FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Amarillo Dragway

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Qualifying Session #1

(LEFT) The points leader coming into this event, Oklahoma's Ken Singleton in his "High Risk" car set the pace again with a low qualifying 4.099 - 187.97 pass to lead all contenders.

(RIGHT) Not having the same luck was Nick Johnson in the Reinart & Johnson "Prairie Fire" who struggled to a 16th best effort of 6.015 - 131.43 in an on-and-off run. To say the track conditions were challenging is being charitable. More on that subject later.

(LEFT) Cranking up the volume considerably were the first two nitro burners of the evening, with Chuck Loftin's Mustang-bodied "Motivation" sliding into the #3 position on the ladder with a safe 4.246 - 160.50 pass that set him up well for Saturday.

(RIGHT) Runner-up of the last event on the FCC circuit, and winner of the recent Pro Mod vs Fuel Altered Showdown, the Texas-based "Wild Child" of Kebin Kinsley struggled mightily to tame all that horsepower and idled down the track to a 11.196 - 53.32 to sit near the bottom of the list (#18) with just one chance left to get into Saturday evening's show.

(LEFT) Making his FCC debut, New Mexico's Lyle Greenberg brought out the "Cone Hunter" Corvette and pedalled his way to a 6.880 - 131.29 to sit just outside the "B" field in the 17th spot going into the last qualifier.

(RIGHT) Another new recruit for the "Chaos Crew" was the Ricky Weeaks team with their brand-new Mustang-bodied "Nitro Pony" from Roswell, New Mexico. Since Ricky hadn't finished licensing, Ray Stringer hopped in the car and made a solid shakedown run for the new guys, before getting back in his own "Blown Centless" entry.

PIT Shots

Qualifying Session #2

(LEFT) With the air and track temps dropping, the second session at 10:00 promised some better results for everyone. Series regular Matt Nissen in his familiar "Runnin' Down A Dream" 'Vette made a solid pass of 4.721 - 149.54 to land in the middle of the "B" field in the #11 position.

(RIGHT) A perfectly replicated tribute car, the "Brutus" entry of Troxel & Schneider, with Chris Schneider driving, stopped the clocks at 4.599 - 151.48 to grab the #9 position overall, and place himself at the top of the "B" field, at least provisionally.

(LEFT) Another regular entrant in the series, Jordan Ballew in his Nova-bodied "Ballew Thunder" struggled to get up on the tires and put a so-so 5.172 - 135.17 up on the scoreboards. It ranked #14 and left him in a somewhat precarious position going into the final qualifying session.

(RIGHT) A car that has been visiting the winners circle regularly this year (two "B" field wins in four events) is the "Weekend Warrior" of series newcomer Steve Vang and he pounded out a very good 4.431 - 159.32 to place himself well into the "A" field in the #5 position. However, the last time he ended up in the "fast" bracket, he met a very tough opponent (Ken Singleton) in the first round of eliminations and earned an early ticket home.

(LEFT) Yet another newcomer was Mitch Bowen in the Flagstaff, Arizona-based "Northland Express" and he staked a claim to a spot in the "A" field with a very good (considering the less than optimal track conditions) 4.457 - 162.16 to sit in the #8 position. Pretty much obscured in the background was Nick Johnson in the "Prairie Fire" entry.

(RIGHT) A solid pair of "A" field runners, featuring (near lane) Shane Blanton in the "Bad Company" car against (far lane) Ray Stringer in the "Blown Centless". Stringer streaked to a 4.243 - 172.26, good for the #2 spot on the ladder, while Blanton turned a solid 4.470 - 156.30 to take the #7 spot in the field.

(LEFT) Making his third start on the circuit, San Antonio's Randy Meuller in his "Crazy Randy" entry, started the weekend with a #13 best of 5.086 - 115.39 that showed there was still work to do on the car.

(RIGHT) Still "Back In Black" is the familiar Corvette of Tod Barker as he put down a decent 4.619 - 152.10 that placed him in the 2nd spot in the "B" field and #10 overall going into Saturday.

(LEFT) Our final pair of cars for the night start with the Brown & Cunningham "Still Crazy" entry, driven by Clay Cunningham, enroute to a provisional spot in the "A" field at #7, with a 4.452 - 158.98 effort.

(RIGHT) Rounding out the action for the evening, the Doak & Poloson "Bucket List", driven by Nick Poloson, put down a very good 4.355 - 162.41 that left him in the middle of the "A" field in the #4 spot.

Qualifying Session #3 (FINAL)

With just one final chance to get into either the "A" or "B" fields at Amarillo, it was time to "put up or load up" for the 20 racers in competition. Going into the session, the bump for the "A" group was held down by Mitch Bowen at 4.457. At the bottom of the "B" field, Nick Johnson sat nervously on his Friday "best" of 6.015, knowing that a couple of real hitters, Kebin Kinsley and Lyle Greenberg, both burning nitro, were more than capable of bumping him out of eliminations.

Eliminations Round ONE - "A" Field

Eliminations Round ONE - "B" Field

Eliminations Round TWO

Eliminations FINAL Round

WINNERS Circle

Other than the racers and the track crew, these were the hardest working people on the property: the photographers. Left to right, it's Wes Ramsey, Russell Brown, Tera Graves, Chris Graves, and our ever intrepid correspondent, BIG Bob Snyder.