Notes scribbled on my napkin from Famous Dave's BBQ joint Boise, Idaho

Being the nitro junkies that we are, Darr Hawthorne and I had the waitress at Famous Dave's put on the ESPN2 NHRA coverage on Sunday. We were thrilled to see Jack Wyatt going to the second round after beating the mega-buck Ashley Force team in the first round. We were equally pleased to see that 80-year-old drag racing icon Chris Karamesines not only qualified but ran a 4.11 lap against the Lucas team.

*****

I have never, never seen a cleaner facility than Firebird Raceway. The New family crew did their jobs keeping the place clean but a lot of the credit has to go to the spectators themselves. I have never been to a race or part of the country where there was almost no visible litter. Everyone used the trash barrels and kept the track neat and clean. Bravo!

*****

I'd have to say that Nostalgia Top Fuel as a class is really struggling at this point. Just nine cars at Boise and no one I talked to knew of a new Top Fuel team being built on the West Coast. I believe that problem is a combination of the current economic downturn, the attractiveness of Funny Cars to sponsors, track promoters and fans, and the rising cost of building and racing an NHRA-legal Top Fuel car. Those cars have to be on "kill" every pass to have a chance at winning.

*****

The NFCA management hired an NHRA tech guy, Ken Gentry, to come to Boise and tech each and every Funny Car in an effort to put to rest all of the cheating rumors that are running wild on the Internet. Gentry teched the cars to the maximum. How thorough was Mr. Gentry? Paul Romine said it was the most thorough tech inspection he had every been through in his 40 years of drag racing.

*****

There was and still is a lot of speculation going around that the Plueger cars had to remove their Enderle fuel pumps. According to Mr. Gentry, he was hired by the NFCA to tech each and every car -- including the paperwork furnished by the pump builders as to the flow of each pump -- and report his finding to NFCA VP Chris Bennett. Gentry had no authority to make anyone remove any part. One very good source told me that everyone's pump, whether it was a Waterman, Settles, or Enderle, had different fuel flow numbers.