Eddie Roach

The 2013 series champion, Chris Domino, and current points leader Tim Ortiz rolled up next with Domino carding a 4.46 at 162.63 as Ortiz ran a steady and true 4.27 at 166.48. Next up Eddie Roach and his split window ’63 Vette ran a smooth 4.34 at 164.65 while perennial series runner Bengt Blomberg and his Firebird had troubles and legged a 5.51 at 99.36.

Next pair out had 2014 series champion Paul Brandt in his blown ’88 IROC Z Camaro and Dennis Hendrix Nitrous Firebird. Both drivers had issues on their runs as Brandt ran a modest 4.91 at 126.80 and Hendrix shook and coasted to a 7.84 at 66.43.

The next pair saw the return to the track of Richard Otwell behind the wheel of his ’68 nitrous motivated Camaro and series regular Doug Morales in his ’68 fogged Camaro. Otwell had been fighting gremlins in testing lately but laid down a solid 4.27 at 157.56 while Morales had trouble and registered a 7.02 at 61.45.

The final pair of the first qualifying session had Turbo Todd Moyer, running with the TAO for the first time, and the return after an almost two-year absence of Luis Hidalgo. Hidalgo ran a steady 4.61 at 145.77 mph while Moyer stepped up and went to the top portion of the field with a great 4.15 at 174.22.

The second session saw improvement from some and hard breaks for others. The first two out for the second session saw Bengt Blomberg’s ’Firebird step up and run 4.29 at 168.79 while Chris Domino improved to a 4.20 at 172.22. Shannon Wix ran a consistent 4.53 at 159.35 on a single. Next up E.J. Hickl broke on the burnout and Bob Gulitti ran another strong 4.12 at 175.03. Like Hickl before him, Paul Brandt broke before getting the Black ’88 IROC fired, the damage terminal, and he was done for the night, which left Dennis Hendrix to improved to 4.67 at 154.75.

The next pair had Tim Ortiz slow to a 4.39 at 150.05 as Eddie Roach in the other lane also slowed to a 4.53 at 160.26.

Richard Otwell’s crew works on repairing the reverser.

Richard Otwell broke the reverser after his burnout and Doug Morales also had a no run for session. Luis Hidalgo slowed to a 4.77 at 125.35 while Todd Moyer stepped up and dropped the first “0” of the night to take the top spot on the qualifying list and top ET and speed of the session running a strong 4.09 at 186.80.