The Boise Nightfire Nationals came to a dramatic conclusion on Sunday night. For the huge crowd in attendance, it was a drag racing experience that will go down as one of the best in the thirty-three year history of Firebird's "Signature Event".

Temperatures finally simmered a bit from triple digit highs on Friday and Saturday, as the day time temps climbed to just over 90-degrees under partly cloudy-hazy skies during the first round of eliminations.

The AA/Fuel Dragster final saw Jack Harris earn his fourth Nationals title. Charging to low e.t. and top speed of the weekend in the final, the "Sheriff" posted a 5.90 at 252.80 mph to defeat a 6.27 at 203.57 by the Plaza Hotel Dragster of Sean Bellemeur. This was the first loss handed the new team in four events.

Bellemeur warms up the engine as Tom Shelar holds the data computer while Brett Johansen adjusts the injector. This is a ritual before every run the car makes.

Sean Bellemeur has his game face on as he gets ready to make his first qualifying pass on Friday when he ran the 6.14. Saturday (below), 2nd round of Qualifying, Sean shut off at 100ft due to tire shake. Saturday 3rd round Qualifying Sean was on a 5 but the main fuel line came off at 500ft and he made a move like Murphy did. Saved the car with a great reaction to the fuel under the rear tires. The incrementals were 1.08-60ft 2.72-330ft 4.04 at 185mph to the half so you know it was making a great pass.

The final session Saturday night allowed everyone to get more aggressive with their tune-up and several cars that were on the outside looking in qualified in the night air. Bellemeur was on a 5 but the main fuel line came off at 500ft and he made a move like Murphy did on race day. Saved the car with a great reaction to the fuel under the rear tires. The incrementals were 1.08-60ft 2.72-330ft 4.04 at 185mph to half track so you know it was making a great pass. He ended up in the # 4 spot. In the other lane, Bill Dunlap, in Mike Fuller's car was not qualified at all but pulled out a nice 6.11 to get into the show.

In the first round of eliminations Bellemeur faced Scott Mason. Bellemeur took the win with a shut-off-early 6.08 @ 221.18 against Mason's game 6.25 @ 229.24.

In round two Bellemeur would meet # 1 qualifier, Jim Murphy. Bellemeur left first by a bunch then at the 300 foot mark Murphy goes for a wild ride (below) when he gets loose and goes up on 2-wheels, but he keeps it right-side up. Bellemeur went on to a stellar 6.06 @ 218.49 win.

However, this victory proved to be costly as it broke an intake valve stem at the keeper 5.3 seconds into the run (above - white smoke) and still ran a 6.06. The 1000ft time was a 5.0. It killed one head and one piston #5. There were valve stem parts in #8 and #4. They changed 8 rods and pistons and put the spare heads on for the final. Took the team 65 minutes from the car in the pits to start up. Not bad for weekenders. They spent 5 minutes going over all the parts and double checking everything. It was great to have the team groovin' as one. Frank, Troy, Todd, Gorman all stepped in to help.

The Top Fuel final was another great race. Jack Harris had lane choice and that is what did Bellemeur in. Harris put out the top bulb to try and get a reaction time. He was still left on by Sean a .452 to a .476 light (see the sequence of shots below). The Plaza Hotel car left and dropped the # 1 cylinder at the hit but picked it back up at the 60ft mark. At 200ft out it hit the soft spot in the left lane (where Murphy had gone sideways against Sean in the semis) and hazed the tires and that was all Jack needed. Sean stayed in it to the 1000ft mark and knew he was done and clicked it off to save the parts. Harris cards the low ET and the top speed for the weekend and takes the win with a 5.90 @ 252.80 against Sean's 6.27 @ 203.57.