With the championship sewed up for Krabill, the final event of the 2016 was going to be for the trophy and the check. There were nearly three dozen floppers going for sixteen slots in the field. Five-fifties and five-sixties were being thrown around like candy. Another IHRA interloper, Jason Rupert, three-time IHRA champion and former NHRA champion, was (to put it mildly) wanting to prove a point. “I just wanted to prove to so many people who were talking about the fact that we were cheating and other things. People don’t realize just how hard we work at this,” stated Rupert during a phone interview.

Rupert then set about dominating the event by running a slew of 5.60’s and 5.50’s. Moreover, he averaged a stellar .064 reaction time throughout eliminations. His final round opponent was the 2016 Champion Kris Krabill.

There is still some heartburn about the Victory body with some of the competitors, while others have taken the approach of, if you can’t beat them, join them.

However, either the early model Trans Am bodied cars or early model Camaros won the events on the schedule in 2016.

The Bucky Austin team with driver “Hollywood” Kris Krabill who took this year’s title with one of the Firebird Trans Am body, have already sold that winning car, and taken delivery of a brand new Victory chassis along with a new Victory “New Era” 69 Camaro body.

The other subject matter that most of the funny car owners and drivers were happy with but some were not as happy with was the UNFCA, or United Nitro Funny Car Association, an organization put together by a group of the funny car owners and administrated by former promoter extraordinary Bill Doner.

Like with any association, there are going to be those who think it is a great idea and those who do not see it that way.

Nevertheless, whether or not one agrees or disagrees with what the UNFCA is doing or attempting to do, at least the UNFCA is trying to do something to promote at least the nitro funny car class. This is more than what the current sanctioning body is doing for the class.