Jay Payne (Todd Dziadosz photo)  VMP Qualifying  1. Rick Stivers 5.906 2. Roger Burgess 5.911 3. Danny Rowe 5.948 4. Raymond Commisso 5.948 5. Jay Payne 5.949 6. Tommy Gray 5.961 7. Brad Personett 5.967 8. Melanie Troxel 5.969 9. Mike Castellana 5.995 10. Burton Auxier 6.002 11. Tim Tindle 6.013 12. Chip King 6.018 13. Joe Baker 6.027 14. Dennis Radford 6.027 15. Scott Ray 6.07 16. Kirk Kuhns 6.092 ---NOT QUALIFIED--- 17. Adam Flamholc 6.135 18. Mike Knowles 6.153 19. Rickie Smith 6.156 20. Rick Distefano 6.24 21. Frank Patille 6.404 Pro Mod Points (After 9 of 10 events) 1. Auxier 610 2. Burgess 578 3. Rowe 573 4. Baker 532 5. Payne 509 6. Castellana 508 7. Commisso 501 8. Tindle 437 9. Stivers 424 10. Personett 384

The very next pair, another Brad Anderson-tuned car driven by the 2008 winner at VMP, Jay Payne, broke into the 5.80-zone with a 5.870/242.67 clocking. Then Personett dropped a bomb on the rest of the racers with a history-making lap of 5.843/253.28 in his turbocharged, Hemi-powered Camaro to grab the provisional pole.

Then, unbelievably, Stivers’ supercharged ‘Vette powered to a once  unthinkable 5.837/245.81. That number stood as the number one qualifier as qualifying was ended.

The march of .80s continued in round one of eliminations with six drivers passing the mark. Notably, Commisso’s supercharger car took out points-leader Burton Auxier’s nitrous car with a 5.843 and Stivers beat Scott Ray’s Vette with a 5.835. Number 15 qualifier Joe Baker faced off against No. 2 qualifier Personett in the B&J Transmissions $500 Bonus round. Baker upset Personett with a holeshot, 5.873/244.34 to Personett’s 5.866 at 249.49. Personett’s quicker but losing lap did set the class speed record at 249.49! 

Baker used another holeshot in round two to send No. 3 Danny Rowe packing and took away any chances for him to take advantage of Auxier's early exit, 5.865 to 5.854. Payne ended Burgess's hopes of making any advances on Auxier as well, taking him out with a 5.836 at 244.43 to a 5.911 at 246.30.

In the same round, Stivers had a near-perfect .001 reaction time in his victory over Tim Tindle, running a 5.836 at 247.11 to Tindle's 5.914 at 240.81. The win put Stivers within striking distance of the top eight in overall points and the chance to run for the cash in the Matco Tools $35,000 Pro Mod Clash at Las Vegas later this month.

Melanie Troxel  (Ron Lewis photo)

Melanie Troxel and Commisso added even more drama to the second round, running the quickest ever side-by-side round, with Troxel's record-breaking 5.829 at 247.79 losing to Commisso's even quicker 5.817 at 246.03. His 5.817 now stands as the World Record in Pro Mod. 

Semifinal action paired Commisso against Stivers and Payne against Baker. Baker's luck ran short and he struck the tires while trying to swing for the fences, losing to Payne 5.944 to 8.411.

"Truth be told, we got greedy. We didn't detune the car enough for the climate conditions. With everyone clocking such great times we just got carried away," Baker said.