The Hot Rod/ Drag Week staff have learned a great deal about how to get a day in when inclement weather is threatening. The massive failure of the final day at Heartland Park Topeka in 2011 has shaped many of their decisions since, and for the better. As such, they were stepping up the program at Cordova, only allowing about an hour for each of the first two sessions. By the time we rolled through the gate, the last of the class cars first session was finishing up, and the SME cars were already in the lanes, so our focus was to get Rachael and the Belvedere in the lanes before we prepped our cars.

Ray had already ran his Barracuda, and left, recording his slowest time of the week. The humidity was definitely to blame, considering he had chosen to run closed hood, and couldn't chase the jetting. One of the strategies on display was to take the first hit, and try to get out before the weather hit. It didn't surprise me that Clark and Bill were quickly rolling considering they had a pretty good cushion in the SME quick 32 qualifying, but Dan Smith didn't throw many attempts at the track either, and he was barely hanging onto position number 32! Like Ray, both of them accepted their slowest run of the week.