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Saturday's Photo Gallery

First out of the gate this morning is a snap of Ron Hodgson's GM dealership "Camaro Corral" just below the tower. On the other side, the staging lanes are still pretty empty as the first calls to the lanes have just gone out.

Here's the Shockwave pit area, with the tow vehicle, yeah that's a tow vehicle in front, with the Shockwave Two in the rear. And across the roadway is a big rig, with the hood up and the body too.

One more look at the big rig from the front. Sneaking back across the road and behind the Shockwave Two trailer lets us see the original Shockwave '57 Chevy pickup truck from the rear.

Two more views of the Shockwave jet pickup truck from the front and side.

One more look at the Shockwave Two jet truck with the cubic inch displacement showing on the hood: 88,951. That's some serious inchage and horsepower. Now we're out on the starting line just in time for the Top Dragster qualifying session.

Shown above executing her burnout and on the left backing up is Leduc, Alberta's Nadine Mix in her Top Dragster. In the right side photo she's staged and ready to launch on her way to a 7.31 - 187.50 pass.

Here's two views of Edmonton's George Rayner with his 6-second Top Dragster.

Two views, coming and going of Richard Yamada's blown alky Top Dragster. He qualified in the top half of the field with a 7.31 e.t. but broke and couldn't appear for the first round of eliminations.

Competing in Top Dragster, with his '23 T-Altered, Reg DeForest qualifed near the top with a 6-second timeslip, but also broke and was unable to show for eliminations

On the left is one more shot of DeForest launching hard on his way to a 6.99 at nearly 193 mph pass. Continuing with the theme of altereds in dragster competition, Grandora Saskatchewan's Dwayne Treleaven burns out hard (right pic) before his 7.59 - 172 mph pass.

Another pair o' pics of Treleaven backing up and launching so quickly with the wheels up that he almost outran the shutter on the camera.

Two views of Calgary's Jim Attwell with his blown big-block (big indeed: 588 cubes) Chevy dragster, "Scarlett Fever". He qualified second in the Top Dragster field, trailing only BC's Neil Lachelt.

A real contrast in appearance and performance here, as on the left, Jim Attwell wheelies his way off the line to a 6.67 - 210 mph pass, while on the right, Pat Iley backs up prior to carding an 8.10 at 161 mph lap.

Failing to qualify in the 32-car Top Dragster field with a troubled 8-second pass, was Calgary's Dwayne Robertson.

Sherwood Park's Lorne Janzen drives this very cool old-school front engine dragster to low 8-second times. And it's hard to miss Kelowna's Neil Lachelt on the right, with his top qualifying blown big-block Chevy.

The standard deal: Neil Lachelt backing up, then launching hard with the wheels up on his way to another low qualifying pass of 6.41 at nearly 220 mph.

While I don't tend to take too many pictures of doorslammers (unless they're blown or just plain strange), this nice looking '55 Chev of Edmonton's Fred Lahaie wheelied it's way into the gallery. On the right, it's a slightly more serious contender, with Pat McNally's '06 GTO carding low 7-second and 190 mph timeslips.

On the left we've got the '63 split-window Vette of local racer Randy Modersohn, preparing to blast off to a 7-second pass. On the right, we've got a similarly fast '66 Nova of Sherwood Park's Gary Wesolosky.

Now we've got the sleeper of the field, an innocent looking '64 Barracuda with "340" painted on the hood and fenders. Dean Branham has got a very sneaky, VERY fast car here. It "only" clocked a 7.13 qualifying e.t. but at over 204 mph. Yeah, it's bad. Power: 600 cubes, twin turbos. On the right you can see how fast it is, as the launch pic can't even contain the entire car.

On the left side is Gary Miserva's classic '41 Willys leaving on another low 8-second pass (8.12 - 163 mph) in Top Sportsman qualifying. To the right, we've got the staging lanes full before the second qualifying session for the Top Dragsters.

We've got a few minutes before the session starts, so we'll go through the lanes and try for some of those ever-popular "human interest" shots and a few pics of sexy, shiny stuff too. First up (on the left) is Nadine Mix's dragster from Leduc. And right beside it is the business end of Jim Attwell's dragster.

Not that we expected trouble, but I had to make sure things were ok for the SpeedZone staff car (the filthy red Charger) in our "priority" parking spot behind the IHRA equipment trailer. Just keep that Chev a little further away from us to be on the safe side please. Almost behind us is Reg Deforest with his very quick (6.99 e.t.) '23 T-altered.

Here's the same altered (Reg Deforest '23 T) from behind. Then we've finally got Neil Lachelt's Top Dragster slowed down enough to capture it in the viewfinder.

Here's Calgary's Dwayne Robertson preparing to get buckled in for another qualifying pass. On the left side he's doing up the helmet strap before sliding down into the seat.

Here's the long view of Lorne Janzen's front-engine Top Dragster. It doesn't look all that fast, but 8.26 at 160 mph with a small-block and a single carb is plenty fast enough in this car. Here's one more look, a little closer this time, at the car.

From the sublime to the ridiculous? On the left is another view of Neil Lachelt's top qualifying top dragster and on the right is the smallest pit vehicle I've ever seen, a super miniature '57 Chev Nomad station wagon.

Here's Pat Iley again, burning out in his Top Dragster on the left, and backing up with Jim Attwell in the far lane on the right side of the page.

Another hard launch that eludes my slow-on-the-draw shutter finger, Pat Iley brings the wheels up and is gone in his Top Dragster. On the right we've got more proof that Albertan's like their beer just one way: BIG, spelled with a capital B-I-G.

Here comes Reg Deforest again in his '23 T Top Dragster, burning out and launching.

On the left is Dwayne Robertson staging his Top Dragster, while Neil Lachelt (right) backs up in his from the burnout.

Lachelt drops the transbrake (no clutch in this car) and launches to another mid 6-second pass, while on the right, Richard Yamada backs up from his burnout

Here's a pair of pics of that cool old-style front-engine car of Lorne Janzen, burning out on the left and backing up on the right with Cory Schumcker in the far lane.

And we've got a wheels just off the ground launch for Janzen on the left, while Randy Modersohn wrinkles the tires hard on his launch (right side).

A couple of early model hot rods now, with Gary Miserva's '41 Willys lighting them up on the left, and Fred Lahaie's '55 Chevy lifting the front end nicely on the launch.

Here's two shots of Pat McNally's '06 GTO, burning out, then staging prior to another 190 mph pass.

Here's quite a contrast, with the quickest Top Sportsman car in the field on the left, Gary Urlacher's '63 Corvette (7.06 - 193 mph) and on the right, Dwayne Wipf's '72 Challenger (9.08 - 145 mph).

Here's the fastest Top Sportsman car on the grounds, as Dean Branham's "green fish" went over 207 mph in a losing effort in the first round of eliminations. He bested that number later on too. To the right we've got Karl Johnson's very stock appearing '64 Nova, which ran a solid 8.74 at 152 mph.

Two staging lane shots of the beautiful new '68 Camaro of Maple Valley, Washington's Yvonne Lucas. It's got a big nitrous motor and while it's still being sorted out, it's run 6.40's at nearly 220 mph already.

On the left we have the veteran, and I mean veteran as in he started racing injected 426 hemi-powered front-engine dragsters in the late 1960's, then progressed to Top Alcohol dragsters, before giving up driving to become a very successful crew chief. He's been working with Doug Doucette on his A/FD (Pro Fuel in IHRA-speak) for the past few years. The man's name? Ken Murray. To the right, we've got a view of the VIP suites over the staging lanes at Castrol Raceway. Great views from the front and easy access to the pits at the back.

The '63 Corvette of Lethbridge's Ross Hogenson burns out on the left, while Yvonne Lucas backs up her '68 Camaro on the right.

No, it's not the start of a second burnout, it's Ross Hogenson launching and getting far too much wheelspeed too quickly. We do, however, have an actual burnout on the right, with Regina's Tim Vogt lighting 'em up in his '94 Vette.

Evil, wicked, mean and nasty: it's Edmonton's Wade Sjostrom in his hammered, lowered, stretched and bent '57 Chevy. On the other side of the track (right photo) Tim Vigt is backing up too.

Here's that wicked looking Five-Seven again, staging, while on the right we've got the other brother, with Dan Vogt burning out in his '63 Corvette.

After the forward (burnout) comes the backward (backing up) for Dav Vogt in the Vette. On the other side is Calgary's Rick Di Stefano in his unreal - check out that paint - 70 3/8 Camaro.

Going and coming is Colorado's Tommy Johanns in his sharp looking '53 Corvette, as he prepares to make his first pass of the weekend.

And that she goes! as Johanns launches to an early shutoff 9-second pass, while on the right, Calgary's Joe Delahay has even worse luck as he lost fire on the burnout.

Remember the "evil, wicked, mean and nasty" designation that I pinned on Wade Sjostrom's '57 Chev? Well, this one ups the ante, with Perry Krinitt's '51 Chevy looking eviler, wickeder, meaner, and nastier. It runs quicker too. On the right it's a case of "here he comes again" backing up from the burnout.

And one last look as Krinitt launches hard, butterflies wide-open and slick wrinkling like a shar-pei. Suddenly it's fast-forward time to the Pro Nostalgia Funny Cars, starting with the "Burnout King" Darrel Webb in his '70 Nova.

On the left is Webb's Nova ready to launch, while to the right is the "Frozen Assets" '63 Corvette of Anchorage, Alaska's Ted Queen backing up after the burnout. I'm still wondering how a Pro Mod-style car fits into a Funny Car field though.

This one's even more of a head-scratcher as Rick Barnhart's '65 Fairlane, looking much more like a Super Stocker than a Funny Car prepares to launch to a 7-second mid-170 mph pass. On the right we've got a real flopper again, with Edmonton's Cody Anstead smoking the hides in his beautiful '69 Camaro.

Trouble on the track as Troy Sitko's crew jogs down to push the '71 Mustang funny car to the side of the track after it lost fire on the burnout. Getting a solo run is Cody Anstead and he makes the most of it with a hard launch.

Moving on up to the Pro Nostalgia A field, with the Rocky Mountain Association, we lead off with Brent Harris hammering the tires hard in his Fontana -powered '33 Willys. Coming back from the burnout, you can see the big wing that keeps this short wheelbase ride stuck to the track.

On the left it's Joey Steckler backing up in his flamed '69 Corvette, while to the right, Brent Harris leaves the line in the '33 Willys.

From a distance it looks like a '37 Chevy Pro Mod, but an upclose peek reveals it's a real live Funny Car. Driven by Eddy Plazier, this '37 Chevy flopper blazes the tires on the burnout. With the roof hatch open (after all, it is a nice sunny day) Plazier backs up to the starting line.

Looking more like a Pro Mod than a Funny Car, Alaskan John Childs backs up from his burnout in the far lane, while Edmonton's Rod Elliott backs his '70 Barracuda flopper up from his tire smoker in the near lane.

Here's Childs blasting off the line in his '37 Chev Funny Car to a non-qualifying pass in the 9-second range. On the left we quickly move from the slowest (John Childs) to the quickest, with Ron Sekura burning out hard in his 6-second '69 Camaro.

Without even looking at the car(s), you can always tell when the Sekura brothers funny cars are coming out of the staging lanes, as the "Cowbell" and "Air-Horn" girls are always out there getting the fans in the mood. And here's one of them now, as Corey starts back from his burnout in the '82 Trans-Am, showing off the "Ouch!" side of the car.

And as if on cue, comes Ron Sekura in the team's '69 Camaro, running side-by-side with brother Corey. On the right he's launching hard with the butterflies wide-open enroute to a low qualifying 7.001 e.t.

Now it's Cory Kincaid's turn to take the stage as he backs up from the burnout and stages before laying down a 7-second qualifying pass.

Cranking up the volume a couple more notches, we move into the first round of qualifying for the (Top) Alcohol Funny Cars, with Jay Childs in the near lane and Nathan Sitko on the far side, backing up after their burnouts. The right pic shows them staged before Sitko laid down a 6.09 - 234 mph pass, topping Childs' 6.39 - 222 mph lap.

Here's a closer look at Anchorage, Alaska's Jay Childs' dropping the clutch on his '00 Avenger funny car. Yes,he's the son of John Childs, the Pro Nostalgia Funny Car racer in the '37 Chev. On the right side it's Winnipeg's Scott McVey finishing the burnout in his refrigerator white '06 Monte Carlo flopper.

What goes down the track (on the burnout) must come back and then leave again on the launch, as Scott McVey shows in these two pics.

Next up is Ken Webster, burning out in his new 2010 Monte Carlo, before staging up against fellow Albertan John Evanchuk in the first round of Alcohol Funny Car qualifying.

On the left is a closer look at John Evanchuk's beautiful "Red Wolf" Firebird on the launch, while the scoreboard on the right has the verdict on Webster's excellent 5.79 - 249 mph (#1 qualifier - for the moment) pass.

In the final pairing of the first session, Rob Atchison (left side) takes on Roger Bateman (right side) in another all-Canadian matchup.

Another launch that nearly evades our slow trigger (shutter) finger, as Rob Atchison is almost gone in this left side pic, while the new low qualifer, Roger Bateman, lights up the scoreboard to the tune of 5.74 at 248 mph on the right side

With the on-track proceedings over for a while, we moved back into the nitro pits to sample the sights, sounds, and smells of the assembled throng of nitro-burners as the "ThunderFest" started with all the fuel cars firing up en masse. Quite an experience, especially for the spectating "rookies".

On the left is one very neat idea: the Lagana family team took the body of their Top Fuel car and had fans autographing it for this race, while on the right it's easy to see how thick the fumes were getting after a minute or two of (partially) vaporized nitro filling the atmosphere.

Here's the best t-shirt slogan of the weekend on the left, while on the right, the track crew gets the surface ready for the Komatsu "Night of Fire".

Here's the front and rear view of a specially modified new Dodge Challenger. It looks sort of like the "Drag PaK" special with the hood scoop, but I'm not sure what it's got in the way of goodies. Cool, nonetheless.

Just before the Top Fuel cars open the show, a designated "victim" gets to make an 1/8-th mile pass in the two-seater dragster.

And leading off the "big show" is Tim Boychuk, burning out in the Paton family Top Fuel car. On the far side of the track, his opponent, Bruce Litton, lights up the tires too.

As the sun sinks lower in the early evening sky, both cars back up into the shadows of the starting line

On the left we've got Tim Boychuk staging the Paton car, with patriarch Barry making final adjustments, while brother Tony walks away from the rear of the car. In the right side pic, the two cars are staged before leaving hard, smoking the tires at half track and coasting through to mid 5-second and 6-second times.

Side-by-side burnouts for this pair, with defending "world" champion Del Cox Jr. on the far side and Spencer Massey in the near lane. And then we've got them coming back with the sinking sun lighting up the track.

Here's two views of Del Cox Jr. backing up after his burnout, the second one focusing on his assistant, the ever-popular "backup girl".

Two more shots of Del Cox and Spencer Massey, staging on the left side of the page and launching on the right. Nether car came close to threatening any track records, but they both got into the 5's and Cox did come close to the "magic zone" with a 5.12 to almost guarantee him a spot in the championship round tonight.

A tale of two burnouts: on the left it's Bobby Lagana Jr. in his Top Fuel Dragster, and on the right it's Jason Duchene in his Nitro Funny Car.

So what is wrong with the picture on the left? It's two fuel cars backing up from their burnouts.... but one is sort of short and lumpy, while the other one is long and skinny. It's Jason Duchene (Trial 'n Error) on the near side, and Bobby Lagana Jr. (Twilight Zone) on the far side.

The preliminaries over, it's time for the main event, as the flopper and the fueller square off in this qualifying round match. As expected, Lagana took the victory with the first "4" of the weekend, running low e.t. of the evening (so far), 4.93 at only 252 mph.

Here's the numbers on the scoreboard for Lagana: 4.93 - 252.19 mph. He's obviously in the championship final tonight, with lane choice over Del Cox Jr. And on the right side, the first burnout by a Pro Fuel Dragster at this event is executed perfectly by Minnesota's Jeff Hamelink.

After their burnouts, Jeff Hamelink (near lane) and local Greg Sereda (far lane) back up in the early evening glow of the setting sun. On the left side is a closer view of Edmonton native Sereda nearing the starting line coming back from his burnout.

Almost ready to go now, as Hamelink has lit the pre-stage, while Sereda's crewmember turns on the onboard computer. Then it's time to leave as Sereda is halfway out of the frame before Hamelink appears to move. It's not an optical illusion though, as Sereda's slightly tardy .121 leave was positively lightyears ahead of Hamelink's comatose .320 light. Musta been the sunset in his eyes....

In the second pairing of the Pro Fuel Dragster first round, Spencer Massey blazes the hides in the Doug Doucette car, while in the right-side pic, Massey backs up after his burnout in the near lane while Ashley Bart comes back on the far side of the track.

Shortly before disaster struck... about six seconds before.... Spencer Massey leaves hard before dropping cylinders downtrack and having the throttle stick at the finish line. He did keep the car upright and in one piece but an episode of wall-banging bent the chassis beyond track-side repair. With the two local Pro Fuel dragsters of Ed Verenka and Keith Falconer failing to show, it was on to the Nitro Nostalgia Funny Cars with Chilliwack, BC's Tim Nemeth leading off with his burnout.

With the shadows ever-lengthening, Tim Nemeth (near lane) and Todd Losenko (far lane) back up from their burnouts in the first pairing of the Nitro Nostalgia floppers. On the right side we've got Nemeth leaving hard enroute to a solid 6.12 - 237.63 mph opening lap.

On the left side it's Todd Losenko in the "Jolly Rogers" car, seen backing up before his first round win at an excellent 6.04 - 241 mph clip. Then it's on to Andy Beauchemin in his "Tachman" entry backing up after his burnout.

With the butterflies wide-open Andy Beauchemin leaves on his solo pass (only seven cars in the field) before slowing to a mid 7-second pass. And before the next pair of cars fire up, my attention is diverted momentarily....

Shining brightly in the fading light is Edmonton's Jay Mageau, burning out in his beautiful "Prospector" '69 Corvette funny car. In the other lane is another Edmonton native, Tim Boychuk, being guided into the stage beams by none other than living legend Roland "The Hawaiian" Leong.

Before we move on to the next pair, here's two more shots of Jay Mageau's "little red Corvette", seen staging, then launching to his first 6.20 pass at 6.27 - 224.92 mph.

The call goes out to "Fire the next pair!" and Washington state's Mark Sanders blitzes the tires in his "Mr. Explosive" entry. In the other lane we've got his opponent, Steve Nichols, starting back to the line in his "Mill Road Boys" car after his burnout.

After winning both days of competition at last weekend's Niro Jam in Salt Lake City, Mark Sanders came into this round on a serious roll, only to fall to Steve Nichols in a very close first round matchup, losing by just half a car length with a 6.28 - 219.86 mph clocking.

Time to turn down the volume for a while as the alcohol nostalgia funny cars comes out, with Troy Sitko leading the pack in Arvin Fonstad's "Happy Hour" '71 Mustang. And here he comes back again after the burnout in the right side pic.

On the left we've got Troy Sitko (near lane) and Darrell Webb (far lane) backing up before their qualifying pairing, then Sitko nailing the throttle hard as he leaves on what became a rather troubled 8-second pass. Still, an improvement on losing fire at the end of the burnout in his first attempt earlier today.

In a rather unlikely pairing, especially since this is a Funny Car field, Sherrie Bodnarchuk (left photo), lines up against Anchorage's Ted Queen in his '63 Corvette Pro Mod (right-side picture). Don't ask me how they worked this out.

Burning out, then launching in his gorgeous '71 Camaro, Edmonton's Cody Anstead failed to improve on his earlier mid-7 second clocking. Looks great, doesn't run so great.... so far.

The final pairing of this round of qualifying is truly an odd couple, with Cory Kincaid's '55 Bel Air on the left, and Rick Barnhart's '65 Fairlane on the right side. Believe it or not, Barnhart ran 7.87 at 177 mph in a very stock-appearing car, while Kincaid's first lap of the event was a so-so 7.62 - 184.80 set of numbers.

Two shots of the backup/airhorn/cowbell girls of the Sekura Brothers racing team. The first is before the burnout, and the second, obviously, is shortly after the burnout with the atmosphere completely filled with tire smoke.

Burning out, then preparing to stage is Cal Tebb's very orange '69 GTO JUdge, prior to laying down a very strong 7.05 at nearly 199 mph. Looks great, goes fast, what more could you ask?

I can only think that the throttle's stuck on this Corey Sekura burnout. Normally the Sekuras do their smokies at full throttle and this time the butterflies are barely cracked open. The malady continues on his launch (right pic) as the throttle's only half open on the leave. Either that or I actually froze the action just as he hit the gas. It didn't hurt the performance though as he ran 7.10 - 183.20 mph.

The next pairing brought Joey Steckler and fellow Edmontonian Eddy Plazier to the line, with Steckler laying down one of his patented harsh burnouts. Then he proceeds to rip off a strong 7.16 at 194.74 mph./p>

Here's the very slick looking '37 Chev of Eddy Plazier. Even though it looks like a stretched Pro Mod from a distance, a closer look reveals that it's a real flip-top flopper. It runs as good as it looks too, ripping off a stellar 7.04 - 193.71 mph to take over the #1 qualifying spot.

Another anomaly in a veritable sea of them: John Childs lays down a strong burnout in his Nostalgia Funny Car... which happens to be a '37 Chev with left-hand, not center-steer, but left-hand drive. Hmm.... And in the other lane is Brent Harris in his '33 Willys with opening doorrs and left-hand drive too. But in the Nostalgia world it's still a funny car.

One more look at Anchorage, Alaska's John Childs as he leaves with the wheels up enroute to an early shutoff 9-second pass. Then it's back into the staging lanes to check out some of the Top Sportsman cars waiting in the wings, starting with Dean Branham's outrageous '64 'Cuda.

Here's a look from the side/rear of the "crazy fish", then it's off the line with the wheels high in the air on the way to a 7.10 - 207.69 clocking. If his reaction time had been better than the .267 he cut, there would have been a second round of eliminations for Dean.

The show progresses to the West Coast Pro Mods again, with Joe Delehay leading the way, laying down a very quick 6.23 at 229 mph after losing fire on the burnout in the first qualifying session.

In the second pairing of the round, a pair of early model cars, Wade Sjostrom in his '57 Chev on the left, and Tommy Johanns with his '53 'Vette on the right, face off and both cars had varying degrees of difficulty as Sjostrom stumbled to a mid-7 second time, and Johanns nearly crossing the centerline on a 6.64 - 218.30 pass.

Needing to improve on her 8-second pass in the earlier qualifying session, Yvonne Lucas laid down a very good 6.50 at 217 mph to jump from outside the field all the way to the #2 spot - for now.

Her running mate in this round was Montana's Perry Krinnit, who also picked up considerably from his earlier 8-second effort, slotting into the #6 spot this time with a 6.690 - 212.83 timeslip.

Then we move on to Calgary's "Rickie D" as in Di Stefano, who finally got close to a full pass with his new '70 3/8 Camaro, clocking an early shutoff 6.56 at 188 mph after an early pedal job.

One half of the final pairing of the round is Drayton Valley's Perry Thyr in his beautiful blue '02 Camaro, who managed to speed up and slow down simultaneously on this lap. He slowed from a first round 6.94 to a 7.01, but picked up ten mph, running 206.51.

Back to the Alcohol Funny Cars for their second (of three) qualifying sessions. First up is Edmontian Nathan Sitko, warming the tires in his '02 Firebird. In the other lane is Alaska's Jay Childs, trying to move up the ladder in his '00 Avenger.

On the left it's Nathan Sitko leaving strongly to a 5.95 - 238.72 lap, moving him up into the #3 qualifying position. In the next pair, Scott McVey (pictured on the right) slowed to a 9-second clocking to remain at the bottom (7th) of the field.

Drawing the dimunitive straw this round, Ken Webster burns out and gets ready to make his solo pass.

But he fails to improve on an earlier 5.79 - 249.76 pass, with a pedalling and early shutoff 6.00 - 226.47 lap. And in the final pairing of the round, Roger Bateman spins the tires on the "YNot Racing" '10 Mustang.

Bateman manages to save the best for last (of this session) as he steps up from his earlier 5.74 to record a new low e.t. of the meet at 5.701 and 249.63 mph. Definitely number one with a bullet.

With the light rapidly fading (it's now 10:00 pm), the balance of tonight's shots can be considered more artistic than photographic. Here's Cory Kincaid making his last burnout of qualifying (left side) and facing off with Troy Sitko in the "Happy Hour" Mustang on the right. Both drivers improved enough to move up one notch on the qualifying list.

Side-by-side burnouts on tap in the next pairing, as Sherrie Bodnarchuk (near lane) and Rick Barnahrt (far lane - not shown) heat 'em up before their runs. Then, as the sun is almost set behind the grandstands, Bodnarchuk (near) and Barnahrt (far side) back up from the burnouts.

One more look at an (alcohol) nostalgia "funny car" as Rick Barnhart's '65 Fairlane goes blasting by on the way to an improved 7.76 at nearly 180 mph. Then (on the left) we crank up the volume with the first burnout under the lights for the Nitro Nostalgia Funny Cars, led by Jay Mageau.

Looking sharp and nasty, Mark Sanders burns out then stages his '70 Nova before nearly shaking the shiny off the car enroute to a 16-second pass.

With nitro fumes hanging heavy in the still evening air, Steve Nichols brings the "Mill Road Boys" flopper into the stage beams before blasting off to a 6.011 pass at only 208 mph.

In the final Nitro Funny Car match of the evening, Todd Losenko lines up to run against fellow Edmonton resident Tim Boychuk. Losenko shook hard on the launch and shutoff at half track to a 6.88 - 155.24 result.

Preparing to leave on his final pass of the night, the Ironman winner for Prostalgia Funny Car, Tim Boychuk, carded a 5.85 - 243.72 on this near track record lap. Next on the agenda were the Top Fuel dragsters, with Bruce Litton leading off on a solo 4.92 - 298.40 mph pass. Great way to start the session.

Due to running the funny cars so close to the dragsters, with Tim Boychuk competing in both categories, the Top Fuel final was run before the last consolation pair of this round. Confused? Yeah, so am I. Anyways, here's two shots of one of the finalists, Del Cox Jr., burning out and getting ready to stage under the direction of crew chief for hire, Paul Smith.

It's Del Cox Jr. (near lane) against Bobby Lagana Jr. (far lane) in the final and while Del was able to crank out a very good 4.88 at 281 mph, Lagana had him covered with an even quicker 4.81 at 282.42 mph. On the right side of the column we've got the consolation round runner Spencer Massey lighting them up before making his last pass of the night.

Massey carefully pulls into stage, then launches hard before losing traction at the 600 foot mark and coasting through to a 6.06 time. To the right we've got the first of our Pro Fuel competitors burning out as Ed Verenka lights them up.

In a matchup of local injected nitro racers, Ed Verenka (left) and Keith Falconer (right) prepare to battle under the lights in a consolation round of Pro Fuel Dragster. Neither car lit up the scoreboards too brightly, but Verenka got there first with a 6.20 - 223.47 verdict over Falconer's early shutoff 7.09 at 138 mph.

In a serious anomaly (among many others at this event), two local supercharged methanol-burning dragsters lined up in the Pro Fuel (injected nitro) dragster championship final. Replacing a first round winner (Spencer Massey) who was unable to fix his car to compete in the final, Ashley Bart (near lane) won when opponent Greg Sereda (far lane) left before the tree was activated. She immediately lost traction and coasted to a 16-second, but winning, time.

Looking for all the world as if Armageddon had arrived, the media center was assaulted by repeated burner pops from the night-ending Jet Truck exhibition by the Shockleys. A total of five jet engines, firing their afterburners simultaneously literally moved the building off its foundations with every blast, the windows shaking, the desks jumping, the assembled throng in the media room ready to dive for cover at any moment. In short: what a thrill! what a blast! what a way to end the "MORNING of Fire!" as one of the wags on the announcers deck so deftly described it.

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That's it from the second day of qualifying from the IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals. It was one very long day that eventually ended early the following morning, but at least we got it done, and even better: lived to tell the tale.