Two pairs later Dan and Squirrel helped push Brian Kohlmann's AA/FA into the water. I had seen a photo of Brian's coupe when he wrecked it at the Meltdowns a couple of months earlier, and I was convinced the little green beast was done, so just presenting it at the starting line of Drag Week 2017 was a win in my book. When the reverser engaged and Brian backed up to stage he had already exceeded what he accomplished at Drag Week 2016. The 354 FirePower sounded sweet as the small tire fueler lunged off the line with 1.24 sixty, but it was up on the tire and skating around by two hundred feet out. Brian pedaled it once and tried to keep it planted, but the 31 Chrysler was still pretty skittish, so Brian kicked the Lenco out of gear at around five hundred feet and coasted through from there. The 11.00-81 on the board wasn't very impressive, but Lohnes quickly explained that the eighth mile ET was 5.89 at only 96, so the power was definitely there.

Tom Bailey was up next with the Drag Week 2015 winning Project Sick Seconds 2.0 which had done some wall surfing of it's own lately, so the Pro Mod 69 Camaro was wearing a white wrap instead of it's signature silver paint. I have been of fan of Bailey and openly rooted for him when he finally won with the original Project Sick Seconds in 2013, but at this moment he was the only real threat to run quicker than Schroeder, so I wasn't in his corner. The 1.04 sixty was nice, but he had to pedal once shortly after that, then once more before the eighth and the time lit up as 6.794-204.
"I'm happy with that number", I beamed at Rachael.
"Not sure he will be", she quipped back.