Bret Kepner

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 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

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




APRIL 20th, 2010 STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES QUALIFIERS
Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine ET MPH Date

EVENT 05 04/20/2010

1 Mark Woodruff Arnold MO 67 Corvette 565 Chevy 8.093 186.81
2 Brandon Owen Alton IL 88 Mustang 302 Ford 8.468 160.75
3 Steve George Arnold MO 71 Nova 634 Chevy 8.801 181.08
4 Matt Martin St. Louis MO 86 Mustang 377 Ford 8.927 159.68
5 Shane Cochran St. Louis MO 71 Camaro 509 Chevy 9.222 144.49
6 Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 93 S-10 355 Chevy 9.456 142.12
7 Philip Carl Winfield MO 91 Mustang 302 Ford 9.765 122.31
8 John Cadenhead Festus MO 82 Malibu Wagon 515 Chevy 9.897 141.50
9 Bo Peebles St. Louis MO 69 Charger 500 Dodge 9.930 145.89
10 Kevin Autenrieth Bethalto IL 91 S-10 434 Chevy 9.978 134.10
11 Kevin Munro Granite City IL 92 Mustang 302 Ford 10.617 129.77
12 Charles Bewen Wildwood MO 67 Firebird 383 Pont 10.784 123.31
13 David Bross Wentzville MO 04 Mustang 281 Ford 10.785 130.94
14 Corey Stephens Wentzville MO 88 Mustang 372 Ford 10.816 124.30
15 Ralph Dehne Red Bud IL 63 Impala 409 Chevy 10.941 123.58
16 Greg Boschert St. Louis MO 66 Mustang 333 Ford 11.005 123.34




APRIL 20th, 2010 STREET CAR SHOOTOUT SERIES FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Steve George, Arnold, MO 1971 634 Nova 0.395 7.826 179.81
RU Corey Stephens, Wentzville, MO 1988 372 Mustang 0.294 10.824 124.19

It was one of the quickest, fastest and most outrageous events in the series history but, in the end, Steve George was the last man standing in the fifth event of the 2010 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. George, who destroyed the SCSS records during the March 30th event, once again dipped into the seven-second zone but, incredibly, lost his 184.27 mph series Speed Record during the race!

In a night of bizarre occurrences and incredible performances, a huge turnout of competitors produced the fifth quickest SCSS field ever in front of an equally large number of spectators. Cool, dry conditions permitted the corrected elevation to drop from a high of 1165 feet above sea level to an amazing 147 feet below sea level by the end of the night’s activities. Track temperature, which was over 105 degrees when qualifying commenced, plummeted just as quickly as the air; the eventual 65-degree surface was a challenge to those still racing at the end of the program.

Before a single machine rolled to the starting line, it became obvious the pit area was filled with an extraordinary selection of the area’s quickest and fastest vehicles. Shortly into the first qualifying session, Matt Martin’s familiar powder blue turbocharged ‘86 Mustang tested the waters with a 10.35-second effort at a coasting 113.02 miles per hour followed by returning SCSS veteran Brandon Owen, whose black supercharged 302-cubic inch ‘88 Mustang eased to a career-best 10.11 at a stunning 153.00 mph. Two-time 2010 event winner Ray Arthur, whose eight-second “Suspicion” 1967 Camaro is still undergoing engine repair, moved into the qualifying lead in the second qualifying session at the helm of his nitrous oxide-injected “S-10 Revenge” smallblock-powered pickup with a great 9.45/142.12. It was the third qualifying period, however, in which the numbers took a serious tumble.

Mark “Woody” Woodruff, whose orange 706-inch nitrous-aided ’69 Nova owned the SCSS Speed Record at 178.71 mph for over twenty months until the second event of 2010, staged up his renowned blue ‘67 Corvette Stingray in an attempt to break into the Super Sixteen field. Normally competing on 10.5-inch slicks, Woodruff swapped the treadless tires with a set of D.O.T.-approved rubber for SCSS competition with the twin-turbocharged 565-inch Chevy. Although the showpiece launched with a 1.35-second elapsed time for the first sixty feet, Woodruff was forced to “pedal” the throttle soon after but recovered to a blazing 8.09 at an incredible 181.89 mph! In the very next pair, Martin’s turbo’d 377-inch Ford streaked to an 8.92 at a career-best 159.68 and, one pair later, Owen blasted to a best-ever 8.46 at 160.75!

The very first effort in the fourth and final qualifying session came from SCSS Record Holder Steve George, whose black nitrous-aided 634-inch ‘71 Nova had clocked an incredible 7.64/184.27 on March 30th but failed to win the event. George also experienced some tirespin just off the starting line but eased back into the gas to record an 8.80 at a blistering 181.08 mph to produce only the third event in SCSS history in which the top four qualifiers were under nine seconds. Woodruff’s blue ’Vette returned in the final period and again barely lost traction but the popular pilot again deftly feathered the throttle and got the turbo Chevy to hook up. In an amazing display of both horsepower and skill, “Woody” covered the “back half” of the track, (from the eighth-mile to the quarter-mile finish line), in an astonishing 2.65 seconds, the second quickest ever. More incredible, however, was the stock-appearing Corvette’s gain of nearly forty-five miles per hour in the same distance, the most in SCSS competition by light years, to record a new SCSS Speed Record of 186.81 miles per hour!

Several SCSS qualifiers elected to make timed trials after the conclusion of the official qualifying periods prior to the start of eliminations including the Mustangs of Martin and Owen. Ironically, they staged up together for the first run of late timed trials and the two eight-second terrors launched with no tire spin; in fact, Owen’s machine, racing in the right lane of the track, yanked the front wheels high almost immediately. Owen dropped the front end and stabbed the throttle but again the front tires went skyward. Owen brought the black Ford back to earth and got back on to the gas but, for the third time, the front wheels left the track. This time, however, the car headed across the centerline and continued into Martin’s lane where Owen lifted off the throttle to regain control. Martin, meanwhile, was on the pass of his life in the left lane. Launching with a 1.48-second “sixty”, the blue Mustang known as “Dusty” clocked a 330-feet elapsed time more than a third of a second quicker than any run Martin had ever made…including his previous 8.8-second blasts. Suddenly, he was confronted with the sight of Owen’s Mustang directly ahead of him and Martin got on the brakes hard. It wasn’t enough, however. As can be seen in the video link below, Martin helplessly plowed into the rear of Owen’s Mustang near the eighth-mile mark where, incredibly, Owen’s parachute mount went through the grille of Martin‘s blue Ford and lodged itself in Martin’s radiator. The two cars suddenly became connected and, like a freight train leaving the tracks, both cars spun out of control back across the racing surface into the right lane retaining wall. It was the worst crash in one hundred twenty-seven completed SCSS events.

The Gateway International Raceway safety crew was on the scene in seconds and both drivers emerged from the machines unhurt. The damage to Owen’s supercharged Mustang was substantial but confined to the front and rear clips of the vehicle. Martin’s rig fared much worse; the car was extensively damaged and, after the event, was deemed unrepairable. Within twenty-four hours of the incident, both Martin and Owen made public statements on Lethal1320.com in which Owen offered his sincere apologies and assistance in Martin’s repairs. Martin officially announced the demise of “Dusty” but noted that friends and businesses from the area had already pledged their help to begin the creation of a new machine. Two days after the incident, Martin announced his intention to create “Dusty II” and, subsequently, even more offers began pouring in for help and parts! It was an impressive example of the St. Louis racing community coming to the aid of two of its quickest and fastest racers.

Meanwhile, the qualified field had been deprived of two of the top four qualifiers and the call went out over the public address system for alternates to fill the spots. Woodruff became concerned about the health of his turbocharged behemoth and elected to withdraw, stating, “We don’t really want to chance hurting it when we’re not even sure of the problem. We really wanted our records back and at least we got the Speed Record. We’ll be back to get the E.T. Record, too!”. That left only George of the original top four to compete in eliminations. The first alternate, April 3rd runner-up Shane Cochran, pulled in front of the main grandstands ready to race his white ’71 Camaro and fourth alternate John Cadenhead answered the call with his crowd-pleasing nitrous-aided ’81 Malibu station wagon. Eventually, fourteenth qualifier Corey Stephens, whose beautiful blue nitrous Mustang had qualified for every event of the season, got the nod to fill the field from the tenth alternate spot!

Although he was the only original qualifier in action, George’s black Nova had not been able to hook up on its sole qualifying attempt and Dan Saitz of Hyperformance Racing was quick to assist the team in formulating a new game plan. Paired with Cochran’s naturally-aspirated 509-inch methanol-burning Camaro, a consistent 9.2-second campaigner, George knew he was vulnerable if the Nova lost traction again. In fact, that scenario played out in the very first match of eliminations. George’s Nova spun hard and slowed to a 9.54/143.98 against Cochran’s best-ever 9.21 at 144.57 mph but Cochran’s apparent easy win was negated by a redlight start of only seven thousandths of second! In the other half of the semi-finals, Stephens’ Fessler Racing Engines/Midwest Trailers nitrous Mustang had struggled through qualifying, running three-quarters of a second slower than its best-ever 10.05 recorded during the April 13th event and past SCSS runner-up Cadenhead had yet to “spray“ his fabled wheelstanding eight-second wagon. Stephens wasn’t even in the staging area when Cadenhead fired his wagon and headed for the water burnout area. Suddenly, fans noticed Stephens heading to the starting line on the staging road in front of the grandstands at a brisk clip, pulling into the opposite lane in the last possible second! Cadenhead jumped to a holeshot of a tenth of a second but the engagement of the nitrous system was quickly followed by the sickening sound of his 515-inch Chevy power plant expiring four hundred feet downtrack. Stephens advanced to his first SCSS final round with an improving 10.36 at only 118.31 mph.

The championship final round guaranteed a first-time SCSS winner but the odds didn’t necessarily favor the series ET Record Holder. Having failed to grip the track on two consecutive runs and with the track temperature dropping as quickly as the corrected elevation, George was in a quandary. As the two drivers staged for the title bout, most onlookers gave Stephens just as much of a chance to win barring any more carnage. When Stephens grabbed an immediate holeshot fo a tenth of a second, his odds looked even better. However, the assembled fans and racers were in for a shock. George’s Nova instantly hooked, clocked a 1.33-second “sixty”, a 5.08/143.95 eighth-mile and rocketed away from Stephens’ 10.82/124.59 with a straight-and-true 7.82 at 179.61 mph!

“This was a classic example of tuning a car to the racetrack”, said an elated George during trophy presentations in front of the main grandstands while surrounded by astonished fans and fellow racers. “We simply had to keep taking power out of it to make it hook up. Steve Johnson’s Induction Solutions nitrous program is fully tunable and our 634-inch motor from Steve Schmidt Racing Engines makes a ton of power but sometimes, it all comes down to just how much of that power the track can hold. With Dan Saitz’s help, we were able to determine the power level the track needed and apply it through the Dan Newman Race Cars chassis. That’s what a good chassis can do for you. It allows you to make the adjustments needed to get the power to the ground. The ’BrunoGlide’ automatic transmission we use helps a lot in that respect because it applies the power much more evenly than a lot of other transmissions. Honestly, this was just a matter of figuring out what the racetrack would take and it was changing by the minute near the end of the night. I know everybody was shocked by the 7.82 but we really had that kind of number in mind. It’s what the conditions dictated”.

Stephens, meanwhile, realized the importance of just being on hand to race. When the call went out for the fourteenth qualifier to report to staging, Stephens and crew had already loaded up their Mustang and were preparing to watch eliminations as spectators! After becoming only the third driver to have qualified above tenth place yet still compete in the program, Stephens noted, “We really had problems tonight but this just goes to show you never know what’s going to happen. We unloaded the car as quickly as possible, got it ready and barely made it to the line in time to race John’s station wagon. It was crazy but it sure worked out in our favor!”.







The horrific crash of Mark Martin and Brandon Owen was captured by race fan jt69442 and can be viewed by clicking HERE.


A fabulous view from inside the cockpit of Steve George’s nitrous-injected ‘71 Nova during its 7.82-second, 179 mph final round victory was captured by Darin Myhre of Lethal1320.com and can be viewed by clicking HERE.







NOTES FROM THE SCSS: An extremely diverse field made up the historic April 20th Super Sixteen field; it included seven Fords, seven Chevrolets, one Pontiac and one Dodge…Greg “Hook ’n Ladder” Boschert, who normally runs under eleven seconds in his nitrous-aided 333-inch smallblock Ford, qualified on the “bump spot” at 11.00/123.34 to make it the fifth quickest SCSS event ever…The field could have been substantially quicker, too. SCSS Point Championship leader Daryl Jauernig never made a pass during the event after thrashing to install a new parachute mount on his 8.3-second nitrous-aided ‘89 Mustang and then having to replace a balky starter in the pits during qualifying. By the time Jauernig pulled into the lanes for a qualifying attempt, it was obvious he was either going to be too late or barely in time. He was too late and missed a chance to run before qualifying ended and gave the series point lead back to Ray Arthur. A frustrated Jauernig still took it in stride, admitting later, “We had a really, really rough night but it is what it is, I guess”….Bo Peebles whose magnificent crystal blue ’69 Dodge Charger is considered to be a MoPar engineering marvel, qualified ninth with an easy 9.93/145.89 but returned in late timed trials to post a best-ever 8.81/154.07. The twin-turbocharged 500-inch Dodge wedge-powered beast, racing out of Dan Saitz’s Hyperformance Racing stables, also ran a 9.04/150.68...Philip Carl pushed chassis builder Dustin Kurz’s Winfield, Missouri-based MD Performance 393-inch ‘91 Mustang to its best runs ever at 9.76 while coasting to only 120.78 mph to qualify seventh; the run included a 6.22/123.93 eighth-mile. Carl became the sixty-third member of the SCSS 9-Second Club and the two hundred fifty-ninth member in the 120 MPH Club…Kevin Munro earned his first “Fastest Street Car Qualifier” decal with a best-ever 10.61/129.77 from his 302-inch ‘92 Mustang and became member number one hundred fifty-three in the 10-Second Club and number two hundred sixty in the 120 MPH Club. He later posted a 10.41/131.56 in late timed trials after qualifying concluded!…Charles Bewen qualified his blue smallblock-powered ‘67 Firebird for the second straight week with a 10.78/123.31…Ralph Dehne put his extremely popular original lightweight factory-built ‘63 409 Impala into the field in the fifteenth spot at 10.94/123.56 and moved into the top ten in point standings…Corey Stephens is now the only driver who has qualified for every event in the 2010 season and, with his runner-up finish, made a big jump to the third spot in the standings…Although not a qualifier, Tom Paschedag’s 2006 Corvette joined the 120 MPH Club with a best of 11.49/125.66...Among the many nonqualifers who recorded career-best performances, Dan Batz pushed his 2000 Camaro SS to an 11.44/125.58 and ran a late timed trial of 11.38/126.95...”Woody” Woodruff’s first pass of 181.89 mph made him the second member of the 180 MPH Club…Brandon Owen’s 8.46/160.75 blast made his Mustang the twenty-second member of the 8-Second Club and the eleventh on the 160 MPH Club… Darrian Hickman surprised a lot of folks when his ‘99 Camaro, which failed to qualify with a best of 11.94/113.60 during the official sessions, unloaded a 10.99 at only 103.87 mph during late timed trials!…Tim “Little Moose” Mallicoat, whose all-time SCSS event-winning father is still building an new 555-inch powerplant for the three-time Championship-earning “Hellraiser” ‘68 Camaro, won the High School Eliminator title at the helm of his thirteen-second S-10 pickup racing for Collinsville (IL) High School defeating reigning H.S. season champ Derek Allen’s Olds Alero from Waterloo (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 49 as of APRIL 21st, 2010)

Pos Points Name Hometown ST Vehicle Engine

1 (31) Raymond Arthur Edwardsville IL 93 S-10 355 Chevy
2 (28) Daryl Jauernig St. Genevieve MO 89 Mustang 351 Ford
3 (26) Corey Stephens Wentzville MO 88 Mustang 372 Ford
4 (18) Matt Martin St. Louis MO 86 Mustang 302 Ford
5 (15) Mark Yehling Granite City IL 97 Corvette 346 Chevy
6 (15) Steve George Arnold MO 71 Nova 634 Chevy
7 (15) David Bross Wentzville MO 04 Mustang 281 Ford
8 (15) Ralph Dehne Red Bud IL 63 Impala 409 Chevy
9 (15) Greg Boschert St. Louis MO 66 Mustang 333 Ford
10 (12) Shane Cochran St. Louis MO 71 Camaro 509 Chevy

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.







APRIL 20th, 2010 STLSR.COM SPORT TUNER SHOWDOWN FINAL ROUND


Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Rene Lupercio, Springfield, IL 1994 110 Integra 0.090 12.282 112.50
RU Dan Harris, St. Louis, MO 2004 232 Mustang 0.110 12.296 111.45

The St. Louis Street Racing.com Sport Tuner Showdown continued to be the most unpredictable category in the Tuesday night program with a fifth different champion in as many events. Rene Lupercio, whose red ‘94 Acura Integra has been creeping up on the competition, earned his first trophy and became the fourth first-time winner this year in a class which has seen no repeat victors so far during the season!

Lupercio’s unassuming turbocharged 1.8-liter Integra has shown dramatic improvement in almost every one of the five events held in 2010 and made a huge jump to lead qualifying at the April 20th race with a brilliant 12.29 at an exceptional 113.05 mph. Less than a tenth of a second behind was three-time 2010 finalist Dan Harris in his nitrous oxide-assisted 232-cubic inch V6-powered “SixBangStang” 2004 Mustang, (12.38/111.05), followed by returning STSS veteran Jason Ebenrick’s turbo’d six-cylinder ‘97 Toyota Supra, (12.85/110.92), past STSS finalist Ernie Williams’ rotary-powered ‘89 Mazda RX7, (13.12/108.07), and the eye-opening 2009 Chevrolet HHR of Jason Yowell which used a turbocharged EcoTech four-cylinder to post a 13.77/104.87 best.

Lupercio, racing with help from The Whip Factory in Plainfield, Illinois, made several twelve-second qualifying runs and the final battle with Harris, whose Mustang had appeared in all but the opening night’s final round, appeared to be a great match. However, nobody was ready for what would turn out to be one of the division’s greatest races. In the championship battle, Lupercio gained a slight holeshot of two hundredths of a second and, at the sixty-feet mark, was still barely leading by seventeen thousandths of a second, (a mere 8.42 inches). By the 330-feet mark, Harris and his Mustang had passed the Integra and squeezed ahead by a slim thirty-nine thousandths of a second, (3.45 feet), but the Acura’s turbocharged four-banger began fighting back and, at the eighth-mile, was leading an incredible race by only five thousandths of a second, (8.11 inches)! With only 320 feet to go, the Acura held on to its lead by a scant fourteen thousandths, (2.06 feet), and, at the quarter-mile finish line, the Acura turned on the win light by arriving only thirty-four thousandths of a second ahead of the Ford…a winning margin of just 5.69 feet! The numbers on the scoreboards, 12.28/112.50 to a losing 12.29/111.45, reflected the incredible battle.

“That was a drag race!”, said Harris after his third-straight runner-up and record seventeenth career final round appearance, noting, “There was never a point where I think either of us knew who was ahead except maybe at the very end. It was incredible!”. Lupercio agreed, adding, “That really was an amazing race! I knew we were pretty evenly matched but I don’t think I really expected it to be that close. The car has really come around in the past few weeks and I needed everything it had to finally win one of these races. We started building the car about two years ago and it has plenty of power but it’s tough putting it to the ground with a front-wheel-drive car on D.O.T. rubber. I don’t think eleven-second runs are too far away, though. If it keeps improving, it’ll be there real soon!”.







APRIL 20th, 2010 ST. LOUIS DRAG RACING.COM SUPER TRUCK SHOWDOWN FINAL ROUND

Pos Name Hometown ST Vehicle R.T. ET MPH

W Kevin Autenrieth, Bethalto, IL 1991 434 S-10 0.501 9.018 146.86
RU Raymond Arthur, Edwardsville, IL 1993 355 S-10 0.129 9.698 141.94


Two trucks qualified for one of the quickest SCSS programs ever but, when both elected to compete solely in the St. Louis Drag Racing.com Super Truck Showdown, Kevin Autenrieth returned to the winner’s circle in his record-holding orange smallblock-powered ’91 S-10 for a thirteenth event title.

The renowned driver of the 434-cubic inch nitrous-aided Lowe Performance flagship was actually out qualified by nemesis Ray Arthur, whose R&R Towing-sponsored “S-10 Revenge” nitrous-aided ‘93 S-10 pickup ran 9.45/142.12 to lead the Truck field and qualify sixth in the SCSS program. Autenrieth, returning after breaking an oil pump during the March 30th event, made his qualifying attempts without the “juice” and fell second in the Truck line-up and tenth in the SCSS show with a best of 9.97/134.10. The rest of the Top Five trucks included the absolutely astounding silver 6.1L Hemi-powered 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 of Andy Strauss, (an ungodly 11.75/116.21!), two-time Super Truck finalist Jimmy Price and his 464-inch Buick-powered ‘84 El Camino, (12.20/109.52), and Randy Christy, Jr., whose yellow 408-inch ‘99 Dodge Dakota was coming off two consecutive wins in the class, (12.39/110.06).

Both Autewnrieth and Arthur were called as alternates in the Street Car Shootout but both declined; Autenrieth was concentrating on one good run using nitrous oxide and worried that a possible three straight runs would tax his rebuilt combination and Arthur was simply trying to preserve what is currently his only ride in SCSS action. In the final round, Autenrieth gave up a massive one-third-second holeshot and Arthur led the match until the three hundred feet mark before Autenrieth streaked away with a flawless 9.01/146.86 against Arthur’s 9.69/141.94.

“You know, I was luckier than folks might realize in that final”, admitted Autenrieth during winner’s circle ceremonies in front of the main grandstands as he posed for photos with young Emily Lowe of Lowe Performance. I really wanted to get one solid run with the nitrous on the fresh motor. We had to replace all the bearings after the oil pump broke right off the block three weeks ago and we just didn’t want to beat on the engine. I didn’t intentionally give Ray that big lead and, if he’d run another 9.40, I never would’ve caught him. I was trying to get the truck to launch right and it had a 1.26 ’sixty’ which was the quickest of the event so I guess it’s fixed!”.





Photos of the April 20th Street Car Shootout Series event are now available for viewing at Bret Kepner Photos.com.






Steve George, Arnold, MO 1971 634 Nova



Corey Stephens, Wentzville, MO 1988 372 Mustang



Rene Lupercio, Springfield, IL 2000 110 Integra



Dan Harris, St. Louis, MO 2004 232 Mustang



Kevin Autenrieth, Bethalto, IL 1991 434 S-10



Ray Arthur, Edwardsville, IL 1992 355 S-10



Mark “Woody” Woodruff, Arnold, MO 1967 565 Corvette
New Street Car Shootout Series Speed Record at 186.61 MPH!