National Dragster

September 6, 1993

Following two days of Funny Car qualifying and the Budweiser Big Bud Shootout special event, John Force still is calling the shots. He didn’t improve on his 5.123 recorded Saturday, but no one bettered his 5.14, 5.15 and 5.17 efforts run yesterday.

While Force clamped down from the top, the bottom half of the field experienced much change, especially in Sunday’s second session. Kenji Okazaki’s 5.382 bubble at the conclusion of yesterday’s first session did not hold, though many expected it would because racers were facing a temperature in the mid-80s that afternoon; however, cloud cover that moved in just before yesterday’s second session cooled the track and heated up the racing action.

Canadian racer Bob Elliott struck first when he drove his Ken Veney-tuned Northern Force Dodge Daytona to a 5.31, 276.32 that bumped Okazaki. Okazaki followed one pair later with a 5.30, 265.01 in the Mooneyes Daytona to knock Gordon Mineo’s 5.356 out of the show. And Dean Skuza’s 91 Probe ran a 5.34, 284.09 to push out Jerry Caminito’s 5.351. Mineo’s exotic Flash Gordon Pontiac Formula next posted a 5.25, 284.27 to move into the program and put Skuza’s 5.342 on the bubble permanently. (The 5.342 is the second quickest 16-car Funny Car bubble in NHRA national-event history.)