AA/Fuel Dragster winner Brett Harris

AA/Funny Car winner Tim Boychuk, second from right, with, from left, Ron Hodgson, Firebird General Manager Bill New, and Roland Leong

Three dramatic finals capped an unbelievable weekend at Firebird Raceway in the foothills above Idaho’s capital city of Boise. In front of one of the biggest weekend crowds in Firebird history, the 39th annual Pepsi Nightfire Nationals delivered a number of outstanding performances at the high-altitude NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series event.

Brett Harris downed Jim Murphy in a great side-by-side AA/Fuel Dragster final. After setting low e.t. in the opening round at 5.78, Harris posted a winning 5.83 against a 5.89 by Murphy’s WW2 team.

In AA/Funny Car, Tim Boychuk used a remarkable holeshot to defeat Mark Hentges in the nighttime final. Hentges reset the track record in a losing effort, turning in a 5.770. Boychuk swept the Nightfire title at 5.81 seconds in the quickest nitro Funny Car final in Firebird history.

The Pro Mod final was decided by just 15-thousandths of a second: Division 7 ace Bret Williamson knocked out hometown favorite and defending champ Dennis Radford.

In the National DRAGSTER Challenge four-day points series, Canadian Stefan Kondolay and Sherry Wilson secured points titles with victories Sunday night. Kondolay won Bracketeer, and Wilson swept the Heavy class. Kondolay’s victory was his second of the event, netting him more than $11,000 for the weekend. Arizona racer Matt Hawk won the overall four-day Pro title. Craig Jensen’s two weekend wins netted him the overall Snow/Bike championship.