The inaugural 1998 Fram Route 66 Nationals in Chicago, like other inaugural events — the 1970 SuperNationals in Ontario, Calif., the 1986 Chief Auto Parts Nationals in Dallas, and the 2000 NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas — was a rare event where the facility was the star of the show.

Drivers talked of tracks being modeled after futuristic Route 66 Raceway, and crew chiefs tried to figure out how best to get down it. A four-day crowd of 135,000 packed into what looked like a 50,000-seat football stadium from the outside and watched blown-fuel and carbureted-gas racers fight their way down the raw, new surface.

Kenny Bernstein met rival Gary Scelzi in an up-in-smoke Top Fuel final that turned bizarre. Bernstein's and Scelzi's crews peered through the smoke for a win light, their views of the dragsters blocked by the haze, and saw it shining in Scelzi's lane. His Winston crew went nuts, and Bernstein's crew stood silent, heads down, wondering how Scelzi had run a 3.32 e.t.

Mike Thomas stunned Warren Johnson in the Pro Stock final for the first major victory of his six-year Professional career.

The win light had been activated by something that blew through the beams 3.32 seconds after Scelzi had left the starting line. Replays showed Bernstein, who ran a 5.58, 265, clearly ahead at the finish line. It was the third major victory of the season for Bernstein, who was a winner at the Mac Tools Gatornationals in Gainesville and at the Winston Invitational in Rockingham, N.C., but had lost in the first round an amazing five times in a row before winning in Chicago. Bernstein's best run, a 4.71, came in round two against track record holder Joe Amato, who qualified No. 1 with a 4.55.

Whit Bazemore, Scelzi's Winston teammate, reached the Funny Car final, his first since winning the 1997 U.S. Nationals. Del Worsham, enjoying his first final-round appearance since the 1993 season opener and a surprise non-qualifier one race earlier in Englishtown, was consistent throughout eliminations on a track that tripped up several experienced fuel tuners.

Bazemore countered by being more consistent and quicker with two 5-flats, a 5.02, and a 4.96. Worsham, who had beaten Cory Lee, No. 1 qualifier Cruz Pedregon (4.88), and Englishtown runner-up Jim Epler, smoked the tires in the final and lost to Bazemore's 5.00.

In the Pro Stock final, former Super Stock racer Mike Thomas pulled off a huge upset, overwhelming favorite Warren Johnson, who has won more inaugural events than anyone. W.J., with lane choice and both ends of the track record (6.97, 197.80) on his side, drove through the clutch and slowed to 194 mph for his worst effort of the weekend.

Thomas, runner-up to Johnson at the Pennzoil Nationals in Houston that year, roared by in the biggest moment of his career to win, 7.02 to 7.07. Throughout the day, Thomas kept up with Johnson, posting e.t.s similar to W.J.'s. In his victories against Greg Anderson, Mark Osborne, and No. 2 qualifier Bruce Allen, Thomas' winning e.t.s were just a couple hundredths of a second slower than the e.t.s that W.J. was scoring against his opponents.

Though Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock were filled with upsets, Pro Stock Bike and Pro Stock Truck concluded as expected. Matt Hines, who ruled the bikes since the start of the 1997 season, and veteran Larry Kopp, who held a commanding lead in the first Pro Stock Truck championship, refused to succumb.

After a poor start in the 1998 season, Whit Bazemore, near lane, christened the new facility with a string of low 5.0s, including a final-round five-flat to down Del Worsham, who was in his first title bout since 1993.

Hines and father Byron scored with the Vance & Hines/Eagle One Suzuki for the fifth time in six events in 1998, including the Winston Invitational, and Kopp won for the third time in the four-race history of his class. Both qualified on the pole and walked away from the sport's newest supertrack with low e.t. and top speed.

Hines defeated his closest competitor in the final, Angelle Seeling, who was looking to join Scelzi and Bazemore for an all-Winston winner's circle. Seeling, who had cut a .400 reaction time earlier, narrowly red-lighted in the final with a .397, and Hines still passed her to win, 7.296 to 7.389, for the 14th NHRA title of his career. Hines' first-round clockings of 7.294 and 185.10 mph were good for low e.t. and top speed.

Kopp, who won the 1976 Winston Modified championship and dominated national events during the 1981 Modified season, added to one of the best years of his career by winning in Chicago. The Baltimore driver, who also won in Atlanta and Englishtown, had only lost on a red-light against Randy Daniels at the Houston opener for a 14-1 round record.

After pacing the field in qualifying with a 7.72, Kopp, who to that time had set low e.t. in every Pro Stock Truck race, recorded a consistent 7.77 to edge first-time Pro Stock Truck finalist Bill Henderson, another former Comp racer. Henderson, who won the 1995 Fram Nationals title in a B/ED, bowed out with a 7.88.

Also adding to the excitement were Sportsman racers, one of whom was local John Lawson, who hails from nearby Joliet. Lawson scored the Federal-Mogul Funny Car title after Marc White broke just off the line by legging out the run after his car caught fire at the 900-foot mark and burned to the ground in the shutdown area. Lawson was not hurt.