The course being used this week for the Top Speed Challenge is not the exact course that USFRA used last week. It is parallel to it, sort of. But there aren't any divots or bad spots as far as I know. Junior and Ron Main and others did a lot of work dragging and fixing -- it's a good course.
The salt on the course per se is great. Hard, smooth, not sticky. Out in the crunchies it's still a bit damp and will stick to tires or shoes or whatever -- but on the course itself it runs well. Not much rooster tail - but some.
The Mariani 'liner is cleared to run now. The crew says the car will run about to the 2 - 2 1/2 under power. The first run - where the power shut down at about the 1 - was short because of a throttle linkage issue. That's been fixed -- and that's why we have these things called shakedown runs.