Brian Losness photo

Hot and beautiful weather here at Firebird Raceway’s Pepsi Nightfire Nationals along with some of the best nitro funny cars and top fuel dragsters in the country have made this Boise event a don’t miss on most racers yearly calendars.  The New family owns this vintage racetrack and at every turn put on a non-stop day of entertaining racing from fast local doorslammers and Top Sportsman brackets and closing out the evening with the Nitro Nostalgia Professionals and Jet-powered funny cars.

Peak levels of performance from all the competitors seemed to announce track records after each pass on Friday night with an adjusted altitude of over 6,000 feet.  Friday was Family Night with pounds of Ice Cream for a couple of bucks and a real festival atmosphere of enthusiastic spectators cheering round after round of fire breathing nitro cars under the lights.  A large contingent of Canadians also made the trip here and we heard the Canadian National Anthem and the Star Spangled Banner played prior to the ground pounding nitro cars.

When the show wrapped up after 10:00 PM many fans stayed for autographs from drivers and a chance to get close to the racecars.  Lots of tired kids got to live a fantasy of sitting in their first funny car or the seat of a top fuel dragster to dream of a future nitro racing career.

Generations of the New Family put on a great show here at Firebird with many loyal spectators getting a personal “thank you for coming” from one of Bill New’s many sons, daughters, in-laws and grandchildren.  It’s a trek to get to Boise, but well worth the time and effort to attend this special event, there are still two days of racing left and if you can get here quickly you’ll still see some great nitro action on Saturday and Sunday of the Nightfire Nationals.

*There is no Internet connection at Firebird Raceway, so reports are difficult to post until returning back to the hotel.  Since much of this event takes place at night we are sorry for the delays.

Mark Sanders legged his newly finished “Mr. Explosive” Nova to the #6 qualifying slot in Friday Qualifying.  His eighteen year-old son Jake tunes the potent flopper and in the altitude ran a 6.350 pass, Jake also consults on a nitro sand rail and seems right at home with tuning for the family’s gorgeous nitro hot rod.

Brian Losness photo

Sean Dale in his “Shakey Situation” Dodge Charger from Arizona hugged the guardwall at the end of his burnout after the racecar made a move to the right.  A broken A-arm and some body damage may prevent Dale from returning to action on Saturday.

Brian Losness photo

The “Nitro Sheriff” Jack Harris is still sorting out his new Firebird flopper.  At the hit of the throttle the car shook as Harris pedaled still running a 6.693 225.67 pass.

Brian Losness photo

AA/FC Friday Qualifying:

1 Bucky Austin 6.037 230.23
2 Terry Capp 6.070 217.12 217.12
3 Lee Paul Jennings Jr 6.147 218.87
4 Dennis La Charite 6.216 221.23
5 Kris Krabill 6.227 228.31
6 Mark Sanders 6.250 219.67
7 Rick Rogers 6.468 222.93
8 Steve Romanazzi 6.472 219.35
9 Ed Dougan 6.583 203.06
10 Jack Harris 6.693 225.67
11 Craig Michael 6.701 209.98
12 Dale Pulde 6.755 157.67
13 Leah Pruett-LeDuc 6.794 215.51
14 Mike Halstad 7.131 144.09
15 James Day 9.063 105.95
16 Michael Grekul 9.959 76.85
17 Twig Zeigler 10.611 92.93

Brian Losness photos

Bucky Austin in Steve Plueger’s “Northwest Hitter” hit an off the trailer 6.037 ET at 230.23 to lead Nitro Funny Car qualifying.  James Day (far lane) in Ed Lenarth’s “Holy Toldedo” Jeep is currently 15th with nineteen floppers on the Firebird Raceway grounds.

Adam Sorokin in the RB Entertainment Top Fueler took the provisional #1 qualifying position with his 5.840 ET 233.16 MPH pass. Rick White (near lane) qualified 3rd with his 6.008 230.35 Friday night pass.

Here are the results of Friday Top Fuel Qualifying:

1 Adam Sorokin 5.840 233.16
2 Jim Murphy 5.905 209.01
3 Rick White 6.008 230.35
4 Brett Harris 6.070 245.70 245.70
5 Brad Thompson 6.072 208.81
6 Troy Green 6.192 183.41
7 Jason Richey 6.357 245.83
8 Scott Mason 6.797 151.48
9 Mike Cross 6.985 171.26
10 Mark Malde 7.036 136.13
11 Jerry Kumre Jr 7.532 132.08
12 Terry Cox 11.720 81.45

Brian Losness photos

Former IHRA Champion and Funny Car Veteran Dale Pulde brought out his new, beautifully painted “War Eagle” Firebird nitro flopper and sits in the #12 position with a 6.755 at 157.67 MPH shutoff pass.  This body was last used by John Powers III back a couple of years ago at the Goodguys Pomona event where, while it was painted yellow was dubbed the “Nuclear Banana” for it’s modern swoopy style.

Brian Losness photos

Jason Richey drove the “Nitro Fever” Top Fuel Dragster to a 6.357 245.83 qualifying effort sitting in the #7 slot and holding down the top speed of the event so far.

Brian Losness photos

Dennis LaCharite has conquered some of his recent engine issues qualifying in the 4th position with a 6.216 at 221.23 MPH in his ‘69 “Back in Black” GTO.

Track owner Bill New (left) and recent Hall of Fame inductee Dave Wallace Jr. took some time away from the action to discuss New’s years with the old AHRA and the long history of Firebird Raceway.

Veteran Ray Zeller (left) tuned Lee Paul Jennings in the “Code Red” Dodge Challenger into the #3 position in Friday’s Funny Car Qualifying with a 6.147 at 218.87.

Brian Losness photo

Lisa Coil launched Tom Motry’s “Drastic Plastic” Fuel Altered carrying the front wheels, Motry explained that the hard launch may have broken a wheelie bar and caused the altered to move hard into the opposite lane occupied by Greg Daebelliehn’s “Fast-n-Forty”. 

Coil left on Daebelliehn so she was ahead, just past the 60 foot cone her car moved over into the right lane in front of her competition as the two altereds moved down the track in formation.  Coil dropped the chutes getting them caught in her own wheelie bars and wrapping around Daebelliehn’s front spindle. 

Everyone was OK in the incident, except Lisa Coil mentioned the next morning that her “Feeliings were a little hurt”.  Both Altereds will be back on Saturday.

Friday’s Family Night crowd got their moneysworth…

ADRL points leader Billy Harper came out from Paducah, Kentucky to race with his good friend Dennis Radford.  Billy muscled his 801 Cubic Inch ‘02 Viper to the provisional #1 qualifying position.

Brian Losness photo

Dennis Radford grabbed the provisional #2 Pro Mod qualifying slot with a strong 6.38 ET at 216.50 MPH in his nitrous-fed ‘70 Barracuda.  Dennis recently sold this car and will be shipping it to Australia.

Darr Hawthorne photo

The Warhawk and Nitehawk Jet Funny Cars closed out Friday evening with their spectacular show.

50th March Meet winner Bucky Austin is a tough competitor behind the wheel of Steve Plueger's "Northwest Hitter" Plymouth Arrow AA/FC.

AA/Funny Cars, AA/Fuel Dragsters, AA/Fuel Altereds, Pro Mod Doorslammers, Jet Funny Cars and the Ed ‘The Outlaw’ Jones wheelstanding Stagecoach make for a very full card at the 37th Annual Pepsi Nightfire Nationals at Boise’s Firebird Raceway this weekend.

Brad Thompson is currently sitting in the #2 slot in NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series Points to Troy Green.

The Pepsi Nightfire Nationals is the signature event of the year at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho and it is shaping up as a record setting experience for the biggest purse of the year, topping a record $180,000 in cash over four days.

The Drastic Plastic AA/Fuel Altered is capable of running 5.70 ET's.

The Drastic Plastic AA/FA owned and tuned by Tom Motry is towing all the way from Joliet, Illinois with Lisa Coil doing the driving.

“The Sheriff” Jack Harris made the switch to funny car now driving his potent Firebird nitro flopper

Now as part of the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series the Nightfire Nationals has attracted some of the best and quickest nostalgia nitro funny cars, top fuel dragsters, fuel altereds, pro mod doorslammers, jet cars and wheelstanders. 

Steve Romanazzi's "Warrior" entry sits in the #2 position in NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series Funny Car Points.

Among those making the trek to Boise are the two top running nitro funny cars owned by Steve Plueger, the “Northwest Hitter” Plymouth Arrow driven by NHRA multi-event winner Bucky Austin and the “Plueger & Gyger” Mustang driven by Mike Grekul. Canadian Terry Capp will pilot the “Bubble-up” Firebird tuned by nitro legend Roland Leong, the return of 1986 event winner Dale Pulde’s “War Eagle” and top-five Heritage Series points earner Steve Romanazzi’s “Warrior” (shown).  Series points leader Mendy Fry will return to competition at the California Hot Rod Reunion in October. 

Rick Rogers made the move over to Mike McCain's "Bomb Squad" Plymouth Duster

The Nightfire Nationals will also showcase the competition debut of two new floppers, 1972-event winner Twig Zeigler’s “Pizza Haven” Satellite and Rick Rogers driving the “Bomb Squad” Duster tuned by veteran Crew Chief Donnie Couch. 

Now an AA/FC pilot, Rick Rogers commented about his new ride, “In the Funny car you can feel every little twitch and they move around very quickly compared to the dragster. If you don’t catch it soon enough you can get out of shape and you have to lift. In the dragster sometimes you can keep your foot in it and drive out of it."

Brett Harris will be in the seat of the "Nitro Thunder" record holding Top Fuel Dragster

Previous event winner “The Sheriff” Jack Harris made the switch to funny car now driving his new Firebird nitro flopper and handing driving chores in the E.T Record Holding “Nitro Thunder” Top Fuel dragster to his son Brett, the dragster has run a best of 5.56 at 261.26 miles per hour. 

2007 Nightfire event winner Howard Haight will be defending his crown in a different ride this year behind the wheel of the Botelho and Patterson 426-hemi dragster for the big show.

2008 Sacramento Nite of Fire Champ Jim Murphy warms his WW2 Top Fuel Dragster in the pits.

The Pepsi Nightfire Nationals takes place this Thursday thru Sunday August 7th - 10th with advance discount pit-side tickets available at all region-wide NAPA Auto Parts stores with adult tickets for Saturday or Sunday at a $5 dollar discount. Plus the tickets at NAPA come with a free pit pass.

Firebird is located 5 miles north of Hwy 44 on Hwy 16 ten minutes northwest of Eagle – just follow the highway directional signs.