The clear sentimental favorite going into the 6.0 final was Tony Murphy and his ’64 Nova (near lane), who dedicated his effort to his son currently serving with the military in Iraq. Sentiment doesn’t win drag races, however, with defending class champ Michael Strickland driving his ’95 Camaro to the event win. It was a great race, though, with Murphy posting a .001 reaction against Strickland’s .004, but his 6.053/110.97 combination came up seven thousandths short after Strickland went 6.043/114.62 in the right lane.
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Brad Wise started dead last of 25 entries in the 6.0 class only because he couldn’t slow his ’72 Cutlass down enough in qualifying to run the number. On raceday, however, the Asheville, NC, racer managed to reach the quarter-finals, where he fell to top qualifier Knight.
After 61 drivers made qualifying passes in Atlanta Speed Shop 7.0 action, three nailed perfect 7.000-seconds passes, but Athens, AL’s Michael Smith and his Fox-body Mustang (shown) was awarded the number-one slot based on his faster 98.35 mph speed. Pete Nelson started second with David Johnson third and it took looking down to the 12th position before finding the first 7.01 and all the way to 39th for the first 7.10 elapsed time. Smith fouled out with a .003 redlight in round one. 
Dutton, AL’s Chad Smart (shown) reached the final round from the 11th starting position, but his 7.029 came up a little short of the 7.004 at 101.51 posted by number-25 qualifier Nathan Wells and his Ringgold, GA-based ’67 Camaro.
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