A Gas/AFX
When we last saw Jim (Squirrel/Moparts), He as searching for a motel the night before. When we saw him pull his "Plan II" 62 to the line beside Bill Alexander's Blown 468 powered Willy's on Friday, we were expecting a coronation. It was simply a formality to outrun the black primered 41, and claim his second A-Gas title, following last year's win. The red Chevy II jumped out to an early lead on the strength of a hole shot, but the turbo 400 couldn't find second gear and Jim slowed to a twelve second run while Alexander put down a nice 10.64-126.9.

"That...that was not good!" Dale shook his head.
"Where's he at, Boone?" I asked, as Boone began to crunch the numbers. It took him a few minutes to reply.
"The Willy's has a 10.45 average...if he accepts that 10.64, but that is his worst run of the week by over a tenth, so I expect him to come back and take another shot."
"Where does Jim need to be...", Dale shrugged as his voice trailed off.
"He's got a 10.296 four day average, so anything better than an 11.08 would put him back in the lead...but like I said, if Alexander comes back with even a 10.52 like he ran here at this track on Monday, then Squirrel needs to get back in the tens!"
"He ran 10.16 yesterday, so all he needs to do is get it figured out, and another thirty or forty will put it out of reach", I reasoned.

Jim brought his AFX Chevy II around for a second attempt roughly fifty minutes later. The blown 427 sounded lazy at the hit, and tripped the beams with an 11.04-129.7.

"Oh, boy", Dale tossed his hands in the air.
"That will do it, until the Willy's improves," Boone added.
I reflexively rose to my feet so I could scour the lanes in search of the nose high, blown 41, but I couldn't find it.
In retrospect, it shouldn't have surprised me that Bill never came back to make a run at the jacket. We've seen it many times in years past, where the excitement of finishing on the final day is reward enough, especially for first timers. Still, as a spectator at that point, I was hoping those two blown Gassers were going to take it right down to the final minutes!

Bottom pic: Tulsa's Mike Cox proving once and for all that Okies can't read!