   Howard Haight, Butch Blair and crew celebrate a long overdue March Meet win. Haight has been competing at the Spring classic for 35 years so this was a case of good things happen to those who wait.
 The first "official" function of the event was the Goodguys Awards Banquet on Thursday night. All the 2004 champions were honored and received a very classy trophy and other goodies.    MC John Drummond with Top Fuel Champion Jack Harris and Jr. Fuel champ Scott Parks.   The first session of Top Fuel qualifying got under way at 2:48 p.m. on Friday. First out was a single by Butch Blair in last year's Fugowie. After his burnout Butch couldn't get the car out of reverse so he clicked it behind the starting line.   Another single featured Brett Harris in his first race since taking over the seat of Nitro Thunder.  Jack Harris (red shirt) in his new role as Team Owner gets a whole new perspective from the outside.  After a good leave the car drifted out of the groove at half track and headed for the center line. Harris wisely shut down to a 6.705 at just 151.59. The weather was in the mid to high eighties with lots of sun on the track. Made for some tricky conditions.   The first pair was Fred Farndon and Bob Hallock in the "Circuit Breaker" entry of Bob Richardson.   Both cars had decent leaves and were clean to the point where they both shut off early. Farndon runs 6.318 at 188.44 with Hallock carding an almost identical 6.316 @ 198.50.   Next up was Mark Malde in the Birky Bunch Chevy car and Denver Schutz in Bill Cullen's Texas based flyer.   Malde's car had a soft tune up and he clicked it early to a 6.839 at 196.07.  Schutz makes the best pass of the session to that point with a 6.202 @ 236.71.   Two cars that everyone expected to make the show were next up. Jeff Diehl in the RB Entertainment car of Brian VanDyke and Jason Richey in Dave Smith's "Nitro Fever".   After a strong leave Diehl spins the tires hard before the 330' mark and had to pedal netting a 6.414 @ 217.33.  Richey cards the first five of the weekend (5.995) at an impressive 253.66.   Adam Sorokin and Pete Kaiser where the next pair out.   Sorokin in John Blanchard's car had the clutch pull him through the staging lights and the tree never activated.  Kaiser in "Ground Zero" cards a soft 6.376 at 218.49.   Next up was Lee Jennings in California Trucker entry and Rick Rogers in his Hammerhead Racing fueler.   Jennings ran a trouble free 6.369 at 232.91.  Rogers on the other hand had enough trouble for both cars. At the hit it was apparent the engine wasn't happy.  A heartbeat later it proved how unhappy it was. This was the best case yet for blower bags!    Stu Lord Photo  Unaware of the carnage behind him, Jennings comes to a stop.  After some right lane clean up Rick White and Rick Williamson did their burnouts.   White temporarily took over the top spot with a 5.921 at 247.72.  But it was Williamson that caused the excitement by mowing down the orange markers from half track on.   Next pair was Bill Dunlap in Mike Fuller's car and the Utah based "Sudden Impact" with Scott Mason in the seat.   Dunlap took over the top spot with a nice 5.914 at 246.23.   Mason's Chevy started eating pistons early and disappeared behind a wall of white smoke at the finish. His 6.431 @ 198.32 would require a much better lap to make the show come Saturday.  Next out was Rick McGee in the Tedford & McGee "Overtime Special" (sporting a new full body and paint job) and Brendan Murry in his "Runnin' Wild Racing" entry. This match up would be the most dramatic of the event.   Both cars left good and McGee would card a solid 6.025 @ 227.96.  Slightly behind, Murry would stop the clocks with a 6.166 @ 224.60.... and that's when things got exciting.  Murry's Arias/Chevy tossed two rods in the lights and erupted into one of the worst fires ever seen in NTF. Blinded by flames and oil, Murry drifted over into McGee's lane. Fortunately Rick is known for an early chute and it served his well here.  With a handful of brake, McGee kept moving over while trying to give Murry more track.  At the last second McGee eased the purple car in behind Murry and literally drove under Brendan's chute into the clear right lane.   The car was still burning when Murry jumped out without a single burn.   After three years with its OSH paint scheme, Jim Murphy's "WW2 Racing" digger is now sporting a new (and very green) body.  Murphy would be paired with Terry Cox in the ever improving Cox & Rodeck car but Cox had fuel delivery problems at the end of the burnout and shut off.  Murphy left hard and qualified near the top with a 5.973 at 248.68.   As the hits just kept on coming Mendy Fry and Howard Haight heat up the M&H's.   Haight in the new Fugowie "business coupe" car and Fry in the MasterCam-Plaza Hotel entry left together.  Fry stayed with Haight until the 1000' mark when she had to click it to a 6.251 at just 188.83. Howard had no such problems and cards a 5.978 at a whopping 255.24. This was just a precursor to his weekend.   Another hot rod sporting a new paint job and full body is the Plaza Hotel car driven by Sean Bellemeur.  In the other lane was Dean Rusk in the cast iron 354 entry of Patrick & Ferry from Arizona.  Bellemeur left hard then struck the tires at the 330' mark. Sean, one of the best drivers in the business, quickly recovered and salvaged a 6.277 at 239.29 time slip.  Rusk got close to the wall early and folded his hand. With little funding these guys are just out to have fun with no expectations of cutting big numbers.  The last car to test the track was Brad Thompson in the GL Bless beauty.   Thompson leaves hard and cards a career best 5.891 at 245.76 to take over the top spot (which would stand through session two). However, it was a costly pass as there was severe engine and clutch damage in the process.  However, it was obviously a very costly pass as there was severe and terminal engine and clutch damage in the process. Humm, are blowers suppose to sit at a 10 degree angle 7 inches above the manifold?  Burst panel - I don't need no stinking burst panel!
Friday evening found most of the TF teams scratching their heads and hoping for cooler weather on Saturday ... that would happen somewhat and the ladder was shuffled all over the place. Saturday Qualifying
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