This incredibly-beautiful Willys is owned by Walt and Bucky Austin, and driven by well-known tuner Brian Macy of TheEFIStore.com. Yesterday was the first hit on the car; Macy fully expects the car to run deep into the 5-second range once completed. He also explained that they are measuring just about every single possible bit of data from turbo speed to ride height and more. The end goal is to have as much information as possible to consider when making tuning decisions.

The Hairston Motorsports team is using a Quick Drive transbrake system in their GTO, one of only three turbo teams doing so. The unit sits behind the M&M torque-converter and in front of the air-shifted Lenco transmission. Since it’s new to the team, they have been pulling it apart every day for inspection, which is a process that takes about an hour and requires the removal of one wheel and the driveshaft before the transmission can be shifted rearward. Hairston says the floaters and discs need to be checked to ensure proper operation.

Kevin Fiscus and the boys were hard at work this morning checking on the front suspension of his JB’s Power Centre-backed Pro Mod Mustang. Nobody wants to worry about alignment issues at 250-plus mph!

The driving job of the day goes to Canadian Mike Walterson, who had a tire failure through the lights in the Outlaw 10.5 quarter-mile class. The resulting explosion blew the driver’s door off the car and a big hole in the back window. Walterson simply pulled the chutes and steered the car to the return road.

One of the best parts of the weekend are the warplanes that train at the adjacent Nellis Air Force base. They’ve been putting on a show all week.

Nick Agostino rolled into the beams for the first time this morning with a brand-new bullet, with no idea how it would run. How’s a 4.10 at 191 mph from his small-block-motivated Camaro? Agostino sits in fifth in the Outlaw 10.5 vs. Radial eighth-mile class.

Meanwhile, Mark Luton’s Mustang stormed to the top spot in the class with a 4.057 at 187 mph from the 5.4-based Ford Modular engine. Luton’s been at this game a long time and know what it’ll take to win. He sits just in front of Jason Michalak’s 4.062.

We had an enlightening conversation with the Shock Nerd, Mark Menscer of Menscer Motorsports. The discussion centered around how he helps his customers get down the track; he stressed how important the total package is, from corner weights to control arm/four-link settings, to shock adjustments. “Guys will tune on the engine all day long, but when it comes to the shocks, they don’t know which way to turn the knob or what will happen if they do. We try to educate them and build a relationship that goes beyond just supplying them with shocks,” he says.

Ruben T’s Pro Mod Camaro is a badass machine; he’s eighth on the ladder with a 6.04 . He explains that the weather here in Vegsas is so different from where he normally competes that he had to make a run just to see what the car would take. Above the car is the unique pneumatic awning system he developed (and sells, wink-wink) that he says inflates in six minutes and costs half as much as a typical stacker-based awning system. We were impressed, not only with the engineering but also the much cooler temperatures underneath. Racers are an ingenious bunch.

This is what it takes between rounds when you’re crewing on the world’s quickest four-cylinder drag car. The Napierville Dragway-sponsored machine is driven by Carl Brunet and has been 6.29 at 222 in the quarter mile; he’s 9th on the Outlaw Radial eighth-mile qualifying sheet with a 4.18 — from only 132 cubic inches of Ecotec Chevy engine, and ahead of some very well-known names in the class. We popped by when they were in the middle of swapping out transmission gears, as a result of swapping rearend ratios. Looks like a fun job, doesn’t it?

Mike Keenan wasn’t in a chatting mood when we dropped by, as he had just diagnosed a blown head gasket on the driver’s side of the car.

“Nitrous life” was the only comment we got out of the Bad9er/Kyle Huettel crew this afternoon. Shortly after the comment, a rack of pistons appeared on the table and many hands went to work.

“Everyone has a trailer, ours is just smaller than the rest of them,” says Larry Larson. But everything the team needs fits in this little box; each item has its place, and each place has an item occupying that space. Larson feels that it just doesn’t make sense to cart around a big trailer, instead choosing to focus on the setup that he uses on Drag Week.

Steve Petty has been a busy, busy man this weekend. Not only is he working the laptop on the top two Outlaw Pro Mod machines, we’ve seen him in a number of other pit areas dispensing his wizard-like advice.

Yesterday Paul Mouhayet and the Moits boys struggled; tonight they did not. Howsabout a strong 5.686 at 265.27 mph, to take the second spot in Outlaw Pro Mod? Mouhayet is bested by only one person — event sponsor Troy Coughlin in the Jegs C7, who crossed the stripe with a 5.683 at 271.24 mph.

Despite fears that the track might not be there in the night session of the Outlaw 10.5 vs Radial eighth-mile class, the Bad9er crew tuned up Michalak’s machine to a 4-flat with an 8 at 191 mph to take the top spot. Nick Agostino also moved up with a stout 4.034 at 193.54 mph to push Mark Luton into the third spot.

Just because lit candles on a nitrous-injected red Camaro are awesome. And Yvonne is, too.

The LVMS crew has been working overtime on track prep to ensure all of the racers are safe, and the surface can handle the horsepower.

Yesterday Krusty said the race to the 4.80s would be on this weekend; today in the first session of the day, he proved it, with an insane 4.82 at 145.30 mph to push Toaster into the second spot.

The Outlaw 10.5 vs. Radial quarter-mile class has 16 cars on the ladder so far, but Langley, British Columbia’s Roy Moznik is in the top spot by over a tenth with a 6.462 at 212.09 mph. The nitrous-injected Fulton 833ci engine in his machine is hookin’ and bookin’. Moznik is rolling on the 10.5-wide tire.

The final session of Outlaw 10.5 vs. Radial quarter mile was one for the ages. Roger Holder cranked off an unreal 6.075 at 226.09 mph. But the story gets better..

As the parachutes decided that spontaneous disconnection would be the order of the day through the traps. We have no doubt that he’ll be repaired and back after it tomorrow.

And how about an all-time best pass for Dragzine’s own BlownZ project car? Company founder James Lawrence says the team will be inspecting the car before tomorrow’s sessions, as ‘something feels goofy in the steering’.