Modified
The Modified class was simple and to the point. The Eliminations featured Jimmy O'Connor and his Venom Performance Toyota Supra racing against Rene Franco and his old-school Mazda RX-3, while Cesar Febus rode inside his Nissan 300ZX and faced Joe Morgan and his fast Ford. Jimmy embarrassed Rene with a 9.238 @ 144.19 mph run, while Rene was dumbfounded as his RX-3 reached the end with a 13.927 @ 69.85 mph. Afterward, Cesar ran a single when Joe left his wallet in El Segundo and was a no-show at staging. In the Final Round, it was Cesar versus Jimmy, and apparently Jimmy was stuck playing Top Hat video blackjack because he did the "no-show" shuffle as well. All in all, Cesar didn't do jack except run the quarter-mile all by his lonesome.
Hot Rod
From Angela Proudfoot and Myles Bautista to Kenny Tran and Lancelot Ho Lung, the Hot Rod class was filled with big names. Even Sammy Davis Jr. turned in his grave as the Hot Rod category reminded him of the Rat Pack days. Unfortunately, he and Old Blue Eyes couldn't see the full-blast action the Hot Rod division gave the entire crowd. Kenny Tran was all about leaving racers in the dust, and he began with the fastest Filipino since Imelda Marcos was left inside a shoe store, Myles Bautista and his '99 Honda Civic. Myles tasted the dust as he witnessed Kenny roll down the track in 9.198 @ 159.17 mph. Next, Kenny trounced Gary Gardella and made him hear an 8.823 @ 164.43 ecko, er, echo. In the Final Round, Kenny got medieval on Lancelot-who was also guest starring as a knight at the Excalibur-with a 8.650 @ 166.29 run. To top it all off, Kenny and the Quaker State Jotech team also won the Meguiar's Best Appearing award. Way to go by throwing salt on an open wound, Kenny.
All-Motor
In the ever-popular All-Motor class, Scott Mohler and his Mopar Dodge Neon busted through and became the first FWD-powered vehicle to win an NHRA All-Motor victory this season. He accomplished this feat by beating dragsters such as Eric Cardines, Larry Kelley, Leslie Durst, and the defending series champ, Jesus Padilla. But it wasn't an easy two days for Scott, as every competitor gave him a run for his money, unlike how Top Hat ran with ours. But before we ramble on about how fanny-pack wielding tourists at Excalibur bugged the hell out of us, let us tell you how Scott inched his way against Jesus to become the All-Motor winner. His 10.708 @ 129.97 pass was enough to beat Jesus' 10.775 @ 124.12-a mere 0.067 seconds. That's one hell of a feat because in 0.067 seconds, we're already asleep and smiling with delight.