THE BIGGEST STREET CAR RACE IN WEST COAST HISTORY!
Eliminations re-scheduled for February 25 2004
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PSCA World Finals Nov.
19-21, 2004 • Rockabilly Rod Reunion Nov. 20, 2004
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Monday November 29, 2004
About all I could think about come Sunday morning was the line I used on so many northwest people this past year when they asked why I went to LVMS so often. I'll have to work on my "cause it don't rain there" reply. Chris Blair may have said it best when he told HH that in his eighty race 2004 schedule he had more days lost to rain then his entire four year stint as Director of NHRA's most infamous wet division.
Despite the fact eliminations were put off until the PSCA comes back here February 25, 26, 27, 2005 what we saw through four rounds of eliminations lived up to the billing of the greatest west coast street car race ever. While there were so many spectacular runs in all classes, it was Pro Street where we saw awesome performances from many of the 18 vehicles that ran. HH stated before this race that it would be a coming-of-age for the Pacific Street Car Association. It proved to be that and so much more.
They came from as far east as Virginia, north from Illinois and even Canada was represented very well in a class that saw ten in the six second zone, eight over 200 mph, an impressive bump of 7.22 with the last vehicle a respectable 7.35. Orlando champ Chuck Samuel came here from Kingston Illinois to qualify second with a 6.61/216 in conditions very new to this team, and Pat Bennett trailered his American Bad Ass '67 Nova here all the way from Amherst Virginia to take third with a run of 6.70/212.
Amid the Pro Street masses were six from the northwest and a long-transplanted resident of Vanderhoof, British Columbia, one Monte Berney, in a 3500+ LB all steel '55 that is maybe the coolest of it's type ever built. From number five qualifier Jay Syvertsen whose former Pro Mod '57 Cameo pickup laid down a 6.78/209 to Garrett Richards running his best ever at 7.23/180 in his '80 Chevy pickup, the dudes from the great white north did good...real good. Dal Sangha took a completely backyard built piece to an astounding 6.80/206 while the Pro Five oh of Rash Dhaliwal struggled to a 6.92/198. Brian Lane was eight in his shoebox at 6.93/200 and Jeremy Devies' 6.98/197 good for the ten spot.
But laying it all on the line, and coming out number one with both ends of the PSCA Pro Street record, was Ed Thornton of Chino Hills California who wheeled his twin turbo big block Chevy powered '57 to a simply awesome 6.513/217.95 backed up with a 6.53/ 220 that made everybody on hand realize who the guy to beat was. The .51 coming on a pass that saw the head gasket come out well before the finish line causing the big guy to see Elvis as he went thru the lights completely sideways.
Other notables who traveled the thousand plus miles included Rod Pickett who lead all in Outlaw with a 7.44/185 in his '66 Chevy II that has wowed 'em from Mission to Orlando to Huntsville Alabama and now Vegas. Our other Outlaw was the full-interior home-built Chevy powered '83 Regal of Dale Pedersen that wheelstood it's way to a spectacular 7.76/173 good for 7th in the 14 car field. Speaking of wheelstands, Delta B.C.'s Ken Sihota put his Heavy Street '81 Malibu on the bumper on his first trip down the world's fastest quarter mile, then hurt a transmission on his next pass. And we couldn't forget that Heavy Hawaiian Trevor Willms who qualified eight at 8.18/164.
As you will soon see the thrills and chills in these two days were often unbelievable. Yes, a couple of damaged cars came out of it, but baby we saw some driving exhibitions here that would make Steve Kinser proud. And yes, they all walked away. And yes our one single baby camcorder didn't miss a stroke. Our only complaint to Blair was that his scoreboards are too big.
We could go on but time has run out. We must move on to other projects. We did however manage to put together 150 images captured from video and a few clips of video. Sorry but the time it would have taken to caption all this stuff just isn't there, but realize these video frame captures are posted in the order in which they were shot. The details will come early next year when our two years in the making documentary 'Wicked Street of the West' will feature all the excitement from this event plus spectacular footage from four more LVMS/PSCA races along with two years worth of exclusive northwest street car video that'll make this video something very, very special.
So for now thanks to the PSCA, SPECIAL thanks to Chris Blair, and to all the racers...thank you for putting a smile on my face damn near every time I pointed my camcorder at you!
VIDEOS: (PLEASE right click and 'Save Target As' to download to your box so our bandwidth isn't abused beyond out capability)
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EVENT TV ad mpeg video (Please right click and 'Save as target' to preserve our bandwidth) Video info: Yes we will be video taping this event. No we are not doing an event video. That is not what we do. This race will mark the long awaited final shoot on our now two-year-long west coast street car documentary (Wicked Street of the West) that will start production in December with an 'early 2005' release date. As for individual videos, we'll see as an event this large taxes our resources to the max. If you have any questions please e-mail Larry.
FLASH... Orlando Champ to run Vegas!!
It's one week and counting. Seven days to go before the biggest, the baddest, the bestest street car race west of the 'Sippi, and north 'n south of anywhere goes down on the grandest stage in the sport. This will be history in the making, a coming of age for the left coast street car scene. Years from now those who were there will brag about it, those who were not will bullshit they were. In a segment of the sport that does not have a national body, it's east vs. west, north vs south, state vs state vs province, your guys against our guys. It's a combination bracket finals where 'teams' compete and a national event where the big boyz battle it out in a run-wut-ya-brung door war! There has not been a drag race on the west coast like this in over forty years. The anticipation is nail-biting as nobody really knows who's coming. There will be disappointments, there will be surprises, but rest assured there will be competition the likes of which has not been seen since the days of the gasser wars. Perhaps the best part of all this is that unlike the old days when the tracks were marginal and almost always gave the home team an advantage, this time it's on the sport's premiere superstrip in the funnest town on Earth. It will be all but impossible not to run good and enjoy one's self at this gig. We'll have a detailed schedule soon, but look for a weekend of entertainment like only this town (and this facility) can provide, for amid all this door car horsepower is what's been dubbed the Rockabilly Rod Reunion. All the stuff you've read about or seen on the tube will fill the massive expanse of LVMS asphalt to make up a car show so cool, you will not believe it. I'm also told that plans are to actually have a bit of downtime so you can enjoy it all without the rush and confusion of one of those 'too-big' drag races. They are coming from anywhere and everywhere, HH included. Look for well over 200 cars, maybe a couple dozen of the Pro Street breed, but look for action. The kind of thrills, spills and chills the guys "who never lift" provide by the bucket load. I predict more bent bumpers and flattened headers than any fifty national events combined can match. These guys use wheelie bars for show and mount 'em so high as to turn them into rear ballast. And remember there is only ever one 'first big one'. This is it folks and with some airfares from the northwest in the under $50 range, you have no excuse not to be here. None. Sell whatever it takes to do this deal, the long term weather is cool and dry, so don't try the 'rainly Vegas' line on this weekend. The PSCA traveling horsepower show and that guy named Mel have brought together something very, very special. No doubt, no shit, this will be one for the ages, and like we say 'round here: "Don't let the awesome coverage on HH make you regret NOT being at the PSCA WORLD FINALS November 19, 20 & 21!!!" The current Northwest line-up going to Vegas...to the best of our knowledge is as follows:
I know there's more please e-mail me so I can make this list complete and pass it along to LVMS for any pre race promo they do. |
 click logo for more Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sat. Nov. 20, 2004 |
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California
Independant Funny Car Assocoation (CIFCA) Series Finale at
The Strip in conjunction with PSCA & Rockabilly Rod Reunion:
Teams that are pre-entered as of: November 11, 2004 - By far, the biggest CIFCA event of the year…and possibly the biggest one ever. Runs are scheduled for 4 & 6 p.m. on Saturday (the second qualifying run is their burn-out contest). Final qualifying run is Sunday at 9:30 a.m. 16 car eliminations begin at 12:30 p.m. Team ACE Racing - Eddy Plaizier Back
in Black - Dennis LaCharite Good
Vibrations - Jim Maher Arizona Thunder - Jamie Leppanen
Dirt
Cheap - Buzzz Miller Blue Diamond Race Cars -
Lyle Larkin AMP Motorsports - Tom Abbott
L.A.S.D.
Motorsports - Joe LoMonaco Cogswell/Motorcult - Pete
Cogswell Shakey
Situation - Gary Dale Burning Desire - Charles
Ware Bada Bing Bada Bang - John
Fattori Chill Factor - Tim Scardino
Windjammer Racing - Andre
Pegues Huff'n & Puff'n - Val
Richards California
Rattler - Ray Sylvester Team Scott - Jim Scott Cloud 9 Racing - Darryl Renn
Team Tukr - Glenn Tucker
Not So Funny Funny - Shane
Westring Outcast
- Pete Ortiz Marsha Whiteman - The Familiar
Ground Zero - Dennis Murphy
Holmes Motorsports - David
Holmes Romanazzi Motorsports - Steven
Romanazzi Hustle Hemi II - Dave Johnson |
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Schedule for PSCA World Finals, CIFCA Finals and Rockabilly Rod Reunion Nov. 18-21 at The Strip at LVMS Thursday, Nov. 18 5 p.m.-- Credential sales and pit parking closed. Friday, Nov. 19 Noon -- PSCA World Finals qualifying. 2 p.m. - First Pro Street qualifying session. 5 p.m. -- Conclude PSCA with second Pro Street qualifying session. 7 p.m. -- Rockabilly Rod Reunion Kick-Off Party at The Cannery Hotel & Casino 7 p.m. -- Midnight Mayhem racer and spectator gates open. 8 p.m. -- Midnight Mayhem 2004 Season Finale begins. 1 a.m. -- Midnight Mayhem staging lanes closed. Saturday, Nov. 20 - Rockabilly Rod Reunion Presented by Mooneyes and Clay Smith Cams, featuring Gene Winfield, Tom Daniel, Cadillac Angels, Kenny Youngblood, Heidi Van Horne 6 a.m. -- Gates open for Rockabilly Rod Reunion vendor set-up. 7 a.m. -- Credential sales, pit parking, tech inspection for LVMS Outlaw Super Quick. 8 a.m. -- PSCA bracket time trials, PSCA qualifying (two rounds). 8:30 a.m. - First LVMS Outlaw Super Quick qualifying session. 9:45 a.m. -- LVMS Outlaw Super Quick qualifying session. 10 a.m. -- PSCA Pro Street qualifying session. 10:30 a.m. -- LVMS Outlaw Super Quick eliminations begin. 1 p.m. -- Conclude PSCA Time Trials and qualifying with Pro Street. 1:30 p.m. -- Track break for Rockabilly Rod Reunion stage activities (1:30 - 4 p.m.). 2 p.m. -- Cadillac Angels concert. 3:30 p.m. -- Pin-up Girl contest. 4 p.m. - Second CIFCA Funny Car qualifying session (32 cars). 5 p.m. -- Car show parade. 5:15 p.m. -- Rat Rod burn-out contest. 5:30 p.m. -- LVMS Run-for-the-Money -- open to all Super Quick and PSCA participants. 6 p.m. - Second CIFCA Funny Car qualifying session and burn-out contest. 7 p.m. -- Rockabilly Rod Reunion After-Party and show awards ceremony at The Cannery Hotel & Casino. Sunday, Nov. 21 7:15 a.m. - Racers For Christ chapel service. 8 a.m. -- PSCA bracket time trials. 8:30 a.m. - First LVMS Outlaw Super Quick qualifying session. 9:30 a.m. - Second LVMS Outlaw Super Quick qualifying session. 10 a.m. -- CIFCA final qualifying session. 11 a.m. - First round LVMS Outlaw Super Quick eliminations. 11:15 a.m. -- PSCA eliminations (beginning with Open Comp). Noon - First-round eliminations for Pro Street and CIFCA (16 cars). 2 p.m. - Second-round eliminations for Pro Street and CIFCA (8 cars). 4 p.m. - Third-round eliminations for Pro Street and CIFCA (4 cars). 5:30 p.m. -- All final rounds. Past HH PSCA Coverage: July
30/31, 2004 Mar
26/27/28, 2004 LVMS
PSCA & West Coast Pro Mods March 21/22/23, 2003
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