Funny Car racer Robert Hight had a week to think about his three-race winning streak. On Friday at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals, he had more time to think.

The same held true for his crew chief Jimmy Prock.

Persistent rain showers limited qualifying to one session and left many drivers idle throughout the day.

As badly as the defending series champion wanted to capitalize on his momentum, both he and Prock understood getting a place in the field with incoming Saturday weather was all they needed to do.

The Blue Max is a legendary part of drag racing’s past.

Mad Max could be an exciting part of its future.

“Before I end up my career, you’re definitely going to see me at least doing a test in a dragster,” says Formula One/Le Mans/Indy 500/sports car/Champ Car/now NASCAR driver Max Papis.

Don’t laugh.

An uncertain weather forecast for Saturday qualifying at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill., made for a clear objective as far as Larry Dixon was concerned.

“We knew we needed to get into the top sixteen,” said Dixon, who has qualified third or better in every race this season except one.

Securing a spot in the field on Friday in the event of a Saturday postponement of qualifying is one thing, doing it with a 3.814 elapsed time at 317.41 was another.

Robert Hight continued his domination of the Funny Car field as he took the provisional No. 1 qualifier as rain shortened Friday qualifying to just one session at the United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway.

Larry Dixon, Mike Edwards and Craig Treble also took the provisional top spots in their respective categories at the 10th of 23 events on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

Hight, who entered the event on a three-race winning streak, drove his Auto Club Ford Mustang to a 4.067-second pass at 313.15 mph to become the provisional top qualifier in Funny Car. If it stands it would be his fourth No. 1 qualifier of the season and 36th of his career. It was also a track record in both time and speed.

Defending NHRA Pro Stock champion Mike Edwards wasn’t excluded from the weather issues which hampered every team at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals. He was one of those drivers who pulled to the staging lanes for his first qualifying run only to be sent back to the pits multiple times when rains fell throughout the first day of the event staged outside of Chicago.

Even though he drove to the No. 1 spot in the field with a 6.660, getting those numbers wasn’t exactly business as usual.

“It’s tough on everyone,” said Edwards. “It’s tough on us, the NHRA, the fans, the Safety Safari guys. My hat’s off to them. They did a tremendous job fighting the weather.”

After a day filled with delay, Craig Treble found the sweet spot as he led the only round of qualifying for the Pro Stock Motorcycle class Friday evening.

Treble drove his '03 Suzuki TL-1000 to the top spot over David Hope and Hector Arana with a 6.960 second pass at 190.27 mph.

Hope and Arana were the only other drivers, out of 17, to break the 7-second barrier, at 6.971 and 6.989 seconds respectively.

For the record, despite the five hour plus delay, Treble never felt any pressure to get in a good lap.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the 42nd annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, the eighth of 22 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series -

Final round-by-round results from the Third annual  O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at zMax Dragway @ Concord, the 19th of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:
 
TOP FUEL: 

This unidentified Mustang was making a run during the "Fat Tuesday" event at Hub City Dragway in Hattiesburg, Ms, when suddenly it took flight. The Ford landed without crashing.