Last fall Mark Micke was on the fence about building a Pro Modified style car to keep up with the changing face of the Radial vs. The World class. But in the end, Micke, of Jefferson City, Mo., decided to stick to his guns and keep running his boxy '78 Chevelle Malibu.

Thursday night during the Q-3 session at the Duck X Productions $101,000-to-win Sweet 16 event, Micke ended the first day of qualifying with both guns blazing. 

Micke reeled off a 3.677 elapsed time at 221.20 miles per hour to pace the quickest field in the history of the Radial vs. The World program. 

"We were watching all of the guys run in front of us, Stevie [Jackson] and Dwayne [Mills] and they showed us the track was definitely there," Micke said. "We've had that run in the back of our mind for a while. We just decided to load it up, and the track was bad ass. It took, it was certainly an awesome run. The thing was hauling out the back."

Micke's run was virtually overshadowed by Frank Soldridge's violent crash in the other lane. 

Soldridge lost control of his Mustang Cobra just shy of the finish line and impacted the left retaining wall and barrel-rolled multiple times. He exited the vehicle under his own power but was taken to a local hospital as a precaution. 

Micke had no idea of what had transpired in the opposite lane. 

"[My car] blew the breather tube on me, so I had some oil," Micke recalled. "I got slowed down, and then I saw the fire truck. I thought, 'Oh no, I'm on fire."

"Then he went past me, and I went 'uh oh."

"I knew it wasn't good, but luckily he walked away. Thank God for that."

Micke paced a field which included two drivers in the 3.60s (Steve Jackson, 3.686), DeWayne Mills (3.696) and seven in the 3.70s (Jeff Naiser 3.726), (Keith Haney 3.748), (Jamie Hancock 3.760), (Paulo Guist 3.767), (Tim Slavens 3.783), (Brian Markewiecz 3.787) and Daniel Pharris 3.794) in the historic show. 

NHRA Pro Stock superstar Alex Laughlin anchors the field after three sessions with a 3.869. 

Micke admits he left a little on the table on the provisional No. 1.

"I think you will see a .64 or a .65," Micke explained. "If we get the kind of conditions we had today, you will see it tomorrow. I know I left two numbers; the track was so tight I had to bump in, and it flickered the bulb, so I had to take another bulb. Looking at the data, I know it did. 

"We thought it would go a .64. I think there's more tomorrow if the track is the same."

Friday's qualifying is scheduled for four sessions, starting at 10 AM, EST.