Weis had an absolutely blazing lap in the final on a 4.837 elapsed time at 298.87 miles per hour – the second fastest speed of the weekend – to drive around McMillen who smoked his tires at 1,000 feet leading to a second place finish on a 6.838 E.T. at 120.01 mph.

“Great return. Just to get back in the race car is awesome,” Weis said.

Not only was this weekend Weis’ return to the IHRA – it was his return to racing.

Weis had been on the sideline for over two years after suffering a broken back in Chicago in 2008. Being out for a year, Weis’s operation dwindled and he wasn’t able to bring that car back out due to a lack of funding. So, instead, Weis looked for another avenue to make his return.

“The only choice I had was to get in someone else’s car and this deal came together in about a weeks time,” Weis said. “Wayne called me on Saturday of last week and asked if I want to go to Dallas, can you meet me there and we will go racing.”

And what a return it was.

“Friday qualifying to get in that car and then to make it to tonight is pretty neat. I haven’t bee in a race car in two years. It is amazing,” Weis said. “Once I was in the car it was kind of like riding a bike. Once you get back in the controls are etched in your mind. As many laps as I had made in a fuel car it didn’t take long to get back in the groove.

“I have been trying for a really long time to win in a fuel car and to do it in my first time back after sitting for two years, it is amazing.”

Weis made his return to IHRA drag racing a successful one, driving around Spring Nationals winner Del Cox in the semifinals on a 4.894 E.T. at 286.68 miles per hour to Cox’s 5.013 at 292.58 mph in a great drag race.

Both cars were welded together for most of the run as Weis, driving the Urs Erbacher-backed orange and black dragster, nipped Cox at the line to advance to his first final.

Tim Boychuk

McMillen reached the finals by knocking off No. 1 qualifier Tim Boychuk who lit the tires at about 1,000 feet, allowing McMillen to cruise around him for the win. McMillen ran a 4.921 at 295.92 mph to Boychuk’s 5.390 at 203.83 mph setting up a McMillen and Weis final. It was McMillen’s eighth career Top Fuel final.

And Sunday’s great finish was set up by a tremendous first round. McMillen started the afternoon session off with a bang with his first round win of the season, edging Bruce Litton at the line by 12 inches with a 4.90 to a 4.91 at nearly 300 miles per hour.

Malice in the Palace

By Susan Wade

The Texas-sized dreams of Dallas-area businessmen Kenny Barnes and Mike Adcock began to morph into equally large nightmares in mid-May, complete with enough electronic terrorism, vandalism, and natural erosion to stoke a revival of the prime-time soap opera at Southfork Ranch.

Barnes and Adcock jumped through legal hoops to build Dallas Raceway, their $11 million all-concrete "Palace at Dallas" dragstrip in the outlying suburb of Crandall. And they landed the International Hot Rod Association's Amalie Oil Texas Nationals.

What ensued was "Malice in the Palace." They found themselves dashing from the office computers to the ladies' restrooms to the racing surface itself, fixing one pre-race calamity after another. Hackers disrupted the new Website, hooligans intentionally damaged the ladies room plumbing, and the track itself misbehaved a week before the third of the IHRA's 10 events.

However, by Sunday, the cyber-thugs were neutralized, the restrooms repaired, and the track restored. And the focus shifted back to where it belonged, on racing.

Scott Weis celebrated his return to the Top Fuel class after suffering a broken back with his career-first victory, and Pro Modified's Chris Russo earned his first Ironman statues. Frank Gugliotta christened the national event there with his 11th Pro Stock tour victory.

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