Nitro Nick looked a bit disheveled on Friday evening. ,

During a Friday afternoon qualifying run at the California Hot Rod Reunion driver Mike Lewis left the starting line with his Nitro Nick Vega flopper as a hard top. Shortly thereafter, he coasted through the Auto Club Famoso shutdown area as a convertible.

Back in the day, as this event evokes memories of days gone by, Lewis' weekend would have been finished. However, in a measure of modern day resolve, the crew went to work in the pits and had the car ready to go for Saturday's final qualifying session.

Nitro Nick looked a bit disheveled on Friday evening. ,

During a Friday afternoon qualifying run at the California Hot Rod Reunion driver Mike Lewis left the starting line with his Nitro Nick Vega flopper as a hard top. Shortly thereafter, he coasted through the Auto Club Famoso shutdown area as a convertible.

Back in the day, as this event evokes memories of days gone by, Lewis' weekend would have been finished. However, in a measure of modern day resolve, the crew went to work in the pits and had the car ready to go for Saturday's final qualifying session.

"I initially thought there was zero chance we'd get this car ready," Lewis admitted. "The crew stood around and looked at the car, and one person asked, 'Are we going to sit around and look at it, or are we going to fix it?"

Lewis said he discovered the answer with a measure of New Jersey attitude mixed into the massive repair.

"They knew what they were going to do; you could tell when they had arms full of sheet metal and hands full of rivets."

The cause of the engine explosion which lifted the body was traced to three broken rods, which in turn lifted an intake valve. The end result was a supercharger backfire.

"It wasn't a big backfire like we see with the big show cars, but slowly after that I saw daylight and then it was clear the body was gone. It was nothing dramatic. But it was disappointing. These guys don't quit, and you saw by the effort they put in repairing the class."

As icing on the cake, Lewis beat championship contender Kris Krabill in the first round of eliminations.

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