7/5/2017
Keith Haney
DRAG RACING: Independence racing at Gateway
Gateway Motorsports Park welcomed the Premier Street Car Association (PSCA) and Midwest Pro Mod Series along with the NHRA Jegs Super Quick Series this past weekend for an independence weekend heads up and sportsman racing showdown.
A total of 110 cars qualified across five heads-up classes and the Jegs Super Quick series, 56 of those were Super Quick racers. The GMP track did not disappoint and that could not be more evident than with the quick E.T.’s and top speeds laid down all weekend long.
"Thanks once again to the amazing racing surface provided by the staff at Gateway, our drivers were able to put on an incredible show,” said PSCA President Mel Roth.
The quickest class was Pro Mod where the winner took home a $10,000 pay day. There were 13 Pro Mods that qualified for the field with Keith Haney of Broken Arrow, Okla. taking the pole with a 3.782 at 201.13 mph. Granite City resident Rob Hogle qualified 13th with a best E.T. of 4.903 at 142.15.
Haney, who is also the head of the Midwest Pro Mod series, led the way all weekend right up to the final. Demotte, Ind. racer Jason Hamstra put his supercharged ’69 Camaro sixth on the qualifying sheet and improved E.T.’s as race day progressed to the final against Haney.
In the final, Haney experienced a mechanical issue when attempting to fire his ’15 nitrous-aided Camaro, handing the uncontested win to Hamstra. Knowing he had the win in hand, Hamstra still put his foot to the floor and ran his best E.T. of the event.
Radial vs. world (RvW) provided the second quickest field of the event. The top qualifier was Dwayne Mills of Sand Springs, Okla. with an E.T. of 3.853 at 204.14 mph.
The RvW final was another all Chevy showdown with Broken Arrow, Okla. resident Brandon Pesz and Mark Woodruff of Arnold, Mo. Pesz qualified Keith Haney’s RvW Camaro middle of the pack, but improved with every pass during eliminations on Saturday while Woodruff was putting up strong numbers all event. With a reaction time advantage, Pesz never looked back edging Woodruff 3.874 to 3.904 E.T.
The X275 field was 13 cars strong, which included local racer Tim Gehrs of Roxana. The field also included racers from Ohio, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. The top qualifier, Phil Hines, ran a quick pass of 4.461 at 161.38 mph and seemingly had the field covered until the final where he met up with Dexter, Mo. racer Cecil Whitaker. Whitaker had to overcome a huge wheel stand where his Camaro came down hard on the front end to make the final against Hines.
With the advantage off the line, Hines never looked back in route to the win over Whitaker. If he had looked back he would have seen Whitaker right on his bumper. Hines needed every bit of the 4.448 E.T. because Whitaker would run 4.499 E.T.
Other winners on the weekend included Shane Stack of Huntsville, Ala. over Jason Rueckert of Terre Haute, Ind. in Limited Drag Radial, Brian Edwards of Bloomington over Jason Collins of Blue Springs, Mo. in MX235 and Mike Eggleston of Highland over George Atchison of Centralia in Jegs Super Quick action.
This was the kind of action fans can expect when a lot of the same cars and many more invade GMP in August.
“What we saw Saturday with the Pro Mods and Radial cars is just a small preview of what you're going to see Aug. 3-5 when we come back to Gateway for Anarchy at the Arch IV. The Midwest version of our Street Car Super Nationals has been a record-breaking hit for our fans and racers and we're ready to do it again next month,” said Roth.
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