It isn’t how one starts but how one finishes that makes the most difference. For veteran doorslammer racer Mark Micke, he started out qualifying at the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission on top. He fell out of the top spot but, with one last attempt, reclaimed the top spot with a 3.579-second pass at 221.02 MPH in his twin-turbocharged ’69 Camaro, an improvement of five-hundredths of a second on his Thursday night effort. 

Final elimination rounds were moved up a day with the threat of rain hitting on Sunday. Racers will get one more qualifying session on Saturday. Headlining qualifying in the top tier divisions were Mark Woodruff (Pro 275) and Eric LaFerriere (X275).  

Outlaw Pro Modified became a matter of who wanted the top spot the most. Micke was in the top spot until the final session when Derek Ward drove around him by .002 (3.604) of a second. Micke saved his best for the session’s final run, leapfrogging him with a 3.579 at 221.02. 
 
“It was an unbelievable run,” said Micke. “It was more than we thought. We’re stoked. It’s been fun fighting back and forth for that No. 1 spot. We were watching the cars ahead of us, and I figured it would be Ken Q [Quartuccio], Derek Ward, or maybe ‘Turbo Todd’ [Moyer]. We thought those guys had the potential to bump us. We were trying to go .59 flat because I figured Derek would go .59 something, just knowing they’re pretty badass. So I was like, ‘All right, guys, let’s do it.’”

The only one who had Micke’s number was Lyle Barnett. The two lined up in the Q2 session to determine the final round of the rain-delayed Snowbird Outlaw Nationals. While Micke improved on his Thursday run, with a 3.622 at 217.91, it wasn’t enough to chase down Barnett, who used a holeshot advantage and a 3.637 at 206.29 to get the win before going on to win in the final round over Scott Lang. 
 
“We just stunk it up in the semis from the Snowbirds race,” Micke said. “It went out and rattled the tires, and I was a little late and just screwed it up. We came back, called Chris Bell from Kinetic, made a few little tweaks, and boom, we came back out and went No. 1 again.”

Micke heads into the final eliminations on Saturday with his focus on collecting a trophy and the $32,000 check. 

 
“Tonight’s fun, the Home Run Derby stuff,” said Micke, who will face No. 32 qualifier Louis Ouimette in the first round of eliminations. “That’s cool, but man, like I said, I’m a little sore that I let the team down on that loss today. We’ve got something to prove tomorrow, and we’ve got a really badass hot rod for the heat. I’m stoked for tomorrow.”
 
Following behind Micke and Ward, Ken Quartuccio qualified third with a 3.606 at 205.19 in his ProCharged ’69 Camaro. Driving the screw-blown Smokies Garage ’20 Camaro, Scott Wildgust fired off a 3.608 at 208.84 to end up No. 4. Travis “The Carolina Kid” Harvey, who brought out a new screw-blown ’17 Camaro with racing partners Vaughn Myles and Eric Holland, posted a 3.612 at 208.88 to round out the top five. 

There were 27 other drivers in PJS Racing Outlaw Pro Mod presented by FuelTech, who made passes in the 3.60-second range. 

Woodruff, the Pro 275 runner-up at the Snowbirds, grabbed the provisional No. 1 spot from Jason Collins by just .001 with a 3.737 at 195.19 in his screw-blown ’10 Corvette. 

Collins, the reigning Radial Outlaws Pro 275 champion, was second quickest with his 3.738 at 201.37 in the screw-blown Scott Tidwell Racing ’69 Camaro. Second-generation racer Brylon Holder finished third with a 3.745 at 198.12 from Thursday. 

X275 provisional No. 1 qualifier LaFerriere didn’t improve on his 4.144 at 181.11, but he held on to the top spot. Frank Mewshaw also maintained his No. 2 position, but it took an improved 4.182 at 173.94 in his turbo ’89 Mustang to do so. Ron Rhodes laid down a 4.20 at 173.74 in his nitrous-fed ’68 Camaro to move up to the No. 3 spot. 

Remaining No. 1 qualifiers included Greg Blevins Jr.  (Limited Drag Radial), Shawn Pevlor (Ultra Street), Bill Kubiac (Limited 235), and Jacob Naumann (Outlaw 632) 
 
Saturday’s racing action will begin at 9 a.m., starting with the index classes, which are scheduled to get two qualifying sessions. The drag radial and Outlaw 632 classes will get a final qualifying session before starting the first round of eliminations in all heads-up classes.