There was a break to allow the drivers to work on their trucks and to draw for the eliminations. Carl drew the fourth round against the pink Toyota truck called STINKER TOY.

The first round went as the Boyce crew predicted; plenty of broken trucks. THE GARBAGE TRUCK had a slow run, but ITCHY FOOT (a '65 Ford stake-bed) had a drive shaft break and fly off nearly to the stands.

In the next run, USA 6 7/8 put in a clean run, beating BEAR TRACKS, which caught on fire right before crossing the finish line. In Round Three, SPECIAL DELIVERY (an old UPS mail truck) took almost a full minute to creep across the now-slightly compressed line of cars, but still won, as PRIME SUSPECT (a battered Ranchero painted in primer and sponsored by a paint store) puked its transmission approaching the dirt take-off ramp.

Carl was up next and Emma leaned forward to give him a hug and a reassuring kiss on the cheek, but poked him in the eye with the edge of her over-sized sun glasses. Carl went to the staging areas with tears streaming from his right eye, which was nearly closed and in severe pain.

Carl staged against STINKER TOY and his heart pounded as the starter lined both the pink monster trucks up, making sure that both were dead even. The starting tree went from a red light, to yellow, hesitated a fraction, then went green. Carl hammered the throttle and hit the take-off ramp side-by-side with the Toyota.
Both trucks landed about half way down the row of cars, but the Toyota emitted a loud crack, and the right front wheel flew off and flopped to the field, followed immediately thereafter by the truck, which landed on its side.

Carl fought the steering wheel as the Killer Whale threatened to pull hard to the left, but he managed to save it and chopped the throttle while rolling smoothly over the last car.

Back in the pits, everyone slapped Carl on the back and hooted and hollered. Carl beamed: "One down!" The Boyce crew interrupted the mini-celebration: "You gotta watch this next run. This is the man you got to beat if you want to win all the marbles."

Arnold the pig farmer in PIG PARTS R US, lined up against THE NUT CRUNCHER. Both rigs left the line clean and hard, but Arnold launched the big Dodge almost the complete row of cars, while NUT CRUNCHER chopped the throttle a tad early. The PIG PARTS truck crossed the finish line about five feet in front of the other truck, and was barely able to stop the Dodge in front of the wall. Carl could now see that if you cleared all the cars, you would definitely have to go through the tunnel to get slowed down. There simply wasn't enough room otherwise.

Fascinated, Carl watched the rest of the fist round eliminations. TRENCH DIGGER had a clean run, while HOUND DOG looped out right after the take-off ramp and landed on its roof.

In round seven, a funky old Jeep CJ-5 easily beat a funky-looking Edsel when the transfer case on the Edsel fell out on the ground on the approach to the ramp.

In the last round, a bizarre looking Checker taxi-cab bodied rig rolled sideways across the finish line in front of a truly ugly International pickup that was blowing steam like a locomotive boiler. Oddly enough, the boxy looking Checker body looked completely undamaged in spite of the roll-over.

That left eight trucks to do battle in the second go-round. THE GARBAGE TRUCK matched up against USA 6 7/8 and literally left the USA rig standing at the starting line when the engine blew up in an oily smoky cloudy ka-boom!

Carl was up next against the mail truck, SPECIAL DELIVERY, and had a relatively easy run when the ex-UPS truck veered of the row of cars when the tie-rods snapped and almost took out the ambulance near the hot dog stand before coming to a halt.

Arnold the pig farmer was up next, pitting the PIG PARTS R US truck against THE TRENCH DIGGER. It was a close run, but Arnold jumped a bit further and nearly cleared the row of cars in the air, giving him another tight win. Again, he barely was able to stop his Dodge.

Carl was curious. "I thought that Arnold guy was gonna jump all the cars?"

The Boyce crew had the answer: "Only if he has to. You see, he had a slight edge on the other truck as they approached the jump ramp, so he didn't need to charge any harder. But I'll guarantee you that if he has to jump the whole row of cars to win the final, he'll do it!"

The final pairing of the second session had that crusty old Jeep going against the Checker taxi. The Jeep won handily when the Checker landed nose-first half way through the row of cars, with the tail in the air. They had to bring a tow truck in to extract it from the rear window of a four-door 1968 Buick Electra.

That left the Final Four: THE GARBAGE TRUCK, Carl and Emma's rig, THE KILLER WHALE, PIG PARTS R US and the Jeep with no name.

Carl drew THE GARBAGE TRUCK and Arnold the pig farmer drew the no-named Jeep. Emma summed it all up for the crew: "It just doesn't seem right. Carl has to go against that radical GARBAGE TRUCK, and Arnold the pig farmer just has to deal with a funky old Jeep."

The Boyce crew cautioned them: "Never write off a Jeep, no matter how old, or how strange it looks."

Carl figured he'd play it by ear, rather than trying to calculate any sort of a game plan. When the starting light blinked to green, Carl hammered the throttle and grabbed a quick half-length lead over his competition. He played it safe and decided not to try to jump the entire line-up of cars, which turned out to be good strategy, as THE GARBAGE TRUCK landed crookedly on the third car from the end and rolled heavily to the Fairgrounds floor. Carl landed on the roof of the last car, bounded wildly into the air and landed on both left wheels, barely able to bring the Bronco under control right before smacking into the wall. Close call!

Everybody clambered up on top of a motor home to watch the pig farmer go to work. True to the predictions of the Boyce crew, the Jeep pulled a hole shot on the start and literally flew off the jump ramp, with PIG PARTS R US a full length behind. The no-name Jeep crossed the finish line first, but landed crooked and didn't line up cleanly to make it through the tunnel. The side of the Jeep monster truck smacked the leading edge of the tunnel entrance and folded in half like a jack-knife. The engine ripped off its motor mounts and skidded through the tunnel, coming to rest out in the middle of the parking lot, wires and hoses dangling out like a flying plate of spaghetti.
Carl turned to the Boyce crew. "What happens now? The Jeep is destroyed, but it beat the pig farmer."

The Boyce crew ran over to the promoter, and came back with the answer. "The next fastest time advances to the finals if a semi-final competitor cannot make it to the starting line. And that means you're going to have to run against the pig farmer, and we might as well tell you, he ain't going to hold anything back in the finals. Carl, you're gonna have to go for the tunnel. Try to jump all the cars and head for the hole if you want to win. We don't want to put any pressure on you, but first place is $15,000 and second place is $750 bucks and a trophy the size of a cheap flashlight. It's all in your hands, Carl."