Allow me to provide a little context to what was unfolding before us on Thursday morning at Union Grove Wisconsin. Dave Shroeder and John Ens were competing in their nitroused Vette for the sixth time on Drag Week, on the previous 5 attempts they had staged the car on day 4 only once back in 2014. They had to back out and take a 20/50 on that day, so this would be the equivalent of a .200 hitter known for weak singles, stepping to the plate desperately needing a home run. To follow the baseball analogy a little further, the tarmac at GLD was the epitome of a stingy pitcher, having yet to yield a seven, let alone the six we were all hoping to see out of the blue chevy.

To add to the drama and anxiety, Jeff Lutz was just bringing Dave and the Vette into the beams, when the red lights starting flashing on the tree, indicating a problem down track. They backed the pair up, but the problem took a while to resolve, so eventually the decision was made to push the car back down the hill and start the burn-out process all over again!
Finally, the tree flashed and Dave Schroeder smacked the 872 with several kits of Monte Smith nitrous. The first 60 feet was beautiful with the front barely hiked. "He's gonna do it", Brian Lohnes boomed out with uncontrolled emotion over the loud speakers. The little sports coupe jumped out of the groove towards the wall at 200 feet but the butterflies, clearly visible in the unique intake, never wavered. A series of small adjustments on the wheel kept the Vette off the wall past the eighth mile, but Dave had yet to get the monster back in the groove.