Seattle, August 9th, 2002, O-dark thirty AM...after a whopping one hour's sleep, I climb into Oscar the Subhuman (my 1973 Chevrolet Suburban) for the trek to Boise for the 31st edition of the Nightfire Nationals...a race quite unlike any other.

But first, I have to get there.

Thanks to the wisdom of our Congress, the leaden hand of the 55 MPH speed limit has gone away, to be replaced by the at least 70 MPH speed limit most everywhere out here in the wide open spaces of the West...and Oscar seems to like it when pushed about 10 over that...so by 8 AM, I'm having breakfast in beautiful Sunnyside, WA. I drop down into Oregon at Umatilla, and head southeast towards Boise. Halway across Oregon, that 1 hour of sleep catches up to me, and the "invisible people" start marching across the road. Fortunately, there's a roadside rest stop not too far ahead. Another hour of sack time on the newly acquired front seat (luxuriously upholstered), and we're back on the road. Eastern Oregon is disposed of in a few hours, and we're into Idaho, an hour later in an instant, due to Mountain Time, and an hour from Boise. That 75 MPH Idaho speed limit looks good to about Nampa, then traffic bogs down through Caldwell, and into Boise. A quick check-in at the Holiday Inn, and out to the track.

Driving the familiar route out to Firebird Raceway, it's a mnenomic game...84, to 55, to 44, to 16. A twenty mile trip and just in the last year, civilization is sneaking, crawling and jumping that twenty miles out towards what I thought was a track situated out in the middle of nowhere. New shopping plazas, new houses, hell, there's even a Starbucks less that ten miles from the track!

But I peak that final hill on 16, and there's Firebird, laid out neatly in the high desert...the Bracketeers are wailing away as I pull in the entrance. The bracket cars have been here since Wednesday, and will continue to run all weekend long, making laps, and making the spaces between the fuel cars not quite so lengthy. Well, except for the annoying snowmobiles...not that they're not fast, 9-10 seconds at 130-140 MPH is pretty good for something that has no belts, no roll bars, just a dead-mans ignition cutoff...

Yep, fuel cars. My reason to be here. The Nightfire Nationals is all about nitro at night. It's the Western States Cat/Fuel Altered Championship, for the big banger Fuel Altereds, and it's a barnburner every year. This year, there's a new top dog, and that's the Neese and Knowles AA/FA out of Arizona. Back in June, these boys laid down a 5.42 at 282 MPH to become the quickest and fastest Fuel Altered in existence. To the chagrin of previous Low ET and Top Speed holder, Ron Fassl. Fassl is here, to try and regain that lofty perch, after a tour of Alaska, where he ran a string of mid-5 second runs, match racing against the Alaska Grizzly of Gary and Jamie Bodenstadt, who also have made the 2700 mile trek down from Fairbanks, Alaska. The Arizona contingent is filled out by Mack McCord and his Gorilla fuel altered. McCord is a previous Nightfire victor, winning the first side-by-side 5 second Fuel Altered final in 1998. But McCord hasn't had the best of luck in the last couple of years, suffering from breakage, and wall-banging damage. Mike Sullivan and Steve Haight are here with their new car, which was runner-up to Neese at the Fuel Altered Nationals in Tucson, and for a long time Fuel Altered nut, it's a bit sacreligious as the trademark Fiat body that has marked a Mike Sullivan endeavor, has been replaced by a 23 T body. Progress, or as I asked Mike, "You must get these cheaper by the dozen!" And last of the T's, but certainly, not the least, is Sparks, Nevada's own Ricky Ruiz, and the Nevada Rattler. Ruiz was the victor here at Boise earlier in the year at the season opening Ignitor against Haight & Sullivan.

But, there -are- Fiats here. Greg Daehbelliehn, in his Fast N Forty Fiat, out of Bakersfield is here, after a wild no-wheeled ride at Tucson, which broke off the right front wheel, split the fuel tank, and caused all sorts of mayhem, has thrashed his hot rod back into shape, and is always a threat anytime these Awful Awfuls get together to do battle. The last car for this field is a new one...the "Witch Doctor" of Jeff "Which part of 'we have no money' don't you understand?" Diehl. Of all the fuel altereds I've seen over the last few years, this one just tweaks me in all the right ways...color me biased. Diehl is fresh from testing at Sacramento (see 'Sacramento Fueler Action') and has scraped up enough dough to haul up from Salinas to Boise...borrowed trailer and all.

Plus, as an added bonus feature, the Winged Express is here, racing against the Bradford's Fiat...two re-created Fuel Altereds from that golden 60's period. As far as I know, this is the first outing this year for both cars, and I'm antsy to see Mike Boyd and Randy Bradford "drive 'em like they stole 'em!".

So here I am, parked, loaded down with 40 pounds of camera gear, laptop, and NR stickers...it's maybe 90 degrees, and I'm getting shorter every step I take, but man, I wouldn't be anywhere else for, well, at least 10 or 12 thousand bucks! Since they don't start running the feature cars (all fuel cars, and Pro Mod) until 6:30 or so, I've got time to wander the pits...now, if you've never been to Firebird Raceway before, this place is a treat! The track itself runs in a small valley, with the stands sitting fairly high up off the track surface, giving fans a dynamite view of the dragstrip...paralleling the track on the left side are the staging lanes, directly in front of the pit side stands. Sitting in the stands, you can watch the drivers getting suited up, and getting strapped into their 200+ MPH hot rods. A view you won't get at many other tracks, matter of fact, this is the only one I know of with this fan-friendly feature...

Too much, just too freakin' much.

And I want more.

Sure, tow 2700 miles one way? No problem!

Fairbanks, Alaska's own Jamie Bodenstadt hurls the Alaskan Grizzly downtrack.

Last set of cars for qualifying, the Big Boys. The dual mag, dual pump, fat tired, and bewinged Fuel Altereds...and I suck, as I have no recollection of the pairings...my notes, non-existant, my photos, show only one car per pairing...the first pair, Gary Read in the Haight and Sullivan T, against who knows...I believe it was Mack McCord, who suffered a broken crankshaft. Next up was the Alaskan Grizzly of the Bodenstadt's, running against Ricky Ruiz...mind you, I'm gathering this info from brain waves a month old, and looking at the crew uniforms in the pictures...but this next one I remember. Stephen Neese in the Neese and Knowles T, against Ron Fassl's "Phoenix"...the current and the former record holders. Fassl used to have the record, now Neese owns it, and Fassl wants it back, and bad. Thundering burnouts, the cars stage, and blink, light's green. Fassl's car goes about 20 feet and the blower drive breaks at the blower snout, and the car just noses over immediately. Neese, on the other hand, rattles the tires, shakes, bounces and pedals his way down the track...ET's and speeds, nothing to even remember. The memorable moment is from a video guy, who says, "Scott New hired me to shoot these two cars for an ad, and they don't do shit!". Dude, welcome to drag racing!

Last pair up, Fiats. Greg Daehbellihn's Fast N Forty, Jeff Diehl's Witch Doctor. Greg shows Jeff how it's done, and motors downtrack, while Diehl get twitchy, and click it a bit early...that's it for the fuel show on Friday, here come the jets! We'll get after it on Saturday.

But for now, it's back to the pits for a while...find out what's going on. McCord has his car packed up in the box, hooked up to the tow rig, and he's out the gate, damage too severe to repair, so his weekend is done, and he's on the road back to Arizona. That cuts the available big Altereds to 7.

Then it happens.

Firebird Raceway runs out of ice cream.

This is bad.

See, one of the treats (pun intented) is that Firebird has one of the best concessions on the West Coast, that I'm aware of. Hot dogs, 2 bucks. Cheesburgers, $2.50. And a half pound of ice cream...one dollah. That's right, 8 ounces of the finest vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, or chocolate chip mint, for a buck. And due to the vast crowd, and near-century temps, they've flat run out. I've seen this once before, but it happened on Sunday. But Saturday? I can just hope that the ice cream truck shows up for Sunday...until then, my trip will be incomplete.

But, I pull myself together, settling on raiding coolers up and down pit row, and preparing for the night's festivities. Time is spent telling jokes, watching people and just being part of the Firebird experience. The racers, especially ones who haven't been to Firebird for this event before, are just overwhelmed with the response of the crowd...they're treated like freakin' rock stars! You see little kids and adults all over the pits, with shirts covered with autographs, except they haven't had to stand by the ropes and wait for the hero driver to come out of his "mobile technology center", they get to talk with the driver, the crews are plugging kids in and out of the cars, giving some of them the thrill of their lives..."look, Dad, I'm a digger pilot!".

One of the fabulous New family, Scott New, who must have learned his announcing skills from the wildman Bill Doner, pumps up the crowd for Ed Jones and his wheelstanding stagecoach.

Up, up, up!

Time for Fuel Altereds. It's the Winged Express, and Randy Bradford's Fiat...just the sound of Mike Boyd hammering downtrack in the Wing makes chills go up my spine. No disrespect to Randy, but his dad keps an eagle eye on the nitro percentage, and the Fiat just doesn't have the same strength or tone during its burnout. Boyd takes the win, as the Bradford car has problems getting downtrack.

The dual everything guys take to the track, with the Alaskan Grizzly with Jamie Bodenstadt pushing the pedal, up against the Witch Doctor of Jeff Diehl. Both cars launch like Space Shuttles,but Diehl follows Bodenstadt through the lights.

Next, the current quickest and fastest Fuel Altered in the world, the 23 T of Neese and Knowles takes on the Nevada Rattler of Ricky Ruiz. At the 600' mark, Stephen Neese decides that the center line has moved close enough and lifts, while Ruiz streaks through with a 5.96 at 240 MPH...and no chutes. Its off into the field at the end of the track for Ruiz...more on this later.

After a short delay, Gary Read brings the Sullivan/Haight T-bucket to the line, alongside Greg Daebelliehn's Fast N Forty Fiat. Daebelliehn rips off a 6.04 while Read, not to be outdone, runs a 5.799...last car up is Ron Fassl, who at this point is not in the show...Fassl does not improve, only turning 7.18.

JETS!!!

My photog pals made me stay down on the rail to shoot the jets...to leave was to wuss out...this was the best of the shots...plus, I dig the little doors they open in the wall when the jets run.

Sunday morning, I sit in with Mike Sullivan and Steve Haight and the Consolidated crew...find out where the Starbucks is, and hot foot it out to get a grande latte, and go racing (it's that Seattle thing).

The fields are set...for the Fuel Altereds, it's Jamie Bodenstadt in the Alaskan Grizzly in the number one spot with a 5.795, Gary Read in the 2nd spot with a 5.799, Ricky Ruiz in the number 3 position, 5.968, and fillig ot the field, Greg Daebelliehn, 6.043. The consolation race, Stephen Neese, 6.162, and Jeff Diehl, 7.114. But...Ruiz's off track excursion bent the Nevada Rattler up real good. Ricky estimated he left the asphalt at close to 120 MPH, and the bent up frame of the Rattler seems to prove that. So Ruiz is out, and Neese is in. Wait! There's more! Daebelliehn has broken the rear end in the Fast N Forty Fiat, so he can't continue, so Jeff Diehl's back in the show! Leaving Ron Fassl as the lone remaining Altered in the Consolation race.

Well, for going off the end of the Firebird asphalt at approximately 120 MPH, Ricky Ruiz's Nevada Rattler held up remakably well...I think he plowed that field at the end of the track further than anyone in recent history, though.

You wonder why fuel altered drivers have to drive all over the track to get to the other end? Jeff Diehl demonstrates the secret...they can't freakin' see a thing!

...Plus, they're nuttier than a can of Planters peanuts...

Oh, say hello to Leeza, Jeff's personal assistant.

Gary Read brings the Sullivan/Haight T up to the line, with Stephen Neese in the other lane...Neese hasn't really performed up to the level that he showed in Tuscon a couple months ago, while Read has been consistent all weekend...Read takes a half car lead at the green, and streaks through o the win at Low ET for the meet of 5.71, while Neese explodes a blower pulley at half track and coasts through.

That sets us up for a final of Read and Diehl...Fiat against T bucket.

Back up to the pits, while everyone freshens up for the next round...

The Winged Express and Randy Bradford bring their old school Fuel Altereds out to play, and the Wing...well, when has anything beat the Wing? Bradford gets ot of shape and crosses the centerline around 800'. Them's Fuel Altereds!

So, that's Boise.

Now I have 6 and a half hours to drive to Bonneville...on no sleep, and way too much excitement.