54th annual Nightfire Nationals - Firebird Raceway - Boise, ID

NOTE: Click on the thumbnails to display the full-size images

One of the longest running independent drag races anywhere, and one of the most popular events in the Pacific Northwest, the Nightfire Nationals was held over the weekend at Firebird Raceway. With a large field of Nitro Nostalgia Funny Cars, 15 in all, six Top Fuel Dragsters, and seven AA/Fuel Altereds (aka: Awful Awfuls), 11 Pro Mods, and a host of supporting categories it was another barnburner of a race.

We're privileged to be able to share some of the photos that our good friend, and super photographer Larry Pfister took at the event. We're incorporating them into our report on the race with details provided by the Firebird Raceway team. Thanks to all who helped make this feature report possible. Since we didn't attend the event in person, and have no data on when the photos were taken (ie. Q-1 or E-2, etc) we'll use the shots that best fit the chronological order of the event.

Funny Car had an almost full field that featured 12 cars in the 5-second zone. They ranged from low e.t.'er Tim Boychuk at an awesome 5.619 - 255.00, to #12 qualifier Todd Miller at 5.912 - 240.59. The majority of the field were in the 5.70's which guaranteed that some very close racing would be on tap throughout eliminations.

AA/FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round ONE

(LEFT) Leading off eliminations were the Bill Windham '70 Trans-Am "Shakedown" (right lane) facing the "Instigator" '70 Camaro of Washington state's Michael Peck Sr. in the left lane. Windham reacted a little quicker but fell off the pace early and could only ring up a 6.222 - 232.27 in a losing effort.

(RIGHT) Running strong all the way to the finish line, Peck ran fractionally quicker than his #3 qualifying 5.738, with a very good 5.736 - 252.95 lighting up the scoreboard.

Qualifying at the top of the 15-car field, Edmonton's Tim Boychuk in his "Happy Hour" '70 Dodge Challenger (not the '69 Camaro that was listed on the results sheets) earned a bye run in the first round. He ran strong until just past half track before clicking it off to a 6.161 - 174.53 result.

If it wasn't the holeshot of the millenium it must have been pretty close, as you can see from this shot about 330' out from the starting line. Streaking away in the far lane is Shane Harter in Dave Benjamin's "Nasty Benjamin" '78 Firebird. Trailing badly in the near lane is Jerry Espeseth in the '73 Camaro-bodied "Atlas Oil Tool Special". Espeseth got closer near the finish line but Jerry's .447 reaction time dug a hole too deep for a very good 5.821 - 247.07 pass to overcome. Taking the win was Harter with his best of the weekend 6.021 - 237.55 effort. The loss pretty much ended Espeseth's hopes of catching Shane Westerfield in the points standings.

(LEFT) In the first round of eliminations it was Todd Plate (near lane), in Eddie Knox's "Problem Child" '69 Camaro, facing itinerant FC racer Jon Capps in Cecil Matthew's "Matthews Motorsports" '70 Camaro entry.

(RIGHT) On the green, Capps took a five hundredths lead and pounded out another 5.7 run, this time stopping the clocks with a 5.768 - 244.65. Plate faded early and shut off to a losing 6.400 at 159.46 mph.

(LEFT) It's a little deceiving to see such a large gap between Drew Austin in the far lane and Todd Miller in the near lane at this point. Austin did leave first, with an .055 to .132 reaction time advantage, but it looks much greater at this point.

(RIGHT) As they passed the 330' mark, the distance between the "California Hustler" '79 Trans-Am of Miller and the "Pro-Max" '79 Mustang of Austin seems even greater. Austin did take a convincing win with the quickest e.t. of the round to this point, stopping the clocks with a 5.724 - 249.30 to take out Miller's second best 5.939 - 243.98 effort.

(LEFT) Coming out of the #6 qualifying position with a strong 5.753 e.t., Kris Krabill (near lane) in the Tony Bartone owned "Bartone & Lebor" '79 Mustang had the advantage over Bobby Cottrell in the "Speed Sport" '70 Camaro.

(RIGHT) Cottrell launched first with a small (.033) advantage, then stretched it out with a good 5.945 - 241.58 to turn on the winlight. Krabill stayed close until half track before lifting and coasting across the stripe with a losing 7.300 - 126.16 timeslip.

(LEFT) The "Quarter Pounder" team of Van Gundy, Clark & Monise, with Geoff Monise at the tiller of the '70 Firebird, qualified mid=pack in the #7 spot with a very good 5.766 - 246.12 timeslip. He picked up the pace substantially in eliminations with an excellent 5.649 - 255.39 pass, that wasn't quite good enough to turn on the winlight though.

(RIGHT) Taking the win was the #10 qualifier, Shane Westerfield in the Austin & O'Brien '69 Camaro-bodied "Northwest Hitter". He launched quicker than Monise (.094 to .125), and ran just a little quicker with low e.t. of the round, at 5.635 - 258.52. The 258+ mph was also top speed of the meet. The side-by-side low 5.60's and big mph's had to be the best pairing of the round by far.

(LEFT) The round closed with the two most closely matched cars in the field, the #8 and #9 qualifiers. Occupying the ninth spot on the ladder was Derrick Moreira and his "Hawaiian Nitro Junkies" team with their (you guessed it, didn't you? '69 Camaro. Unfortunately, they fell off their 5.70 pace of qualifying and slowed to a 5.959 - 223.54 that wasn't nearly enough to get past their opponent.

(RIGHT) After a tough weekend at their home track in the previous Heritage Series event, the "Pacemaker - Bubble Up" was out for "revenge" at Firebird Raceway. With Nathan Sitko driving, they ran 5.80 and 5.79 in qualifying, then stepped up to a 5.710 - 244.29 to take the win over Moreira and advance to a quarter-final matchup with fellow Edmontonian Tim Boychuk in the next round.

We're still working on organizing all the photos and providing the captions. Stay tuned!