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The PSCA rolled into the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on April 25th
for the K& N Filters Las Vegas Nationals.
Several notable records were shattered including those of the top
class (Hughes Performance Pro Street) and the insane small drag radial
class Mickey Thompson Tires Wild Street.
Long Time PSCA racer and former Real Street record holder, Giuseppe
Gentile brought out his revamped 2008 Shelby Mustang and shocked the fans
with a new ET record of 6.29 @ 226 MPH. Gentile would like to thank Jason
Pettis for the motor, Carl Rossler for the trans and Marty at Neal Chance
for the converter. Unfortunately
a broken crank trigger in the 3rd round ended the team's near
perfect weekend.  Also
equally impressive was Chris Groves in the Ron Booth owned '91 Mustang
Notchback powered by a unique gear driven F-2 Procharger, which set both ends of the
Wild Street (275x60 Drag Radial) record with a an ET of 7.66 and a speed
mark of 184 MPH. While
both cars posted "jaw dropping" numbers, it was consistency that won
the races as Pro Streeter Kelly Bluebaugh used a series of 6.60s to take the
win in Pro Street and Groves backed up his record runs with a string of
consistent 7.60 passes. With
the magnitude of these record setting performances and the consistency of teams
like WFO & Groves, it was obvious that Chris Blair's crew (led by Nick
Heinrich) at the Strip proved
their worth as one of the best operations in all of drag racing!!!
A record 20 Hughes Performance Pro Street entries made the call to
Saturday's qualifying with current points leader John Mihovetz capturing
the pole with a 6.42 @ 219 MPH. Giuseppe Gentile was not far behind with a 6.44 @ 224 MPH
while Randy Hagerty was the top nitrous runner at #3 with a 6.57 @ 214.
Kelly Bluebaugh secured the forth spot with another Fulton Powered
728 and a 6.60 @ 213 while Bob Griffith nailed down the #5 position with
the sole blower car in the top five at 6.61 @ 214.
Qualifying was cut short on Saturday as strong cross winds made for
treacherous track conditions and the 3rd round was cancelled.
The long haul award went Perry Thyr of Dayton Valley, Alberta
(Canada) who came out to play with his nitrous assisted '91 Camaro.
Other Canadians that made the long trek included  Dan
Vogt in his 63 Corvette and Jay Syverson
in his '37 Chevy. Wayne
Glasgow from Casper, Wyoming also made a long haul with his unique Ethanol
injected 765ci nitrous
assisted 2001 Camaro. New
comers to the class included Jay Diedrich of Firebaugh, CA in his insane
"Evil Outlaw" 57 Chevy, powered by a 596 CI TFX motor with a screw
blower and Bart Smith of North Las Vegas in his sleek '41 Willys powered by
a blown alcohol 454 CI Chevy. Former
NHRA Pro Stock Racer and ace engine builder Alan Bessant was also their
shaking down his ex-Ricky Smith '68 Camaro for the first time.
The diversity in power adders continued to make this class
unique as nine nitrous cars battled against six turbos and five blown
entries for top honors.
Tim
Henry with the help from Joe Lapone posted career bests (6.635 &
213.30mph)
Randy
Hagerty led the Nitrous guys in Qualifying 6.57 @ 213
1st
time PSCA Pro Street racer Jay Diedrich and his "Evil Outlaw"
Blown '57 Chevy!!!
Rod
Pearce from Granite Bay, California ran a 6.686 in the 1st round
Wayne
Glasgow's Nitrous Injected '01 Camaro from Casper Wyoming....
As elimination approached, Mother Nature decided
to cooperate and the cross winds diminished.
The air was good by Las Vegas standards at approximately 3,200 feet
and the track surface was simply outstanding.
One can not say enough about the amazing preparation of the track
crew who delivered the best track surface on the West Coast.
The highlight from the early rounds was of course the incredible
6.29 of Gentile. However,
several other racers also took advantage of the favorable conditions and
reported personal bests. Randy
Hagerty went 6.50 in round 1 and Kelly Bluebaugh posted a 6.58 @ 214 along
with a series of 6.60s.
Bob
Griffith posted a career best 6.481@214.69
Giuseppe
Gentile of Sun Valley, California posted the 1st sub 6.30 pass in PSCA
Hughes Performance Pro Street History (6.297/226.05)
Bob Griffith put the Viper on a string with a
personal best 6.48 @ 215 against the Joe Lapone (Ex-NHRA Pro Stock Racer)
tuned Firebird of Tim Henry and advanced to the 3rd round where
he faced points leader John Mihovetz.
Griffith's car put a cylinder out during the burn-out and could not
recover against the Cougar's 6.53 @ 221 MPH.
Team Hairston clawed their way to their second straight 3rd round
appearance. However, Clint
unfortunately lit the red bulb ending the family's run against eventual
winner Bluebaugh. In the
Semis the Accufab yellow team gave the track all they had with a 6.46 @
221 MPH and got passed a surprising early shut-off of the new record
holder Giuseppe Gentile. Nevertheless, at the end of the day it was the consistent
6.60s of Kelly Bluebaugh that got Team WFO the win as Mihovetz shook the
tires and never fully recovered.
Kelly's
1st PSCA win was well deserved!!!
Mihovetz
struggled but still managed a Runner-up Finish...
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 The excitement of the Accufab sponsored Outlaw
10.5 class was marred by the crash of long time PSCA racer Greg
Seth-Hunter in his beautiful 1970 twin turbo Nova.
Although the cause is still undetermined, Hunter believes that
fluid from a transmission overflow tank was to blame for the cars sudden
right hand turn just past half track.
Greg was fortunately unhurt thanks to the top notch safety crew at
LVMS and his focus on safety (including a head and neck restraint device
and an outstanding chassis which he built himself).
Nevertheless, qualifying resumed and it was Rich Zehring and crew
chief "Lil Bri" Smith taking the pole with a slightly off the pace 7.21 @
198 MPH. Ron Lummus and the
Garrett Turbo team made an impressive "early shut-off" run of 7.37 at
a mere 163 MPH for the second spot. This
well sponsored team is making significant progress in the world of Outlaw
10.5 racing and will likely be a big league contender in the near future.
Crowd favorite Slim Zeinaty put his AES powered 91 Camaro in the #3
slot with a 7.50 followed closely by SCSN's III Champion Dale Moznik who
ventured down from British Columbia to mix it up with the PSCA.
Enrique Soto rounded out the top five with a 7.63 @ 184 MPH.
The event also marked the return of 3-time champion Doug Sikora who
has been away from Outlaw 10.5 competition since 2003
Ron
Lummus on the way to his 1st PSCA 10.5 Victory!!!
Unfortunately, Sikora struggle with his new small
block nitrous combination and went out first round with a red light
against #1 qualifier Rich Zehring.
Lummus, Soto, Zeinaty and Moznik all advanced to round two as well.
Zeinaty turned on the dreaded red light by a mere .002 seconds and
handed Moznik the easy win in round two.
Lummus used a slowing 7.58 to get past Soto while Zehring idled
down the track to save parts. The 2006 class champion (Zehring) showed off the big 870 CI
Fulton power with an amazing 205.69 MPH blast in the semis sending Moznik
back on a long return trip to Canada.
However, it was all Ron Lummus in the final as the Garrett team put
together its best run yet with a 7.19 @ 201 MPH to take out a struggling
Zehring.
Pueblo,
Colorado's Greg Orr and his Awesome new Camaro!!!
SCSN
III Outlaw winner Dale Moznik made it to the semi's
Past
Outlaw 10.5 Champion Doug Sikora debuted his new Pettis Performance
Powered SBF Mustang, but had a few issues in the TnT session.. After a
24-hour period of repairs to his wheelie bars and oil pan, Doug made it
back to eliminations...
Mickey Thompson Tires Wild Street attracted a record 20 drag radial cars
to the Strip to do battle. Running with the PSCA for only about a year, relative
newcomer Chris Groves shocked competitors and fans alike with a new MPH
record in qualifying with a 7.71 at a stout 184 MPH!
The Albuquerque, NM native went on to set a new ET record as well
with a 7.66 in round one.  This
91 Mustang is owned by Ron Booth and runs a fairly simple R-headed 408 sbf
utilizing a gear driven Pro Charger F-2 adapted by Sherbring Racing. Evident in the
pictures is the fact that the car looks like your typical 11-12 second
street car. It however is a
rocket ship that has set the class on its ear.
Grove’s performance should be commended and will
likely result in a elevation of the rest of the class.
Other notable performances were turned in by Al Jiminez (another F2
Pro Charger car) running several 7.90s in eliminations, George Raygoza
(8.02), Derroll Hubbard (8.03) and Levi Hanna (8.06) and David Schwarz
(8.11)
Armen
Maghdessian runs his personal bests.... 8.284 / 168.47
Groves progressed through the field with a string
of 7.60s meeting up with the #2 qualifier George Raygoza in the final
round. Raygoza hurt his
engine in his quarter final match-up and could not make the final round
however, Groves didn't let the fans and all the event winners &
runner-ups lined up on the Strip's famous return road and blasted a 7.66 @
186.5 MPH
Chris
Groves and a very happy "Dyno Edge" Race Team!!!
In
K&N Filters Limited Street we saw a 1st time Limited Street winner
Tony Politano.. Tony had several victories way back in the day in the EFI
Challenge class but has been searching for a Limited Street victory for
the past several years.  Politano
qualified last and had to face series points leader Craig Williams in the
1st round. In a very close race, Politano edged out Williams 9.475 to a
9.536. On the other side of the ladder, the 1968 Camaro of Russ Delia from
Mar Vista, California defeated PSCA newcomer Erick Carrasco in the first
round, then beat the 2007 Champion Gary Brandt in the semi's. This set of
a turbo vs. nitrous, Chevy vs. Ford battle!!! In the closest final in all the
heads-up classes Politano's 9.302 squeaked out the win over Delia's 9.384.
Delia had a half a tenth on the tree, and only lost by .0323
Russ
Delia Jr. Posted his 2nd runner-up finish
Politano
(Nears) edges out Delia in the final round...
The Edelbrock
Hot Street racers put on a great show as always in Vegas!!! From the show
car quality rides to the crowd pleasin' wheel stands!! Dan Bott II led the
way in qualifying with an outstanding 8.550 from his Kuntz built SBF,
nippin' right at his heels was  Carl
Gustafson with his Big Chief Big Block Chevy with a 8.551. Carl's dad
Craig was slightly off the pace with an 8.582 followed by the BBC's of
John Mitchell & Victor Brum in the 8.60 range. Class points leader and
1st event of 2008 event winner Darrell Shaffer struggled in qualifying and
was the only Hot Street car not to reach the 8 second zone. Darrell's luck
will soon get better as eliminations start....
John
Mitchell made his 1st appearance in a Hot Street Final
When
Sundays eliminations began, the winds kinda settled down a bit and the Naturally
Aspirated Warriors were all ready to line them up and battle for the Vegas
Crown!! Upsets came early and often as number 2 & 3 qualifiers were
both sent home in the 1st round as Carl & Craig Gustafson first outing
back in the class had traction issues and #'s 8 & 9 Shaffer &  Rob
Wasso advanced!! in round 2, Rob Wasso met up with his Perris California neighbor
John Mitchell (Driving his father George's Nova) Wasso lit the red bulb
giving Mitchell the win and a bye into the final round. On the other side
of the ladder, Bott overcame a huge holeshot by Steve Fulgham in the 2nd
round, then took care of Darrell Shaffer in the Semi's to set up a BBC vs.
SBF final Round. In the finals, Mitchell cut a .006 light, but the car had
mechanical issues as Bott blew by posting a event low ET 8.533!!! This win
propelled Dan into the class points lead after two events......
Arizona's
Dan Bott II took his Kuntz SBF to the winner's circle
 In
Borla Performance Xtreeme Drag Radial, the boost cars seem to have
what it takes to qualify up front, but a certain nitrous car comes to the forefront
during eliminations!!! Steve Short and  Justin
Buettner (Both twin turbo SBF Combo's) were the stars of the qualifying
sessions with Short landing the pole with a 7.67, followed closely by
Bueettner's 7.729. Matt Schmidt had the quickest nitrous big block time
with his 7.789 qualifying him 3rd, and Scott Oksas posted the quickest
small block nitrous combo ET with a 7.993. Bobby Frye took the high mile
per hour honors with a very stout 188.23 top end charge!!! Last years
champions in both Real & Xtreeme Street (Rich Hoyle & Roger Holder
Jr, continue to struggle early this new season, but did show signs of life
during the eliminations rounds...
In
the first round of eliminations, the only real upset came when Rich Hoyle
took a huge holeshot advantage and continued on for his 1st round win of the
new season over the twin turbo Ford of Justin Buettner. In got really
interesting in the semi's when the two rivals from teh Real street days
lined up... As Matt Schmidt took the starting line advantage, Rich Hoyle's
car decided it was about to make the video highlight real and literally
wheelie past the 660 clocks where he finally had to lift. Matt got to peak
a little at the bumper standing Chevy II, but continued on with his second
consecutive 7.81 pass and get ready to face the #1 qualifier Steve Short
or the  BBC
ProCharger entry of Bobby Frye in the finals.. In the other semi, Frye
posted the event high MPH (189.95) but a pesky red light ended his day as
Steve Short set the Event quick ET (7.542) This set up another nitrous vs.
boost final (Just like every other PSCA heads-up class) Matt Schmidt in the
nitrous Nova was not to be denied with his 2nd consecutive XDR win (3rd
win in a row dating back to 2007) as an almost perfect .005 reaction time,
his quickest run of the weekend (7.772) and his opponent Short having some
issues just to top it off... Congrats to Matt and his crew for another
great weekend of Heads-up Radial Racing!!!
Matt
Schmidt doing what it takes to win in XDR!!!
Steve
Short runs the quickest XDR pass to date 7.542
Doug
Crumlich continues to impress in NRP Super Street and gets his second win
of the 2008 racing season!!!
Even
after jumping into the next faster Index class (8.60), It's hard to keep
Brian Rogers out of the final round!!
After
plenty of wins in the Trophy class, I think Michael Hadtrath has found a
new home in Quick Street as he picks up his first class win!!!
PSCA
newcomer Al White has defiantly got his GTO dialed in and a very
impressive runner-up finish...
2007
Open Comp Champ Mike Nordahl, picking up a win in Mean Street....
Erick
Aldrich Qualified #1 for the 2nd consecutive event and also posted his
first perfect 10.600 pass...
Henry
Oliver made it to his 1st Final Round
Willy
Reiksiek wins his 1st event since the inaugural SCSN
Las
Vegas resident Steve Westlund had a better reaction time in the Orme Bros
Inc. Open Comp Final, but lost by mere inches...
John
McKindley posts his 1st ever perfect light (.400) and qualifies number one
in Open Comp....
Glen
Strelecki's Cobra was the #1 Qualifier and gets his first win in the Ford
Racing Mustang Maddness Class....
Justin
Keller of California City, California had his best PSCA finish with a
runner-up in the Mustang Maddness Class!!!
Great
job by Dave Meigide and entire the Rim High School Racing Team as they get
their 1st PSCA Win in Chris Alston's ChassisWorks Bracket-1 Class
Corey
LeClair from Pahrump, Nevada had a great weekend going 6 rounds and a
runner-up finish...
Much More to follow....
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