Dale's opponent for the third round of the Shootout was the same 10 flat running, BBF powered, nitrous huffing '73 Ranchero that had put the Barnyard Viper on the trailer in round one. The fact that Dale had dumped so much timing out caught up with him on that pass however, as the 440 coughed, popped back through the carb, and died as he tried to come up against the converter. So, after all that thrashing Friday night and Saturday morning, the Gremlin still went out with a wimper, instead of a bang.
"Yeah, but it drove up on the trailer!" Dale laughed as he loaded the Gremlin for the drive back to Oklahoma.