Dave Schroeder made a triumphant return to Hot Rod Drag Week with a stiffer chassis, a new front half, and noticeably more power than his incredible '66 Corvette had a year ago, outrunning eight other vehicles to win the Unlimited class title in a landslide with an average of 6.81 at 207 mph. Schroeder ran a best of 6.57/217 in Cordova, IL; 6.60/214 in St. Louis; 7.04/199 in Byron, IL; 6.75/196 in Union Grove, WI; and 7.08/209 back in Cordova to crush the competition by more than a full second and 30 mph. Last year in Columbus, Ohio, Schroeder had just crossed the finish line on the quickest and fastest run of his life at the time when his parachutes failed to deploy. With the end of the National Trail Raceway shutdown area – one of the shortest in the country – getting closer and closer and his car traveling 300 feet per second, Schroeder, who had just run a 6.85 at a tick below 200 mph, got on the brakes and the car veered into the wall. "I remember thinking, 'Oh shoot, the chutes won't open,' and grabbed too much brake," Schroeder said. "Carbon brakes take a second to work, but when they get hot, they really grab and I was into the wall. After the wreck, everything in front of the firewall had to be replaced."