Last year, I relayed the story of Pro Street Power Adder, and explained how a battle of seven second machines for the top three spots in that class turned into Tina Pierce taking second in her eight second Colorado, and third falling to 9.60s. In the first session on Wednesday at US131 Motorsports Park, the PSPA hitters decided to prove they had the toughest class in Drag Week 2016, and put their stamp on the top ten overall as well.

It started with Mike Roy and his famous maroon 71 Monte Carlo, which, after owning the class for years, suffered a rare DNF in 2015. The big Chevy had already started the week with runs of 7.69, and 7.66, but improved at Martin with a stout 7.60-187.2! Next up was Les Smith and his tangerine 67 Nova; like Roy, he had a DNF for 2015, but was solidly in the sevens to start the week, and took a huge step up at US131 with a 7.68-184.05. The class leader was Glenn Hunter, who was bent on avenging his DQ on the last day of 2015. His stunning red and white 56 Bel-Air turned in a 7.66 and 7.55 to grab a tenuous advantage, but that could all slip away if he couldn't match the numbers his rivals were throwing down. He answered the challenge with a best ever 7.51-185.57. Jon Wischmann was a previous Drag Week class winner who also suffered a DNF in 2015 and was looking for redemption. He was trying to keep pace in Pro Street Power Adder, and his 7.70-185 was also a best for his 67 Camaro, and meant he would leave Martin in a virtual tie for third with Smith.

The good numbers weren't just limited to the PSPA class, Devin Yankey's 67 Nova Ultimate Iron entry improved by two tenths to an 8.02-172 and was poised to take the class lead if Goldstone couldn't get the crank right in the Javelin. The Swedes in their tiny Unlimited class Opal Ascona put down a perfect front-wheels-a-foot-off-the-ground-for-the-first-sixty-foot launch, and ran 8.03-167.91, achingly close to their stated 7.99 goal, and were left to wonder if Lutz and Wenzler's misfortunes would leave them in the class lead. Wenzler would answer the call before the end of the first session and lay down an impressive 7.61-178, after driving straight through with no sleep.

The hits just kept coming in that first two hours, while four of the quickest cars of the event were either thrashing in the pits or hadn't arrived, and it had to be killing them to know a perfect opportunity was passing them by. You would think that sense of urgency would have extended to the Gebhart family, but strangely, it did not. We rolled in at 10:45 AM and parked all five of our cars evenly spaced on the absolutely beautifully manicured pit grass. The perfect weather, and the picturesque surroundings, combined with a decent night's sleep and a hearty breakfast had us in a laid back, enjoyable mood bordering on euphoria. We unloaded the stuff from our cars and began working on them with the silent understanding that all of us would most likely be making hits in the final thirty minutes of available track time.