That's why they don't race on paper.

While Drew Austin and Jim Maroney qualified at the bottom of the eight-car Nitro Funny Car field, heading into final eliminations at this past weekend's 52nd Ignitor from Firebird Raceway just outside Boise, Idaho, they were the two men left standing by days end.

Unfortunately, they both will have to wait to determine a winner as a second rain delay rolled through the area late in the afternoon, forcing the postponement of the highly anticipated final until August during the 52nd annual NightFire Nationals.

After making a conservative run just to get down the racetrack in the opening session, then getting shut off on the starting line in Q2 when the latch to the body broke when trying to lower it, the third-generation racer Austin found himself on the outside of the field entering the third and final qualifying session on Saturday afternoon. However, Austin, along with assistance from his father and crew chief, legendary Top Alcohol Funny Car and Top Fuel driver Pat Austin was able to lay down a solid pass during the final run on Saturday, punching his beautiful new "War Racing" Mustang into the field in the eighth and final spot with a solid 5.86 at over 241 miles per hour.

"Q3 about 900 feet. It just blew the tires right off," Austin said. "I mean, it completely blew the tires off, and when it did that, I thought it personally went through a clutch. Maybe it had a disc come apart or something like that, and so I told my dad that, and when we went to look at my computer, it didn't record because the whole time when we were thrashing on the body, we forgot to shut our computer off, so we didn't have any data from that run.

"All my dad had to tune that car was just look at the plugs and the clutch and all that, so you know he went old school crew chief and put his tune-up in it. We've been having some issues with this body as far as downforce goes, and it's a tricky body, so we did a few things to it to hopefully try to improve the downforce going into E1."

The road would not get any easier for the young Austin as his eighth qualifying berth meant he would have a date with No. 1 qualifier Tim Boychuk in the opening round. Boychuk came into Boise looking to seal the deal, having been runner-up at the last two races on tour, first in Bakersfield at the 65th March Meet, falling to Bobby Cottrell, then again at the Winternationals in Pomona, that time coming up just short to Cory McClenathan.

Unfortunately, Boychuk could not make three final round appearances in a row as he fouled (-.180), handing the win to Austin, who blazed the quarter-mile at 5.802 seconds at over 245 miles per hour to advance.

Austin's fortunes continued to improve as he reeled off his best run of the weekend with a sizzling 5.78 at over 243 miles per hour in a great side-by-side race against Ryan Hodgson in the "Bubble-Up / Pacemaker" Firebird. Hodgson made a race of it with a solid 5.89 at over 220 miles per hour, but it was not enough.

Austin's final round appearance made his third since debuting in the fuel ranks in October of 2021 at the then-California Hot Rod Reunion, a race in which he won his first time.

Jim Maroney was also not in a very comfortable position on Saturday afternoon as he and his "Speed Sport" Dodge Omni Nitro Funny Car sat on the bump spot heading into the final qualifying session, and five other hungry drivers looking to take his spot. However, in the final stanza, Maroney solidified himself in the No. 7 position with a solid 5.83 at over 247 miles per hour. Although Maroney was only able to muster up a spot near the bottom half of the field, with the car improving by nearly a tenth in every session of qualifying, he and the team firmly believed if they could continue that trend in eliminations, then they certainly had a car that could go rounds and win on Sunday.

Maroney squared off against "Big Bad" Brad Thompson in the "JailBreak" Camaro in the opening round. Thompson had a great car throughout qualifying, finishing in the No. 2 spot with a stout 5.71 at over 244 miles per hour. However, just like Austin, Maroney was able to win from the lower qualified position as Thompson back-fired the supercharger at around half-track, allowing Maroney to squeak by for the win, running only a 6.06 at 233 miles per hour.

"First round of eliminations, we used up all of our luck for the year," Maroney said.

"We go up there first round, fire the car up, and do the burnout. At the end of the burnout, the idle sticks and its screaming. It's probably about 3,500-4,000 rpm. High enough that I almost didn't get it into reverse, and as I'm backing up, I'm not sure I'll be able to get it into forward gear after I get to the starting line.

"Get it back there, and it is just pouring rain out of the pipes. Well, it is because the throttle is stuck open, and the barrel valve is open. Nobody on the crew could figure out how to get the idle turned down, and I was holding the brake for dear life inside the car. In the meantime, the guy who's supposed to take the throttle-stop off forgets to take the throttle-stop off. I notice it, and I'm pointing at it to the guy who's pulling me into the beams. He looks away and is looking at the other car, and I'm like, he always gives me the thumbs up before he walks away. He's going to see me.

"He never sees me.

"I'm like, on my gosh, what are we going to do now? In the meantime, the idle is way up and I'm hanging on for dear life. So what do I do? Oh, the escape hatch. So I stick my hand up, and I'm popping the escape hatch up and down; you can just see my fingers out of the top of the car trying to get someone's attention, and sure enough, the crew chief saw what was going on, and he got the throttle stop off of the car.

"Luckily, Thompson hadn't staged the car and turned a bulb on yet, so we didn't hold them up at all. So we got the car staged and it went out there, and because of the whole thing, it had cylinders out, and it rattled the tires. I short-shifted the car, and when I got around the corner, I couldn't believe I saw a win light, and apparently, he (Thompson) blew his car up, and I literally sat there in the car with my helmet closed with the, breathing air on just thinking what just happened? That was by far the most work I've done in a drag car from start to finish."

Well, Maroney had more luck on his side Sunday afternoon as he would not record a five-second run during the eliminations but still was able to make it to the final round as a 6.01 at over 237 miles per hour was good enough to take down a tire-smoking Kris Krabill in the semi-finals, who also had a very strong car in qualifying. Maroney's win in the semifinals meant it would be a battle of the orange cars in the money round.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature appeared for the second time that afternoon, forcing the postponement of the rest of the eliminations. The final round bout between Austin and Maroney will now be run Saturday night, under the lights (August 5th), during the final qualifying session of Nitro Funny Car at the 52nd annual Night Fire Nationals, also held at Firebird Raceway just outside of Boise.

Maroney, who's in his second stint at the wheel of Jim Broome's "Speed Sport" Dodge Omni Nitro Funny Car, and has experience driving Top Fuel dragsters in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing series, as well as AA Fuel Altered's, is looking forward to his final round confrontation with Austin which will now be run under the lights.

"It's going to be cool; that's all I can tell you," Maroney said. "And I'll tell you what, I'm looking forward to the opportunity of doubling up."

Austin, who's looking to capture his first trophy since winning in his nitro debut at the 2021 California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield, is also chomping at the bit to find his way back into the winner's circle. Having to wait a few months to run a final that's been delayed due to weather is nothing new for Austin.

"The first race I ever won in A/Fuel, we were in Salt Lake City and it did the same thing," Austin said. "We won the semifinals, and we were going into the final to race Kin Bates when it rained out, and they saved it for the (California Hot Rod) Reunion, so I'm really excited.

"You'll have to pull those belts a little harder. Our car is going to be fired up, and I know we're going to be running good. My dad will be ready to go. He has a few months to think about everything. When you give him that amount of time, he's already the real deal, making him even more lethal. "I'm really excited to race that "Speed Sport" car. Maroney and the whole team, they're all a class act."