The first day of the 69th annual Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals is in the book. Robert Bailey (Competition Eliminator), Steve Comella (Hemi Shootout), Ernie Neal (Super Stock) and Paul Wong (Stock) set the pace for Wednesday's qualifying.

Bailey jumped out early amongst the 63 entries on hand for the Competition Eliminator division as he drove his A/Econo Dragster to the top spot with a 6.576 elapsed time, -0.634 under the index. Defending event champion Doug Engels was second quickest with a -.611 under, 7.389 performance against the D/Dragster Automatic standard. Jim Greenheck was third with a 7.649, -.601. 

Comella was the top runner in the first session of the Dodge Hemi Challenge, stopping the timers with an 8.353 elapsed time. James Daniels was second with an 8.449, while Anthony Rhodes' 8.560 put him in third.

Neal's Super Stock/P Automatic 1996 Caprice picked up where he left off in last year's qualifying, leading the first two sessions with a -.1.64 under performance with an 11.010 elapsed time. Dan Jacobs' GT/K Cavalier was second quickest with a 9.380 elapsed time, -1.370 under. John Fogle was third with a -1.343 under the GT/IA standard with a 9.370. There were 139 entries making qualifying runs on the first day.

And a truck shall lead them. There are not many times a pickup truck will outrun a Mustang, but it happened in the Q-2 session when Wong's T/Stock Automatic Chevrolet C-10 ran a 12.525 elapsed time, -1.875 under his 14.40 index. Robin Lawrence's stick-shifted Factory Stock/G Mustang, who led the first session, was second best with a -1.504 under the index with a 9.846 elapsed time. Marty Buth's N/Stock Automatic 1985 Mustang was third quickest with a -1.480, 11.520. There are 139 entries in competition.

Qualifying resumes on Thursday with class eliminations for Super Stock and Stock, starting at 8 AM.