramatic and historic final round saw two-time DRO National Champion Paul Romine in a Funny Car finally get a long sought World Series victory defeating current series point leader Jimmy Young (Young was in as the first alternate) driving his blown-Hemi Top Fueler. Young and Romine left the race first and second, respectively, in the DRO national championship points.

Friday Qualifying

Qualifying and racing at this event was the most grueling and destructive in the recent history of the DRO series. Usually DRO nostalgia nitro teams get two shots to qualify on Friday night and race eliminations on Saturday. There was nothing “usual” about either Friday or Saturday at Cordova this year.  Rain and the constant threat of rain was the norm on Friday. But thanks to the unbelievable efforts of the track crew and a small window of dry weather, the DRO Challenge teams got in a qualifying session on what appeared to be a less than perfect track.

Ten Funny Cars and a series record four Top Fuel cars answered the call for the first of two rounds of qualifying. The first two pair that attempted a qualifier had absolutely no traction and all four cars spun the tires badly right off the line.

Then the third qualifying pair, Paul Romine in his “Man O’ War” Mustang and Marc White in Frank Ousley’s “Crop Duster,” made runs and Romine got the attention of his fellow racers with a straight-down-the-track 5.879/237.34 shot. Evidently the track wasn’t as bad as had been thought. (Jeff Burk photo)

Two-time DRO National Champ (2011-12) John Hale, taking advantage of a week off from driving Jim Dunn’s NHRA Big Show Funny Car, qualified next in his “One Bad Texan” with a tire spinning 6.017/253.47, followed by veteran big show tuner/driver Richard Hartman who, concerned with the track surface, opted for a high-gear only pass in the “Runnin’ Wild VI” and ran a 6.258/252.43.