Had Travis Swearingen just gotten it right during qualifying, all sixteen Pro Xtreme qualifiers would’ve been in the three-second zone.

The Missouri “rat rod” ran an early shut-off 3.99/169.42 during Friday’s open test session to hint at the car’s potential but tire shake ruined all three official qualifying runs by the Willys.

Swearingen then took advantage of the ADRL’s questionable practice of allowing test runs between eliminations rounds and pushed the nonqualifier to a career-best 3.94/185.72!

“Wild, Wild Wes” Johnston’s had no luck at HMP; tire
shake and a major supercharger explosion kept the
Texan’s ‘53 Corvette out of the field.

Conjuring up images of the similar mounts of West Virginia’s
Ted Adkins and Canadian Gary Irving from almost a decade
ago, hometown campaigner Don Wooton’s new ‘51 Chevy Business Coupe offered diversity to Pro Xtreme despite a coasting 4.42/129 best.

The winner of the leading contender for “Most Bizarre Drag Race of 2007” was unheralded Bill Jewett, who had previously campaigned his ex-”Dr. Moon’s Rage” 2004 Mustang as a carbureted Pro Street entry. After failing to get to the stripe under power during Xtreme 10.5 qualifying, Jewett’s Ford was an unknown quantity when it lined up against low qualifier Steve Kirk’s astonishing ‘63 Stingray. Jewett came dangerously close to overstaging after blipping the throttle and nearly rolling through the beams, forcing Jewett to hesitate at the line. However, his 1.16-second Reaction Time was more than a HALF-SECOND quicker than Kirk, who apparently felt he could run down the Ford at will. Jewett stepped up to an exceptional 4.53/160 which, incredibly, stayed FAR ahead of Kirk’s astounding 4.33/167. It was just plain weird.