There's go big or go home, and then there's what Comp Eliminator racer Clark Smiley pulled off during the NHRA Div. 4 event at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas. 

During Saturday's rain-delayed Q-1 session, Smiley ran his BB/Altered 2009 Pontiac GXP to a -.806 under 7.114 elapsed time to claim an overwhelming qualifying lead. The run for the gasoline-powered was more than Smiley had expected in a classification where the index is meant to be bent, not broken.

"Yeah, it went a little faster than I thought it would go," Smiley admitted. 

Smith's 306-inch, 14.71 supercharged entry can sometimes be a toss-up in terms of performance, but in mineshaft conditions, it lit up the scoreboard in a pass that left the Denver City, Texas-based driver scratching his head. 

"I don't know why my car will ever run," Smiley said. 'My mom got on the radio. She was like 7.11." 

"I'm like, what? 'She's like one, one."

"I tell her, 'Just say the last two." I already know it's a seven. She's like, "One, one." I'm like, .41?" 

"She's like, 'No, one, one." 

"I'm like, 'That doesn't make sense."

Because the run was made in what is considered mineshaft conditions and was done in qualifying, his 7.92 index didn't take a hit. 

"I'd have had to sell the car or give it away if that had been in eliminations," Smiley explained. "Wouldn't have been worth nothing then."

Because rain played havoc on the event schedule, Comp only had two qualifying sessions and a first round of eliminations, where Smiley lost to Cali Neff. 

"I tried to slow it down a little bit, and I did a little too good a job of it," Smiley said. "Took a little blower out of it and put a lot of fuel in it, and it was a little doggy, so it was a little on the wrong side of the slowdown."

The Rooftec Competition Eliminator Bonus ran an abbreviated WFO program, and Sean Dodd won the A-field bonus, beating Kayla Mozeris. Smiley didn't go home empty-handed as he claimed the B-field bonus, stopping Mike DePalma.

Racing was halted in the second round when weepers, which is when water percolates up to the racing surface from underneath.

Other top qualifiers included Houstonian Stan Holt (Super Stock, 9.679 seconds, -1.071 (under),  Conner Statler (A/SA, 9.978 seconds, -1.022 (under index),  Darian Boesch (Top Sportsman, 6.175),  Ross Laris (Top Dragster, 6.102). 

Eliminations will resume on Sunday morning.