5/30/06 Gateway-SCSS Street Car Shootout RESULTS!

Bret Kepner

New Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
These results reflect the record holders, qualifiers, and final round contestants at each of the
SX Performance Street Car Shootout Series events held each Tuesday at Gateway
International Raceway in Madison, Illinois.

Tuesday SCSS Track Records can be set during official qualifying or championship rounds. The
official qualifying period begins at 6:30 PM and concludes at 9:00 PM, barring unforeseen
circumstances. At 9:30 PM, the two quickest qualifers meet in a no-handicap championship round for
trophies. Each of the Top 16 qualifiers receives a "Fastest Street Car Qualifier" decal. The SCSS
trophies and decals are presented by SX Performance Fuel Systems in St. Louis, MO (6
Sunnen Drive, 314-644-3000, http://www.sx-performance.com ). Additionally, the two
quickest Sport Tuner drivers, (open to all passenger cars except Rear-Wheel-Drive vehicles with
engines of six cylinders or more), also meet in a no-handicap championship round for trophies
presented by http://www.GatewayRaceway.com and the two quickest Super Truck drivers,
(open to all trucks and utility vehicles), meet in a no-handicap championship round for trophies
presented by http://www.GatewayRaceway.com .


GATEWAY INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, MADISON, ILLINOIS

2006 SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT TRACK RECORDS

Class Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine ET MPH Date
RWD Brett Heidgerken, Decatur, IL 67 Chevelle 505 Chevy 8.871 10/11/2005
RWD Brett Heidgerken, Decatur, IL 67 Chevelle 505 Chevy 153.88 10/11/2005

TRK Kevin Autenrietch, Bethalto, IL 84 S-10 355 Chevy 9.772 9/28/2004
TRK Kevin Autenrietch, Bethalto, IL 84 S-10 355 Chevy 135.39 9/28/2004

6CYL Rob Nolan, Granite City, IL 87 Regal 231 Buick 11.041 10/11/2005
6CYL Rob Nolan, Granite City, IL 87 Regal 231 Buick 124.56 4/11/2006

4CYL Joe Laramee, Decatur, IL 77 Pinto 147 Ford 10.544 4/11/2006
4CYL Joe Laramee, Decatur, IL 77 Pinto 147 Ford 129.87 4/18/2006

FWD Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, MO 85 Golf 122 Volks 11.583 5/23/2006
FWD Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, MO 85 Golf 122 Volks 126.95 5/30/2006

RTY Eric Cheatham, Belleville, IL 93 RX-7 79 Mazda 11.936 8/30/2005
RTY Derek Coffman, Valley Park, MO 94 RX-7 79 Mazda 122.21 8/10/2004

DSL Phillip Blackburn, Springfield, IL 03 2500 HD 403 Chevy 11.835 8/2/2005
DSL Phillip Blackburn, Springfield, IL 03 2500 HD 403 Chevy 114.29 8/2/2005

MAY 23rd, 2006 SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT QUALIFIERS
Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine ET MPH Date

EVENT 9 5/30/2006

1 Tony Huff Collinsville IL 68 Nova 468 Chevy 9.963 135.84
2 Tony Buhl Lebanon IL 89 Mustang 331 Ford 10.889 126.14
3 Hal Marshall Collinsville IL 86 S-10 350 Chevy 11.077 122.31
4 William McIntire, Jr East Alton IL 03 Mustang 281 Ford 11.269 124.11
5 Adam Corbitt St. Charles MO 85 Golf 122 Volks 11.611 126.95
6 Jim Harris O'Fallon MO 03 Corvette 346 Chevy 11.673 126.22
7 Chris Fine St. Charles MO 94 Camaro 350 Chevy 11.767 117.99
8 Rusty Schneider Owensville MO 99 Mustang 281 Ford 11.920 118.01
9 Omer Phelps St. Peters MO 02 Camaro 350 Chevy 12.023 113.14
10 Mike Weissert Fairview Hghts IL 81 Malibu 350 Chevy 12.572 110.10
11 Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 67 Camaro 427 Chevy 12.787 101.28
12 Phillip Van Booven St. Charles MO 03 Evo 8 122 Mitsu 12.803 109.93
13 Kurt Kreisz St. Louis MO 92 Thunderbird 232 Ford 12.991 105.26
14 Chris Burch Farmington MO 89 Mustang 302 Ford 12.995 109.23
15 David Neibert St. Charles MO 91 Thunderbird 232 Ford 13.160 112.45
16 Chris Kopp Desoto MO 96 Mustang 281 Ford 13.327 102.34

MAY 30th, 2006 SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Tony Huff, Collinsville, IL 1968 454 Nova 0.263 12.287 100.37
RU Tony Buhl, Lebanon, IL 1989 347 Mustang -0.014 (foul) 10.701 128.05

Traditionally, the ninth event in the SX Performance Street Car Shootout Series at Gateway
International Raceway features the lowest attendance. Held only eighteen hours after a three-day
holiday weekend and only seventy-two hours before June’s annual Midnight Madness and
NOPI/NDRA Nationals marathon, most competitors are either recovering from Memorial Day
activities or thrashing to get their machines ready for the upcoming three-day racing weekend.
Regardless, a solid group of the hardest-core followers of the SCSS series braved a forecast of
storms to present a battle which featured some surprisingly strong performances and yet another
bizarre championship final round.

On the heels of last week’s record-smashing battle which celebrated the fiftieth Street Car Shootout
race held at Gateway since the inaugural event on April 6th, 2004, the ninth of twenty-six scheduled
programs featured a substantially lower number of entries which allowed several competitors to earn
their first “Fastest Street Car Qualifier” decal. Although last week’s fiftieth extravaganza included a
bump spot of 11.52 seconds, (for which only one driver at the first SCSS event, Dave Odenahl,
would have qualified), this week’s field included an amazingly diverse group of eight, six, and
four-cylinder vehicles. Although racers were greeted by 85-degree temperatures, the corrected
elevation improved from 2189 feet above sea level when timed trials began to a best of 1692 feet by
the time the final rounds were contested.

It was Collinsville, Illinoisan Tony Huff who opened qualifying with a 10.36-second, 127.78
mile-per-hour effort from his familiar silver 1968 Nova. The 468-cubic inch Chevy, which had won the
season-opening event on April 4th and was runner-up the following week, had recently clocked a
best-ever 9.99/131.78 using a mild 50-horsepower shot of nitrous oxide for the first time. Tony Buhl,
whose supercharged burgundy ‘89 Mustang had scored an SCSS victory on May 9th, countered with
an 11.00/124.51 and began a battle between the two Tonys which lasted throughout the qualifying
period. As Huff’s Nova produced a consistent second effort of 10.33/128.30, Tony Buhl was
thrashing with son Bob and teammate Laurence Bass to swap alternators on his 331-inch Mustang.
After the unit failed during the first qualifyng pass, Buhl hoped to run the car on its battery’s voltage
but soon found the battery lacking...so a sufficient alternator replacement was pirated from Buhl’s
support truck!

Meanwhile, Huff decided to raise the ante. Using the “juice” only after shifting into second gear as
evidenced by a 1.44-second 60-feet ET, the Nova bolted to a career-best 9.96/135.84 to officially
become the eleventh member of the SCSS 9-Second Club. Buhl followed in the very next pair with
an improving 10.88/126.14 but decided, with no impending threat to his second qualifying spot, to
park the car until the final round. Huff did make one last attempt but a mysterious stumble at the
100-feet mark slowed the Nova to a 10.59/126.80.

Despite his last qualifying pass, Huff exuded nothing but confidence while preparing the car in front
of the main grandstands before the trophy dash. Buhl knew he needed all his Mustang’s available
power and a holeshot to even hope to be competitive in the championship match and, when the two
left the startung line, the redlight start by the Ford...by a miniscule fourteen thousandths of a
second...was no surprise. The shocker came in the other lane, where Huff’s Chevy coughed to a
12.28 at only 100 mph on its way to an automatic win!

“I should probably tell everybody I was just saving the motor”, said a surprised Tony Huff during
winner’s circle ceremonies, “but the truth is I have no idea what happened. It gave me a hint that
something was wrong on the last qualifier but it just pretty much stopped running in the final. If he
hadn’t redlighted, I was dead in the water”. Buhl’s team could only reflect on his luck. “It figures,
doesn’t it?”, asked 2004 SCSS Season Champion Bass. Buhl’s only comment was “I did what I had
to do. Who’d have thought he was going to have problems? I thought for sure he’d just blast out
another nine-second run and that would be it. It never fails”.


NOTES FROM THE SCSS: Tony Huff rebounded after last week’s DNQ to remain third in the
point standings but Tony Buhl and Hal Marshall are still in a tie for the point lead with six “Fastest
Street Car Qualifier” decals each. So far in 2006, seventy-nine different competitors have earned a
decal but only sixteen have earned more than one. The point championship is determined by the
number of Qualifier stickers earned...With the corrected elevation over 1500 feet, Jim Harris decided
to make his own ambient atmosphere and pushed his blue Z06 Corvette to a career-best by
three-tenths of a second and eight miles per hour; his 11.67/126.22 made the O’Fallon, Missouri,
racer the eighty-third member of the SCSS 120 MPH Club but he also hit an 11.66 during late timed
trials after qualifying ended...Chris Burch’s ‘89 Mustang, which ran a best of 12.99/109.23 in
qualifying, also stepped up in late timed trials with a 12.64/106.64...William McIntire’s blown silver
‘03 Cobra ran a string of amazingly consistent runs with a best of 11.26 at a best-ever 124.11 mph
speed...Breanna Wagner tied the April 18th effort of Michelle Cantrell to qualify in the 20th position,
the best for a female driver in the ‘06 SCSS series, with her Roxana, Illinois-based ‘84 355 Z28.
Michelle Carneglio qualified her ‘05 Nissan 350Z 24th...Kurt Kreisz and David Neibert had the two
quickest six-cylinder entries with their nearly identical supercharged Thunderbird Super Coupes;
both qualified in the Super Sixteen.

SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP POINT
STANDINGS (as of MAY 31st, 2006)


Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine

1 (6) Tony Buhl Lebanon IL 89 Mustang 331 Ford
2 (6) Hal Marshall Collinsville IL 86 S-10 350 Chevy
3 (5) Tony Huff Collinsville IL 68 Nova 468 Chevy
4 (3) Dave Odehnal Waterloo IL 93 Camaro 350 Chevy
5 (3) Greg Boschert St. Louis MO 66 Mustang 331 Ford
6 (3) Jim Harris O'Fallon MO 03 Corvette 346 Chevy
7 (2) Matt Verbeck Troy IL 68 Camaro 383 Chevy
8 (2) Joe Laramee Decatur IL 77 Pinto 147 Ford
9 (2) Rob Nolan Granite City IL 87 Regal 231 Buick
10 (2) Gary Bates O'Fallon MO 04 GTO 346 Pont
11 (2) David Starns St. Louis MO 91 Mustang 355 Ford
12 (2) Chris Stauffer S. Roxana IL 81 El Camino 355 Chevy
13 (2) Faisal Merghelani St. Louis MO 02 Camaro 346 Chevy
14 (2) Matthew Meyers Wood River IL 79 Malibu Wagon 355 Chevy
15 (2) William McIntire, Jr East Alton IL 03 Mustang 281 Ford
16 (2) Rusty Schneider Owensville MO 99 Mustang 281 Ford


MAY 30th, 2006 GATEWAYRACEWAY.COM SPORT TUNER SHOWDOWN FINAL
ROUND


Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, MO 1985 122 Golf GTi 0.284 11.757 125.05
RU Phillip Van Booven, St. Charles, MO 2003 122 Evolution 8 0.392 12.716 110.95

After paying for their new SCSS Front-Wheel-Drive records with a blown head gasket only a week
ago, Adam and Dave Corbitt returned with a vengeance to win their first Sport Tuner Showdown
Series title of the season. After the St. Charles, Missouri brothers appeared in four final rounds last
season, (three wins for Adam, one runner-up for Dave), the duo’s revamped ‘85 Volkswagen Golf
GTi was once again the class of the Tuner field. The quickest machine in early timed trials at
12.01/121.52, the Polk Audio VW quickly blasted to an 11.61 at yet another new series record for
FWD rides, 126.95 miles per hour. Although Adam suffered through transmission difficulties during
qualifying, the turbo Golf still cranked out a series of eleven-second, 125 mph passes including an
11.96/125.20 only one minute after qualifying concluded. The Corbitts gained bonus points with new
lettering across the Golf’s back window proclaiming “Thanks to the Track Crew!” after last week’s
1000-feet “water down” following the head gasket failure.

The obvious choice for the other final-round berth was the sleek silver 2003 Mitsubishi Evolution of
Phil Van Booven, whose first run of 13.90/107 gave little indication of the car’s potential. It wasn’t
until the Evo’s third run that attention was paid to the AWD 2-litre; a 12.80/109.75 was far enough
ahead of Dan Fischer’s Barnhart, Missouri ‘97 Eclipse GT and Ben Schmitt’s Imperial, Missouri ‘91
Eagle Talon to earn the right to stage up against the Volkswagen.

In the final round, however, Corbitt not only grabbed a sizeable holeshot but ripped to an 11.75 at
125.05 to breeze past Van Booven’s best run of the night, a 12.71/110.95. Van Booven was still
thrilled with a runner-up trophy. “This is the first time out for me in four years”, said the St. Charles,
Missouri, Mitsu driver, “and the car was just finished yesterday. After actually getting the engine and
transmission together last week, we drove to Chicago yesterday to DynoFlash to get it tuned.
Obviously, we’re really happy with how it turned out. It has a 20G turbo on it and we really think it
can be competitive with the Volkswagen guys when it’s sorted out”. The Corbitts were tuning up for
the upcoming NOPI/NDRA Nationals and were pleased with the VW’s numbers. “We’re going to
bracket race it this weekend and we’re just trying to get some consistency out of it. With the
transmission problem fixed, we’re hoping to do well”.


MAY 30th, 2006 GATEWAYRACEWAY.COM SUPER TRUCK SHOWDOWN FINAL
ROUND


Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Hal Marshall, Collinsville, IL 1986 350 S-10 0.908 11.807 108.16
RU Jim Waddell, St. Louis, MO 1978 350 C20 0.183 15.808 86.28

He scored again, becoming the first racer in SCSS history to reach ten career victories, but it
wouldn’t be a Super Truck Showdown event unless “Animal Hal” Marshall had a few problems along
the way. With a low turnout, Hal’s nearest competition was four seconds behind. The infamous white
S-10 was debuting another new transmission, however, and the higher stall speed was pushing the
truck’s front tires across the starting line when full stall was applied. “We found out the only thing
wrong with the other transmission was in the length of the shifter linkage”, noted Marshall. “and that’s
what was causing all the problems with it falling out of gear. Now, it shifts fine but I can’t hold it on
the line very well”.

Still, Hal managed an 11.07/122.31 to qualify light years ahead of Jim Waddell’s unique ‘78 Chevy
stepside pickup which, surprisingly, is powered by a late-model GM Vortec V6. Since Waddell’s best
effort of 15.57/86.65 was in no position to threaten the King of Tuesday Night, Hal was content to
leave the line at an idle well after he was convinced the green light came on. After that, he happily
motored past the primered stepside to an easy 11.80/108 win.


Photos of the May 30th SX Performance Street Car Shootout Series event are now available for
viewing at Bret Kepner Photos.


Huff-5-30-2006A.jpg


Tony Huff, Collinsville, IL 1968 468 Nova

Buhl-5-30-2006A.jpg


Tony Buhl, Lebanon, IL 1989 331 Mustang

Corbitt-5-30-2006A.jpg


Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, IL 1985 122 Golf GTi

VanBooven-5-30-2006A.jpg


Phillip Van Booven, St. Charles, MO 2003 122 Evolution 8

Marshall-5-30-2006A.jpg


Hal Marshall, Collinsville, IL 1986 350 S-10

Waddell-5-30-2006A.jpg


Jim Waddell, St. Louis, MO 1978 214 C20
 
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