MSD SUPER STREET OUTLAW was once again one of the top classes with 24 cars entered. They were led by New Mexico's John Urist, who took his turbocharged beast through the traps in 7.98 seconds at 173 mph. Todd Fluman's ProCharger- blown car was the only other SSO machine in the sevens, running a 7.98 at 174mph. NMRA 2002 Rookie of the Year Jim Blair sat in the third spot with an 8.091 and hot on his heels was Randy Haywood's modular-powered car with an 8.095.

Urist weeded his way through the competition to make it to the semi-finals and got a bye to the final round, while on the other side of the ladder were two new names to SSO. Mauro Vitale of Glouster, Virginia, and Mark Van Meter, formerly of the Vortech Modular Muscle ranks. Vitale advanced by virtue of a holeshot to face Urist in the final. Urist had a .400-second advantage, so Vitale needed another holeshot. Going for broke, he red lit, handing the win to Urist.

EDELBROCK HOT STREET once again had the tightest field of them all, with the top 11 cars all in the 9-second range. Shane Long, Scott Budisalich, Kurt Neighbor, Brian Booze (the defending class champ), and Bob Hanlon were all qualified between 9.299 and 9.323. Long made it to the final round by beating Max Gross and Booze (as well as a bye run), while Budisalich got there at the expense of Nick Bacalis, Hanlon, and Neighbor.

When the lights came down, it was anybody's race, as Budisalich (photo) and Long cut lights of .453 and .455, respectively! At the top end, the win light came on in Budisalich's lane with a 9.237 to Long's 9.331.

PROCHARGER EFI RENEGADE had 15 cars going for gold, but it was Kurt Gallant winning from the pole position. Gallant qualified number one with a 9.197 and weeded his way through the tough field to meet class veteran Bob Kurgan in the final round. Their race was brutally close. They left within one-hundredth of a second of each other, and at the top end it was Gallant winning with a 9.235 to Kurgan's 9.299!

BFGOODRICH DRAG RADIAL saw the defending class champion, Chris Little (below), lead the field in qualifying with an 8.803 at 155 mph from his nitrous oxide-equipped car. Peter Champani's turbocharged machine was also in the eights, with an 8.955 at 155 qualifying effort. Not surprisingly, these two made it to the final, and Little showed up with a strong 8.80 to Champani's 9.19 at 153.

5.0 MUSTANG REAL STREET saw a big field of 18 power-adder, stick-shift Mustangs, led by Chris Tuten with a 10.24 at 131mph. Robin Lawrence, who stepped up to Real Street from years in Factory Stock, sat in the number two spot, followed by class regular Jason Hoots in third. Hoots and Lawrence were the ones to make it to the final round, and it was set to be a real shootout. Unfortunately, Lawrence's car crept in the lights and lit the red bulb, handing the win to Hoots. This was Hoots first win in 5.0 Real Street and the team was ecstatic.

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