The brothers and I had spent an hour and a half in the bleachers as spectators and been very entertained, so far the changes to the Friday program were on point. We continued to be impressed when the first pair of the Quick 32 Street Machine Eliminator Bracket Race entered the water box a mere 19 minutes after the last class car made a pass.

"Dang it! I was hoping both of these guys would go far in this deal", Boone observed.
Clark Lamb and his familiar blue Barracuda did his burnout beside Craig Douglas' 2015 Charger HellCat.
"Four versus twenty-nine, so they used a pro style ladder", I explained.
"Wonder if either of them has sandbagged enough during the week to cover that tenth drop in dial-in", Dale commented, looking towards the 11.05 to 10.31 numbers on the displays.
"Not going to matter", Boone pointed out before either car made it past the 60ft clocks, "Clark just killed him on the tree!"
Predictably, the Barrucuda turned on the win light despite the Charger running a respectable 10.379 on his 10.31 dial.

The red 34 Ford coupe I had raced at Indy was up next, beside last year's SME runner-up, David Burke in his 79 LeMans. Brian Lohnes, who had to be four beers in at this point was bragging on both men's reaction times before they hit the eighth mile. The Pontiac took the win easily however, as John Phister's Hot Rod missed the dial by more than three tenths.
"What happened there...did he just give the stripe back?"
"I think Burke was backing in, the Coupe just didn't run the number", Dale decided.
"Number two qualifier taken out by number thirty-one", Boone added, "and he was teens and ohs all week...that's a shame."

Mike LoCascio continued the trend with his 08 GTO, when the thirtieth qualifier took out the third qualifier, Jason Moore and his black third gen Camaro. The numbers on the board were an 11.106 on an 11.07 beating a 10.151 on a 10.12 dial.
"Got him on the tree", Boone deduced as Lohnes announced that the margin of victory was a hundredth.
"You know", Dale added, "it's tough to hit a Pro Tree going second, especially without any more seat time than most of these guys get."
My phone went off, and it was Rachael telling us the food was ready.
"We'll be there as soon as the first round of SME is over", I explained.