I was paired for my first hit with Nick Plewniak, and his stretchy truck. I raced Nick last year in the shootout, and I know he takes quite a while to do his burnout and stage, so I decided to wait on him in the water. One of the frustrating things for a drag racer who'd trying to race a street car with a t-stat is engine temperature, and I was trying to get at least one pass in without the thing being completely heat soaked.

I was shocked when Nick did a shorter than normal burnout, so I went ahead and did mine, and approached the line, then waited, waited, and waited some more. When I looked back over my shoulder, guys had both doors to the S-10 open, and appeared to be helping Nick with something. I motioned at the starter, but he told me to sit tight. Apparently Nick had pulled the same stunt Boone had, and they were putting his belts on him while my tires got colder and my engine hotter. The Valiant hesitated at the hit again, then spun a little, so I was already formulating my plan for the next run as I approached the finish line. I remembered John's description of the shutdown area and track exit, so I decided to concentrate on that, halfway through the braking zone the track falls away from you downhill, then you navigate a quick button hook onto the return road which had me wondering how a 250+ inch dragster would ever make it!