Second Round

The second round opened with the final competition bye of the night as Gulitti ran another 4.11 at 175.51 matching his first round effort. The second pair up was a classic blower versus nitrous match up. Hickl’s blown ’41 Willys and Otwell’s nitrous-assisted ’68 Camaro left the line together and it was Hickl getting to the finish line first at 4.09 at 179.28 ahead of Otwell’s 4.13 at 171.95.

Ortiz lined up against Hendrix next, and Ortiz took the win with a run of 4.23 at 172.02 while in the left lane Hendrix (shown) had his hands full keeping his ’92 Firebird off the wall as he got oil under the rear tires and saw both lanes sideways for 600 feet, but was able to take it back to the pits with no scars.

Last match up of round two had Blomberg advance to the semifinals over Moyer with a 4.21 at 172.35 to 4.34 at 143.68 victory.

Semifinals

Bob Gulitti

The semifinal pairings had four of the most consistent cars of eliminations and the lone blown car to make the elimination rounds. Hickl and Gulitti were the first to roll out of the water box to do battle. In one of the better races of the night at the green Hickl got a slight advantage and carries it to the win carding a 4.06 at 179.35 to a game 4.09 at 175.78 for Gulitti.

Tim Ortiz

Two of the Texas Automatic Outlaw Pro Mod regulars matched up in the next semi final. Blomberg and Ortiz produced the most adventurous race of the evening. The flash of yellow produced a red light for Ortiz and he ran it to the line, which proved a judicious move as Blomberg’s mount steadily drifted left and more left, finally crossing the centerline, ending up directly behind Ortiz, and taking out the finish line cone. The “worst or first” rule in effect handed the victory and trip to the final to Ortiz.