FUEL FUNNY
The fuel coupe class provided some of the best racing drama of the event. Going into qualifying on Friday night the buzz was about the three-way dogfight for the IHRA Funny Car title between Dale Creasy, Jack Wyatt and NHRA regular Bob Gilbertson.
In the end none of those three made it to the final round, instead rising star Paul Lee and his ex-Don Prudhomme team car and Jeff Diehl, driving his Toyota Celica bodied car,
lined up for the championship on Monday. Diehl became the first Toyota in IHRA history to win a professional category and he became the fifth different winner in the class this season.
Diehl, who has yet to record a four-second lap, lined up against Paul Lee’s Jimbo Ermalovich-tuned flopper that has plenty of four-second laps, and ran a 5.399/241.07 that easily covered Lee’s 5.733/198.85. It was IHRA rookie Lee’s fourth final round appearance this year and certainly puts him in contention for the IHRA Rookie of the Year title.
While Lee and Diehl were going to the money round, the points contenders were taking gas. Gilbertson all but put himself out of the points chase with a first-round loss and at Rockingham will need a “sweep” similar to what he did at Epping to have a chance for the title. Creasy lost to Diehl in the first round and Wyatt lost to him in the second round. Wyatt sacrificed every engine part he had the previous weekend at Toronto and came to the event with just the motor between the rails and that was courtesy of Dale Creasy. Wyatt and Creasy, who travel together and match race each other often, head to the last race of the series in Rockingham in a virtual dead-heat for the title.
PRO STOCK
Fans and racers were so sure that with the track and excellent air at MIR the first sub-6.30 pass for an IHRA Pro Stocker was almost a sure thing. Racer and builder Jerry Haas even announced a 6.20 club for IHRA Pro Stockers. “Almost” turned out to be the key.
Robert Patrick continued his dominance of the category, setting low ET and Top Speed at 6.320/221.20. That was the closest anyone would get to the 6.20’s. Patrick went on to win 
the Pro Stock “Shootout” over Charlie Taylor’s driver, Frank Gugliotta, but went out in the semi-finals on race day.
The best story of Pro Stock though was the return of multi-time IHRA Pro Stock World Champion Rickie Smith. Smith went to a final round and won for the first time since Bristol in 1992 when he beat Billy Huff in the final round. Smith was the 1991 IHRA Pro Mod World Champ. He is now teamed up with legendary engine builder Sonny Leonard and it was the team’s first time to go to the final round or win.
In keeping with his legendary prowess at the starting line, Smith and his opponent, Tony Gillig, had a 30-second staging duel and Smith put a holeshot on Gillig to get the win. Smith’s 6.374/219.22 coupled with a .042 light just covered Gillig’s 6.352/220.19. Smith crossed the line twenty-thousandths of second before Gillig, but don’t feel too bad for Gillig. He left the track with a 31-point lead over Pete Burner for the World Championship.
