Thornton Racing & Lady Luck Team Up For Vegas Win!!!
Ed Thornton struggled all weekend with his combo but he
had some luck (I mean a whole lotta luck) on his side as he captured his
1st Pro Street win an over a year!!
John Scialpi
(pictured) qualified #1 with a stellar 6.242/221.56 in the Vegas nighttime
heat!! Right behind Scialpi was series points leader Mike Maggio with a
6.250 at a staggering 244.21 MPH!! Wade Maggio had a few little gremlins
and his lifting 6.748 at only 175.55 was good enough for 3rd, Thornton
never really got off the starting line with boost problems and ended up
4th...
The 1st Round Match-ups would put The Maggio Motorsports Team
cars up against one another and your #1 Qualifier John Scialpi vs. the
4-time PSCA Hughes Performance Pro Street Champ Ed Thornton!! There was
plenty of Text Trash Talking between the Thornton & Scialpi camps
leading up to elimination's... "It's all in good clean fun" says Shane
Tecklenburg (Thornton's Tuner) Shane goes on to say "Scialpi is one of
the all time greats, and you need to be on your game when you line up
next to him, but harassing John's son Kenny by text messages before
elimination's gets your competitive juices flowing!!"
Saturday
Night Elimination's started out with what might be the start of a
classic Father-Son rivalry!! No "Team Orders" were in place as Mike
wanted to put a strangle hold on the 2011 Championship and Wade looked
for that 1st ever "Win Light" Father Mike would take the win with an
Event Low ET (6.18) as Wade had his first attempt at pedaling a Pro
Streeter as he spun the tires at the hit of the throttle!! In the other
match-up, John Scialpi the #1 Qualifier had lane-choice and at the last
second the team decided to switch from the right to the left lane... As
the car staged and the lights dropped, Scialpi and Thornton both shook
the tires but Ed drove it a little further through the shake and the car
recovered to run 6.87/222 and take out the top qualifier!! This would
set up a re-match from the Super Chevy Show earlier this year where
Maggio took home the honors...
In
the Final Round, Maggio continued to take the right lane (primarily
because it's easier for Mike to see the tree with the big Injector hat)
Thornton knew he was over matched as his '63 Corvette had issue after
issue in the previous 4 runs, but Heads-Up Racing is never decided
on paper or in the pits so Thornton stepped up the boost and see what
would happen!! As the tree dropped, Ed left the line first with a
stellar .418 Reaction time to Maggio's slower .470... The starting line
advantage was gobbled up by 100ft as Thornton continued to have problems
as Maggio Streaked to 6.35/230 pass to Thornton's 6.42.. But wait a
second.... As some of the team celebrated Mike's 3rd win of the season,
Crew Chief Kirk Kuhns (see picture below) noticed that Mike was hugging
the centerline from halftrack on. In fact, Mike was on the centerline
and knocked out the MPH Timing Block and was DQ'd handing the win to
Thornton. At the time, a dejected Thornton did what every Heads-Up Racer
should do, scale the car cause you never know if the other car comes up
light or in this case DQ'd. As Ed sat in his car a call was made to the
scales informing him of the situation and declared Ed the winner!!!
"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good" Thornton said... Ed went
on to say "We totally sucked this weekend, but anyone could win (all you
have to do is enter) and we just proved it!!" This was the 1st win since
early 2010 for Thornton Racing, next up for the PSCA Hughes Performance
Pro Street Teams is the Accufab "West Coast Shootout" October 7-9 in Las
Vegas and then the much anticipated $20,000 to win Street Car Super
Nationals VII Nov 17-20
John Scialpi
(pictured) qualified #1 with a stellar 6.242/221.56 in the Vegas nighttime
heat!! Right behind Scialpi was series points leader Mike Maggio with a
6.250 at a staggering 244.21 MPH!! Wade Maggio had a few little gremlins
and his lifting 6.748 at only 175.55 was good enough for 3rd, Thornton
never really got off the starting line with boost problems and ended up
4th... 
Saturday
Night Elimination's started out with what might be the start of a
classic Father-Son rivalry!! No "Team Orders" were in place as Mike
wanted to put a strangle hold on the 2011 Championship and Wade looked
for that 1st ever "Win Light" Father Mike would take the win with an
Event Low ET (6.18) as Wade had his first attempt at pedaling a Pro
Streeter as he spun the tires at the hit of the throttle!! In the other
match-up, John Scialpi the #1 Qualifier had lane-choice and at the last
second the team decided to switch from the right to the left lane... As
the car staged and the lights dropped, Scialpi and Thornton both shook
the tires but Ed drove it a little further through the shake and the car
recovered to run 6.87/222 and take out the top qualifier!! This would
set up a re-match from the Super Chevy Show earlier this year where
Maggio took home the honors...
In
the Final Round, Maggio continued to take the right lane (primarily
because it's easier for Mike to see the tree with the big Injector hat)
Thornton knew he was over matched as his '63 Corvette had issue after
issue in the previous 4 runs, but Heads-Up Racing is never decided
on paper or in the pits so Thornton stepped up the boost and see what
would happen!! As the tree dropped, Ed left the line first with a
stellar .418 Reaction time to Maggio's slower .470... The starting line
advantage was gobbled up by 100ft as Thornton continued to have problems
as Maggio Streaked to 6.35/230 pass to Thornton's 6.42.. But wait a
second.... As some of the team celebrated Mike's 3rd win of the season,
Crew Chief Kirk Kuhns (see picture below) noticed that Mike was hugging
the centerline from halftrack on. In fact, Mike was on the centerline
and knocked out the MPH Timing Block and was DQ'd handing the win to
Thornton. At the time, a dejected Thornton did what every Heads-Up Racer
should do, scale the car cause you never know if the other car comes up
light or in this case DQ'd. As Ed sat in his car a call was made to the
scales informing him of the situation and declared Ed the winner!!!
"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good" Thornton said... Ed went
on to say "We totally sucked this weekend, but anyone could win (all you
have to do is enter) and we just proved it!!" This was the 1st win since
early 2010 for Thornton Racing, next up for the PSCA Hughes Performance
Pro Street Teams is the Accufab "West Coast Shootout" October 7-9 in Las
Vegas and then the much anticipated $20,000 to win Street Car Super
Nationals VII Nov 17-20
