PSCA Racing.com

Blower Tops PSCA Pro Street Field but Turbos Prevail

Story by Eric Lenore & PSCA / Photo's by Paul Schmitz

It's the middle of May in southern California and one would expect the weather to be slightly overcast with temperatures in the low-to-mid '70s for the Borla Performance sponsored California Nationals at Cal Dragway. Not the case last weekend as triple digits temperatures and an unrelenting sun gave the racers of the PSCA fits. Parts breakage and between round thrashes were more prevalent than usual as the difficult racing surface and extreme heat took their toll.

For the first time this season a blower car topped the Hughes Performance Pro Street qualifying field. Bob Griffith in the 2001 Viper was able navigate the tough conditions as his crew detuned the car to a 6.61 @ 216 MPH to grab the number one spot. Although the car has been very consistent, the team was plagued by parts failures that likely dated back to the last race in Vegas when a dead cylinder resulted in unexpected detonation. A bent wrist pin and collapsed ring lands warranted the replacement of two complete rod/pistons following the Friday night test session. Also struggling with mechanical problems was current point's leader John Mihovetz who was able to salvage a 6.70 @ 219 MPH during qualifying to secure the #2 spot. The Vegas race also seemed to take its toll on both Team Accufab cars as the Cougar required new cylinder heads while the 57 Chevy driven by Ed Thornton essentially had to start from ground zero after failing to pull the chutes the entire weekend in Vegas. Welder extraordinaire Jeremy Hanger and his Dad Jerry put their Jerry's Transmission Studebaker in the #3 spot with a 6.72 @ 213 MPH. Some recent assistance from their good Friends Chuck and Del Worsham yielded marked improvements in the blower and chassis department. "This deal is for my family to go out and have fun and this new found performance is helping us do that" said crew chief and owner Jerry Hanger. The newly formed team of Hairston Motorsports and Bowman Motorsports secured the fourth and fifth positions respectively, with less than stellar performance as compared to their typical runs. The balance of the field included standouts such as Ed Thornton, Randy Hagerty, Giuseppe Gentile and Kelly Bluebaugh (all who were victims of the track and weather conditions).

Clint Hairston qualified 4th (6.882) but fell victim to Gentile in round one...

A very forgetful weekend for Jay Syvertson, blower belt problems during qualifying and a 1st round brush with the wall topped off the elimination's...

The current ET Record holder Giuseppe Gentile, couldn't find the magic like he had in Vegas and never posted a 6-sec time slip...

Simi Valley's Art Hodges is getting closer with his new nitrous powered Status.. A 6.859 was the 2nd quickest losing time in round one...

Randy Hagerty only had one qualifying attempt, and came up short against Mike Bowman in the 1st round of eliminations...

Las Vegas Nationals Winner Kelly Bluebuagh had cylinder head trouble that kept him from making a qualifying pass...

Eliminations started off with a bang as the #1 qualifier Bob Griffith in the sleek Viper faced off against Vegas winner Kelly Bluebaugh in the Autotrader sponsored nitrous snorting Monte Carlo. Both cars encountered parts failures throughout the weekend but none of that mattered now as the two pulled up to the line for a blower vs. nitrous war in round one. Griffith took a small .004 starting line advantage but the two were nearly even at all the incrementals. The Viper nosed out the Monte Carlo in the lights with a 6.596 to a losing 6.599 (a total margin of victory of less than .008 of a second). This had to be one of the closest side-by side runs in PSCA Pro Street History. Jeremy Hanger continued to impress as he hit the jackpot with an evil 6.666 @ 213 MPH to send Art Hodges and his Hemi powered nitrous combination home early. John Mihovetz got past the screw blower combination of Jay Syvertson with a slightly off the pace 6.72 @ 216 MPH as Jay got out of the groove and glanced the wall Current record holders Thornton and Gentile also advanced to round two with less than spectacular runs. Hanger's consistency continued in round two as he used a 6.71 to take out Gentile who overpowered the track and was forced to shut off early. Mihovetz was the victor in a pedal fest against Mike Bowman and was able to advance with a 6.91 at a mere 179 MPH. On the other side of the ladder, Ed Thornton prevailed in a humorous round against Bob Griffith who pulled his daily driven 2008 Viper street car to the line in place of the wounded 2001 race Viper that broke a rod during its previous round win.

In one of the greatest side by side races in PSCA Pro Street history, Bob Griffith (far) and Kelly Bluebaugh were door handle to door handle down the entire 1320 (6.596 to a 6.599)

Mike Bowman had a great .447 light against Mihovetz in the 2nd round, but could not keep the power planted to the racing surface....

Thornton received a competition bye into the final to face the winner of the other semi final match-up between Mihovetz and Hanger. Instead of saving parts, the '57 rocketed down the quarter mile for its best ET of the weekend (a 6.658 at a record breaking 229.20 miles per hour). The question from the other semi final round was whether Hanger could continue to improve and take out the point's leader (who at this point was struggling with hurt cylinder heads and water in the oil)? A last minute thrash by Mihovetz and his team to put together a new set of heads just days before the race had everyone concerned about the susceptibility of unproven parts. Nevertheless John and the crew got it done and were now in the semis (although at this point they decided to drain all the water from the engine and run it dry). Hanger likely had the performance advantage given Accufab's problems but Mihovetz gained over a tenth at the starting line and ran his quickest pass of the weekend with a 6.69 @ 208 to take out a slowing 6.79 @ 212 for Hanger.

Hanger had one of the most consistent cars of the weekend....

This set up yet another all Accufab final between 4-time Pro Street Champion Ed Thornton and current ET record holder John Mihovetz. The teams were both relieved to be in the finals but mechanical problems for the Yellow team were only getting worse. Piston ring tension had nearly gone away in the Cougar and igniting the charge with a weak battery and starter were proving impossible. In an amazingly well choreographed final, both teams were in communication via headsets and cell phones as the Black Team pulled up to the line. The Yellow crew started way down pit lane towing the Cougar as fast as possible in order to "Pull" start the car. John dumped the clutch and the little mod motor that could fired to life. Probably breaking the 15 MPH speed limits in the pits John was able to pull into the water box beside the '57 and both performed their burnouts. When the tree came down, the Cougar (which sounded sick as a dog on the burnout) leapt in front of the big '57 as Mihovetz struggled to stay in his lane. Thornton was so certain Mihovetz' parts spewing mount was coming into his lane, he was forced to pedal the throttle for an instant and that was all it took. Even with a hard charging 227.00 to 216.90 speed advantage, Thornton could not overtake his teammate and crossed the finish line with a losing 6.630 to Mihovetz low ET of the meet 6.509. As consolation Thornton did set the speed record as his 227.00 mph speed was just faster than the required 226.91 for the record to be valid.

Thornton breaks 2 year old MPH record (229.20)

Mihovetz defiantly earned his 2nd win on 2008!!!

Borla performance Xtreeme Drag Radial has become one of the most exciting classes in all of the PSCA. The spec tire (a 12-inch wide DOT drag radial) is the equalizer giving many racers fits in the heat. The tire appears to be extremely fast on tight cool racing surfaces but has proven to be tricky to master on hot marginal tracks. Since the conditions were more indicative of the ladder description, nearly every XDR competitor struggled with the imbalance between power and traction at Fontana over the weekend. After winning the first two races of the season, Matt Schmidt appeared to be the most comfortable racer on the new tire. However, this was the first race where conditions were hot with track temps reaching the 150's. In Qualifying, Matt Schmidt was no were to be found as he uncharacteristically qualified near the bottom of the nine car field.

Bobby Frye qualified 5th, but lost 1st round to Dunaway...

Simi Valley's Bill Dunaway always seems to go rounds!!!

Walt Brock ran the second quickest ET (8.384) in the 1st round, unfortunately for him, his opponent Scott ran the quickest (8.192)...

Taking the pole was Steven Short in his wicked twin turbo '96 Mustang with a track limited 8.24 @ 185 MPH. Short's Pro Radial Racing team has engaged the services of Turbo People's Job Spetter Jr. and has made strong progress towards consistency and longevity with the new combination. Short has set many record marks in Wild Street and is looking to rewrite the record book in XDR as well. Hoping to reign in the turbo contingent was the #2 qualifier Scott Oksas in his 90 Mustang powered by a sbf on nitrous. With guidance from people like Pettis Performance, Mike's Transmission, Hickock Race Cars, Brandt Racing and his crew (Johnboy, Tory, Tim and Bryan), Oksas has really stepped up the program for 2008. Scott's car is also one of the most visually stunning in the class with amazing candy red flames against a deep black backdrop. Slim Zeinaty put his small block nitrous combination powered by an AES Racing Engines small block in the third position with an 8.43 @ 167. Slim's pit is always buzzing with activity as he and teammate Rick Snavely are constantly testing the limitations these incredible yellow machines. This class is overloaded with former champions including the #4 qualifier Roger Holder who won both the Xtreeme Street Championship in 2007 as well as the SCSN III XDR class last year at Vegas. Holder, who has run in the 7.60 zone, struggled with the track as his Chuck Robert Nitrous tuned Nova simply overpowered the track and could only muster an 8.51 @ 175 MPH. Rounding out the top five was yet another former champion, Bobby Frye with an off the pace 8.67 @ 156 MPH. Frye and his crew chief, Rick Snavely, have won several PSCA championship and even won Orlando's drag radial class in 2003.

2007 Xtreeme Street Champion Roger Holder continues to struggle with the new chassis

The V6 powered Buick of Manny Bogosian will be a player in XDR as soon as he gets a little more track time with the Regal...

Steven Short qualified #1 and would have been in the finals, but a costly "Towing to the scales " infraction cost him a semi final win

As elimination's in XDR began, things got ugly fast. Former Real Street Champion and one of the premier drivers in the PSCA, Matt Schmidt, gave everyone a real scare when his '66 Nova (one that he has owned for over 25 years) lost traction and took a sudden hard right turn into the right side barrier. The impact was severe and lead to a fuel explosion in the forward mounted fuel cell. Matt has always maintained control of his race car but on this occasion he was just along for the ride. The fortunate outcome was that Matt was essentially unhurt. As Matt stated to me on the phone, he is touched by the outpouring of concern and prayers from all his extended PSCA family. Unfortunately, the car did not fare so well and will require extensive repair. Matt has always been a racer's racer and we have all enjoyed watching him race. We hope that Matt and his family decide to rebuild and bring back the famous blue Nova that has terrorized the west coast for so many years

Matt Schmidt never did get a handle on the hot track by qualifying 8th (His worst starting spot of the 2008 season)

After Matt hit the wall!! Thankfully Matt is OK!!!

As competition continued, Slim Zeinaty was able to advance following Matt's unfortunate incident. Also advancing were Steven Short, Bill Dunaway, Scott Oksas and Roger Holder. In the second round Short and Zeinaty used their pedal fest skills to get by Dunaway and Holder while Oksas made a single run of 8.26 @ 172 to gain lane choice for the semis. In the semis, things got very interesting following a ladder bye run for Zeinaty who elected to save parts and idle down the track. On the other side of the ladder Oksas put a huge holeshot on Short with a .065 starting line advantage only to be run down by the twin turbo monster of Short who recorded low ET of the weekend with an 8.08 to Oksas 8.22. Following the run, Short's team towed him to the scales in violation of the rules which state that cars must be pushed or driven to the scales. The car was then disqualified by PSCA officials and Oksas advanced to the final to face Zeinaty. Unfortunately for Scott, his luck ran out when he struck the tire about 400 feet out and could not hold off Slim who was able to better control wheel speed and went on to win his first XDR event.

Slim Zeinaty driving his Wild Street Chevelle wins his 1st XDR Event!!!

Scott Oksas debuted his new Pettis Small Block and was the most consistent XDR car of the weekend until the final round where he added in an extra degree of timing and it bit him with tire spinning at 400ft...

In Accufab Performance Outlaw 10.5 competition, the breaking story was focused on the return of 3-time PSCA Champion, Doug Sikora. Sporting a rare small block nitrous combination, Sikora was able to nail down the top qualifying spot with a 7.31 @ 188 MPH. Being slightly upstaged by the small block Ford, Ron Weems and Rich Zehring had to settle on the #2 and #3 positions, respectively. Rick Snavely and Chris Kephart rounded out the top five with condition impacted runs well off their normal pace.

Rick Snavely qualified 4th and went 2 rounds...

MMR's Mark Luton had engine trouble during qualifying, repaired it in time for eliminations, but a red light ended his weekend early...

Enrique Soto continues to impress with 7.50 runs...

Wildomar California's John Wall has the potential, those pesky gremlins kept him from competing in round one...

In the opening round on Sunday, Sikora nearly duplicated his qualifying run with a smooth 7.33 @ 188 MPH. Weems, Zehring, Snavely and Kephart continued to struggle with the track but advanced to the second round. At that point, Zehring and Lil Bri Smith were able to turn down the big Fulton mill enough to salvage a 7.59 and get past Snavely. Sikora eased up with a 7.87 against a early shut-off by Kephart while Weems broke the beams and prepared for the semis against Sikora. In that semi final round, Sikora went back to the bracket car consistency and took Weems out with a 7.34 @ 187. On a single, Zehring began to show signs of life as the big Nova motored down with a 7.38 @ 197 (just short of gaining lane choice against Sikora in the final). In the final Sikora was able to take 4/100ths at the tree and never looked back, edging out Zehring in the lights with another 7.33 vs. the Nova's 7.43. In only his second race back in Outlaw after a four year hiatus, "Barstow" Doug Sikora returned to the winners circle.

The 2007 Champ Qualified 2nd and made it to the semi's

Zehring posted his 3rd runner-up of 2008....

After 4 years away from Outlaw, Sikora is glad to be back!!!

The Edelbrock Hot Street racers put on another great performance as always in Fontana!!! From the show car quality rides to the crowd pleasin' wheel stands!! Dan Bott II led the way in qualifying with an outstanding 8.546 from his Kuntz built SBF, right on his heels was El Paso Texas resident Adrian Duron with another small block Ford. When the PSCA unveiled their 2008 Hot Street rules package, several small block teams publicly said too much was given to the Big Block combo's, just don't tell that to Bott and Duron!! Steve Fulgham once again led the contingent of BB's with a quick 8.737, followed by Dan Stanley, John Mitchell and Victor Brum. New comer Doug Broaddus debuted his new Hot Street ride and qualified 7th and Robert Wasso who had all sorts of issues finished 8th. On another note, long time PSCA Hot Street racer Craig Gustafson lost control of his Chevy II and hit the K-rail. Craig is OK and the car is already apart and getting ready to do battle again very soon.

Steve Fulgham hasn't found the consistency needed to win in Hot Street

Peoria, Arizona's Victor Brum has struggled so far in 2008, but his performance at Fontana should renew his teams spirits..

Dan Stanley qualified 4th and went two rounds

New comer Doug Broaddus is a welcome addition to the Hot Street family...

When Sundays eliminations began, the heat was not going to let up, but that did not discourage teh Hot Street racers..Victor Brum had the only real upset in the 1st round by taking out the fastest and most consistent of the Big Blocks, Steve Fulgham. Teammates Dan Stanley and John Mitchell battled once again with this round going to Stanley. Rob Wasso had his best run of the weekend during the 1st round (8.780), but fell victim to the #1 qualifier Dan Bott II. In round number two, the Small Block Fords started to flex their muscles. Bott's 8.556 easily took care of Dan Stanley as Adrian Duron's 8.688 eliminated the last remaining big block. This set up a battle of the small block late model Fords that had several epic matches late last season. In the final, Duron took a huge holeshot (.419 to a .441) and tried to hold off the hard charging Bott, but in the end the AMP Performance sponsored Mustang prevailed with their 2nd consecutive Edelbrock Hot Street win..

Duron's beautiful Stang runs as good as it looks..

Arizona's Dan Bott II took his Kuntz SBF to the winner's circle again...

Mickey Thompson Tires Wild Street attracted 15 drag radial cars to the Fontana to do battle. For the 2nd consecutive event, Albuquerque, NM native Chris Groves paced the small radial field with an very impressive 7.894/176.67 Even though the rest of the field was almost 5-tenths slower than Groves, with the hot conditions it's basically anybody race as soon as elimination's begin. Great job by Lonnie Patrick who qualified 2nd with his best performance in quite some time. Rounding out the top six qualifiers 3- Al Jimienez (8.401) 4- Levi Hanna (8.469) 5- George Raygoza (8.511) 6- Glenn Kent (8.546)

Lonnie Patrick reached the semi's for the 1st time in 2008

The only upset in the first round was in the 8 vs. 9 match-up... San Diego's own David Schwarz took a slight starting line advantage and led all the way to defeat the nitrous small block of Kevin Wallauer. In round two, series points leader going into the 3rd event (George Raygoza) had a huge starting line advantage over the 2007 Champion (Levi Hanna) and out peddled Hanna for the easy victory. In the closest Wild Street race of the weekend, Al Jimenez over came a hole-shot by Glenn Kent's '68 Camaro and took the win by a mere .0032!!!

Another great event for Glenn Kent, Qualifying 6th and going 2 rounds!!!

Lonnie Patrick red-lights away a trip to the Finals

The semi's brought out the heart breakers as Lonnie Patrick throws away his quickest run of the weekend (8.315) as Al Jimenez reaches his first PSCA final round... In the other match-up, George Raygoza (Who's been in every Wild Street Final in 2008) had a big starting line advantage but couldn't keep traction on the beautiful '68 Nova only to see Chris Groves lay down the quickest pass of eliminations (8.003) This set up a classic final round that had it all... Ford vs. Chevy, Big Block vs. Small Block and of coarse So Cal vs. New Mexico, well....enough of that!! Groves took the starting line advantage and this was going to be a great drag race.... Jimenez tripped the beams with an event high MPH (180.50) but it was Groves who went on to win in the fastest side by side run in PSCA's Wild Street history!!! (8.015/180.04 to a 8.238/180.50) This win was the second in a row and now Chris Groves sits only 5 points behind Raygoza for 2008 Championship. Jimenez also gained on the points leader and now trails by only 50...

The BBC ProCharged '72 Camaro of Al Jimenez is defiantly a title contender!!