By the time we finished up with our lunch and visited with Rick, Michelle, and everyone else patiently waiting in the staging area, the call went out that they were shutting off the back of the SME lanes. I looked down at my phone and noticed it was 12:24, so the SME guys had been at it for an hour and four minutes, but it was explained that they would run out their lanes before the final open session began. I did a quick count back and realized their were only fifteen pairs left before Boone and the Ruster Duster would kick off the last chance for everyone to put down a good opening number. I hadn't even made it back to give that information to Boone when George Messer's new Drag Week ride, an LS turbo powered 2000 step side Sierra fittingly nicknamed "Lumpy", sprayed liquid down the entire length of the track.
"Dang it", Boone groaned, as he stood in front of the Duster with his fire suit pants pulled over his blue jean shorts. He chuckled, then added "do you think they can put "Lumpy" back together again?"
"I see what you did there, Boone! Nice play on the name!"
"I'm here all week", he laughed again.
Luckily for all of us, it turned out to be only water, so the next pair were headed down the track a scant eight minutes later.
Three pairs after that was Mike Grandinetti's 71 Firebird, which was made famous last year by running off in a muddy ditch. This year Mike obviously was looking for more performance, with a roots style street blower poking through the Formula hood. The added pressure was apparently more than the Pontiac 400 could bear however, and the billowing blue smoke that started at about 1000 feet indicated that we were in for another cleanup!