I drove the Valiant up to the lanes, and was once again directed to 3/4. Dale and Boone were in 1/2 which would run out first. The track was quiet, as they were working on an 04 Silverado with a ladder rack at the last turn-off.
"We're being held up for a mule truck?" I looked at Dale.
"Mule truck went 12.77 at 109, and the engine went away at about the thousand foot mark!" Dale laughed and shook his head.
"Another one of those 100,000 mile 5.3 ls engines with an Ebay turbo, I'm guessing", Boone added.
Everyone around was attempting to be calm, but looks of desperation and anxiety were not in short supply. At this point in the evening it was pretty clear, the cars currently in the lanes had one shot at a decent number!

Kirwan in the red Challenger HellCat, and Randy Juliani in his 66 Coronet were the last two Mopars to round out the SME portion. The Hell cat would leave National Trail with an 11.32-121 opening day slip, and mrrandyj's Connecticut based Dodge would lay down an 11.74-113.7.

They rolled out the tractors for a little starting line maintenance while the rest of us chewed our bottom lips and wondered if we would ever get a shot at the track.