5/8/2007 Gateway-SCSS Street Car Shootout RESULTS!

Bret Kepner

New Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
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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 Street Car Shootout qualifying period begins at 6:30 PM and concludes at 9:00 PM, (barring unforeseen circumstances). At 9:20 PM, the four quickest qualifiers meet in no-handicap eliminations with the championship final round held at 9:45 PM. 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. 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 St. Louis Street Racers.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 Gateway Raceway.com. All finalists in all categories also receive free digital images from the event courtesy of Bret Kepner Photos.com and one free entry to a future SCSS event.


GATEWAY INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, MADISON, ILLINOIS

2007 SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT TRACK RECORDS

Class Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine ET MPH Date
RWD Sam Moore, East Alton, IL 93 Mustang 352 Ford 8.584 9/26/2006
RWD Sam Moore, East Alton, IL 93 Mustang 352 Ford 161.25 7/18/2006

4CYL Jon Huber, St. Louis, MO 79 Mustang 178 Ford 9.714 10/3/2006
4CYL Jon Huber, St. Louis, MO 79 Mustang 178 Ford 143.17 10/3/2006

TRK Sam Moore, East Alton, IL 92 S-10 406 Chevy 9.613 10/17/2006
TRK Steven Gleghorn, Alton, IL 94 S-10 434 Chevy 140.44 9/26/2006

RTY Eric Cheatham, Belleville, IL 93 RX-7 79 Mazda 10.048 9/26/2006
RTY Eric Cheatham, Belleville, IL 93 RX-7 79 Mazda 137.95 9/26/2006

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

FWD Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, MO 85 Golf 122 Volks 11.473 9/5/2006
FWD Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, MO 85 Golf 122 Volks 126.95 5/30/2006

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 8th, 2007 SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT QUALIFIERS
Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine ET MPH Date

EVENT 06 05/08/2007

1 Tony Huff Collinsville IL 69 Nova 540 Chevy 9.194 144.86
2 Rick Cardinale Florissant IL 66 Nova 421 Chevy 9.206 148.48
3 Tim Mallicoat Collinsville IL 68 Camaro 468 Chevy 9.497 140.05
4 Tony Buhl Lebanon IL 89 Mustang 306 Ford 9.814 137.51
5 Hal Marshall Collinsville IL 86 S-10 383 Chevy 10.197 130.58
6 Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 67 Camaro 427 Chevy 10.412 128.43
7 George Wahby Fenton MO 74 Pinto 350 Chevy 10.558 123.80
8 Chris Lugge O'Fallon IL 98 Camaro 350 Chevy 10.974 129.24
9 Chris Gosch Bunker Hill IL 06 Corvette 346 Chevy 11.123 135.78
10 Matt Dycus Edwardsville IL 79 Mustang 347 Ford 11.131 124.04
11 Robert Tarr Aviston IL 91 Mustang 381 Ford 11.196 121.11
12 Brandon Carter High Ridge MO 03 Mustang 281 Ford 11.276 126.16
13 Mike O'Donnell Granite City IL 89 Mustang 302 Ford 11.554 115.49
14 Chris Lambert Belleville IL 03 Mustang 281 Ford 11.754 119.04
15 Mike Williamson Wentzville MO 00 Lightning 330 Ford 11.777 118.90
16 Adnan Omerovic St. Louis MO 95 Talon 122 Eagle 11.862 131.13


MAY 8th, 2007 SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Tim Mallicoat, Collinsville, IL 1968 468 Camaro 0.373 9.407 139.75
RU Ray Arthur, Edwardsville, IL 1967 427 Camaro 0.102 11.145 126.93

Only two days after seven new professional class track records and one new NHRA National Record were posted at the eleventh annual NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Midwest Nationals, the SX Performance Street Car Shootout Series returned to Gateway International Raceway to complete its third event in six attempts. While many fans and racers believe the SCSS event which follows the NHRA National Event to be blessed with a National-quality track surface, the truth is that the most work goes into preparing the track for this event than any other during the season. Following three days of NHRA competition, the GIR quarter-mile is literally “beat up” and GIR Crewchief Chuck Westcoat is forced to scrape, grind and groom the track back to conditions suitable for the professional test sessions which immediately follow the Midwest Nationals. As a testament to the GIR crew’s skill, NHRA Pro Stock driver Richie Stevens erased the 6.65-second track elapsed time record set by Ohioan Dave Connolly during the second round of Sunday’s Midwest Nationals and produced a 6.62-second mark during Monday‘s testing!

Gateway’s gargantuan new Daktronics finish line scoreboards which debuted during the Midwest Nationals were greeted with even more enthusiasm by the group which will use them more than any other, the SCSS fans and drivers. The scoreboards and track signage, both heavily damaged during the infamous storm of July 19th, 2006, have now been completely repaired or replaced.

Despite muggy conditions and a corrected elevation of more than twenty-two hundred feet above sea level when timed trials began, the revamped Gateway surface produced a phenomenal number of career-best performances in the SCSS return along with the eleventh quickest Super 16 field ever and the fastest average speed, 129.66 miles per hour, of any SCSS program. The event was also filled with upsets which, in the end, allowed Tim “Moose” Mallicoat to win his second consecutive Street Car Shootout title while becoming the first driver to win from the “bottom half” of the four cars which qualify for the Shootout rounds.

Although George Wahby’s wild Benecorp-sponsored LT1 Chevy-powered ’74 Pinto was the quickest in early timed trials at 10.75/122.00, Mallicoat’s naturally-aspirated big block ‘68 Camaro kicked off the big numbers with a 9.51/135.99 recorded only five minutes into the official qualifying period. He was quickly followed, however, by Tony Huff’s silver 468-cubic inch ’68 Nova which shot to a 9.53/140.05. The Collinsville, Illinois racer, (who still owns the most SCSS final-round appearances at seventeen), was still relying on his rebuilt 2006 power plant after destroying the new 540-incher with which he started the season. “This is basically the 468 we ran last year”, noted Silva Bullet Team Leader Bill Silva during qualifying, “and we just ’cleaned it up’ a bit to make it a 470. We’ve got a tune-up in it tonight which may or may not survive but, if it lives, it’s gonna be fast!”

Wahby continued to improve to a best-ever 10.55/123.80 during qualifying and plenty of other drivers also took full advantage of the track’s adhesion. Ray Arthur, whose “Suspicion” ’67 Camaro had dipped into the 10.6-second zone during the most recent completed SCSS event on April 17th, opened with a career-best 10.41/128.43. Reigning SCSS Season Champion Tony Buhl’s Vortech-supercharged ’89 Mustang hit a 10.03/136.66 and Hal Marshall’s S-10 pickup blasted out a 10.19 at 130.58 mph. Of note were the problems experienced by Rick Cardinale’s gorgeous purple ‘66 Nova; the 421-inch small block Chevy was shut off on the starting line on two different attempts with massive coolant leakage.

The battle to qualify for the four open positions for eliminations took on a more serious tone in the final hour of qualifying. First, Huff pulled to the line with Silva’s “mystery tune-up” and, with a best-ever 1.30-second sixty-feet ET, thundered to a personal record 9.19 seconds at big 144.86 mph speed while drawing a huge response from the crowd. Fifteen minutes later, Cardinale’s Nova was finally able to stage without leaking and in one quarter-mile charge, announced its intentions by improving a half-second and fifteen miles per hour over its previous best with an incredible 9.20 at an amazing 148.48 mph to become the seventh fastest SCSS entry ever! Mallicoat‘s back Camaro countered with its best run yet, a 9.49 at 140.05, the first 140 mph speed for the “Moose”. Finally, Tony Buhl, whose Mustang had suffered from a confusing launch problem, finally got off the line in reasonable style to put the only Ford in eliminations with a 9.81/137.51.

When qualifying ended, Cardinale reported that his coolant leak had resurfaced on the return road and the Florissant, Missouri, team opted to withdraw until the problem could be solved. That allowed Hal Marshall’s S-10 pickup into the four-car Shootout as the first alternate. Under the new 2007 SCSS format, however, any driver who qualifies for two eliminators is given the option of running one class or both divisions with the provision that cool down time will be at a minimum. Hal elected, understandably, to concentrate on the Super Truck Showdown where he was won twenty-one titles. That brought into the Shootout second alternate Ray Arthur who had backed up his earlier 10.41/128.43 with a 10.42/128.59 (!) in late timed trials.

With Huff owning a two-tenths of a second advantage over Mallicoat and Buhl holding a half-second against Arthur, few fans would’ve wagered on the outcome of the two semi-final bouts. However, when Mallicoat strapped a third-of-a-second holeshot on Huff’s silver Nova, it appeared that Huff would need every bit of his 9.19 qualifying power to overcome the deficit. At the finish line, the “no juice” Camaro led the Nova by a full car length, (19.41 feet), and the crowd roared when the new scoreboards relayed that Mallicoat’s 9.47/136.80 career-best ET had actually held off Huff’s quicker 9.24 at 144.84 mph! In the other half of the semi-finals, Buhl needed only to wait for the green light against Ray Arthur’s Chevy but the Mustang pilot inexplicably left the line four thousandths of a second too soon to hand the win to the Camaro’s 10.57/117.51!

For Arthur, his first SCSS final round appearance didn’t even seem real. “I don’t know what to think”, said Arthur during an interview in front of the main grandstands with co-announcer Jason Phillips before the final round, “but I guess this is why we run races. I shouldn’t be in the final…but I am!”.
To many younger fans, Arthur’s high center-of-gravity Camaro with huge gold leaf lettering seems archaic but, quite frankly, it should; the car has competed at tracks in the St. Louis area for more than thirty-five years and is a living piece of Bi-State racing history. With wins at dragstrips in Alton, IL, Whitehall, IL, Pevely, MO, and a variety of others, many of Gateway’s “old school” racers remember the car fondly. “This was one of my favorite cars when I was a kid”, said the 53-year-old Arthur, “and I’m really just reliving my childhood by racing it. I’ve kept the same paint and lettering scheme on the car and switched it to a street car several years ago. The Shootout program gave me a reason to bring it back out to the track and now I‘m just having a blast with it!”.

If nothing else, the fact that the number three and number six qualifiers were to wage war for the event honors proved, beyond any doubt, that hope springs eternal in drag racing. In the trophy dash, Arthur put a quarter-second holeshot on Malliocat’s Camaro but a quick move to the wall only a hundred feet off the line forced Arthur to lift off the throttle, allowing Mallicoat to charge to the victory and another best-ever ET, a 9.40 at 139.75. When asked in the winner’s circle if the low nine-second performances of the evening were enough to make him think about adding a nitrous oxide injection system to his 468 Chevy, Mallicoat responded quickly, “Absolutely not! I will not put a bottle on this car. I may have to build a bigger motor but I won’t add a bottle. This car still has a flat tappet camshaft! There’s plenty left in it. Heck, we made just a few adjustments tonight and picked up over a tenth and almost five miles per hour. Nope. I won’t put a bottle on it. I‘m having too much fun!”.




NOTES FROM THE SCSS: Think you‘ve heard enough about Chris Gosch? The Bunker Hill, Illinois, driver who last month wheeled Bill Stewart’s 2007 Shelby GT500 Mustang to 11.20/133.41 performances dropped jaws yet again. With the Shelby in the shop to receive the roll cage and safety equipment required to run over 135 mph, Stewart put Gosch in his 2006 Z06 Corvette for the week and stunned everybody by running 11.12 at 135.78 mph in Stewart’s daily driver! Stewart, who owns Ted’s Motorcycle World in Alton, IL, assured everyone the Corvette won’t be back. “We just wanted to see what it runs”, said Stewart…Chris Lugge, who won the first Rankin Tech title of the season in April, qualified for the Super Sixteen with a 10.97/129.24 from his red 408-inch ‘98 Camaro and then clocked a 10.55/131.32 in this week‘s Rankin program!…Matt Dycus ran 11.13/124.04 with his ‘79 302 Mustang in qualifying and then hit an 11.08/125.08 in the first pair of timed trials after qualifying had concluded…Dan Batz missed making the Super Sixteen by a mere two thousandths of a second with his ‘00 Z28; three drivers have missed the “bump spot” by one thousandth in the seventy-two completed SCSS events…Joe Hartmann had nothing but problems controlling the Hartmann Brothers/J&J Construction white ‘88 Monte Carlo during qualifying, coasting to a 12.33/79 mph best. After many adjustments, the big block Chevy with the unique Cadillac nose returned in late timed trials to clock 10.57/129.32 and 10.47/134.64...Five members of the Paule family of St. Louis competed in the event; Judy, Matt, Lee and Bruce made runs in everything from a Honda Civic to a new Monte Carlo but it was Mark Paule who hit a best of 14.07/102.34 in Lee’s 2001 Jaguar XJ8 Vanden Plas. Powered by a supercharged 244-inch V8, the Jag took the lead for 2007’s “Most Expensive Tuesday Night Racer” award. In 2001, the car retailed for $83,355...SX Performance presented special bonus awards for the event; each Eliminator Champion received an SX Performance Fuel Filter System.





SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS (as of MAY 9th, 2007)

Pos Points Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine

1 (6) Tony Huff Collinsville IL 69 Nova 540 Chevy
2 (6) Tony Buhl Lebanon IL 89 Mustang 306 Ford
3 (4) Rick Cardinale Florissant IL 66 Nova 421 Chevy
4 (4) Tim Mallicoat Collinsville IL 68 Camaro 468 Chevy
5 (3) Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 67 Camaro 427 Chevy
6 (3) Chris Gosch Bunker Hill IL 06 Corvette 346 Chevy
7 (2) Steven Gentry Festus MO 65 Comet 557 Ford
8 (2) Joe Williams Maryville IL 72 Nova 454 Chevy
9 (2) Hal Marshall Collinsville IL 86 S-10 383 Chevy
10 (2) Matt Dycus Edwardsville IL 79 Mustang 347 Ford

NOTE: Points toward the 2007 Street Car Shootout Series Season Championship are awarded on the basis of one (1) point for qualifying in the Super Sixteen field with one (1) bonus point awarded for qualifying in the top four positions.




MAY 8th, 2007 STLSR.COM SPORT TUNER SHOWDOWN FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Adnan Omerovic, St. Louis, MO 1995 122 Talon 0.134 11.382 133.79
RU Rick Howie, O'Fallon, IL 1992 112 Civic 0.227 12.121 115.81

Adnan Omerovic managed to squeeze in a run prior to the rainstorm which cancelled the April 24th SCSS event and the tire-spinning 12.75 at 130.73 mph which resulted was proof the new 4G63T powerplant assembled by his father was capable of producing the same kind of power which earned the St. Louisan four wins and two runners-up during the ’07 season. Adnan’s black ’95 Talon made the very first run of early timed trials this week and the new scoreboards were put to quick use when the turbocharged four-cylinder nearly idled off the starting line before unleashing an 11.86 at an insane 136.55 miles per hour. Simultaneously becoming the second-fastest four-cylinder in St. Louis Street Racing.com Sport Tuner Showdown Series history and only the third racer in the class, (behind Eric Cheatham and Jon Huber), to be forced to conform to 135 mph safety standards, Adnan spent the remainder of the event trying to stay under that speed. “These engines just love lots of boost”, said Adnan during qualifying, “and even though we only added a few things on the new motor like a different intercooler, it should be a lot quicker. I just had it dynoed and it’s over 600 horsepower. Right now, though, I just want to qualify for the final round”.

Indeed, through most of qualifying, Omerovic had only run in the mid-twelves. It was Rick Howie‘s amazing Honda Civic, which had won the April 17th title and broke into the 11-second zone on April 24th, which led the field through most of qualifying with a best of 12.03/117.20 while notching three consecutive 12.09 runs! In fact, Howie’s white Honda was in quite a war with the rejuvenated black ‘93 Mazda RX7 of Phil Hoback which clocked repeated career bests and finished qualifying only sixteen hundredths of a second behind Howie with a 12.19 at a ****ping 125.97 mph, becoming the second fastest Rotary in the history of the series. On his last shot to make the final round, however, Omerovic got everything to work and, with an 11.86/131.13, took the pole position and qualified for the showdown with Howie.

In the trophy dash, Omerovic unloaded a nine hundredths of a second holeshot on the O’Fallon, Illinois, Honda and then really got things working; running three-tenths quicker than his previous best, Adnan hit a brilliant 11.38 at 133.79 to outrun Howie’s 12.12/115.81. In the winner’s circle in front of the main grandstands, Omerovic wasn’t satisfied with being the third quickest Sport Tuner competitor even after his fifth victory. “I really think I can get this thing into the tens”, he said, “and I think it can do it consistently. I know the speed shows low ten-second potential but this is still a street-driven car, too. I’d be happy with just a high ten. It’s coming!”.







MAY 8th, 2007 GATEWAYRACEWAY.COM SUPER TRUCK SHOWDOWN FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Hal Marshall, Collinsville, IL 1986 383 S10 0.522 11.037 121.62
RU Mike Williamson, Wentzville, MO 2000 330 Lightning 0.044 11.750 119.17

It’s now twenty-two wins in twenty-nine final rounds. Don’t expect it to stop. Hal’s runnin’ good.

The King of Tuesday Night is not only running strong without the devastating breakage which plagued him in ‘06 but he’s using his head while winning. His very first run of the event was within five thousandths of a second of his best, (10.21/130.42), and his second pass missed being the quickest of his life by one thousandth of a second, (10.197/130.58). Easily the number one qualifier for the GatewayRaceway.com Super Truck Showdown, the infamous white 383-inch ’86 S10 also became eligible to run in the Street Car Shootout as the first alternate. Marshall declined, however, citing the strain of a possible three runs within twenty minutes. Sticking with what he knew best, he set his sights on another Super Truck trophy. His final round opponent, Mike Williamson’s magnificent yellow ‘00 Lightning, was appearing in its first final round since September 27th, 2005, when Hal outran it for his fourth victory!

Williamson had clocked a best-ever 11.77/116.26 during qualifying to stay ahead of second generation racer Randy Christy, Junior’s yellow ‘99 360 Dakota, (which ran a career-best 12.83/110.81), and had been running under twelve seconds throughout the evening. “It’s got a new short block”, said Williamson, “and you’ll be seeing it out a bit more this season”. In the title bout, Williamson nailed a tremendous 0.044 Reaction Time, (the ninth best ever clocked in a Super Truck Showdown final round), but Marshall stuck to his plan to make sure the ’Tree was green and stay off the nitrous oxide. The plan worked; an 11.03/121.62 was enough to pass and beat Williamson’s career-best 11.75/119.17. In the winner’s circle, Hal just grinned, adding, “This sure is fun when things are goin’ right!”.





Photos of the May 8th SX Performance Street Car Shootout Series event are now available for viewing at Bret Kepner Photos.com.




05-08Mall.jpg


Tim Mallicoat, Collinsville, IL 1968 468 Camaro

05-08Arthur.jpg


Ray Arthur, Edwardsville, IL 1967 427 Camaro

05-08Omerovic.jpg


Adnan Omerovic, St. Louis, MO 1995 122 Talon

05-08Howie.jpg


Rick Howie, O’Fallon, IL 1994 112 Civic

05-08Marshall.jpg


Hal Marshall, Collinsville, IL 1986 383 S-10

05-08Williamson-1.jpg


Mike Williamson, Wentzville, MO 2000 330 Lightning

Scoreboards.jpg


GIR’s massive new scoreboards in action!
 
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