In Heavy Steeet action it was also the number-one and -two qualifiers meeting in the finals.

Gary Naughton started with win in the first round when his opponent, Miami’s Omar Obando, fouled and then received a bye in the second round. He stopped Lee Saunders’ 1998 Viper from Lakeland, FL, in the third round with a 7.233/207.56 and stepped it up in the semis to a 7.156/195.03 trouncing of the ’67 Chevelle of Ronnie Souza (Acushnet, MA).

He met Sam Gottier in the final. Gottier had run 7.217/191.57 in the semis beating Mike Schmidt (Sunrise, FL). In the final Gottier did all he could by getting off the starting line first with a .037 light to Naughton’s .079. Naughton’s supercharged ’67 Camaro then chased down Gottier’s nitrous equipped ’71 Chevelle with a great 7.098 at 206.13 mph. Gottier was close behind at 7.17/193.71.
 
For the first time ever there was an Import champion at the Orlando World Street Nationals. Number-five qualifier Ken Scheepers came from Flower Mound, TX, to win over Raul Reyes Buozo who was here all the way from Bayamin, Puerto Rico.

Scheepers had run his quickest pass in round one at 7.47/184.12 in his 80ci yellow Mazda while Buozo was a lot quicker with a 7.168/190.46 effort in the semis. Scheepers had defeated the number 1 qualifier Alex Dieguez in the semis when Dieguez slowed. On paper it looked like a sure win for Buozo’s Mazda since he had three tenths on Scheepers. That all went away with a .064 redlight start, but he still ran 7.135/191.19 in a losing effort. Scheepers went back to Texas with the money and the trophy at 7.761/179.33.