Bret Kepner
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These results reflect the record holders, qualifiers, and final round contestants at each of the
Street Car Shootout Series events held in conjunction with the NHRA Drags Street Legal Style presented by the American Automobile Association 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 the two official qualifying or championship rounds. The first official Street Car Shootout qualifying period begins at 6:00 PM with sessions continuing until 9:00 PM, (barring unforeseen circumstances). At 9:20 PM, the four quickest qualifiers meet in no-handicap eliminations advancing two winners to the championship final round. Each of the Top 16 qualifiers receives a "Fastest Street Car Qualifier" decal. The SCSS trophies and decals are presented by Gateway Raceway.com. Additionally, the two quickest Sport Tuner drivers, (open to all passenger cars except Rear-Wheel-Drive vehicles with engines of eight 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 St. Louis Drag Racing.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
2009 STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES TRACK RECORDS
Class Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine ET MPH Date
RWD Steve George, Arnold, MO 71 Nova 634 Chevy 7.648 03/30/2010
RWD Mark Woodruff, Arnold, MO 67 Corvette 565 Chevy 186.61 04/20/2010
TRK Kevin Autenrieth, Bethalto, IL 91 S-10 434 Chevy 8.881 09/15/2009
TRK Kevin Autenrieth, Bethalto, IL 91 S-10 434 Chevy 150.73 09/15/2009
4CYL Jon Huber, St. Louis, MO 79 Mustang 178 Ford 9.039 10/14/2008
4CYL Jon Huber, St. Louis, MO 79 Mustang 178 Ford 152.16 10/16/2007
6CYL Tony Shoaff, Mechanicsburg, IL 87 Regal 231 Buick 9.667 10/06/2009
6CYL Tony Shoaff, Mechanicsburg, IL 87 Regal 231 Buick 139.63 10/06/2009
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 141.50 7/22/2008
FWD Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, MO 85 Golf 123 Volks 10.989 05/06/2008
FWD Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, MO 85 Golf 123 Volks 134.87 05/06/2008
MAY 4th, 2010 STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES QUALIFIERS
Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine ET MPH Date
EVENT 06 05/04/2010
1 Daryl Jauernig St. Genevieve MO 89 Mustang 351 Ford 8.392 167.91
2 Shane Cochran St. Louis MO 71 Camaro 509 Chevy 9.152 146.37
3 David Perry Imperial MO 89 Mustang 427 Ford 9.421 141.88
4 Orson Johnson House Springs MO 99 Mustang 281 Ford 9.497 172.83
5 Philip Carl Winfield MO 91 Mustang 302 Ford 9.567 149.86
6 Jon Huber St. Louis MO 79 Mustang 178 Ford 9.643 138.87
7 Mark Long, Sr. Caseyville IL 75 Firebird 505 Chevy 9.761 140.56
8 Tim Kirkpatrick Troy MO 88 Mustang 393 Ford 9.792 143.78
9 Curtis Paulfrey Brighton IL 68 Camaro 502 Chevy 9.932 136.48
10 Brett Heidgerken Decatur IL 67 Chevelle 505 Chevy 10.075 133.38
11 Corey Stephens Wentzville MO 88 Mustang 372 Ford 10.154 134.77
12 Jeff Cannon Alton IL 69 Chevelle 540 Chevy 10.225 133.91
13 Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 93 S-10 355 Chevy 10.254 144.89
14 Andrew Rhodes Hannibal MO 82 S-10 406 Chevy 10.260 130.85
15 Ty Johnson Jerseyville IL 72 Camaro 489 Chevy 10.300 129.39
16 Mike Donnel Decatur IL 71 Camaro 540 Chevy 10.384 131.46
MAY 4th, 2010 STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES FINAL ROUND
Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH
W Daryl Jauernig, Ste. Genevieve, MO 1989 351 Mustang 0.253 8.705 163.45
RU Shane Cochran, St. Louis, MO 1971 509 Camaro 0.001 9.163 145.99
Daryl Jauernig scored his third victory of the 2010 season to move back into the season championship point lead in the Street Car Shootout Series held in conjunction with the NHRA Drags Street Legal Style presented by the American Automobile Association at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Illinois. Although he had experienced nothing but problems and frustration since his last win on April 13th, the intrepid Ford pilot dominated the quickest SCSS field ever assembled en route to the trophy.
From start to finish, it was a wild event. An amazing field of over two hundred racers, witnessed by the largest spectator crowd of the season, created an all-time record “bump spot” for the Super Sixteen field but unavoidable delays, including a thirty-minute period during which paramedics tended a staging lane injury, held the huge turnout to only two qualifying sessions. While the lack of track time was definitely a detriment, (although late timed trials continued for two hours following qualifying), every racer was afforded at least one qualifying attempt and the majority of SCSS competitors got two shots at the field. Considering it took a pass of 10.38 seconds to qualify under those restrictive circumstances, one could only wonder just how quick the field could have been with three qualifying periods!
Although atmospheric conditions were not remarkable, (the corrected elevation under clear skies ranged from 1975 feet above sea level to 1177 feet), the racing surface was in exceptional shape after five consecutive days of racing beginning with the NHRA AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals and continuing through two more days of testing by over four dozen professional NHRA teams, several of whom remained to make runs during the SCSS program. The best of those passes found drag racing’s quickest and fastest female, five-time NHRA champion Melanie Troxel, wheeling the Pro Modified 1963 Corvette Stingray of Roger Burgess to a blast of 6.00 seconds at 243.91 miles per hour! The event, the first SCSS program since April 20th since NHRA rules forbid local races during the week preceding a national event, was truly a spectator‘s bargain for the $10 admission!
No less than five SCSS machines dipped under ten seconds in the first qualifying session. Orson “O.J.” Johnson, whose turbocharged, modular-motored red ’99 Mustang convertible remains in National Mustang Racers Association Drag Radial Eliminator trim, made enough power to briefly lose traction but recovered to a 9.49 at an incredible 172.83 miles per hour! David Perry’s twin-turbocharged 427-inch Windsor-powered pale green ‘89 Mustang notchback bettered Johnson only minutes later with a coasting 9.43/134.11 effort which included an amazing 132.35 mph eighth-mile speed. All eyes were on Daryl Jauernig, (pronounced “journey”), for his first qualifying shot and his nitrous oxide-injected smallblock ’88 Mustang of “Dirty D” also found traction difficulties before “pedaling” the throttle to an off-pace 9.55 at a booming 166.44 mph. The fourth quickest pass of the session came from SCSS Four-Cylinder Record Holder Jon Huber, whose legendary turbocharged 178-cubic inch silver ’79 Mustang made its first appearance of the season and shot to a wild 9.64/138.87.
The second qualifying session began with April 6th SCSS runner-up Shane Cochran covering the first sixty feet in just 1.29 seconds while clocking an exceptional 9.15/146.37 in his naturally-aspirated 509-inch ‘71 Camaro to steal the pole position. However, Cochran’s stay at the top of the field lasted only two minutes; Jauernig returned with revised chassis settings and launched with an astounding 1.215-second sixty-feet elapsed time, (the quickest ever recorded on D.O.T. tires in the SCSS), a 5.38/133.34 eighth-mile and a booming 8.39 at 167.91 mph! No less than seven more entries clocked runs under ten seconds but none could top Johnson’s first-round effort of 9.49 seconds. In fact, Johnson ran into electrical problems on his second shot and could manage only a 10.62/146.45. Perry took a second pass and improved slightly with a consistent 9.42/141.88.
One driver who did not make a pass in the first qualifying session was SCSS Elapsed Time Record Holder Steve George, whose Induction Solutions/Steve Schmidt Racing Engines ’71 Nova was the most recent winner in the series on April 20th. The 634-inch nitrous-injected monster, which had posted two seven-second runs in the 2010 season including an incredible 7.64 on March 30th, rolled through the water box in the left lane for its only attempt to make the Super Sixteen field and socked in the GIR starting line with an incredible smokey burnout. At first, experienced fans noticed the tire-heating exercise was far stronger than the usual burnouts by the black 3,300-pound Chevy. As the car crossed the starting line under full power during the burnout, it was obvious something was amiss. While the smoke show was spectacular, the Nova began drifting toward the left wall while under power and George immediately got on the brakes hard. The front tires locked but, despite George cranking the steering wheel to the right as hard as he could, the car headed into the concrete retaining wall with the left front fender leading the way. Amazingly, George got the throttle unstuck just before making contact and substantially diminished the damage. The machine‘s Dan Newman Race Cars chassis emerged unscathed but the SCSS record-holding Chevy will require some body work and a new left headlight/turn signal assembly before its next venture in competition.
All four of the top qualifiers reported for eliminations and, with Steve George never even making a qualifying attempt, Jauernig remained the class of the field. “Dirty D” drew concern from his friends and crew, however, by insisting his Mustang needed even more chassis and shock adjustments prior to the first round of eliminations. “It needs a few more turns in the rear”, said Jauernig in relation to the Mustang’s current shock settings, “and I just know it’ll pick up if I make the change”. While Jauernig and crew poured over the nitrous Ford, he reluctantly agreed to ”leave it alone” for his first match against Perry, whose Chris Watkins-tuned IRT Performance notchback seemed to be gaining strength. Jauernig launched to a monstrous holeshot of almost three-tenths of a second and streaked to a 1.228 “sixty”. Amazingly, Perry’s Mustang was holding its own against Jauernig with a 1.33 “sixty” of its own and a stunning 5.51/123.05 eighth-mile alongside the black Mustang’s 5.42/133.32. Perry lifted off the gas pedal before the finish line, however, to record a coasting career-best elapsed time of 9.09 seconds at only 120.19 mph against Jauernig’s shut-off 8.48/151.92.
In the other semi-final battle, Cochran was feeling the pressure of being the only General Motors entry and the lone naturally-aspirated rig, to boot. Alongside the always unpredictable turbo’d Ford of “O.J.” Johnson, Cochran knew the troubled ragtop Mustang could “come alive” at any moment and crewchief Paul Schoelich felt the Lo Pro Race Cars Mustang was cured of its traction woes. On the starting line, Johnson staged the Ford just a bit deeper than normal and brought the RPM up for the launch only to leave eighty-seven thousandths of a second too soon. Despite the redlight start, Johnson thundered to an 8.75 at an even faster 172.85 mph while Cochran maintained his steady pace with a 9.17/145.69. “We really need to change the SCSS to a Pro Start”, joked Johnson after the foul. “I wouldn’t have gone red if we were running on a Pro Tree!“.
As the finalists made their preparations in front of the main grandstands, Jauernig once again wanted to change the chassis settings on his Mustang despite two nearly perfect runs. Once again, he was talked out of the drastic revisions by his following and lined up against Cochran with the car unchanged from its two low eight-second runs. However, in a flash, everything changed for the Ford pilot in the season’s fourth consecutive FoMoCo-versus-General Motors final round. Instantly, Jauernig found himself at a quarter-second deficit when Cochran pounded Jauernig with a nearly perfect 0.001 Reaction Time! Then, Jauernig found himself gaining no ground when both machines covered the first sixty feet in 1.29 seconds! At the 330-feet mark, Jauernig was behind the Camaro by 12.98 feet and, then, it happened. Jauernig felt the rear tires break loose and held on as the black Mustang headed for the retaining wall! He lifted off the throttle to reposition the car and then had to get back on the gas and re-arm the nitrous oxide system to give chase to the fleeing Chevy. At half-track, Cochran was still ahead by 4.88 feet but Jauernig finally found both traction and horsepower and marched ahead. The Ford was in front at the thousand-feet mark by 14.59 feet and crossed the quarter-mile finish line ahead by 49.84 feet, 8.70/163.45 to 9.16/145.99.
“I sure hope people realize just how close that race really was!”, said an exasperated Jauernig during the trophy presentation of his sixth SCSS title which leaves him third on the All-Time Winner‘s list. “I wasn’t ahead of him until past half-track! The car hooked well off the line but these street-legal tires have a tendency to spin farther down track and that’s what it did. It didn’t help that he had that ‘double-oh one’ light on me but I’ve learned, if the car is out of shape, you get out of the throttle and straighten it back up. The problem was that my nitrous switch is automatic and, when I lifted, I had to re-arm the system so it would come back on. So, I was in there with my arms flyin’ all around trying to get it straight, get the nitrous back on and still try to catch him…and I just barely did. I only won by two tenths, man! Still, the car ran really well and the next step is to run two nitrous systems on it and really make some power. The guys at Mustang Muscle have always been a part of my team and we’re going to get this car sorted out with two systems. Let’s face it; 8.30s may not cut it much longer in this series and we’ve got twenty-four events to go. We need to get faster…real soon!”.
NOTES FROM THE SCSS: Along with being the quickest SCSS Super Sixteen field ever, the event featured another extremely diverse field made up of seven Fords, eight Chevrolets and the Pontiac of Mark Long, Sr., whose gorgeous blue 505-inch ‘75 Trans Am qualified seventh and became the forty-first member of the SCSS 140 MPH Club and the sixty-fourth member in the 9-Second Club...Although the bump spot was a new record, the average elapsed time and speed for the field was 9.80/142.32, slower than the record 9.54/143.55 average from the September 18th, 2007 event...Philip Carl and chassis builder Dustin Kurz’s continue to improve with their Winfield, Missouri-based MD Performance 393-inch ‘91 Mustang. This week, they qualified fifth with a tremendous 9.56 at 149.86 mph to become the forty-first team in the 140 MPH Club…Past SCSS event finalist Tim “Kirko” Kirkpatrick returned to competition with his green-and flamed 393-inch MD Performance-backed ‘88 Mustang qualifying eighth with a 9.79/143.78 which found Kirko’s new fiberglass hood sailing as high as the finish line scoreboards! He took it in stride and made a late timed trial, (minus hood), and improved to a 9.53/143.80!…Curtis Paulfrey, the second-place SCSS point earner in 2009, pushed his 511-inch, naturally-aspirated Winner’s Circle Tire and Auto yellow ’68 Camaro to a 9.93/126.48 career-best while qualifying ninth…The event win by Daryl “Dirty D“ Jauernig put him back in a tie for points scored in the 2010 SCSS Championship but, under the rules of the series, any position tied is given to the quickest competitor. Therefore, “D“ is technically leading the chase over Ray Arthur, whose R&R Towing-sponsored “S-10 Revenge” nitrous-aided ‘93 S-10 pickup ran 10.25/144.89 to qualify thirteenth…Arthur is the only driver other than Corey Stephens to have qualified for all six SCSS events in 2010. Stephens‘ blue Fessler Racing Engines/Midwest Trailers nitrous-aided 372-inch ‘88 Mustang made the show in eleventh with a career-best 10.15/134.77...Jeff Cannon also ran his best numbers yet in his 540-inch yellow ‘69 Chevelle while qualifying twelfth at 10.22/133.91...Andy Rhodes pushed his immaculate nitrous-assisted small block-powered ‘82 S-10 pickup to a best-ever 10.26/130.85 to qualify fourteenth and become the one hundred fifty-fifth member of the 10-Second Club and the eighty-ninth in the 130 MPH Club…Ty Johnson‘s slick 489-inch silver ‘72 Camaro only made one run but it got into the Super Sixteen with a best-yet 10.30/129.39 making him 10-Second Club Member #166 and 120 MPH Club entry #262...Two of the toughest racers in SCSS competition, Brett Heidgerken and Mike Donnel, made the trek from Decatur, Illinois, and both qualified in the field. Heidgerken, whose 505-inch nitrous-fed maroon ‘67 Chevelle recorded the first eight-second SCSS run back on October 11th, 2005, and Donnel, whose nitrous 540-inch pink ‘71 Camaro has run as quick as 8.89/150.35, both run E85 ethanol fuel and both had less than representative efforts during qualifying but it‘s always a show when the Decatur Gang makes an appearance. In late timed trials, Heidgerken improved to a 9.80/139.80, (with a 0.005 RT!), while Donnel shut-off to a 10.99/86.12 but clocked a drastically-improved 6.23/107.58 eighth-mile with a 1.37 “sixty“…Matt Furfaro’s 408-inch black ’89 Mustang ran a 10.52 career-best at 128.13 mph but became the quickest non-qualifer in SCSS history by ending seventeenth on the final list!…Darrian Hickman’s 346-inch ‘99 Camaro ran 10.59/132.40, both career bests by miles, and became 130 MPH Club member number ninety yet failed to qualify!…Danny Kincaid’s ’85 206 Mustang hit 10.67/125.62 and didn’t get in…What was five-time SCSS finalist Phil Reichardt, the pilot of the fastest smallblock Chevy in SCSS history, doing in an ’88 306 Mustang? He was running 10.68/125.95 and failing to qualify! He did become the one hundred fifty-eighth member of the 10-Second Club and the two hundred sixty-third entry in the 120 MPH Club, though…More than a dozen St. Louis area Corvette owners appeared on the worst possible night for a gathering. The packed staging lanes kept their runs to a minimum but it was still nice to see a fleet of the great-running machines. The quickest of the group was current SCSS point contender Mark Yehling’s all-white ’97 Corvette at 12.16/113.86 but Tim Grus pushed his 2007 version to a 12.22 at a booming 127.56 mph!…Erik Lipka jumped behind the wheel of his dad’s well-known twelve-second 2002 Z28 and won High School Eliminator in his first try defeating past High School season champ Matt Gosch and his eleven-second ’83 Buick Regal station wagon. Lipka was racing for Fort Zummwalt West (MO) High while Gosch competed for Bunker Hill (IL) High…Remember the completely revised 2010 Gateway International Raceway Rules and Regulations are available at St. Louis Drag Racing.com by clicking HERE.
2010 STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS (Top 10 of 56 as of MAY 5th, 2010)
Pos Points Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine
1 (36) Daryl Jauernig St. Genevieve MO 89 Mustang 351 Ford
2 (36) Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 93 S-10 355 Chevy
3 (31) Corey Stephens Wentzville MO 88 Mustang 372 Ford
4 (19) Shane Cochran St. Louis MO 71 Camaro 509 Chevy
5 (18) Matt Martin St. Louis MO 86 Mustang 302 Ford
6 (17) David Perry Imperial MO 89 Mustang 427 Ford
7 (15) Mark Yehling Granite City IL 97 Corvette 346 Chevy
8 (15) Steve George Arnold MO 71 Nova 634 Chevy
9 (15) David Bross Wentzville MO 04 Mustang 281 Ford
10 (15) Ralph Dehne Red Bud IL 63 Impala 409 Chevy
11 (15) Greg Boschert St. Louis MO 66 Mustang 333 Ford
NOTE: Points toward the 2010 Street Car Shootout Series Season Championship are awarded on the basis of five (5) points for qualifying in the Super Sixteen field with one (1) bonus point awarded for qualifying in the top four positions. One (1) additional point is earned for each round win during eliminations. 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.
MAY 4th, 2010 STLSR.COM SPORT TUNER SHOWDOWN FINAL ROUND
Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH
W Brian Detert, St. Louis, MO 2005 195 Crossfire 0.156 12.166 113.99
RU Rene Lupercio, Springfield, IL 1994 110 Integra 0.053 14.445 93.70
Brian Detert, one of the most impressive new competitors during the 2009 season, returned to dominance in the St. Louis Street Racing.com Sport Tuner Showdown. At the wheel of one of the most unusual entries in the Tuner division, Detert appeared in five final rounds last season while scoring two event titles but his wild Chrysler Crossfire suffered problems in his last win on September 29th, 2009. He came back with a vengeance, however, and took his first win of the new season in his first night back in the seat.
It was Jon Huber, the undisputed King of Four-Cylinder Street Cars, who led the qualified field with a tremendous 9.64/138.87 from his amazing turbocharged 178-cubic inch silver ’79 Mustang but the flagship of the Huber Performance team ran into problems on subsequent runs and retired from racing before the qualifiers were ever called to the staging area. Detert’s supercharged 195-cubic inch six-cylinder silver 2005 Chrysler Crossfire, also a rear-wheel-drive entry, had qualified second with a 12.08/114.54 but assumed the favorite’s role after Huber’s retirement. The rest of the very quick top five qualifiers included Ernie Williams in his white rotary-powered ’89 Mazda RX7, (the best Wankel runs of the season at 12.57 and a best-ever 115.68 mph), Admir Sepic’s turbocharged all-wheel-drive ’91 Eagle Talon, (a career-best 12.92/112.34), and April 20th Tuner Showdown winner Rene Lupercio, whose turbocharged red ‘94 Acura Integra was running off-pace with a best of 12.95/113.74.
Surprisingly, Williams and Sepic also failed to report in front of the main grandstands for eliminations and Lupercio found himself in a second consecutive final round. Since Detert had not raced in 2010, it took a few friends to warn him of Lupercio’s 12.2-second pace only two weeks earlier. In fact, the Springfield, Illinois, Acura driver padded his odds by strapping a tenth-of-a-second holeshot on the Chrysler but obvious shifting problems ended the race before the 330-feet mark. Detert’s MoPar scored a 12.16/113.99 victory to Lupercio’s slowing 14.44/93.70.
“I was looking good off the line but it was all over at the one-two shift!”, chuckled Lupercio, who admitted that the gear change problem was purely driver error and blew any chance he might have had to take a holeshot-aided win. For Detert, it was a relief just to get a few good runs under his belt. “After the win in September, I took it home and started to take it apart”, recalled Detert during trophy presentations in front of the main grandstands. “When I left the track the last time, it had a strange ticking sound coming from the rear and, when I tore it down, found the pinion bound up against the rearend case. It had started galling the pinion itself so it had to be replaced and the geometry problem had to be corrected. After that, it was just a matter of freshening it up. I didn’t replace any other parts or make any changes and it ran almost exactly what it did last year. That takes a lot off my mind because now I really can make adjustments from this point and know the rest of the car is back to normal. It’s good to come back winning again, too!”.
MAY 4th, 2010 ST. LOUIS DRAG RACING.COM SUPER TRUCK SHOWDOWN FINAL ROUND
Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH
W Raymond Arthur, Edwardsville, IL 1993 355 S-10 1.053 8.901 142.46
RU Andrew Rhodes, Hannibal, MO 1992 406 S-10 -0.235 (foul) 10.256 130.89
Ray Arthur has earned more “Fastest Street Car Qualifier” decals than any person alive; he’s up to sixty-six of them, (and counting), out of one hundred twenty-nine completed SCSS events. After attending the vast majority of GIR’s Tuesday night events and appearing in nineteen final rounds, one would think it takes quite a bit to surprise Ray Arthur. In his twentieth final round on his way to his fifth win in the St. Louis Drag Racing.com Super Truck Showdown, Ray Arthur got the surprise of his life.
So far, Ray has endured a strange season. Although he won the first two SCSS titles of the year, his well-known “Suspicion” eight-second ‘67 Camaro suffered damage and was parked while the engine was rebuilt. He has been in the season championship point lead twice and has qualified for every event held in 2010 including a night during which he had pneumonia and disobeyed doctor’s orders by going to the track to make a qualifying run just to gain the points for making the field. While the Camaro has been out of action, his trusty b]R&R Towing[/b]-sponsored “S-10 Revenge” nitrous-aided 355-inch ‘93 S-10 pickup has managed to hold its own in both SCSS and Super Truck Showdown competition. Arthur ran an easy 10.25/144.89 without the aid of nitrous to lead the Super Truck field but was surprised to see Andy Rhodes, who earned his first Truck trophy on March 30th, clock a 10.26/130.85 to qualify right behind him. The rest of the top five qualifiers included Rhodes’ good friend, (and runner-up on March 30th), Gary Nichelson and his smallblock-powered powder blue ’70 C-10, (11.35/115.74), the amazing 6.1L Hemi-powered silver 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 of Andy Strauss, (11.93/113.26), and past Super Truck finalist Joe Patzius and his wheelstanding 355-powered ’85 Blazer, (12.22/111.70).
When Arthur and Rhodes were called to report for the final round, nobody could deny it would be a battle between two of the most beautiful machines in SCSS racing. While both trucks are completely licensed and street-driven, each also carries an exquisite paint scheme and a full interior complete with custom-stitched upholstery. Both are also fast and Ray Arthur knew he’d need to “hit the button” against Rhodes in the title bout. Rhodes, meanwhile, was already “spraying” his small block to 10.20s and knew his only chance was a holeshot. Rhodes pushed the ’Tree and came up thirteen thousandths of a second short. Ray Arthur saw the redlight but then…well, Ray related the run in the winner’s circle.
“I’m pretty sure I saw him redlight and I think I hesitated because I knew it was over but I was committed, mentally, anyway, to using the nitrous right off the line. I hit it and it launched like a rocket. I think it was such a hard launch that it made me forget that he redlighted and, all of a sudden, I was waaaay behind this guy. So I legged it on the ’juice’ all the way and I swear it didn’t look like I was gonna catch him. I was mad at myself for letting him get so far out there. I forgot completely about the redlight. So, I’m reeling him in and it looks like I might catch him and, all of a sudden, the shift light comes on about a second earlier than it normally does before the finish line. Now, I’m looking around to see what’s wrong; the shift light shouldn’t be on this soon. I start getting worried that I’m gonna kill the motor or something so, about a hundred feet before the finish line, I get off the throttle and coast across the line and I just have enough time to look over at him and I think I got there first. I looked up and saw the win light and realized I won. I pulled the truck off at the top end and it was still running and sounded fine, so I drove it back here in front of the stands“.
At that point, Ray was greeted by several of his friends and fans who were, in Ray‘s words, “whoopin’ and hollerin’ and goin’ nuts!”. Ray had no idea why everybody was so excited but figured it must be because of the close race; he only crossed the finish line 60.86 feet ahead of Rhodes’ 10.25/130.89. “I opened the door”, Ray recounted, “and ’Moose’ Mallicoat is going crazy. He says, ’Look at your time slip!’ so I picked it up and looked. I couldn’t believe it!”.
What Ray couldn’t believe was a timeslip which showed an 8.90-second elapsed time at a coasting 142.46 miles per hour…a run quicker than his career-best in the “Suspicion” Camaro and only the second eight-second run in Super Truck Showdown history behind record holder Kevin Autenrieth. “I didn’t get Kevin’s record so he won’t be mad at me”, laughed Ray, “but it was just one of those runs which came out of nowhere. Everything worked, everything held together and everything was just awesome!”.
Photos of the May 4th Street Car Shootout Series event are now available for viewing at Bret Kepner Photos.com.
Daryl Jauernig, Ste. Genevieve, MO 1989 351 Mustang
Shane Cochran, St. Louis, MO 1971 509 Camaro
Brian Detert, Maplewood, MO 2005 195 Crossfire
Rene Lupercio, Springfield, IL 2000 110 Integra
Ray Arthur, Edwardsville, IL 1992 355 S-10
Andrew Rhodes, Hannibal, MO 1992 406 S-10