NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The 54th Annual NAPA Ignitor presented by The Blower Shop featured the second stop in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series for the AA/Funny Car division at the “original” Firebird Raceway.

Following qualifying (from a field of 13 cars), the quickest 8 included: 1. Shane Westerfield 5.59, 2. Nathan Sitko 5.60, 3. Jerry Espeseth 5.62, 4. Jon Capps 5.65, 240.98, 5. Tim Boychuk 5.66, 262.59, 6. Bobby Cottrell 5.67, 7. Ryan Horan 5.71 and 8. Geoff Monise 5.72. Non-qualifiers included: Todd Plate, Derrick Moreira, Bill Windham, Todd Miller, and Kyle Hough.

The opening round saw (in near mineshaft air) Boychuk stop Capps 5.59 to a 5.66, Cottrell holeshot Espeseth 5.73 to a 5.69, Westerfield stop Monise 5.59 to a 5.68, and Sitko halted Horan with a 5.64.

The semi-finals saw Westerfield record a 5.55 and blister the Firebird track speed record at 263.46 to hold off an engine-blowing Boychuk, while Sitko posted a 5.75-255.00 to defeat Cottrell.

In the championship final, the Austin & O’Brien Bardahl-backed Camaro flew to low e.t. of the meet at 5.54,  262.44 to dethrone the reigning champ Sitko, who finished at 5.63, 258.47.