Over four rounds of competition Kris Krabill got progressively quicker in his Gary Turner's "Pedaler", and ultimately won the 16 car show with a stout 5.95 to score the his second straight win at the Pepsi Nightfire National. Krabill ran 6.05, 6.01 and 5.96 to advance to the final against Bucky Austin who carded a losing 6.16.

The first qualifying session went off as the sun was starting to set. With the track cooling off it made staying in the groove crucial to card a good time.

For Jack Harris and his Nitro Thunder Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car this race was unusual in the fact that for the first time there was someone other than Jack in the seat. Steve Macklyn, who was a IHRA Funny Car stand out, needed to make some passes to keep his FC license current. So, he worked out a deal with Harris to drive the Nitro Thunder Firebird at Boise.

Macklyn went right down the groove to clock a very nice 6.001 at 242.13. It was the quickest ET for the car and would stand for top speed of the meet for Funny Car. Pruett-LeDuc was right there with a 6.15 at just 195.

 

Ed Dougan got out of the groove and the tagged the left guardwall. He said headers acted as "training wheels".

Josh Crawford left good in this new and very slick Ray Zeller tuned Mustang but got loose early leading to an 11.41 time.

Just when it looked like no one was going to get down the track with a decent time Garrett Bateman wheeled the Plueger & Gyger Mustang to a stunning 5.86 at 235.17. It would stand for low ET of qualifying.

Paul Romine made the long trip from Indiana to run the Nightfire. His first pass ever on the Boise track was a noteworthy 6.15 at 229.65.

 

Bucky Austin likes to go last and he did. But his stout 5.93 at 231.00 fell short of taking the #1 spot from his stable mate.

 

The second and last qualifying session was at 2:45 Saturday afternoon. The weather was much warmer than Friday night - but not hot by any means.

First out was Josh Crawford and John Powers III. Crawford improved with a 6.57 at 155.09. Powers stayed where he was.

Mendy Fry who was on the outside looking in jumped all the way to the #3 spot with a great 5.93 at 236.49.

After blowing out the snout seal in their new blower in the first session, Harris was forced to put the "not so good" spare blower from the dragster on for this pass which resulted in a 6.22 at 227.05 which did not improve Macklyn's position.

Kris Krabell was one of the few cars who improved in this session carding a 5.91 at 241.74 to land in the #2 spot.

Paul Romine also improved in this session carding a 6.02 at 236.22 to land in the #6 spot.

 

The flopper wheel stand award went to Sean Dale in the Shaky Situation Charger which did not make the show running a best of 6.57.

Twig Zigler stayed off the center line and put his Pizza Haven in the show with a 6.20 at 227.61.

In case you haven't noticed, Bucky Austin always has a different, and not to shabby, back-up girl at every race. Boise was no exception and she got a lot of attention.

First round of eliminations was, in a word, ugly. Keep in mind that the sun had set, the temperature had plummeted and after waiting for a 52 minute clean up there was virtually no heat on the track. Boise is known for loosing the track at night and this was no exception. This race was just one on a few that came close to ending very badly.

First pair out was Paul Romine and Ed Dougan. This was all Romine with a tire spinning 6.39 at 210.34. Dougan got in all kinds of trouble and shut off to a 7.83 at 116.88.

Kris Krabell made fast work of Josh Crawford with a 6.05 at 234.43. Crawford got real loose and shut down to a 11.40.

In the first stanza #5 qualifier Steve Macklyn was paired with #12 Mike Savage. Macklyn left first by a bunch with a half second in the bank.

With Macklyn slowed down by a deployed chute it didn't take long for Savage to catch him. But in the process of playing catch up he got out of the already slippery groove and made a violent move into the right lane.

Savage took out a timing block and crossed the center line coming way to close to Macklyn. This immediately disqualified him but also cause Macklyn to make a sharp move to the right to avoid being hit.

In a masterful job of driving Macklyn stayed off the wall, straighten the car out, and went through the traps pedaling the throttle - chute and all. It wasn't pretty by any definition but Macklyn's 8.194 at 120.01 was good enough to advance to round two on Sunday.

 

Low qualifier Garrett Bateman opted to run early before the track got any colder. It worked as he left first and carded a tire spinning early shut down 6.09 at 206..80. In the increasingly evil left lane Dennis LaCharite called it quits with a 8.71 at 103.53.

Bucky followed suit and proved that at least in the right lane one could dip into the fives with low ET of the round a 5.94 at 231.83. A helpless Todd Lesenko gave up after almost hitting the wall carding a 9.25 at 100.53.

At Boise, Lisa Pruett-LeDuc was initiated as the first member of the Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car 250 MPH Club.

Pruett-LeDuc was one of the few cars to lose in the right lane. She left on Mark Sanders but got into trouble up track allowing the Nova to take the win with a 6.82 at 176.57. Lisa coasted through with a 8.21.

The closest race of round one was Mendy Fry and Nate Bugg. Fry got the holeshot and hung on to win at 6.83 at 186.37 with Bugg right behind with a 6.98 at 199.42. Both cars had trouble on the top end.

After everyone miraculously survived round one, Sunday found the conditions for round two quite a bit better with the show beginning at 5 PM.

Fry was out first but Romine picked her up in a hurry and held on to win a very close race - 6.09 at 232.13 to a game 6.12 at 234.80.

 

Next out was Krabell and Zigler. This was over early as Krabell left first by a ton and marched to a nice 6.01 at 239.61.

Macklyn left first but Austin caught him in the first 150' and there's a reason for that, Steve left in high gear dooming the run from the hit.

By half track Austin had a sizable lead and the Harris - Macklyn adventure was over. Austin carded a really stout 5.96 at 231.56 to Macklyn's shut off early 6.43 at 233.22.

 

The final pair to see who would face Austin in the semi was Garrett Bateman and Mark Sanders.

 

Bateman left first (.063 to .091) and that would be the difference between winning and losing.

The closest funny car race of the meet was a holeshot win by Bateman. His 6.149 at 222.66 just nipped Sanders' quicker and faster 6.138 at 232.85. Neither driver knew who won.

With the sun setting in the west the semi finals boiled down to four of the top six qualifiers. No upsets here.

Kris Krabell would face and handily defeat a redlighting Paul Romine with a stout 5.96 at 241.54.

In the other race teammates squared off with Bucky Austin in the left lane and Garrett Bateman in the left. Bucky had lane choice.

Bateman left first by a bunch (.066 to a .121) and it looked like he would carry it to a win. But at the line it was Bucky who got the win by about 5 feet. His 6.016 at 232.86 nipped Bateman's 6.149 at 222.66. Trust me, when these two race nobody lifts.

In what promised to be a classic drag race the final pitted Bucky Austin in his "Northwest Hitter" and defending Nightfire champion, Kris Krabell in Gary Turner's "Pedaled". Kris had lane choice.

Krabell drilled Austin on the tree and never looked back. His 5.95 at 241.48 was more than enough to be the repeat champ. Austin trailed with a 6.16 at a slowing 217.18.

Gary Turner, tuner Cory Lee and the whole Pedaler team went nuts. This was not an easy event to win.

Top Fuel Eliminations

Top Fuel Qualifying

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