The synopsis of this match is short and (not so) sweet: Gibson is up in smoke at the 330 mark, while Herbert blows it up at 1000 feet. While we've got a few minutes as the cleanup crew goes through the drill for the first time today, let's talk about all the pit gossip gleaned in our morning tour. Oops, no time, as we're back to running in less than two minutes.

After the messy first pair, this is a great side by side race. Russell leaves first by a tick, runs a bit quicker and has a car length on the Army car at the finish line.

Rhonda is dead late on the tree, then blazes the tires instantly, while Grubnic does a two-step pedal job at half track before thundering through the traps. Margin of victory: a year and a half.

Smith's car is back together after some major engine carnage last night. He's in deep, very deep, against Kalitta. Craig gives him a good battle for 600 feet; shuts off shortly after that point and lets Kalitta go through for the win. So far we have four winners (all the higher qualified cars) and all in the left lane.

A very good pass for Dunn; 271 mph at half track. He started mixing up cylinders in the last few hundred feet and that kept the speed down and the e.t. from being in the .50's. Hometown hero, young Brady Kalivoda, tries too hard and is up in smoke very early.

Another great pass for the Budweiser King. The "Mr. Magoo" car of Sosenka is on the throttle all the way, but still finishes four train lengths behind.

That's seven straight wins for the left lane. Bonin's first national event start of the season is over early as he's up in smoke at 100 feet and coasts all the way to the pay window for his first round runnerup money. Dixon cruises into the second round with another very consistent 4.6 pass.

The longest odds in the field on this match. But the Team Winston first round jinx nearly strikes again as Scelzi smokes the tires, pedals, smokes them again and pedals his way to a narrow win. Smith is just a touch too soft on the tuneup to take advantage and pull off the upset win of the event.

That wraps up the first round of the long loud cars with the upper half of the field all picking the left lane and all advancing to the second round. Could we have the probverbial "one lane" race track today? Let's see how the floppers do before we pass judgement.

The funny cars have always had more trouble negotiating this track than their long wheelbased brethren. But we've got cool, cloudy skies this year and maybe the conditions will allow the cars to stay hooked up better.

The "Mooneyes" car of Hofmann blows the tires off straight away, and Skuza blows his doors off with a very strong opening pass.

Yet another one-sided race with Gilbertson up in smoke and shut down early. The left lane domination continues with ten straight wins.... and counting.

How does the story go? Left lane (Force) makes a great... okay, a good pass, while the right lane (Cannon) is up in smoke early and gives up.

Hey, we're one for twelve! Both cars are up in smoke early, but Etchells pedalled first and best, doing a beautiful save of what could have been an ugly run. Sarver gets too far out of shape to continue and breaks the left lane win streak.

Back to normal... in a hurry. Bazemore mixes up cylinders on the top end but still takes the winlight by more than two seconds. Gray smokes 'em early, and hard, and his weekend is done.

Surprise! No tire smoke for the right lane car of Densham, but he still shuts off before half track with the blower belt missing. Capps runs the quick time of the round so far. Good move, as lane choice is starting to look very important.

Wow! What a drag race. Since Worsham owns both cars, he should win, but tries his best to give it away by going up in smoke. He pedals hard and catches teammate Pedregon by half track; smokes them again and falls back, looking like he's done. Then Pedregon, also pedalling furiously, loses the blower belt, allowing Worsham to take the winlight by a car length.

Even though he's in the left lane, Toliver takes what has to be classified as an upset win, his first of the season. To his and his crew chief's credit, Johnson keeps the tires stuck and makes it a close race.

There's a mix of jubilation and despair in Toliver's camp. Yes, they won, but they've drawn Force in the next round, and they don't have lane choice.

Impressions: Only one of sixteen first round winners were in the right lane, and that sole win was a bit of a fluke. The conditions (air and track) seem similar to yesterday, but everyone's slowed down .05 - .10 second. They must be playing it safe, but there's the risk of losing lane choice, which seems to be developing as an issue.

The Pro Stocks are up next, so that's my cue to take a break from all this frantic fueler action. Call me when the alcohol cars reach the head of the staging lanes.

It doesn't take long, as they follow the Pro Stocks, who are run through in less than ten minutes.... barely enough time to get another helping of the prime rib lunch in the media centre.

The first pair up will be Brandon Bernstein vs. Paul Jones. Jones is the only blown car on his side of the ladder, while the other four blown cars on the other side get to beat each other up to reach the final. We've got some very close matchups scheduled for this round. Some with national championship points implications.

Even tighter, if that's possible, are the alky floppers, with the remaining eight cars all running within a tenth of a second of Pat Austin's low e.t. 5.73 Saturday pass.

This should be very tight. The track temperature is in the low 80's. Both lanes were equal yesterday for the Federal-Mogul cars. Let's take a deep breath and let out the clutch on this first pair.....

It's another career best for Hough, as he takes the lead at 1000 feet and hangs on for a very narrow win. A tough break for Hentges, as this loss puts a definite downer on his national championship aspirations.

Another huge battle; Shields with lane choice by .002 second. Wow! Another holeshot win for Shields over Santos. The second in two events (Woodburn two weeks ago). It's another extremely close race with the win margin only .013 second. Santos makes his quickest pass of the season, but in a losing cause. Shields is definitely on a roll and rapidly climbing in the points standings.

Here's our first blown vs. injected match of the day. Wow, I can hardly believe how close these pairings are. Jones run yet another career best -- his first .30 -- but the "Bud Prince" lays down his third consecutive 5.33 pass to take the win by a car length. Is this some double tough drag racing or what?

To finish the round, we've only got the two quickest injected nitro cars on the planet (Baca: 5.22 and Henkelman 5.23) going at it. And we've got a national record pending, if Henkelman can back up yesterday's incredible 5.23 pass. Facing him is Baca, who ran the quickest A/FD lap in history earlier this year, and holds the two best speeds ever at 274 mph. This could be the race of the day, or even the year.

Henkelman leaves hard, with the wheels up, but drops cylinders and falls back, as Baca's slightly sluggish looking run ends with a big top end speed; best of the meet so far at 273-plus.

Just what can the short-wheelbase alcoholics do to possibly top what we just saw? That round of dragster racing will have to go down as one of the best ever seen at an NHRA national event, anywhere, ever.

We start with the lone remaining Canuck car facing "Top Gun" Pat Austin. It's no contest as Austin duplicates his top qualifying 5.73 for the win. Bateman shakes hard on the launch, pedals and chases hard, but trails Pat across the stripe by nearly 100 feet.

Ouch, that one hurts. Bucky is late, by more than half a tenth, and loses by .005 to Doug Gordon's holeshot. Austin ran the number he wanted, but he's going home early for the first time in quite a while.

It's deja vu all over again, as Parker runs .04 quicker than Miner... and loses by .03 on another holeshot. Miner nearly gave it away when he had to fight hard for control in high gear and Parker closed the gap quickly, but just ran out of real estate at the finish line.

It's a hat-trick! Three straight holeshot wins. The e.t. difference this time is only one thousandth of a second, but the "Dream Weaver"s quicker leave decides the issue.

Whew. Just watching and writing about this round of Federal-Mogul racing has worn me out. Eight incredibly close and exciting races. How can it possibly get any better than that?

Now it's truly time for a break, as the fuel cars won't be out for another 30 to 40 minutes. Aside from a very short cleanup after the first pair of Top Fuel cars, we haven't had a single oildown today.

The skies are still very cloudy, but with less wind and slightly warmer temperatures than yesterday. Almost perfect conditions for a drag race. We'll be back with more in less than an hour. Try about 15 minutes.

What's wrong with the left lane? Scelzi turns the best numbers of the day in the right lane, while Herbert lays down his best pass of the weekend and is still a car length behind at the finish line. Looks like we've got our second oildown of the day though. Nope, false alarm. Just a quick check and we've got the all clear for the next pair.

Another great race. Looks like everybody's stepped up from the first round. Just not enough for Grubnic as he loses to Dixon by little more than a car length. It looks like both lanes are capable of holding almost anything the teams can throw at them.

Finally we have a tire-smoker, as Russell ignites the hides early, pedals, then obliterates the view with tremendous smoke. He shuts off at half track, as Bernstein thunders through to a lane choice-losing pass of "only" 4.58.

We have a repeat broadcast of the previous episode, with the only plot change being Kalitta's almost instantaneous tire smoke. Dunn runs a 4.58, with a good top end charge of 319 mph, but still cedes lane choice to Scelzi in the semifinals.

Following a tremendous round of dragster racing, with all the winners, and one of the losers, in the 4.50's, what can the nitro floppers do to keep up that sort of entertainment pace?

Two of the young lions face off to open this round. Oh man, I wish I had the video camera running, as both cars smoke 'em early, pedal, get out of shape and keep repeating the process until Skuza gives up at half track. Worsham does the waa-waa-waa all the way to the finish line and the winlight.

Tire smoke with a twist: Etchells is up in smoke early, then puts the chute out and slowly tows it to the finish line. On the other side, Capps is long gone to an excellent pass; probably good enough to retain lane choice in the semifinals.

Another plot change: A pair of side-by-side four-second passes. Bazemore leaves first, runs quicker, and takes a nearly two car length win.

This is weird: Capps' car comes flying past on the return road.... without the body. We'll keep an eye out for over-zealous race fans carrying a premature race souvenir.

Shades of last year. But it's the usual 2001 result, as Toliver has instant ignition... of the tires, and his one round win streak is over. Maybe if he hadn't switched bodies between rounds....? Force's old houndog has its tongue hanging out early and staggers into the semis with a very ordinary, by today's standards, 5.01. In case you were wondering, his close personal friend, Whit Bazemore, has lane choice over the Kastrol King, by a bunch, in the semifinals.

The program slowed down for a while as we experienced some intermittent sprinkles of rain as the sun finally broke through for what seems like the first time all weekend. We're dry enough to run the fast cars again though, so it's time to put the lunch aside and get back to business.

Shields leaves first by more than a tenth and holds it all the way to take a two car length win. Both cars slowed a touch from their second round times but it's still very quick racing.

We're sure to have an injected vs. blown final, unless both of these cars break. This might be a tremendous race... The numbers aren't great but the excitement-meter is pegged when a front wheel comes off Bernstein's car at half-track and bounces into Baca's lane.

Bernstein gets out of the groove, but keeps it between the lines and takes the winlight. When he opens the chute and gets off the throttle at the finish line, the car drops down on the wheel-less side and trails a huge shower of sparks through the braking area. But he gets it stopped, still in his own lane, with what appears to be a minimum of damage.

Baca drops cylinders on the launch, gives up, but nails it again when he see's Bernstein's problem. Only problem is, he's about a second late crossing the finish line. Bernstein obviously doesn't have lane choice for the final; the question now is whether he'll even make his date with Shields in that round.

The cleanup of miscellaneous pieces off Bernstein's car takes just a few minutes and we're back in action with the semifinal round of alky flopper.

The closest race of the day, in any category, leads off this round with Austin eking out the win by a mere two thousandths of a second. Wow! What a drag race. Another brick in the wall of the greatest alcohol racing ever seen at an NHRA national event.

Two California cars duke it out for the right to face Austin in the final. It's very close for 800 feet until Miner gets out of the groove, skates around and has to shut off, handing the win to Doug Gordon. Has Gordon ever been in a national event final before? If not, he certainly deserves to be, with his great lights and solid mid-5.7 performances today.

Yes, another great drag race. The Bud King holds the world championship points lead with a crucial victory over Dixon. He leaves first by a hair and takes the win by less than half a car length. Whew, even the fuel cars are getting into the close racing mode.

Close; very close. Scelzi squeaks it out to make just his second final round of the season. He slows a little from the second round and gives up lane choice to Bernstein, but he's in with a chance to take his first national event win of 2001. Dunn is side by side with Scelzi until the 1000 foot mark, where he starts mixing up cylinders and falls back slightly.

Capps stays in the 4.80's; it seems he's been there all weekend and he goes on to the final. Like the Top Fuel semifinals, it's close for 1000 feet, until Capps opens up a healthy gap at the finish line. Despite a quicker leave, and nearly matching speed, Worsham's car isn't nearly as strong in the middle of the track and loses by nearly two car lengths.

This should be wild. There's definitely no love lost between these two, so both should be loaded for bear... and bragging and interview rights. Both cars deep stage, then Force cuts his best light of the year to take an early lead. He smokes the tires before half track and can't recover, as Bazemore blows him away with his slowest run of the day, with his engine expiring in the lights.

"Ol' Johnny.... my buddy..." Bazemore opens with in the post-race interview. The sarcasm is dripping thicker than the 70-wt. Kendall coming out of Whit's engine at the end of the track.

We've now reached the finals time, or shall I say, the people remaining at the track are ready to watch the finals. As for me, I ducked out at 2:30 and made a beeline for the border, wanting to get home, stuff this puppy in the oven and see what develops. I've "borrowed" the final round colour commentary from the good guys at Drag Race Central, and embellished it with a few of my own comments.

Austin has lane choice by only a few hundredths, but he's been nearly half a tenth slower on the tree in the last two rounds. This could be a very close race. Gordon leaves first, by that half a tenth margin he's been enjoying, and runs within two thousandths of his best pass of the weekend, while Austin slows nearly half a tenth and drops the decision by nearly two car lengths. Again, Pat Austin faced some heavy tire shake and had to fight the car the whole length of the track. If they could only tame all the horsepower....

The Bernstein team were thrashing hard in the pits to get the a-arms replaced and a new front wheel mounted. With a lot of help from their friends, they made it and are ready to give Shields a fight. Both cars are slow to stage, but when the lights come down, Shields has a small advantage which he maintains until nearly mid-track. At that point, his car starts to fall back and Bernstein takes the win by nearly a car length.

Capps has lane choice, but not by that much, so this could be a close final round battle. Bazemore is definitely hungry as he hasn't won yet this year. Capps take the starting line advantage but Bazemore catches him hazing the tires at the 1000 foot mark and hangs on for the win, with a margin of.... ONE THOUSANDTH of a second. Whew, another race that's far too close to call with the naked eye. What a drag race.

Bernstein has lane choice, but to the surprise of almost everyone, picks the right lane. Scelzi leaves first by a small margin, but is only holding a thin lead until Bernstein's engine lets go at the 1000 foot mark, ensuring the first victory of the season for Team Winston. Looks like the Scelzi - Johnson juggernaut is starting to build up some momentum for the stretch run.