I was about 15 cars from getting through the tech line, when Rachael called to tell me she made it to Dale's, was ready to come out in the Belvedere, and did I need anything.
"Food! Just bring me food." In my haste to get out to the track, there was no breakfast. "What are those idiots doing there," I questioned her before she hung up.
"Dale and James are changing tires on the Gremlin, and everyone else is scrambling around the Dakota", she was gone. Kids these days, send you a two paragraph text, and talk on the phone for 10 seconds!

Rachael had pulled up into the tech line and parked, then brought me food as you can see in Robert's pics. When I had finished tech and parked with Robert, and John, Robert brought me a big drink from the concession stand, so I was armed, for a brief time, with two huge sodas. I say brief because apparently all that time I spent in line, telling stories, had left me with a powerful thirst!

Every time I would return to check on Rachael in the tech line, she would have several guys standing around listening to her stories about Drag Week and the car. The story telling gene in her blood is two generations old from her Dad's side, the reason guys hang around and talk to her...all that came from her Mom's side!

John went up, and made the first time run in his 67 Valiant, which as expected, resulted in an emotional outpouring from Steve's family when he returned. Opal explained to me later, "I told John this Drag Week was about honoring Steve's memory, and his family's healing process, then after that, he could do whatever he wanted to make the car his." Watching Joyce, Linda, and Ken interact with John Sr., John Jr. and Opal, made me realize how fortunate Steve's family was that this little white Mopar brought them all together in this journey.
John and his dad didn't seem to be too happy with the mid 11 second time slip, and pulled a plug for a look, then immediately jumped the jets up front and rear.

It was 1:30 and I was beyond nervous at that point. I started blowing up my brothers' phones, finally reaching Boone. "We are on our way," he assured me, "We are pushing the Dakota on the trailer right now."
Fifteen minutes later, the Barnyard Viper Idled into the back of the tech line. "Where are YOUR brothers!" I jumped him as he shut the 508 off.
"They left ahead of me", he shook his head, "Maybe they went to the parts store first."
In typical Gebhart fashion Dale came through the gate at 1:56, with Darren following him in the 1 ton with the Dakota on the trailer...the exact same way he had entered the 2012 Tulsa tech line with the Charger! No sooner than they started exiting the truck and grabbing tools out of the bed, The Tech official walked up and wrote "LAST" on the back glass of the Dakota, and the 2014 Hot Rod Drag Week Tech Line was closed. There looked to be about 10 or 15 hardy souls waiting in the Wait List/ Walk Up lanes to see if they would be excepted after the final pre-registered car cleared tech.