9/11/2007 Gateway-SCSS Street Car Shootout RESULTS!

[Bret Kepner]

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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.

All vehicles compete utilizing Department of Transportation (D.O.T.) approved tires. All other modifications are permitted. 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 (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 St. Louis Street Racers.com (http://www.stlsr.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 (http://www.gatewayraceway.com/). All finalists in all categories also receive free digital images from the event courtesy of Bret Kepner Photos.com (http://www.bretkepnerphotos.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 Steven Gentry, Festus, MO 65 Comet 557 Ford 8.413 9/4/2007
RWD Steven Gentry, Festus, MO 65 Comet 557 Ford 162.41 9/4/2007

TRK Larry Richards, Hillsboro, MO 52 3100 427 Chevy 9.278 9/4/2007
TRK Larry Richards, Hillsboro, MO 52 3100 427 Chevy 149.07 9/4/2007

4CYL Jon Huber, St. Louis, MO 79 Mustang 178 Ford 9.637 8/21/2007
4CYL Jon Huber, St. Louis, MO 79 Mustang 178 Ford 143.22 8/21/2007

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

AWD Adnan Omerovic, St. Louis, MO 95 Talon 122 Eagle 10.234 9/11/2007
AWD Adnan Omerovic, St. Louis, MO 95 Talon 122 Eagle 140.52 9/11/2007

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 123 Volks 11.198 6/19/2007
FWD Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, MO 85 Golf 123 Volks 130.10 6/19/2007

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




SEPTEMBER 11th, 2007 SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT QUALIFIERS
Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine ET MPH Date

EVENT 22 09/11/2007

1 Tim Mallicoat Collinsville IL 68 Camaro 565 Chevy 8.774 155.47
2 Tony Huff Collinsville IL 66 Chevelle 510 Chevy 9.217 146.46
3 James Landis Oreana IL 80 AMX 420 AMC 9.945 141.80
4 Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 67 Camaro 496 Chevy 9.946 143.96
5 Bob Herzing Maryville IL 67 Nova 355 Chevy 10.000 132.18
6 Joe Williams Maryville IL 72 Nova 454 Chevy 10.020 132.75
7 Kevin Autenrieth Bethalto IL 91 S-10 434 Chevy 10.201 132.41
8 Mike McCombs Jacksonville IL 87 Mustang 418 Ford 10.204 138.34
9 Jack Nungester Arnold MO 71 Camaro 454 Chevy 10.225 135.41
10 Adnan Omerovic St. Louis MO 95 Talon 122 Eagle 10.234 140.31
11 Rick McKee Brighton IL 87 Monte Carlo 468 Chevy 10.335 135.36
12 Shawn Sherman Roxana IL 80 Camaro 383 Chevy 10.404 130.85
13 Chad Miller Springfield IL 06 Mustang 281 Ford 10.755 127.87
14 Terry Baltzell Foristell MO 57 Bel-Air 468 Chevy 10.837 128.18
15 Allen Hannel Caseyville IL 86 S-10 383 Chevy 10.865 123.69
16 Isaac St. Clair Troy MO 72 Chevelle 400 Chevy 10.964 120.93


SEPTEMBER 11th, 2007 SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Tim Mallicoat, Collinsville, IL 1968 565 Camaro 0.185 8.713 155.33
RU Tony Huff, Collinsville, IL 1966 510 Chevelle Could Not Appear

Seven days after his first defeat in the SX Performance (http://www.sx-performance.com) Street Car Shootout Series, at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Illinois, Tim “Moose” Mallicoat returned to form to claim his fifteenth victory while defeating the quickest field in the history of the series. Nearly perfect weather conditions and the largest turnout of the 2007 season produced a Super Sixteen field in which, for the first time in the eighty-two event history of the program, required a ten-second run just to qualify!

In the best corrected elevation of the year, nearly two hundred competitors thundered to repeated career-best performances and some amazing statistics. Just over half of the 197 qualifying hopefuls clocked a speed of 100 miles per hour or greater while just over forty percent of the assemblage recorded a quickest-ever elapsed time, a fastest-ever speed or both. While the 10.96-second “bump spot” was amazing, even more astounding was the 10.18/135.37 AVERAGE for the Super Sixteen field…more than a tenth of a second and five miles per hour faster than any field average before it!

While the worst corrected elevation of the event, (1576 feet above sea level), was still better than the air at any SCSS race in the past six weeks, cool 62 degree temperatures and a barometric pressure of 30.07 inches dropped the altitude to only 632 feet above sea level for the final rounds, eclipsing the SCSS season‘s previous best of 699 feet recorded on April 17th. Moreover, traction was exceptional as evidenced by a large contingent of NHRA Pro Stock competitors on hand to test for the upcoming NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Mid-South Nationals in Memphis, Tennessee. More than a half-dozen Pro machines ran within a tenth of a second of the Gateway International Raceway track record, led by Ohioan Larry Morgan’s Lucas Oil Dodge Stratus at 6.68 seconds and 207.04 miles per hour.

Although a barrage of ten-second runs came early in the official qualifying period, the first nine-second pass of the event wasn’t posted until almost fifty minutes into the session when Tony Huff hit a 9.90/137.04 in brother Dale’s gorgeous 510-cubic inch ‘66 Chevelle. Huff was followed by yet another of Dale Huff’s many team cars, a new smallblock-powered orange ‘67 Nova driven by Bob Herzing, which recorded an impressive 10.00/132.18. Ray Arthur, fresh off his career-best 9.51 of a week ago, pushed his “Suspicion” 496-inch ‘67 Camaro to a best-ever speed on a 9.94/141.21 effort. Mallicoat‘s first run came seventy minutes into qualifying. After adding new Mickey Thompson D.O.T.-approved tires and changing from a 4.10:1 rear gear ratio to a 4.30, the “Moose” was confident he could take advantage of the weather. His 8.77/155.47 stole the low qualifying position but failed to break into the 8.5-second zone as hoped.

The return of one of the SCSS program’s most unusual standouts, Jim Landis’ amazing 1980 American Motors AMX with 420 inches of true AMC power, brought to light the developing “bald spots” on the starting created by the massive field of entries. Landis launched and immediately spun the tires but, in a masterful job of recovery, feathered the throttle to a surprising 9.94 at the fastest speed the Rambler had clocked in SCSS competition, 141.80 mph. Yet Joe Williams, whose yellow ’70 Nova had clocked several 10.40s during the year, produced a stunning 10.02/132.75 career-best with nearly perfect traction only a few pairs later!

[Bret Kepner]

With less than fifteen minutes of qualifying remaining, Huff put “the squeeze” to his brother’s Chevelle, storming to a 9.21/141.36 while inching closer to Mallicoat. The “Moose” had planned to make a pass at the end of the session but got caught in line after the period ended. Undaunted, the black “HellRaiser” naturally-aspirated Camaro shot to an even quicker 8.73/155.49 to test the track.

When the top four qualifiers were called in front of the main grandstands for the first round of eliminations, all drivers reported for action. Bill Silva, the crewchief for Tony Huff’s Chevelle, noted before the first battle that conditions were right for a big performance increase. “The air’s as good as it gets right now”, said Silva, “and I really want to see Tony get into the eights tonight. I honestly think the car can do it on this track”. Huff staged against friend and rival Ray Arthur and, with a four-hundredths of a second holeshot, was never headed. Silva’s assessment of the situation was accurate; Huff rocketed to the quickest and fastest run of his life, a 9.16 at 146.46 mph, against Arthur’s vastly-improved 9.64 at his fastest speed ever, 143.96 mph. In the other half of the semi-final, Landis knew his green Rambler’s only hope was a sizeable holeshot and, after his second qualifying run was aborted due to even more tirespin, he understood that finding a “groove” away from the “bald spots” on the starting line was equally critical. In his only other appearance in eliminations during 2007 on May 29th, Landis had met Mallicoat and grabbed a three-tenths of a second holeshot before the Camaro drove by for the win. This time, however, the AMX pilot launched a mere five thousandths of a second too soon while hooking up beautifully to a 9.58/141.71. Even a perfect Reaction Time wouldn’t have helped against Mallicoat’s consistent 8.72/154.95.

As the two winningest drivers in SCSS history pulled back in front of the crowd to check their mounts before the final round, Silva noticed a small oil leak under Huff‘s Chevelle. The hood came off and, after a moment’s inspection, Silva found a blown intake gasket and a mess behind the engine. After a brief discussion, the two decided to park the Chevelle for the night. “We’d have to lean on it pretty hard against Moose”, said Silva, “and along with the possibility of getting in our own oil comes the possibility the car could light up. We don’t need to burn the car down!”. Mallicoat got the word to single for the victory in his sixteenth final round while Huff, the series’ most prolific finalist with twenty appearances, could only watch as the Camaro charged to Low Elapsed Time on an 8.71/155.33 solo pass.

With an incredible 30-1 win-loss ratio, (an astounding 96.7% win percentage), Mallicoat is still the season’s most dominant driver and, despite the fact the mechanical changes made offered no performance gains, Mallicoat remained optimistic. “The gear didn’t work at all”, he said during trophy presentations in front of the main grandstands, “but that doesn’t mean something else won’t work. We’ve got the air to help us right now and, if I can find what the car really wants, there’s still more left for the rest of the season. It can go quicker. It’s up to us to make it happen”.






NOTES FROM THE SCSS: Tony Huff‘s final round appearance was his first since May 29th when he also lost to Tim Mallicoat. Huff has endured one of the most frustrating seasons imaginable, compounded by his recent shoulder surgery which is making a chore of driving his brother‘s Chevelle. When asked how his arm was feeling during the event, Huff replied, “It sucks“…It would be easier to list the drivers who didn’t record career-best numbers during the event. Of the Super Sixteen, only Mallicoat and the S-10 pickups of Kevin Autenrieth and Allen Hannel failed to record their fastest runs ever…Jack Nungester was back behind the wheel of his ’71 Camaro for the first time since recent back surgery; his best run tied his career-best set on June 19th at 10.225 seconds. Jack is also now tied with his son, Ben, for seventh place in the 2007 Championship point standings…With five weeks remaining in the series, Tony Huff moved from fourth to third in the standings when reigning SCSS Season Champion Tony Buhl’s insanely frustrating “electrical mystery” again kept his Vortech-blown 306-powered ‘89 Mustang from making a run under full power. Buhl qualified seventeenth with an 11.20/108 best…Isaac St. Clair’s blue ’72 Chevelle had never run quicker than 11.81/112 until launched with the wheels up en route to a 10.96/120.93 for the bump spot in the quickest SCSS field ever!…Twenty-four cars ran quicker than 12.00 and a total of fifty ran quicker than 13.00!…Along with St. Clair, Tony Baltzell’s supercharged 468-powered ’57 Bel-Air and Chad Miller’s awesome FC Customs modular-motored 2006 Mustang joined the SCSS 10-Second Club…The 140 MPH Club (1), the 130 MPH Club (2), and the 120 MPH Club (4) all gained new members…Had Buhl and Greg “Hook-N-Ladder” Boschert’s ’66 Mustang run representative times, the bump spot could’ve gone as low as 10.83. Mike Mester’s low 10-second Trans Am never made a pass after the discovery of an engine malady in the pits…The event included the first-ever Gun & Hoses event for firefighters and police officers. A surprising number of public servants took part to battle for the Madison, Illinois, Mayor John Hamm’s gigantic Mayor Hamm Trophy. Patrolman Bob Sampson of the Pine Lawn (MO) Police Department took the victory in an all-Mustang final round over Steve Webb, of the Sullivan (MO) Police Department. Jake Ziegler of the Maryland Heights (MO) Fire Department was the highest-finishing fire fighter, making it to the semi-finals in his ‘07 Charger. In addition to the trophy, GIR Vice President and General Manager Lenny Batycki presented Sampson with a check for $500 to be donated to the Backstoppers Relief Fund in the name of all the first responders who participated…After making the final round of the Sport Tuner Showdown last week, Adam Crader’s ‘06 Civic Si won the Rankin Technical College title this week over Derek Lewis’ low twelve-second ‘89 Firebird.




SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS (as of SEPTEMBER 12th, 2007)

Pos Points Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine

1 (30) Tim Mallicoat Collinsville IL 68 Camaro 565 Chevy
2 (24) Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 67 Camaro 496 Chevy
3 (18) Tony Huff Collinsville IL 66 Chevelle 510 Chevy
4 (17) Tony Buhl Lebanon IL 89 Mustang 306 Ford
5 (11) Allen Hannel Caseyville IL 86 S-10 383 Chevy
6 (9) Joe Williams Maryville IL 72 Nova 454 Chevy
7 (6) Hal Marshall Collinsville IL 86 S-10 383 Chevy
8 (6) Ben Nungester Arnold MO 69 Camaro 400 Chevy
9 (6) Steven Gentry Festus MO 65 Comet 557 Ford
10 (6) Jack Nungester Arnold MO 71 Camaro 454 Chevy
11 (6) Adnan Omerovic St. Louis MO 95 Talon 122 Eagle

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.

[Bret Kepner]

SEPTEMBER 11th, 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 0.136 10.269 140.52
RU Andy Lemons, O’Fallon, IL 1996 113 Civic 0.320 12.109 119.87

Only seven days ago, Adnan “Otto” Omerovic was struggling to control his infamous ‘95 Talon as it slid in its own oil in the GIR shutdown area after an oil filter mount shattered at over 136 mph. Believing the massively increased turbocharger boost to be the culprit, Omerovic returned one week later with the turbo pressure returned to the same “normal” settings which had produced his career-best 10.52/138 performance at the NDRA/NOPI Nationals at GIR in June. Instead of keeping the pace, the black Talon proceeded to unleash runs which even Adnan could never have dreamed possible only a few months ago. Once again, the HillCo Axles-sponsored Eagle was simply incredible.

The winningest driver in the history of the St. Louis Street Racing.com (http://www.stlsr.com/) Sport Tuner Showdown after his July 31st title, Omerovic‘s first pass came early in the official qualifying period with a 1.71-second sixty-feet Elapsed Time and a brutal 10.52/138.93, his best speed ever. The All-Wheel-Drive beast returned at the very end of the session, however, and launched to an incredible 1.51-second sixty-feet ET, by far the best “leave” ever for the Talon. With a 6.70/111.51 eighth-mile, the Mitsubishi screamed to an ungodly 10.23 at 140.31 miles per hour, becoming only the second Sport Tuner entry, (behind Jon Huber’s Rear-Wheel-Drive four-cylinder ’79 Mustang), to enter the SCSS 140 MPH Club!

Six-time STSS winner Rick Howie’s familiar white ‘84 Honda Civic actually qualified second with a sub-par 12.42/117.51 while struggling with constant shifting problems throughout qualifying. Unable to shake the tranny difficulties which have plagued him, Howie withdrew from competition before the conclusion of qualifying in attempt to keep his daily driver in one piece. That moved Tuner veteran Andy Lemons into the final round with his new turbocharged silver ‘96 Civic which had produced a best-ever 12.45/115.38. Behind Lemons was a slew of career-best performances including the astonishing show-quality blue 2.4-litre 2000 Cavalier of Brandon Fetter which hit a tremendous 12.53 but at a mind-boggling 123.04 miles per hour!. Rounding out the Top Five was Jason Grubb’s turbo’d ’04 Neon SRT-4 with a best-ever 13.19/105.60.

In the final round, Omerovic grabbed a two-tenths of a second holeshot, duplicated the previous 1.51 sixty-feet ET and shot to a 10.26 at an even faster 140.52 mph for his ninth victory. Omerovic is also now tied with STSS pioneer Patrick Jacobsmeyer with eleven final rounds; his next final round appreance will be the most for any driver in the class. Interestingly, Lemons also covered the first sixty feet quicker than on his previous runs at 1.99 seconds and clocked the best run yet for his new Honda with a 12.10 at a whopping 119.87 mph. “I didn’t build it. I bought it this way”, said Lemons, who recently sold his 12.45-second ‘04 Neon. “It’s just a B16 motor with a 57-trim turbo and its not quite running the way it should but that last pass tells me I’m definitely going in the right direction”. Omerovic was as stunned as anybody that his Talon clocked 10.20s with the boost turned down but was forced to face facts when asked why the Eagle stepped up. “I really don’t know why”, laughed Omerovic, “but, if the car is the same, I guess it can only be my driving that‘s making it run so much quicker. Just about everybody knows how hard I‘ve been working to get it off the line better and improve my shifting. Maybe I’m just finally getting the hang of it!”. If nothing else, Omerovic was elated to discover the SCSS Series will now include a Track Record classification for All-Wheel-Drive vehicles, a mark which Omerovic has earned…and owned…for several seasons.





SEPTEMBER 11th, 2007 GATEWAYRACEWAY.COM SUPER TRUCK SHOWDOWN FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Kevin Autenrieth, Bethalto, IL 1991 434 S-10 0.261 10.185 132.50
RU Allen Hannel, Caseyville, IL 1986 383 S-10 -0.105 (foul) 11.057 110.07

Kevin Autenrieth’s second victory in the GatewayRaceway.com (http://www.gatewayraceway.com) Super Truck Showdown came without career-best performances but the driver of the orange Lowe‘s Performance ‘91 S-10 isn‘t complaining. Unable to find the time to add a nitrous oxide injection plate system in the past month, Autenrieth and crewchief Richard Stocker are happy to let their carbureted 434-cubic inch Scott Shafiroff smallblock continue to run 10-teens on every nearly pass. “I’ve got to change the rear gear before I can add the juice”, noted Autenrieth. “It goes through the traps at 7200 RPM now and, with 4.56 gears, it’s not going to like nitrous very much!“.

After qualifying low at 10.20/132.41, the Bethalto, Illinois racer sat back and watched the fight for the other final-round berth and, with little surprise, it again boiled down to Autenrieth and Allen Hannel at the wheel of Hal Marshall‘s white ‘86 S-10. The rest of the Super Truck field featured plenty of career-best runs including three-time finalist Al Ingram‘s 572-inch ‘90 Silverado, (12.38/110.61), Randy Christy, Junior’s ‘99 408 Dakota, (12.78/107.25), Matt Hamilton‘s ‘01 Lightning, (13.00/106.04), Ed Kramer’s ‘02 Lightning, (13.02/105.45), Tony Cimino’s ‘04 Lightning, (13.35/103.06), and the truly amazing 13.39/101.46 effort of Mike Menne’s 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The biggest surprise came from the coasting 11.92/95 mph pass of Mike Williamson‘s yellow ’00 Lightning when it encountered problems while attempting to finally break into the ten-second zone.

Hannel, meanwhile, was still at the mercy of a smallblock Chevy powerplant pieced together to replace the one which committed suicide over a month ago. No longer able to clock the low-ten second passes needed to be competitive with Autenrieth, Hannel took the only logical course of action in the final round and pushed the ’Tree. The effort was eight hundredths of a second too quick but Hannel’s 11.05/110.07 was no match for Autenrieth’s 10.18/132.50. “I think I’m stuck with this motor until the end of the season”, chuckled Hannel, “Unless, of course, I can blow this one up and make Hal build another one before next year!”.






Photos of the September 11th SX Performance Street Car Shootout Series event are now available for viewing at Bret Kepner Photos.com (http://www.BretKepnerPhotos.com).




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Tim “Moose” Mallicoat, Collinsville, IL 1968 565 Camaro

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Tony Huff, Collinsville, IL 1966 510 Chevelle

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Adnan Omerovic, St. Louis, MO 1995 122 Talon

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Andy Lemons, O’Fallon, IL 1996 113 Civic

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Kevin Autenrieth, Bethalto, IL 1991 434 S-10

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Allen “Crabby” Hannel, Caseyville, IL 1986 383 S-10