Up next was John Faraone's 72 Valiant Charger. The twin turbo, Predator headed Mopar had made the trip to Drag Week for the fifth time, and it took a last ditch 16 second run to keep him in competition the day before, so everyone was in anticipation to see if they had it straightened out. John is his own worst enemy on Drag Week, because he swings for the fences every single time he stages the car. He runs Methanol, so he was moved from Pro Street Power Adder to Unlimited a few years back when the rules changed. In 2013, with a finishing average of 10.71-143.8, he had a best run of 7.85-182 which stood as the quickest Drag Week Mopar pass until Matt Blasco's 72 Dart went 7.70-185 in 2015.
John has voiced his displeasure over this fact because he ran a 7.49-189, and a 7.43-192 in 2015, but those numbers aren't included since he was a DNF. There was also speculation, innuendo, rumors and accusations that he was "Tipping the Can" to get those numbers, but we may never know.

The burnout looked like all business, though his crewman backed him up about a foot and half to the right of the rubber he had just put down. The 4100lb beast left hard though, and the typical black smoke that the turbo guys belch when they are fat was nonexistent. In total, it was a beautiful run and the numbers bore that out: 7.65-182! He was one drive and one more pass away from once again owning the quickest Mopar pass on Drag Week!