Rachael and I had barely stepped out of our cars in the lanes when Blake Hughes' 95 Sonoma staged up for a second attempt. Thirty minutes earlier, he had been on a great pass until something popped loose and he lost all boost. This pass was an exact repeat of the first, except this time when it went away before the eighth mile, stuff exited the pan, and the truck was, in Brian Lohnes' words, "bleeding out", as it came to rest near the wall at the thousand foot mark.
"Surely, they will extend the cut-off now", I shrugged at Rachael.
I was wrong. I'm sure some of the guys who hadn't ran yet were planning to make a conservative pass, come back to the lanes, and wait until time ran out to prepare for one hard run. All that went out the window as the countdown to two pm occurred while we all watched the scrubber tractor and the ramp truck work to clear up the mess. This meant the #1 and #3 quickest cars from the first two days were about to get one shot, and one shot only at US131. High drama, and serious pressure.

At 2:15pm Rachael staged up once again beside Scott Abbott's Road Runner, and once again he outran her, but his 11.90 and her 12.25 didn't help either of them.

Mike Jovanis' 89 Mustang was currently second in SSSBPA, with an 8.32 and an 8.19, but his two previous attempts at US131 had been problematic with the boost controller malfunctioning; meanwhile class leader Rosenstengal had a 7.80 on the books for Wednesday, and third place had ran a 7.71 to really step up, so Mike needed a big number just to keep pace. Jeffrey Lutz JR, and his Civic had suffered similar issues on his only attempt earlier in the day, so when they staged side by side for a last ditch effort the desperation was palpable in the air. Both cars left hard, and continued to pull well through the eighth mile, fist pumps, and high fives were exchanged on the starting line as all interested parties realized they were going to get a good run at last. The fox body went 8.10-172, his best of the week. Jeffrey's Civic lost ten mph at the top end, but still managed an 8.64, just seven hundredths slower than his Tuesday pass.