Personett's stellar 5.872-second pass at 246.89 mph remained the best of the weekend so far and earned him No. 1 qualifier bragging rights. In round one, he faced Kirk Wilmes. The rookie from Altus, Oklahoma had a difficult thrash to make the call for the session due to a damaged transmission he suffered in the final round of qualifying, but was able to put his jet-black '68 Firebird together and take the lights. Personett's Big3 Turbo-powered '68 Camaro had more than enough to dismiss Wilmes, delivering a consistent 5.955 at 236.34 mph to Wilmes' 6.202 at 230.76.

Jay Payne outran points leader Burton Auxier 5.943 to a 5.972, but Auxier's .021 reaction-time earned the holeshot win against the former World Champion. Payne's teammate, Rick Stivers remained wickedly consistent as well, basting out the quickest run of the session at 5.927 to handily overtake veteran Dennis Radford's 6.036.

U.S. Nationals winner Roger Burgess faced off against his R2B2 Racing teammate, Raymond Commisso, and continued his streak of round wins, running the second-quickest for the session at 5.938 at 241.97 to Commisso's injured and limping 11.137. Burgess will face Rick Stivers in the second round of eliminations.

The other R2B2 Racing team member, Melanie Troxel, advanced to round two by taking out No. 4 in the points Mike Castellana in his Al-Anabi/Western Beef '70 Camaro. Her victory will have championship ramifications by the end of the weekend when all the points are tabulated.

Danny Rowe also continued his powerful advance toward the winner's circle by flashing a Jimmy Rector-powered 5.977 at 242.93 to Tommy D'Aprile's 6.179. D'Aprile said, "These are really some of the first runs we've made with a quarter-mile setup in quite a while, so we're actually really pleased with the way the car is performing. Mel (Bush, team owner) is happy with where we're at right now, and we'll just get ready for our next race."

Joe Baker ousted Rickie Smith using a quicker reaction time of .048 to Smith's .085, with each running nearly identical times of 6.000 to a 6.020. Baker said, "We got after it, and I know there's more in it, so we'll be ready when we have to face Danny Rowe tomorrow."

In a battle of friends, Mike Knowles defeated Tim Tindle with an impressive 5.962 to a tire-shaking 7.725. Tindle's '67 Shelby Mustang shook hard at the launch and tried to shoot sideways, but Tindle hung on and tried to get back in it after it had straightened out.

In qualifying, Scott Ray tagged the wall in his shiny-red '53 Corvette, sending his door flying into the air in an impressive show for the fans. Ray failed to qualify, as did Calgary's Rick DiStefano.

Eliminations are scheduled to conclude Sunday afternoon.

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