Words and Photos by Darr Hawthorne

The 44th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Ignitor Opener is the oldest professional racing event in the Pacific Northwest presented and kicks off a killer season at Firebird Raceway near Boise, ID.

The importance of this event usually attracts some of the best of our current nitro funny car class and, with over four decades of tradition provides tough racing in a beautiful part of the United States.  It is also the second of the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series events, but with many of the hitters who ran at last month’s March Meet now committed to the IHRA series, it’ll give a better opportunity for some funny car teams that are often on the outside when eliminations begin.  The Ignitor is also an event in the Lucas Oil Drag Race Series for NHRA Division Six racers.

After a single Friday qualifier only a few of the eleven nitro floppers made it down the Firebird quarter mile without testing their driver’s ability in and out of the narrow groove.  With off and on drizzle, it was difficult to have both ends of the Firebird quarter mile dry at the same time, as a result, it took over two hours to complete the first round

Oregon match veteran Wally Giavia, who has had his share of tough tracks in his career, was number one qualifier with his 6.439 ET at an early shut off 190.31 miles per hour. Wally’s “G-Men” ’79 Dodge Challenger is a cool, old school racecar with a small crew headed by longtime nitro tuner Pete Jensen, who laughingly said, “Yeah, my weak-suck tune up was perfect, today!”

For contrast, defending Ignitor Funny Car champion Kris Krabill driving the Austin & O’Brien “Northwest Hitter” ’78 Firebird, one of the better funded teams, made a strong pass running a 6.553 ET with Top Speed (so far) of 224.60 mph for the number two qualifying slot after muscling the racecar back into the groove at mid-track.

Another Northwester, Mark Hentges in his “Nitro Time” ’79 Plymouth Arrow landed third in the first session with a 6.718 ET at 213.57 mph pass. Southern Californian Dan Horan and his “Patriot” ’66 Mustang ran a 7.002 at a sowing 143.31 mph, with Ronnie Swearingen, another veteran tuner who knows how to get down a cold, narrow track.

Roger Garten in his newly rebuilt “War Horse” ’72 Mustang was another with veteran funny car driving ability.  In his pairing with “California Hustler” driver Robert Overholser, Garten got out of the groove early recovering to run a 7.392 ET at 128.05 mph.

Overholser’s ’77 Firebird moved around past mid-track as he fought it back off of the guardwall saving the beautiful paint job and running an almost identical 7.393 ET at 130.64 miles per hour after both cars were sideways.

The first car to go down the track in Friday’s session, Journeyman driver Devery Howard drove Twig Zeigler’s (Shown) ’74 Plymouth Satellite to an 8.697, breaking a valve, torching a head gasket and burning multiple holes in one of the billet cylinder heads for the number seven position.

Chris Davis, driving his ultra original “Nitro Vega” rounded out the qualifiers running a 9.205.

Other funny cars not qualified were Richard Thompson’s “Nitrohaulic”, Brad Thompson’s potent “Jailbreak” Camaro and Scott Stanger’s “Bad Manners” Barracuda.

The rich history of this event is steeped in over four decades of tradition, the inaugural Ignitor was captured by Don “the Snake” Prudhomme (along with a victory in `78). Other Ignitor Funny Car champions have included the likes of Jerry Ruth (`72, `74), Ed McCulloch (`75, `76), Gary Densham (`90), Roland Leong’s Hawaiian (`73, `80) and many others over the years.

The double header weekend of racing will offer points in both NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series and the Lucas Oil Drag Race Series with upwards of 400 racers expected from 12 states and Canada. For the second year, the Ignitor will also align with the Boise-Bakersfield Blitz offering a year-end championship to the top finishing Funny Cars.

AA/Funny Car qualifying continues on Sat., April 26, at 1 and 5 pm, followed by final professional eliminations at 1 pm on Sun., April 27. Gates open daily at 9 am.

Firebird is located 5 miles north of Hwy 44 on Hwy 16 (just follow the highway directional signs), northwest of Eagle.  Over the weekend, we’ll have coverage of this event in BangShift.com, if you are in the neighborhood, buy a ticket, a beer and grab a corn dog.