The final race was up in the air till the end as both drivers had to pedal their cars on the hot afternoon surface and Craig Smith’s 5.45 took out Mitch King’s 5.60. Smith (shown) runs this race every year and it is the only race he runs due to the high cost of competing.
Jeff Bennett won Funny Car from the number one position. He took out Mike Savage and Corey Lee to get to Mike Adams in Jeff Gaynor’s Challenger in the final. Adams had eliminated Dave Hix and Bob Godfrey to reach the final. Bennett’s 6.35 easily handled Adams‘s very loose 8.13 early shutoff.
Pro Alcohol Dragster was won by Bill Edwards Jr,
 Lloyd Dyck took Pro Alcohol Funny Car. |
 Perry Thyr took top honors in Pro Mod. |
As always for this weekend, Chris “The Greek” Karamesines came to visit old friends Jim Tice and Larry “Muffler Man” Taylor, race director. On Saturday night the Greek attempted to get his qualifying run in, but the car would not go into reverse so he motored away. You could tell by the subdued crowd that they had missed something special. After the last pair of Top Fuel cars had run, guess who was back in line? This time the Greek laid down a 5.481 run at 252.82 mph to take the number five qualifying position -- and the crowd went wild. It was just typical behavior from one of the all time drag racing greats.
While it is too early to tell what the long-term outcome will be, it appears that the future of the beleaguered track is a little more secure today than it was last week. Kris Krabill made the comment to a track official, “I have never had this much fun at a drag race.” Hopefully the racing will continue and maybe all the deserving fans in the Northwest can share in some of that fun as it returns to the Spokane track. 
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