10/9/2007 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 Matt Bell, Hudson, IL 93 Mustang 359 Ford 165.11 9/18/2007

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

DSL Chris Calkins, Union, MO 70 C-10 403 Chevy 9.875 9/25/2007
DSL Chris Calkins, Union, MO 70 C-10 403 Chevy 139.41 9/25/2007

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 11.137 10/02/2007
FWD Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, MO 85 Golf 123 Volks 130.58 10/02/2007




OCTOBER 9th, 2007 SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT QUALIFIERS
Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine ET MPH Date

EVENT 26 10/09/2007

1 Tim Mallicoat Collinsville IL 68 Camaro 565 Chevy 8.755 155.35
2 Tony Huff Collinsville IL 66 Chevelle 510 Chevy 8.794 152.97
3 Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 67 Camaro 496 Chevy 9.317 145.47
4 Kevin Autenrieth Bethalto IL 91 S-10 434 Chevy 9.571 139.86
5 Adnan Omerovic St. Louis MO 95 Talon 122 Eagle 10.562 135.13
6 Joe Williams Maryville IL 72 Nova 454 Chevy 10.923 122.64
7 Allen Hannel Caseyville IL 86 S-10 383 Chevy 10.971 125.52
8 Tim Kirkpatrick Troy MO 88 Mustang 393 Ford 11.272 116.74
9 Jack Nungester Arnold MO 71 Camaro 454 Chevy 11.418 120.60
10 Kurt Borton St. Charles MO 05 Mustang 281 Ford 11.421 120.75
11 Isaac St. Clair Troy MO 72 Chevelle 400 Chevy 11.612 114.30
12 Randy Christy, Jr. Granite City IL 99 Dakota 408 Dodge 11.829 117.19
13 Steve Hetzler St. Charles MO 95 Camaro 350 Chevy 11.967 117.67
14 Andy Park Sparta IL 69 Chevelle 454 Chevy 11.968 116.67
15 Chris Weltig Imperial MO 01 Camaro 346 Chevy 12.122 111.96
16 Kevin Meine Wright City MO 69 Mustang 429 Ford 12.194 110.18



OCTOBER 9th, 2007 SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Tony Huff, Collinsville, IL 1966 510 Chevelle 0.013 8.886 150.95
RU Ray Arthur, Edwardsville, IL 1967 496 Camaro 0.365 10.137 138.33

Tony Huff, whose disastrous 2007 season has included everything from exploding engines to major surgery, salvaged the year with a long overdue victory in the 2007 SX Performance (http://www.sx-performance.com) Street Car Shootout Series at Gateway International Raceway. After a series of powerplant failures and at least one ****pit fire led to the retirement of bother Dale Huff’s infamous silver ’69 Nova which had earned eighteen final round appearances, Huff had struggled with Dale’s show-quality ’66 Chevelle through most of 2007. Bill Silva, who added Huff’s Nova to his Silva Bullet team in mid-2006, came aboard with a plan to make the Chevelle competitive in the mid-eight-second SCSS wars and was on the verge of achieving that goal when Huff was forced to undergo rotator cuff surgery in mid-summer keeping the Collinsville, Illinois veteran out of the seat for more than a month. When Tony resumed driving at the July 24th SCSS event, the team slowly tuned the Chevelle to within striking distance of the quickest opponents, culminating in their first eight-second pass on September 18th.

Testing led to even quicker 8.80 passes but an 8.72-second blast at 154.21 miles per hour during the October 2nd SCSS program actually outqualified the dominant driver of the year, Tim “Moose” Mallicoat and his naturally aspirated ‘68 Camaro, by seventeen thousandths of a second! When Mallicoat destroyed a transmission on a late run, Huff seemed assured of victory until a rainstorm cancelled the event minutes before eliminations were to begin!

The next-to-last SCSS event of the year began with 80-degree temperatures and amazing low (24%) humidity. However, a cold front moved in during the official qualifying period and sent the corrected elevation plummeting from 1749 feet above sea level to only 951 feet when the final round pulled to the starting line. While the conditions were exceptional, many drivers suffered through late-season parts attrition and more seemed unable to take advantage of the weather. While the 12.19-second “bump spot” for the Super Sixteen field wasn’t earthshaking, eighteen percent of the drivers in attendance managed career-best runs.

Kevin Autenreith’s 434-cubic inch ‘91 S-10 pickup led qualifying with a tremendous 9.57/139.86 pass until Mallicoat ‘s “Hellraiser” Camaro unleashed an 8.75/155.15 to grab the pole position. Ray Arthur’s “Suspicion” ‘67 Camaro charged to a 9.31 and a 145.47 mph speed which tied his fastest ever. Huff’s first effort was a sub-par 10.37 at only 109.89 mph but the purple Chevelle returned in the final thirty minutes of qualifying to clock an 8.79/152.97 to move within four hundredths of a second of Mallicoat. As talk quickly spread of Mallicoat’s vulnerability, the black Camaro made one last pass before eliminations after the conclusion of qualifying in rapidly cooling air. Expecting a run in the 8.6-second range, fans were surprised when Mallicoat could offer no quicker than an 8.74/154.76. At that point, Mallicoat was glad just to have a functioning ride. After destroying the transmission last week, Mallicoat had replaced the Powerglide within eighteen hours but, testing at Gateway the very next night, blew up the new one on its very first launch!

[Bret Kepner]

Autenreith made the decision to compete in both the Street Car Shootout and the Super Truck Showdown and drew Huff in the opening match of eliminations. Although the S-10 pickup hit a 9.54/139.44 in late timed trials, Autenreith knew his only hope was a holeshot and pushed the ‘Tree to a foul start by a mere thirty-five thousandths of a second en route to a 9.62/138.77 against Huff’s solid 8.82/152.76. As the spectators waited to see just how quick Mallicoat could run in relation to the Chevelle, many observers were expecting a redlight start from Ray Arthur, whose Camaro was still a half-second behind the “Hellraiser” in performance. However, even announcer “Radical Rich” Tivitt gasped when Mallicoat inexplicably left the line a tenth of a second before the green light and fouled! Tivitt and the fans then screamed in unison when Arthur’s Camaro made a violent move to the centerline while in pursuit of Mallicoat and, for a few brief seconds, it appeared Arthur had thrown away a guaranteed win by crossing the centerline boundary. A quick meeting of the starting line officials to check the tire tracks confirmed that Arthur had remained in his lane, (albeit not by many inches), and advanced to the final round. Although it wasn’t Mallicoat’s first loss in SCSS competition, it would be the first time since opening night on March 27th that already-crowned 2007 SCSS Season Champion Mallicoat would NOT be in the championship round!

Mallicoat had wasted an 8.70 at a coasting 146.88 mph; the 5.53/125.09 eighth-mile numbers indicated a probable 8.68 pass. Arthur, meanwhile had wisely lifted off the throttle and coasted to a 13.99/68.05 win. “I saw his redlight”, exclaimed Arthur after the run, “and then the car went crazy. I saw the centerline right out the window and I thought to myself, ’Don’t mess this up! Just get off the gas and take the win!’”.

In the trophy dash, however, Huff was not to be denied. While Arthur made changes to his nitrous oxide-injected bigblock to take advantage of the conditions, Huff and Silva performed simple between-rounds maintenance in front of the main grandstands in an attempt to simply win an event in 2007. Huff’s huge holeshot wasn’t even necessary when Arthur’s Camaro stumbled and Huff’s 8.88/150.95 final-round effort was more than enough to head for the winner’s ceremonies. Incredibly, it was the first win for the veteran in one year and one week. His last victory came on October 3rd, 2006, making this trip up the return road in front of the fans that much sweeter.

“Bill said it was probably hurt before the final”, said an obviously relieved Huff during trophy presentations, “so we didn’t dare lean on it against Ray. We just wanted to get to the finish line without something bad happening. We’ve dealt with that kind of stuff all year long. After the season we’ve had, we just wanted to win one. With this being the next-to-last event of the year, we knew we were running out of time!”.






NOTES FROM THE SCSS: The ambient temperature cooled down so quickly in the final hour of the event that a huge number of drivers recorded their best run on their very last pass; more than a few entries ran quick enough to have drastically changed the bump spot if qualifying had continued even another thirty minutes…Case in point: Danny Gortner’s 2000 Corvette ran a best of 12.69/113.27 during qualifying and then made the first pass of late timed trials at 11.83/122.11! He later ran 11.82/121.86…Steve Hetzler’s ‘95 Camaro improved from an official best of 11.96/117.67 to an timed trial effort of 11.73/119.81!…Tom Bantle, who has campaigned a variety of Chevy cars and trucks through all four years of SCSS racing, showed with a new smallblock-powered ‘78 Malibu. His best run during qualifying was a coasting 13.42/67.01 but returned in late timed trials to hit 10.78 at only 112.45!…Harold Swindle’s black ‘05 Saleen Mustang broke during qualifying but was repaired quickly enough for a career-best 11.89/112.72 timed trial. He came back at the very end of the night and ran 11.74/119.21!…Professional drag racing photographer Paul Rosner had been waiting for right atmospheric conditions to wring out his bone-stock 2005 Mustang with the sole addition of a Granatelli cold air system. He achieved his goal in late timed trials with a 12.99 at 106.74 mph. Look for a feature article in Race Pages soon…Isaac St. Clair’s ‘72 Chevelle went from an 11.61/114.30 best in qualifying to an 11.06/120.27 in timed trials!…Jack Nungester, still recovering from back surgery, jumped ahead of his son, Ben, in the point standings by qualifying his black ‘71 Camaro ninth without the aid of nitrous…One week after earning his first “Fastest Street Car Qualifer” decal, Kurt Borton of Mid-Coast Performance became the 140th member of the SCSS 120 MPH Club with a best-ever 11.42/120.75. He was followed by non-qualifiers Eldin Murotovic and Vahid Zulic, whose well-known ‘04 Cobra became the 150th machine in SCSS history over the 120 MPH mark…As far as the SCSS Record Archives show, there was another monumental moment to note form the event. St. Louisan Jim Shine qualified his hot pink 500-cubic inch Cadillac-powered 1934 Chevy roadster in the number eighty-three position with a 14.40/94.57 best. What’s so historic about that? On December 9th, Jim Shine will celebrate his 74th birthday, making him the oldest SCSS contestant yet…The quickest six-cylinder machine of the event was once again Brian Finnegan’s 2007 BMW 335i at 13.25/108.27. Interestingly, Chris Schultes entered another black ‘07 335i and ran 13.34/103.95!…The event featured the first-ever Faster Pastor Showdown which included priests, ministers, reverends and their congregations from all over the Bi-state area racing for a gigantic trophy. The battle included a variety of Church-owned busses and vans as well as runner-up Pastor Miles Bateman’s 2000 Mustang. The champion was Reverend Jim Walker who wheeled the ‘92 Ford van of the Hazelwood (MO) Baptist Church to the victory while his parishioners cheered in the stands and waved banners. Walker’s winner’s circle ceremonies included forty-five members of his congregation. We’re not making this up; it was nuts….Who would‘ve thought Greg “Hook-N-Ladder” Boschert would go back on his word and make yet another attempt to solve his electrical problems and get down the track in his 10.7-second ‘66 Mustang coupe? Well, he again failed miserably and Boschert’s 29.82-second, 69.95 mph run was officially slower than a church bus. He says…get this…he really knows what the problem is now! Any bets that he’ll figure it out next week at the last SCSS event of the season?




SX PERFORMANCE STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS (as of OCTOBER 10th, 2007)

Pos Points Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine

1 (36) Tim Mallicoat Collinsville IL 68 Camaro 565 Chevy
2 (29) Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 67 Camaro 496 Chevy
3 (24) Tony Huff Collinsville IL 66 Chevelle 510 Chevy
4 (17) Tony Buhl Lebanon IL 89 Mustang 306 Ford
5 (13) Allen Hannel Caseyville IL 86 S-10 383 Chevy
6 (11) Joe Williams Maryville IL 72 Nova 454 Chevy
7 (8) Adnan Omerovic St. Louis MO 95 Talon 122 Eagle
8 (8) Jack Nungester Arnold MO 71 Camaro 454 Chevy
9 (7) Ben Nungester Arnold MO 69 Camaro 400 Chevy
10 (7) Kevin Autenrieth Bethalto IL 91 S-10 434 Chevy
11 (6) Hal Marshall Collinsville IL 86 S-10 383 Chevy
12 (6) Steven Gentry Festus MO 65 Comet 557 Ford
13 (6) Philip Reichardt Festus MO 67 Camaro 350 Chevy

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.Ties are broken by (1) the earliest date upon which the final point total is earned, (2) quickest elapsed time recorded during the current SCSS season and (3) fastest speed recorded during the current SCSS season.

[Bret Kepner]

OCTOBER 9th, 2007 STLSR.COM SPORT TUNER SHOWDOWN FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Gary McClain, Barnhart, MO 2004 146 Neon SRT-4 0.591 13.514 104.85
RU Alen Topalovic, St. Louis, MO 2000 110 Civic Si 0.242 16.033 86.57

The next-to-last battle of the 2007 St. Louis Street Racing.com (http://www.stlsr.com/) Sport Tuner Showdown Series included a fair amount of history including two finalists in their first-ever championship match. It should be noted, however, that several machines quicker than those which met in the final round were in attendance but a variety of miscues kept them out of the battle for the trophy.

Adnan Omerovic’s HillCo Axles-sponsored turbocharged four-cylinder ‘95 Eagle Talon was once again the quickest qualifier at 10.56/135.13 but, for the second week in a row, problems after the first run kept the SCSS All-Wheel-Drive Record Holder in the pits. Patrick Jacobsmeyer, with whom Omerovic is tied for the most final round appearances in the history of the Sport Tuner Showdown, (eleven), made his first appearance of the 2007 season with his renowned white ‘91 Talon but stumbled during the official qualifying period with a best of 13.80/116.15. Although Jacobsmeyer wasn‘t quick enough to run in the final round, he continued to run in late timed trials and eventually clocked a 12.86/118.12! Then, there was the case of unheralded Eldin Murotovic. Driving a sleek black 2004 Neon SRT-4, the turbocharged MoPar four-cylinder hit a 12.29 at a whopping 120.98 mph to qualify second behind Omerovic. The Neon failed to appear in front of the main grandstands for the final round and was spotted pulling to the line during late timed trials. When stopped, the driver turned out to be a familiar face in the Tuner Showdown; nine-time finalist Justin Bondurant of JMB Performance opened the door and explained that he was only making a check-out pass for Murotovic and that he’d “probably better not run it in the Showdown”. Bondurant then proceeded to stage and run 11.88 at an ungodly 127.39 mph to make the Neon (unofficially) the second-fastest Front-Wheel-Drive vehicle in SCSS history!

Sandwiched between Omerovic, Murotovic and Jacobsmeyer were Alen Topalovic’s gorgeous 2000 Honda Civic Si, (13.26/106.87), and Gary McClain’s red ‘04 Neon SRT-4, (13.77/105.19), and, in the end, it was those third and fourth qualifiers who reported in front of the stands for the championship dash. Although Topalovic grabbed a massive quarter-second holeshot in the final, problems quickly set in and the 106 mph Honda slowed dramatically to allow McClain the win at a career-best 13.51 at 104.85 mph. The JMB Performance decals in the rear quarter windows hinted that Bondurant may have had a hand in McClain’s efforts, as well. “No! This is MY car! Justin had nothing to do with it!”, laughed McClain during trophy presentations. “Actually, I work at JMB. I’m responsible for much of the turbocharger and intercooler plumbing and fabrication. That’s really about all I’ve done to this one, too. It’s not very far from stock”.






OCTOBER 9th, 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 0.303 9.604 138.51
RU Allen Hannel, Caseyville, IL 1986 383 S-10 -0.059 (foul) 10.930 124.04

After insisting that he would install a 100 horsepower nitrous oxide “plate system” on his orange ‘91 S-10 before the end of the season, Kevin Autenreith finally added the new equipment and attended last Friday night’s test session at GIR. With a best of 10.09/133 from his Scott Shafiroff-built 434-inch smallblock, Autenreith blasted out a 9.40 at over 142 mph during the test. As he was loading up in preparation of the next GatewayRaceway.com (http://www.gatewayraceway.com) Super Truck Showdown event, Autenreith said, “I’ve got my eye on that new 9.27 ET record. I think we can get it now!“.

Autenrieth first joined the SCSS 9-Second and 130 MPH Clubs over three years ago. His S-10 pickup was equipped with a nitrous system when it debuted in the series and a 9.77/135.39 on September 28th, 2004, destroyed Dale Brand’s records of 10.54/128.60 at the time. With his new Nitrous Express system, he quickly returned to those performance numbers hitting a 9.57/139.86 in qualifying and making a late timed trial at 9.54/139.44. Allen Hannel ran out of nitrous bottle pressure during qualifying and hit an off-pace 10.97/125.52 for the second position. The rest of the field included Randy Christy, Jr.’s yellow ‘99 Dodge Dakota, (11.82/117.19), Tim Hamilton’s 2004 Dodge Ram SRT-10, (12.84/111.15), Justin Bondurant’s own ’05 Ram SRT-10, (13.03/115.54), and Doug Cossidosi’s ‘04 Ram 2500 Diesel, (13.26/104.35).

Although Hannel and partner Hal Marshall were able to refill their nitrous bottle before the final round, Hannel knew there was little hope to stay ahead of a nine-second opponent. An attempt at a holeshot ended with a redlight by fifty-nine thousandths of a second and his 10.93/124.04 would’ve offered little resistance against Autenreith’s 9.60/138.51. The Lowe Performance team was happy with the improvement despite the lack of a record to claim as their own. “It is only a 100 shot”, noted Autenreith, “so there’s a whole lot more potential there. It was spinning the tires a bit on the later runs so that may need some attention but, seriously, this thing should fly if we get good air next week!”.






Photos of the October 9th 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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Tony Huff, Collinsville, IL 1966 510 Chevelle

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Ray Arthur, Edwardsville, IL 1967 496 Camaro

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Gary McClain, Barnhart, MO 2004 146 Neon SRT-4

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Alen Topalovic, St. Louis, MO 2000 110 Civic Si

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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