The “Orange Crate” spins the tires. (Jeff Burk photo)

None of the other teams in the first session made a representative pass on the tricky surface and the bump spot (9.219/108.03) for the first round was held down by Michael Irvin driving Dale Suhr’s “Orange Crate” dragster.

It began raining about 30 minutes after the last pass Friday night and the track management forced the second qualifying session to be run on Saturday followed by three rounds of eliminations. That meant the winner of the event would be making four laps instead three on Saturday for the World Series event title.

Saturday Qualifying

The plan was to make a last qualifying lap at 11 a.m. Saturday morning, which would allow the qualifiers plenty of time to turn their cars around for the first round of Eliminations scheduled for 6 p.m. Unfortunately, the overnight torrential rains raised the water table high enough to seep up through the newly paved Cordova surface. That was the first time in anyone’s memory that “weepers” were an issue at the 59-year-old track (the first three World Series of Drag Racing were held at a different track). So the drivers and cars sat in the lanes until 3:30 p.m. before they started the second qualifying round.

Legendary promoter Bob Bartel was at the event. He built the track and brought the World Series of Drag Racing there. (Scott Bessee photo)