Pennsylvania's scenic Maple Grove Raceway in Reading was the site of one of drag racing's all-time great performance races in 1992.

Everyone knew that sooner or later a Top Fueler would run in the 4.7s, that a Funny Car would dip into the 5.0s, and that a Pro Stocker would run quicker than 7.1 seconds, but nobody expected all three barriers to fall at the same race.

Cory McClenathan ran 4.799, Cruz Pedregon ran 5.077, and Scott Geoffrion ran 7.099 in barrier-breaking performances at the eighth annual Keystone Nationals.

All three backed up those numbers for national records, but only Pedregon was able to parlay his performance edge into a victory.

Cruz Pedregon, driving Larry Minor's Larry Meyer-tuned McDonald's Cutlass, became the first Funny Car driver to run in the 5.0s when he annihilated Kenji Okazaki in round one with a 5.077. He later ran 5.076 to win the event.

After Eddie Hill clocked a 4.801 and Kenny Bernstein recorded a pair of 4.82s at the Gatornationals in March, many believed that, given the right conditions, a 4.7-second run was a distinct possibility in Reading, but few believed that McClenathan would be the driver to do it.

Even after McClenathan ran career bests of 4.872 and 4.870 at the U.S. Nationals, most thought that Hill or Bernstein would be the first in the 4.7s. McClenathan was given better odds after clocking a 4.84 in Friday's first qualifying session, then returned a day later to post his barrier-breaking run, which was punctuated by a stream of piston smoke from all eight header pipes on his Jimmy Prock-tuned dragster.

"We burned out all eight pistons," said McClenathan, "but I'd gladly burn the thing to the ground to run 4.79. I knew it was on a run; it felt more stout than the .84, and when I saw the [TV crew] running over to me, I said, 'Man, I've done something good.' "

McClenathan's weekend, which he called the biggest of his career, ended with a semifinal loss to Bernstein, who had a .415 reaction time and ran a 4.879 to beat McClenathan's quicker 4.861 in the then-quickest side-by-side race in history.

Plagued by clutch woes, Bernstein qualified an uncharacteristic 13th in his Dale Armstrong-tuned Budweiser King dragster with a 4.95 but rebounded with four straight 4.8-second runs Sunday. He ran a 4.87 to down Ed McCulloch in round one and a 4.85 to beat Jim Head in round two before dispatching McClenathan in the semi's.

Hill, who came within .011-second of taking the e.t. record away from McClenathan with a 4.809 first-round win, had run 4.87 and 4.90 to reach the final. Unfortunately for Hill, he smoked the tires against Bernstein, who ran a 4.84 at 297.91 mph, his quickest run of the weekend and top speed of the meet.

Pedregon's barrier-breaking run came in Sunday's first round. After qualifying No. 2 with a 5.116 behind John Force's 5.112, Pedregon annihilated Kenji Okazaki in round one with a 5.077, which was backed up by his 5.11 for a new national record.

Cory McClenathan recorded the sport's first 4.7-second run at the 1992 Keystone Nationals, where he piloted his Jimmy Prock-tuned Top Fueler to a 4.799.

Pedregon, driving Larry Minor's Larry Meyer-tuned McDonald's Cutlass, figured to cross paths with Force in the final, but Force never got there. His Castrol GTX Cutlass broke a blower-drive shaft in his second-round loss to Tom Hoover. Hoover then lost to Al Hofmann in the semifinals, but there weren't many in the overflow crowd who gave Hofmann much of a chance in the final.

Pedregon ran 5.15 to defeat Del Worsham in round two and spun the tires to a 5.25 in the semifinals but was able to drive around a quicker-leaving Chuck Etchells. Pedregon then unleashed a 5.076 in the final to whip Hofmann's 5.26.

About the only thing Pedregon didn't do was set top speed, which went to Mark Oswald at the wheel of the Petosa Bros. Daytona. Oswald broke Jim White's 289-mph mark with a 290.79-mph qualifying effort, making him just the second Funny Car driver to eclipse 290 mph.

Moments after Warren Johnson had recorded the quickest Pro Stock run in history, a 7.104, in the first of Saturday's two Pro qualifying sessions, Geoffrion, driving the Mopar Parts/Wayne County Speed Shop Daytona, went five-thousandths quicker to become the first Pro Stock driver in the 7.0s.

As did McClenathan's, Geoffrion's weekend ended in the semifinals, leaving the door wide open for Warren Johnson, who overcame the disappointment of not being the first in the 7.0s by winning the event to all but wrap up his first Winston championship.

After running 7.13 and 7.19 in the first two rounds, Geoffrion's Dodge shook the tires and slowed to a 7.23 in the semifinals against Jerry Eckman, whose .403 reaction time and 7.21 gave him a comfortable margin of victory.

Johnson, who ran 7.16, 7.13, and 7.14 in the first three rounds, made his slowest run of eliminations in the final, a 7.16 that still was more than three-thousandths quicker than Eckman's best run of the day. Knowing that his odds of beating Johnson were slim, Eckman took a shot at the Tree and red-lighted.