To this point, Drag Week 2017 was on an unprecedented pace with 170 passes completed in an hour and twenty minutes. Then the fuel altered and pro mod were ran as singles, followed by Gavin Lusk doing some pogo stick, two wheel stands in the first 100 feet action with his Cougar, so he coasted down and the track was checked. Two pairs later the Aussie Falcon Ute with the turbo LS spit oil on the track and a fifteen minute clean up was required. The end result was ten cars with time slips over the next twenty-five minutes which left us openly wandering how long Lonnie Grimm would extend the session before going to the Street Machine Eliminator class.

In the middle of that Michelle made her first attempt in the purple Duster which the guys in the tower nick named the "Not Eddie Miller Duster". She was already nervous about her first ever pass, but the extra four or five minutes sitting in the water box while the Cordova Dragway staff checked the surface only added to that. It was obvious she was no where near full throttle at the leave, and she gingerly applied more power until the big block was full song around the eighth mile resulting in an 11.85-118. Then the Duster died on the return road and her husband and brother in law had to tow her back to our pit. Not the Day 1 start our crew was looking for but we quickly discovered the hall effect switch mounting screw was loose, allowing the gap to grow to the point it was no longer firing, so a relatively easy fix.