It was nearly 100 degrees at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indiana yesterday and that was just fine with a couple of Hot Rod Drag Week competitors who managed to further scorch the Earth with huge runs on a race track that was expertly prepared and hooking like velcro. Lucas Oil Raceway operations manager Jeff Conley told us that the previous day there was top fuel testing at the facility and the result of that was a strip prepped to handle the full nuclear capability of the heaviest of the Drag Week hitters. We saw some broken driveline parts, more wheelies than ever, and the quickest and fastest run in the event’s history…again.

Tom Bailey, who shocked the world with a 6.72/214 MPH pass on day one at Bowling Green then proved he was no flash in the pan by dropping an insane 6.709/213 shot in Indy after driving 220 miles to the facility the night before. The wildest part is that the car is so drama free and capable we think that in more favorable conditions, a deep .60 is possible from its 2,200 dyno rated wheel horsepower. Dave Ahokas made a single run, went 7.97 and handed that slip in. It was a far cry from his 6.83 on day one, but it seems to us that Ahokas is more concerned about completing the event than resetting the performance standards of the event. Joe Barry laid down a 7.14 in the upper 190 mph range before time ran out. This was his best pass of the week and it was tire shake free which has been a problem for the awesome orange and white ’56 Chevy. Barry had suffered a large fire on the road the night before and spend the majority of the dark hours rewiring the machine on the side of said road. He was struggling earlier in the day at Indy, but remarkably when he shut off the electric fans that the car is equipped with, it picked up 6-tenths of a second.

Unconfirmed reports have Jeff Lutz dropping out. We have not been able to lock that down as of yet, so stay tuned. He’s worked hard this week as he always does but the car is not playing nice. While he has not suffered from shaking issues the big 1957 Chevy has been soft on the front half of the race track and most of his runs have been early shut offs. If Lutz remains in the competition, his strategy will officially be outlasting because no one is out running Tom Bailey right now. David Schroeder has also called it quits. He in the awesome Grand Sport Corvette looking machine. Electrical problems plagued the guys on Monday and their repair session on Monday night failed to solve the problems. They’ll be heading back to Canada, sadly.

The crazy thing? The conditions are going to be HOTTER here today in St Louis. Weather reports state that 100-degree temps are to be expected. That means the track temp is going to be way over 120-130 degrees, teams will have to figure out how to hook a big slick or radial to it, and they’ll also have to figure out where the horsepower is to run some big numbers.

Other passes of note on Tuesday were Rick Prospero’s station wagon diving into the seven second range despite the crushing heat, Bryant Goldstone’s Chevelle running 8.05 and knocking on the door of the sevens despite the heat, Eddie Miller’s stout 8.69 in the naturally aspirated purple Duster, and Shawn Fink’s wild wheelie bar breaking, ring gear climbing, front end slamming run that happened just after the lanes opened in the morning.

The weather is supposed to break for the teams on Friday at Bowling Green, but they have a long way to go before they get back there! Gateway International Dragway was long known as “the swamp” by people who raced at the place. With crushing humidity and sweltering temps, the racers will face air that they can almost chew today!