There’s a lot to be said about making a good first impression.
Qualifying under the lights at National Trail Raceway as the clock almost turned midnight Friday, Top Fuel racer Scott Palmer was both good and spectacular.
Joining Palmer atop the IHRA leaderboard at the Outlaw Nitro Nationals were Mike McIntye (Funny Car), Frankie Taylor (Outlaw Pro Mod), and Jeremy Huffman (Mountain Motor Pro Stock).
Palmer claimed the No. 1 qualifying spot by running a 3.955-second elapsed time as the engine flamed up, slowing the PBR/RoofTec dragster to 267.37 miles per hour.
“We probably pushed a head gasket out down there, but you know it’s so hot down here and it’s been hot at Norwalk and hot in Epping – been hot everywhere,” said Palmer, whose dragster went through the lights with flames coming out of the pipes and everywhere else. “It’s just tricky conditions when it’s hot like this, so we took some fuel away, slowed the clutch down, and usually it puts a hole out. I can’t really tell if it put a hole out there or not, but to be real honest, I thought about lifting at the eighth-mile because I thought I felt a hole out and my foot eased off the gas, and when I went back down I knew it would not be good. But actually it didn’t hurt anything.
“It did blow a spark plug out of the hole, so we ended up lucky, and I think it would’ve run a 3.80. I think it would’ve run a .87 or .88 if the plug didn’t go out, so we’re happy with that after the trouble we’ve had. We looked like beginners on the first run, and after all the work these people have put into putting this event on we wanted to make a decent run down the track. You know, we all compare ourselves to other runs but in these conditions on this day, that was a good run.”
Krista Baldwin was second while Lex Joon and Cameron Ferre rounded out the top half of the field.
Palmer will race Chuck Loftin in the first round of Saturday’s eliminations. Baldwin matches up against Mitch King, Joon will face Will Smith, and Cameron Ferre will take on Doug Foley.
McIntyre drove his “Mac Attack” to the top spot in his field, edging out defending IHRA Funny Car champion Terry Haddock. McIntyre went to the top of the order at 4.073, 309.34 to edge Haddock’s 4.162.
“It was fast. When it’s dark, it’s real fast,” McIntire said. “These things are fast during the day, and at night, it’s a whole different beast. You got the flames up by the side windows and it’s dark. She was cruising. It was a good run.”
McIntire expects a strong day in Saturday’s eliminations, which are scheduled to begin in the heat of the day.
“It’s going to be hot again,” McIntire said. “We got to figure that out, and hopefully we go some rounds.”
McIntyre is paired against Jody Austin in the first round. Other matchups include Haddock versus Tod Barker, Joey Haas vs. Dale Creasy Jr., and Jack Wyatt taking on Del Worsham.
Taylor went to the top with a 3.699, 199.91. He is followed by Mike DiDomenico, who led the first session with a 3.732, 203.12. Tom Blinco was third with a 3.777, 200.05.
There was a scary moment as Paul Diagrepont lost control of his supercharged 1969 Corvette, and smacked the wall before crossing over in front of Jason Lee. He exited the car under his own power, and no injuries were reported.
In the quickest side-by-side Mountain Motor Pro Stock run of the day, Huffman flexed his muscles to take the top spot, running a 4.129, 174.57,to take the No. 1 spot. Dwayne Rice will start Saturday’s eliminations as the second seed after running 4.138, 172.63, in qualifying.
“We’re pretty excited,” Huffman said. “We weren’t sure what to expect coming up here at IHRA. Never been on an IHRA-prepped track, so we were pretty soft in that first run, and we struggled with some ignition stuff earlier with the FuelTech. We’ve had some crank-trigger issues, and got that all fixed up and seem to have it coming in the right direction now.”
Cory Voss anchored the eight-car field with a 4.204. He will race Huffman in the first round.
“It’s very tight racing,” Huffman said. “We’ve got a good group of 14 cars here, a lot of good racers. It’s really tight racing. The driver’s really got to be on his game and be on the tree, because I think the top four or five are all within, like, .03. It’s pretty exciting when it’s good, close racing.”
Other first-round matchups include Rice vs. Rick Cowger; John DeFlorian Jr. vs. Chris Powers; and Jerry Tucker vs. Tony Pontieri.
TOP FUEL
1. Scott Palmer, 3.955, 267.37, 2. Krista Baldwin, 4.539, 178.47, 3. Lex Joon, 4.612, 171.49, 4. Cameron Ferre, 4.725, 170.51, 5. Doug Foley, 4.754, 157.61, 6. Will Smith 5.514, 123.91, 7. Mitch King, 6.301, 101.65, 8. Chuck Loftin, 6.704, 87.12
FUNNY CAR
1. Mike McIntire, 4.073, 309.34, 2. Terry Haddock, 4.162, 286.44, 3. Joey Haas, 4.289, 279.61, 4. Jack Wyatt, 4.352, 228.34, 5., Del Worsham 4.635, 169.23, 6. Dale Creasy Jr., 4.654, 189.02, 7. Tod Barker, 4.688, 253.39, 8. Jody Austin, 6.137, 118.77
OUTLAW PRO MOD
1. Frankie Taylor, 3.699, 199.91, 2. Mike DiDomenico, 3.732, 203.12, 3. Tom Blinco, 3.777, 200.05, 4. David Monday, 3.785, 200.77, 5. Disco Dean, 3.789, 196.70, 6. Zach Sackman, 3.901, 164.57, 7. James Beadling, 4.150, 175.09, 8. Jason Lee, 4.780, 118.59, 9. Craig Sullivan, 4.856, 104.24, 10. Paul Daigrepont, 5.155, 94.67, 11. Jacob McNeal, broke
MOUNTAIN MOTOR PRO STOCK
1. Jeremy Huffman, 4.129, 174.57, 2. Dwayne Rice, 4.138, 172.63, 3. John DeFlorian Jr., 4.145, 173.58, 4. Jerry Tucker, 4.147, 173.14, 5. Tony Pontieri, 4.152, 174.05, 6. Chris Powers, 4.181, 173.54, 7. Rick Cowgar, 4.181, 171.53, 8. Cory Voss, 4.204, 171.38, 9. John Konigshofer, 4.215, 172.19, 10. Kurt Neighbor, 4.246, 170.75, 11. Stroube Lander, 4.252, 168.58, 12. Mike Murphy, 4.387, 161.79, 13. Johnny Pluchino, 5.061, 102.64, 14. Larry Pearce, 9.778, 54.54
