(Ron Lewis photo)

The legendary Chris Karamesines got a first-round win over Richie Crampton, but blew his engine. DSR crew helped the Greek’s team rebuild for the second round, but Dave Connolly took the win.

Crampton reacted to the green light a massive .111-second before Karamesines, but he was lost in tire smoke a fraction of a second later while Karamesines labored down the track with several cylinders out. Although Crampton tried to pedal and get the car going again, it was too far gone, with Karamesines crossing first with a 4.039 at 276.92 mph to his resigned 7.567 at 94.33 mph.

"When you smoke the tires that early it's almost impossible to get it under control and get moving again," Crampton said. "I tried to pedal it because I could see he was having a bit of engine trouble but it wouldn't hook back up, and when I saw his car streaking away I just said, 'Enough of this,' and saved the engine from any damage.

Coming into Gainesville Doug Kalitta was leading the points for the first time since 2014. Rebounding from two disappointing qualifying laps on Friday, the Mac Tools dragster moved into the top half of the field on Saturday. Kalitta and Dave Connolly were the last pair to see the track in a wacky Top Fuel first round on Sunday. They left together and were side-by-side through the 330 mark. However, Kalitta’s dragster began to lose traction and Connolly held on for the win. Kalitta slipped to third place in the point standings. (Ron Lewis photo)