BRAINERD – The old clich “After the dust had settled” couldn’t be used to describe anything about the 21st edition of the NHRA Rugged Liner Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway – unless you were referring to clutch dust.

Rain plagued all but the final day of the event, causing a lot of juggling of qualifying rounds in both the professional and competition classes.

Area racers who normally would have had at least one round of eliminations in before Saturday found themselves trying to get two rounds of eliminations in late Saturday afternoon.

Clarence Mayo of Manly, Iowa and Bob Lair of Lake Mills survived the first two rounds in the Super Comp Class.

John McMasters, Austin, didn’t survive the first round in Super Gas but his son, Mark, did. Mike Brackey also advanced to the second round in Super Gas.

On Sunday the sun made a rare appearance and, with temperatures in the mid-70s, the track appeared ready for some record runs.

The bracket racing on Sunday found Mayo among the 12 final cars in Super Comp. Lair was eliminated in the previous round.

The moment was not to be Mayo’s however, as he was eliminated in a very close run. Mayo, though was not disappointed.

“When you are one of 12 left out of a field of more than 100 cars, you’ve had a good weekend,” said Mayo.

Brackey went out in round two in Super Gas while Mark McMasters advanced to the third round before being eliminated.

The four pro classes found some new track records being set and some new faces joining familiar ones in the winner’s circle.

The Bud King, Kenny Bernstein, made his farewell appearance at BIR in his “Forever Red – A Run To Remember” tour. He won the Top Fuel division, defeated the “other beer car” driven by Larry Dixon. Bernstein had an elapsed time of 4.830 seconds at 303.16 mph. He trails Dixon by 86 points in the hunt for the Top Fuel championship.

John Force picked up his 10th Funny Car win at BIR, defeating teammate Gary Densham in a ho-hum race. Force appears en route to another championship season with his Castrol funny car.

Greg Anderson of Duluth lost a close final in the Pro Stock to Jeg Caughlin. Anderson leads the points race by 25 points over Jim Yates.

The new faced belonged to Geno Scali in Pro Stock Bike.

It was Scali’s first professional win and also the first time since 1992 that a Kawasaki bike won a national event.

Track records were set in Pro Stock, with a new ET of 6.587 by Ron Krishner, and Greg Anderson set the new mph mark at 200.77.

After some testing, the four professional classes will meet for the prestigious running of the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.