Jim Daniels started off having a little bit of a bad day, but it all turned right when he scored the title in the NHRA Mopar Hemi Challenge competition.

At the conclusion of the parade of classic Hemis that would challenge one another for SS/AH honors, flames leapt from the engine compartment and Daniels dashed out of line to fix a problem with the intake. Daniels, a dentist by trade, put the fire out and used dental impression material to seal the intake because the five-minute drying time was much quicker than traditional silicone.

Late to the staging lanes and likely with heart racing, Daniels geared up for a stellar performance that would include a slew of great reaction times and a consistent '68 Dart worthy of the title.

Jim Daniels started off having a little bit of a bad day, but it all turned right when he scored the title in the NHRA Mopar Hemi Challenge competition.

At the conclusion of the parade of classic Hemis that would challenge one another for SS/AH honors, flames leapt from the engine compartment and Daniels dashed out of line to fix a problem with the intake. Daniels, a dentist by trade, put the fire out and used dental impression material to seal the intake because the five-minute drying time was much quicker than traditional silicone.

Late to the staging lanes and likely with heart racing, Daniels geared up for a stellar performance that would include a slew of great reaction times and a consistent '68 Dart worthy of the title.

Daniels clicked off his worst light of eliminations during the opening round, a .030, but it was good enough, along with an 8.595, to get past Randall Warford and his 8.745. In the second round, Daniels took a holeshot win over Larry Perkins Sr. and his Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins powered '68 Barracuda. Third round, Daniels nabbed another holeshot win – this time over Jim Pancake – and earned a bye run into the final.

On the other side of the ladder, David Barton was socking away rosy victories over Lloyd Wofford (red light), Stephen Herbert (another red light), Wendell Howes (a third red light, as Barton clocked a very quick 8.498), and Tyler Hard (yet another foul start).

In the final, Daniels was .018 at the tree to Barton's .027 and put an 8.560 on the scoreboard to defeat Barton's quicker 8.559 on a holeshot.

Sportsman action during the day also included Super Stock class eliminations and the first round for both Super Comp and Super Gas. Top Alcohol Dragsters and Top Alcohol Funny Cars also made their Indy debut and at the conclusion of the second round of qualifying, Tony Bartone topped the floppers with a low 5.532 that was over a tenth quicker than No. 2 qualifier Fred Hagen Jr. Top Alcohol Dragster low qualifier was Chris Demke who went 5.277 at 271.41 mph.

Notably, the big Stock teardown reportedly included between 18 and 29 cars, and they all passed.

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