Bret Kepner

These results reflect the record holders, qualifiers, and final round contestants at each of the
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 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 Gateway Raceway.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

2008 STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES TRACK RECORDS

Class Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine ET MPH Date
RWD Tony Tobnick, Cedar Hill, MO 91 Mustang 359 Ford 8.341 10/16/2007
RWD Tony Tobnick, Cedar Hill, MO 91 Mustang 359 Ford 166.11 10/16/2007

4CYL Jon Huber, St. Louis, MO 79 Mustang 178 Ford 9.147 4/15/2008
4CYL Jon Huber, St. Louis, MO 79 Mustang 178 Ford 152.16 10/16/2007

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

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

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

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




MAY 6th, 2008 STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES QUALIFIERS
Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine ET MPH Date

EVENT 05 05/06/2008

1 Tim Mallicoat Collinsville IL 68 Camaro 565 Chevy 8.653 156.59
2 Tony Huff Collinsville IL 57 Bel-Air 510 Chevy 9.029 145.67
3 Dan Schell High Ridge MO 85 Monte Carlo 438 Chevy 9.236 150.88
4 Jon Huber St. Louis MO 79 Mustang 178 Ford 9.264 151.99
5 Dave Odehnal Waterloo IL 93 Camaro 350 Chevy 9.494 139.18
6 James Landis Oreana IL 80 AMX 420 AMC 9.497 142.96
7 Jeff Litzsinger Hillsboro MO 65 Mustang 351 Ford 9.583 149.58
8 Kevin Autenrieth Bethalto IL 91 S-10 434 Chevy 9.644 137.26
9 Laurence Bass Mascoutah IL 88 Mustang 306 Ford 10.127 140.87
10 Brett Marshall Collinsville IL 86 S-10 406 Chevy 10.206 135.27
11 Hal Marshall Collinsville IL 86 S-10 383 Chevy 10.316 130.95
12 Joe Williams Maryville IL 68 Nova 468 Chevy 10.675 122.10
13 Mike Mester Valley Park MO 00 Firebird 402 Pont 10.692 125.66
14 Curtis Paulfrey Brighton IL 68 Camaro 468 Chevy 10.844 124.58
15 Steve Gasich, Jr. Arnold MO 86 Mustang 153 Ford 10.853 125.82
16 Adam Corbitt St. Charles MO 85 Golf 123 Volks 10.989 134.87



MAY 6th, 2008 STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Tim Mallicoat, Collinsville, IL 1968 565 Camaro 0.236 8.622 156.95
RU Tony Huff, Collinsville, IL 1957 510 Bel-Air 0.177 9.042 145.23


Two days after the track produced the quickest and fastest runs of the NHRA POWERade drag racing season at the 12th annual O’Reilly Midwest Nationals, Tim “Moose” Mallicoat earned his second victory of the 2008 Street Car Shootout Series in similar record-setting conditions at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Illinois. Despite a dismal forecast and rain showers which threatened to cancel the event, the fifth race in the series eventually became one of the quickest and fastest ever with the third ten-second “bump spot” for the Super Sixteen field. The program included two new SCSS Track Records and the Super Sixteen averaged 9.94 seconds!

One of the great misconceptions at Gateway is that the SCSS event annually held just after the NHRA Midwest Nationals offers the same surface on which the touring professionals of the POWERade series competed. In fact, the GIR race track is literally beaten up and ripped apart by over two thousand runs in three days during the year‘s largest event. On Monday morning, GIR chief starter Chuck Westcoat began a five-hour reconditioning of the surface which involved scraping off all the old rubber, adding a new layer of rubber and preparing the new surface for the annual professional category test session which follows the NHRA National Event. After a full day of testing by Top Fuel Dragsters, Funny Cars, Pro Stockers and Pro Modifieds, the same process was repeated for the SCSS event the next day! The same constant grooming of the surface took place throughout the Tuesday night program.

While rain sprinkles seemed to indicate the event would be called before the first pair of cars ever staged, the early timed trial session began on schedule and, to the amazement of all in attendance, the rain quickly stopped and the sun broke through the clouds. The cold front pushing through the area quickly dropped the corrected elevation from 1687 feet above sea level when timed trials began to a mere 975 feet when the final rounds were completed.

Many fans anticipated a record-breaking event regardless of the recent NHRA Midwest Nationals. During a test session the week before GIR closed to prepare for the NHRA tour, SCSS Record Holder Tony Tobnick had unleashed an 8.14 at 170 mph in his nitrous oxide-aided Mustang while Matt Giblin’s gold 1969 Nova had clocked an 8.07 at over 173 mph. Both announced plans to attend the May 6th event leading to rampant speculation that Tobnick’s 8.34/166.11 SCSS marks would be obliterated. The two teams competed in an event in Springfield, Missouri, the previous weekend and Tobnick experienced timing problems which led to a decision to stay home. Giblin, however, showed up for his first foray into the SCSS with his brutally powerful 600-cubic inch nitrous-fed Chevy.

The quickest run of timed trials, a 9.85-second, 143.23 mph effort by chassis builder Dan Schell’s 438-inch ’85 Monte Carlo, gave little indication of the wild night ahead but Giblin pulled into the water box to begin the official qualifying period. When asked what kind of performance the team expected, crewchief Kevin Giblin admitted, “It definitely could run into the 7.90s. If it hooks up, we’re going to spray the heck out of it!”. After a blazing burnout, Matt Giblin staged the Yenko Nova and eased off the starting line to a lazy 1.67-second sixty feet elapsed time before engaging the nitrous oxide at the sixty feet mark. Immediately, the Nova yanked the front wheels and drove into a massive powerstand. At the one hundred-feet mark, the Festus, Missouri, pilot yanked his foot off the throttle to bring the Chevy back to earth. When it landed, Giblin stabbed the gas again but, this time, the front end went to the moon in the tallest wheelstand yet seen in SCSS D.O.T. tire competition. With the front wheels dangling, the Nova drove across the centerline at the 330-feet mark before crashing to the ground. The landing destroyed the oilpan and caused enough damage to the car’s front end geometry to park it for the duration of the event.

The wild action was only beginning. Tony Huff’s new ’57 Bel-Air made its first pass with an armed nitrous system and followed Giblin with another giant wheelstand on its way to an all-over-the-track 9.86 at a coasting 114.84 mph. An even higher wheelstand came from SCSS Four-Cylinder Record Holder John Huber; testing a new 160-cubic inch turbocharged inline Ford, the Huber Performance crowd favorite still screamed to a 9.26/151.99. Minutes later, “Moose” Mallicoat made his first qualifying effort with an arrow-straight 8.65/156.59, initiated by a 1.29-second sixty-feet ET, to secure the low qualifying position in the field.

Bret Kepner

For the remainder of the qualifying period, a parade of nine-second blasts eventually put the top eight qualifiers under 9.65 seconds. A staggering number of career-bests were clocked with no less than seventy-eight percent of the assemblage running quicker and/or faster than ever before. Of note was the fact that the top thirty-two entries ran quicker than 11.77 seconds, an all-time SCSS record. An equally-surprising number of broken rearends and axles kept the starting line crew more than active during the qualifying period.

Schell’s black Monte Carlo hooked hard enough to unload the rear tires just off the starting line on multiple occasions but finally hooked up solidly to hit a best-ever 9.23 at a whopping 150.88 mph for the third position while Huff’s outrageous launches eventually yielded a 9.02/145.67 for the second spot. Huber remained third despite being forced to abort a second pass after a wheelstand which many felt was actually higher than Giblin’s skyscraper. When the four quickest qualifiers were called in front of the main grandstands for the semi-finals, all but Schell appeared. Huber announced that he was hesitant to make more than one run with his four-cylinder Mustang and opted to compete only in the Sport Tuner Showdown.

Before any alternates could be called, a comedy of errors by the Gateway International Raceway staff ensued and resulted in a mad rush to complete the final rounds. GIR Drag Racing Manager Jason Dukes received an urgent report that the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game was being hit by a rainstorm. With Busch Stadium less than three miles from the track, the decision was made to quickly run the two cars which reported for eliminations, (Mallicoat and Huff), without calling alternates to fill the semi-finals.

It wasn’t until after the event was completed that Dukes found out the Cardinals were playing in Denver.

In the championship bout, Huff’s ’57 Chevy leaped to another gigantic, twisting wheelstand with a six hundredths of a second advantage. Both Mallicoat’s “Hellraiser” Camaro and Huff’s Bill Silva-tuned classic clocked sixty feet ETs of under 1.30 seconds, (1.254 for Mallicoat, 1.265 for Huff), but the naturally-aspirated bigblock Camaro took the lead before the 330-feet mark and stretched it from there. Against Huff’s 9.04/145.23, the 2007 SCSS Season Champion took his nineteenth career event victory with Low ET and Top Speed of the event, an 8.62/156.95.

“We got lucky”, said Mallicoat during trophy presentations in front of the main grandstand. “On my last qualifying run, it broke a pushrod and did some lifter damage. We thrashed to get it fixed but I made the decision to run it hard against Tony because they’re just now getting that car figured out. We all know Silva can make horsepower so there was no way I could take them lightly. This motor has more than a full season of passes on it and I really need to freshen it up before more stuff starts breaking. We were just lucky to be able to fix it this time”. Huff acknowledged that the new Bel-Air is getting quicker but it’s also making for some wild rides. “It’s pretty interesting inside there”, laughed Huff. “It goes up, then left, then right…I really just wait to see what it’s gonna do and then correct it. It’s coming around, though. At least the fans are enjoying it!”.





NOTES FROM THE SCSS: Even with a 10.98-second bump spot, the Super Sixteen field could have been substantially quicker. Five-time finalist and past SCSS Record Holder Steven Gentry was on hand with his 8.4-second nitrous-aided ‘65 Mercury Comet but never even got to the staging lanes; after unloading and warming the car, something went awry and the problem couldn’t be quickly diagnosed. “It made all kinds of horrible noises”, said Gentry, “so we put it away”….Chris Gosch shelled the rearend in the 10.0-second Ted’s Motorcycle World 2007 Mustang GT500 on his only run…Omer Phelps’ white ‘78 Camaro held the bump spot at 11.03 until the final five minutes of qualifying…Brett Evans never got a chance to unleash his 541-inch ‘70 Trans Am while attempting to complete his licensing runs…Oreana, Illinois, racer Jim Landis returned to the SCSS with the World’s Quickest D.O.T. Tire Rambler. The manually-shifted 420-inch AMC-powered ‘80 AMX qualified sixth with a tremendous 9.49/142.96 career-best…Jeff Litzsinger’s nitrous-aided ‘65 351 Mustang blasted out a 9.58/149.58 to enter both the Nine-Second Club and the 140 MPH Club…Curtis Paulfrey also stepped up; his yellow ‘68 468 Camaro joined the 10-Second and 120 MPH Clubs…The 120 MPH Club took in six new members; the roster now includes 167 drivers…The event featured a mini-reunion of the original SCSS stars…Dave Odehnal’s infamous “Darth Vader” ‘93 Camaro, the first SCSS event winner on April 6th, 2004, qualified with a 9.49/139.18...The event also marked the return of the first SCSS Season Champion, Laurence Bass. After spending the past two season building a house and crewing for Tony Buhl’s Mustang, Bass resurrected his supercharged ‘88 306 Mustang and reeled off a 10.12/140.87 to join the 140 MPH Club and clock career bests by more than a half-second and almost ten miles per hour…The first Nine-Second, 140 MPH SCSS Record Holder, Randy Christy, made his first runs in two season at the helm of an ‘04 Corvette running 12.72/110.83...Mike Mester’s “White Tornado” 2000 Trans Am qualified with an “all-motor” 10.69/125.66 but hit the hyperspace button on a late timed trial to run 10.00/135.62...The evening featured more than a dozen Corvettes from several Bi-State area clubs in their annual GIR spring outing. The quickest of the breed was another SCSS charter member, Faisal Merghelani, in his ’03 Z06 at 11.69/121.84 followed by Bob McCreary’s ’04 LS1, (11.74/117.00), Mark Woodruff’s ’07 Z06, (12.16/121.32), Mark Yehling’s ’97 ’Vette, (12.41/110.12), and Ches Polak’s ’95 LT1, (12.44/109.38)…Drew Skyles of Mehlville (MO) High School won his second High School Eliminator title of the season and took over the season championship point lead when he defeated Aaron Worstell of Union (MO) High…The crowd response the mind-numbing amount of career-best runs was impressive. Cheers and applause greeted most of the quicker cars in attendance and each giant wheelstand brought a roar from the spectators.

SPECIAL NOTE: Due to facility reconfiguration for the World Street Challenge on May 15th through May 18th, Gateway International Raceway will be closed from Monday, May 12th through Wednesday, May 14th. The Street Car Shootout Series at Gateway International Raceway will resume on Tuesday, May 20th.





STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS (as of MAY 7th, 2008)

Pos Points Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine

1 (7) Tim Mallicoat Collinsville IL 68 Camaro 565 Chevy
2 (6) Tony Huff Collinsville IL 57 Bel-Air 600 Chevy
3 (5) Kevin Autenrieth Bethalto IL 91 S-10 434 Chevy
4 (5) Brett Marshall Collinsville IL 86 S-10 406 Chevy
5 (5) Hal Marshall Collinsville IL 86 S-10 383 Chevy
6 (4) Dan Schell High Ridge MO 85 Monte Carlo 438 Chevy
7 (4) Jon Huber St. Louis MO 79 Mustang 178 Ford
8 (3) John Brawley Granite City IL 93 S-10 355 Chevy
9 (2) Gary Tripp Imperial MO 69 Camaro 496 Chevy
10 (2) Asmir Catic St. Louis MO 03 Mustang 281 Ford
11 (2) Denny Christman Arnold MO 91 Talon 122 Eagle
12 (2) Tony Tobnick Cedar Hill MO 91 Mustang 359 Ford
13 (2) Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 67 Camaro 496 Chevy
14 (2) George Wahby Fenton MO 74 Pinto 350 Chevy
15 (2) Chris Lambert Belleville IL 03 Mustang 281 Ford
16 (2) Nathan Grant Edwardsville IL 02 Camaro 346 Chevy
17 (2) Mike Mester Valley Park MO 00 Firebird 402 Pont
18 (2) Curtis Paulfrey Brighton IL 68 Camaro 468 Chevy

NOTE: Points toward the 2008 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

MAY 6th, 2008 STLSR.COM SPORT TUNER SHOWDOWN FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, MO 1985 123 Golf Gti 0.105 11.018 132.74
RU Steve Gasich, Jr., Arnold, MO 1986 152 Mustang -0.002 (foul) 10.925 125.68


While performances were incredibly fast in the SCSS, the numbers emanating from the St. Louis Street Racing.com Sport Tuner Showdown were absolutely insane. In what was the quickest qualified field of Tuners in the history of the class, records and career-bests were almost routine during the official qualifying period. It was the popular Corbitt Brothers who eventually made history not only in winning the event but resetting their own SCSS Front-Wheel-Drive Records and achieving a long-sought goal.

The familiar Polk Audio ‘85 Volkswagen Golf GTi stunned the fans with an early timed trials which posted an 11.21 at an incredible 135.31 mph! While the speed gave an indication of the power on tap, the St. Charles, Missouri, duo returned in the official qualifying session to clock the SCSS’s first FWD run under eleven seconds with a brilliant 10.98 at 134.47 mph and backed up the performance with an 11.02 at an even faster 134.87 mph for a new FWD Speed Record.

Incredibly, the 10.98 record-breaker only qualified Adam Corbitt third in the Tuner Showdown. It was the ultimate street-tire four-cylinder, Jon Huber’s incredible turbocharged ’79 Mustang now utilizing a smaller 160-cubic inch powerplant, which rocked the house with towering wheelstands and a best of 9.26 at 151.99 mph. Incredibly, yet another four-banger Mustang qualified behind the renowned silver version. Steve Gasich, whose father has campaigned eight-second V8 Mustangs for years, debuted his 153-inch ‘86 SVO Mustang with a 10.85/125.82 which outpaced Corbitt. “This isn’t quite like Huber’s car”, noted Gasich. “I use a much smaller 74mm turbo and I have a factory-produced cylinder head and engine block. The car was actually built to run Open Comp Eliminator in the National Mustang Racers Association but it works well on street tires”.

Behind Corbitt was a magnificent list of Tuner machinery. Two-time Tuner Showdown winner Phil Hoback, the St. Louisan who now attends college in Florida, returned home for a vacation and pushed his turbocharged ‘93 Mazda RX7 to the new season’s best rotary-powered numbers at a best-ever 11.20/131.93 for fourth position. Adnan Omerovic, the winningest Tuner Showdown pilot with his turbocharged two-litre ‘95 Eagle Talon, cruised to a cautious 11.22 at an impressive 139.53 mph. Kyle Ellerbeck’s stout ‘06 Mitsubishi Evo clocked a 12.13/114.30 and Mani Otero again had the quickest of the Subaru Impreza WRX GTi at 13.22/105.54. Of note was Dustin Weber’s ‘93 Mitsubishi Eclipse turbo car which ran 13.33 at a strong 117.70 mph.

Initially, Huber elected to run the Sport Tuner Showdown program only despite the fact he’d also qualified for the Street Car Shootout. Concerned with a workable combination for the upcoming World Street Challenge, Huber eventually decided against running the final round which allowed Corbitt to run in the championship dash as an alternate. Only thirteen hundredths of a second from second qualifer Gasich in elapsed time, many Tuner aficionados knew Adam Corbitt’s reaction times could be the deciding factor; he’d nailed a 0.003-second RT on his historic 10.98!

When the Mustang and the VW staged for the final round, however, Gasich had plans of his own for a starting line advantage. Unfortunately, the Arnold, Missouri, Ford racer also entered the SCSS record books in the title match; his redlight start by a mere two thousandths of a second was the closest foul in series history. His 10.92/125.68 might have been good enough to win but the trophy had already been handed to Corbitt’s consistent 11.01/132.74. “We’ve learned a lot about how to properly heat these M&H tires”, said team manager Dave Corbitt during the trophy presentation in front of the main grandstand, “and they work really well now. We were recently named M&H’s Racer of the Month and that recognition has been nice. Now that we’re in the tens, I’m sure the M&H folks will be just as happy as we are. This was also a big win because we just picked up Dub Werks as a sponsor. We’ve added a slightly stronger transmission and it seems to be holding up well. We still can’t afford an automatic but we’re making do with what we’ve got”.




MAY 6th, 2008 GATEWAYRACEWAY.COM SUPER TRUCK SHOWDOWN FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Brett Marshall, Collinsville, IL 1986 406 S-10 0.089 10.187 128.64
RU Hal Marshall, Collinsville, IL 1986 406 S-10 0.207 10.361 123.36


For the second time in 2008, the final round of the GatewayRaceway.com Super Truck Showdown was settled between two members of the Marshall family and, for the second time, it was a matter of youth and inexperience overcoming old age and treachery. Rookie driver Brett Marshall, who took over the helm of his father’s ‘86 S-10, has been in all four Super Truck final rounds of the season, has won three of those matches and earlier recorded the first perfect Reaction Time in SCSS history.

While Brett and Hal qualified within eleven hundredths of a second, (Brett’s 10.20/13527 made the program ahead of Hal’s 10.31/130.95), it was defending weekly champion Kevin Autenrieth who led the qualified field with a 9.64/137.26. The driver of the Lowe Performance 434-inch small block ‘91 S-10 noticed a bizarre fuel surge on his final qualifying pass which was enough cause for alarm to retire the orange S-10 for the event, allowing the elder Marshall into the final round as an alternate.

Hal Marshall, the winner of an incredible twenty-four Super Truck events, was busy just trying to ride his bucking bronco of an S-10. Experiencing the wildest wheelstands yet in his new red-and-white pickup, Marshall did his best just to keep the truck straight during the qualifying period. “I’m getting ready to put a taller gear in it to calm it down”, said Marshall before the last pass, “and we‘ll probably put new ladder bars in it to try to keep it on the ground, too“.

His son kept Hal from a record twenty-fifth trophy, however, by doing what he seems to do best; an 0.089 RT put more than a tenth of a second between the two off the starting line and Brett Marshall cruised to a 10.18/128.64 victory. When asked if he knew he had a better reaction time in the final round, Brett replied with a grin, “Yeah, I knew it. Dad did, too!”.






Photos of the May 6th Street Car Shootout Series event are now available for viewing at Bret Kepner Photos.com.






Tim “Moose” Mallicoat, Collinsville, IL 1968 565 Camaro



Tony Huff, Collinsville, IL 1957 510 Bel-Air



Adam Corbitt, St. Charles, MO 1985 123 Golf GTi
New SCSS Front-Wheel-Drive Record Holder at 10.989 seconds, 134.87 mph!



Steve Gasich, Jr., Arnold, MO 1986 153 Mustang SVO



Brett Marshall, Collinsville, IL 1986 406 S-10



Hal Marshall, Collinsville, IL 1986 406 S-10