SCSN IV The Final Word

Most talk of SCSN IV revolves around record performances and downtime. As for the numbers we saw here they lived up to the past history of this event by being roughly a tenth quicker than the year before. This time however the difference was that two cars were neck-and-neck in the run for Low ET. It was also the first time a blower car has won here after two years of nitrous cars (Jenkins & Budano) and Moran's win in 2007.

One may get into the rules here regarding all the different combos, but the bottom line was we had two cars going head-to-head in Pro Street to such an extreme extent that little else mattered going into each round of qualifying and eliminations. This is not to dis any of the other 36 entries, but Wilmes and Moran had over a tenth on everybody else, and when each of them pulled in, everybody was watching.

And how 'bout that kid from Altus OK? A small town in southwest Oklahoma near the Texas border, about the only intro many had of the entry was a posting on the PSCA board warning us something big, black and bad dubbed the 'Pain Train' was coming to SCSN IV. Needless to say, the world beyond Texas and OK now know full well of the baddest Pro Streeter in the land. Though I didn't get to speak with them, every person I talked to who did had nothing but nice things to say about the polite guys in black. Word was they had some pretty stout folks in their pit along with a trick huffer and the Kobelco troops to tune it. They came, they saw, the kicked some serious butt to become the first ever blower champ at SCSN. Hopefully they'll be back in '09 and beyond.

What can you say about Mike Moran that hasn't already been said many times over. The King of Turbos came here after a 6.11 in Pro Mod trim, and turned the Pro Street world upside down with the quickest and fastest runs in history - and in the process brought Pro Street and Pro Mod even closer together. It will be interesting to see if somebody out there tries to turn Pro Street into 'Junior' Pro Mod, or something like that.

The northwest teams had a pretty decent showing with Brian Lane almost doing what Dal Sangha did last year in taking out a heavy hitter or two while going rounds. In this year's case it was Lane who pulled in beside the all-conquering Moran in the final pairing of round two. Nobody...and I mean NOBODY gave the little red Corvette from Marysville WA any chance at all of advancing, but when Lane lit the top bulb and just sat there, man-oh-man did stuff ever start to happen.

Moran always stages last, but this time Lane played the game so many others do from time-to-time. The Vette lit the top bulb first followed quickly by the Monte Carlo, about thirty seconds later the crowd got into it as the starter began pacing, 15 seconds or so after that with the crowd cheering Moran went in followed immediately by Lane. The tree came down, Lane had a .165, Moran an .065 and 200ft later with the turbo car in the left lane going left and out of the narrow LVMS groove (exactly the same thing he did in an earlier qualifier) the Corvette was suddenly in front! With the crowd going bonkers Moran drove the wheels off the thing and they crossed the finish line as one. It was then the people in the stands let out the loudest cheer of the event as Lane's 6.50/213 was a winner over Moran's 6.67/231! When they came back down the return road the appreciative crowd again threw up a loud cheer for the giant-killers from the northwest. Later Lane told HH "There was NO WAY I was stagin' second."

While all the NW Pros did pretty good, the other one who stood out was Yakima's Frank Tamez, here in a brand new car with a brand new combo. From his very first hit Thursday, we knew the biggest, baddest automatic all-motor car of all time was gonna be one to watch. With both Sonny Leonard and Pat Musi in his pits at various times throughout the four days Tamez astounded everybody by qualifying 8th with a 6.428/216.00 run making him the quickest NW Pro Street car ever. It was good news/bad news in round one when the red Goat left late and lost but laid down a world-shattering 6.388 at 217.71mph - the quickest and fastest run by such a car ever. Oh ya, that line about "size matters"...the Sonny between the frame rails measured an astounding 892 cubic inches! He's already wondering what it'll run in Top Sportsman at Seattle and Mission...

I could go on about the NW Pros, such as Lyle Kennedy's and Roy Moznik's first runs over 200 in the sixes, the spectacular pit-side hospitality of Jay Syvertsen (as he awaits a new ride for '09), Dhaliwal running 50s here at low speeds, The TPR boys takin off the wing (forever) and running great until popping the blower in round one and I guess we can now include Pasco's JR Carr in with the rest as he sets out on a full IHRA schedule next season.

Our Outlaw pre-race coverage included the ominous line "Troy Pike has scant chances of winning here". Don't believe everything you read as the Abbotsford driver proved to be the big surprise going all the way to the quarter finals while taking out Spirro Pappas in round one. Who could have believed the legend from Glenview IL would loose to another B.C. car under weird circumstances. (He lost in the final to Dale Moznik in 2007 when he broke). He had Pike covered by two seconds but still left early. And about the fact Pappas was allowed to qualify two cars in one class...puleeze change this rule.

Other noteworthy NW performances in Outlaw included Barry Hobson running low sevens on his way to a semifinal finish, Ken Tupper going 200 in that wild yellow thing, and a bunch of dudes getting to line up beside Bob Glidden, including Calgary's Derek Przeginiak who did it at least twice that we saw.

XTreeme Drag Radial proved not to be the wheelstanding exhibition we always look forward to, but there were a few on the bumper, maybe the most impressive being Calgary's Paul Silva in the former Przeginiak '90 Mustang. After not showing much in qualifying he lined up beside PSCA veteran Rich Hoyle who experienced uncustomary tire spin, but it may not have mattered as Silva launched into a powerstand that saw the little Blue Fox go nearly 300 ft with the front end two feet in the air. Past winner Walter Grosse from Gales Creek Oregon went to the semi finals loosing a close one to eventual winner Roger Holder.

Wild Street was a lot about tire size - not something I'm all that familiar with so please bear with me. On 'little' 275s Enumclaw's Eric Petersen was as good as anybody running low 8s and advancing to the very competitive quarter finals, loosing to event winner Al Jimenez in his dominating '72 Camaro that qualified one at an amazing 7.56/187.

There was also much more to this event other than the racing.

Kudos go to what this writer feels was the best drag racing announcing I have heard in decades. The team of Alan Reinhart, Al Tucci and the Strip's Nathan Hirschi stayed clear, entertaining, and enthusiastic from the second they started to the wee hours of Sunday evening. Reinhart particularly good right up to the final pairing. All I'll ad is if NHRA had these three guys on TV, the ratings would go through the roof. Some of the stellar lines that I recall include:

"We didn't come here to wax, we came to race" -Reinhart in reference to one primered car that had just won a round

"Cleaning up all that horsepower" -Tucci describing one of the cleanups

Then they got live listeners to e-mail in during one long mess...

"Somebody in Australia wants to know if there'll be a DVD of this race. Apparently they're really into Sweepers and Powerbosses". -Reinhart

"You know it's been a long day when the crews come in to change walkie talkie batteries" - Reinhart

"Now it's time for the Al & Al Show" -Hirschi

Then they went through a bunch of e-mails from Nitro Joe back east, and got into 'Cougar' (not the car or the cat) jokes and finally relationship advice:

"The reason why girls have disposal cell phones is because of me" - Reinhart

"Hey they're bidding on JJ" (Ya the JJ from the NW Cert crew, working the computer here)

"By the time we get outta here, JJ'll be old enough to drink" - Reinhart

Needless to say these guys were awesome on the mics.

MISC RAMBLINGS:

Speaking of live online coverage, I finally got to meet Jimmie Biggs in person. A really good guy who has given so much to doorslammer racing across the country. Despite what you may read at times on YB, he's a nice guy, just don't piss him off.

And how about that LVMS race crew from the tower to the top end... Not only did they not miss a stroke while they worked the longest, hardest hours of anyone, this marathon of sweep came after many, many weeks of big events at not only the drag strip but the dirt oval and the Bull Ring as well. Chris Blair has some great people on staff who proved they can go the distance. Thankfully there were many who took down cases of Kokanee to donate.

My quick calculation had racers from eleven states and two provinces.

One of of neat media people I met here was Dan Euritt at DragRaceTV.com After seeing his online vids at DRO I had to sit down and talk compression schemes. Seems Dan is a former TV engineer and knows compression like nobody I've ever met before. He was gracious enough to take a few minutes one morning to show me some stuff that I hope will make future HH online vids look much better. Not sure I'll ever get to his level of quality, but he was a great guy. Make sure you check his site for all kinds of video clips.

Another shooter/web dude was Steven Bunker, the grandson of the legendary Bob Bunker and son of current driver of the famed Folsom Flash '55 Chevy Bob Bunker II. He's just getting rolling in this stuff but is somebody to watch down the road as his work is very good. Check his site at quartermiledesigns.com

While it was so great to see Radial kingpin Paul Major here from Fort Salonga New York, it was scary to see him have two fires in his ultra-tech '01 Corvette. I never did find out the cause, but knowing these were not the first such instances with this ride in 2008 have to wonder just how safe this car is. Fortunately he was not injured, but to see a car like this on fire bigtime twice in one weekend was not fun. Though I got his second fire very clearly from the top end, it's not the kind of thing I like to post, so don't ask to see it ok.

Zany Pro Street stuff included the Godfather of Pro Street Monty Berney failing to qualify, then being long gone when he was called as an alternate in round one Sunday. Despite this he put on an amazing show when he stood Bertha 3 up on two wheels at a 1000ft Saturday night in the final session.

And then there was the doorslammer...or should I say door-tosser of Randy Kay, who ran great when he could keep the doors on his blown Stingray. Twice he launched them into the sky in qualifying then when he did get down the track late Saturday evening on a super 6.26/235 (good for number 3) he ended up on the beach with lots of front end damage. But the star of the show had to be Steve Cook from Soldotna Alaska in his big blown Hemi '69 Road Runner. On three occasions he stood it up like a competitor at Byron, often well past half track. You can see some of it on our video, but man, to witness this in person was incredible.

To end this long blurb I will say that I don't know all the answers that will help clean-up fluids, the question of how to best work brackets into a growing field of heads up entries, but regardless this is not a race, but an experience. There's nothing even close to this anywhere else on the west coast, and as far as 2009 is concerned I would not be caught anywhere else on this globe other than at LVMS when SCSN V rolls into Sin City.

Finally, though I cannot sell photos from this race, I can sell video...not event video, but individual videos. Prices start at $50, but don't even ask me about it until Feb.1 2009...seriously, as it'll take that long for me to get caught up on all my other stuff. I've got about six hours from this race, all rounds and sessions of heads up and a few brackets...but please gimme a couple of months before you ask.

And I'm sure I forgot to mention a bunch of other cool things and names, but after over a week straight of SCSN 24/7 I'm done with this puppy for a while...

Thanks to the many, many people who had so many nice things to say about HH. I talked to people from all over the USA who knew well of this website, and that is very humbling I must say. To my buddy Chris Blair who allowed me access to some pretty slick spots to shoot that few others were allowed, and the many NW racers who want all the video I can get them. Thanks to you all for helping make our trip to SCSN IV one I will never forget.

-Larry Pfister

SCSN has become '64 Funny Cars' of it's day
It's 'stuff ' the pros simply do not have. Well maybe the first couple times ya see 'em they do. Today that 'stuff' don't last like it once could. Fact is, few drag races on Earth can guarantee you 'stuff' like huge wheelstands from cars that look like cars, sideways saves by weekend warriors who have real jobs to go back to on Monday, giant burnouts like the pros used to do, thrilling on-and-off-then-back-on-the-pedal qualifying the pros never do, and racing so close and so exciting some of those pros actually come here to do what they used to do back when it was still fun.

Unlike a pro race of today you still have the magical "Hey look who's frikin' cumin' NOW! He's gonna kick everybody's ass...no way he sucks...our guy's gonna hand it to him on a ..". You get the idea. That kinda 'stuff' just don't happen at pro drag races any more.

It's the best door car racers in the land heading west for just one single race. A southwest shoot-out the likes of which the birthplace of the sport has not seen in quite a few moons. SCSN has also become the best turbo vs blower vs bottle drag race anywhere. It's called parity, and no, the pros no longer have much of that either.

It's a drag race where how quick, how fast and who wins all mean something. Coming when it does, it's the end of the season for big time 'street' car racing in North America. That's one reason why they come from far and wide to be a part of it. The fact that it's contested on America's Greatest Drag Strip in the world's wildest town is just icing on one big ass fun-cake.

About the only thing one may raise an eyebrow at is the word 'street'. Sorry folks, but there ain't too many comin' to THE STRIP for SCSN sans trailer.

There are a lot of awesome drag races on the left coast every year, but there is nothing else even close to this one when you speak of doorslammers.

Back in my day 64 Funny Cars was the 'it' race. From The County to the East Bay to foothills of Mount Rainier, Sixty Four Funny Cars was the 'it' event at every major drag strip on the west coast. Today the 'it' race is SCSN, and there's just one. The east has E-Town, the south Orlando both of whom have more cars, but SCSN has already gained the reputation of the race the fast guys all wanna not just win, but see how quick and fast they can really go at. And if the rumors that all drag racing will be 1000 ft starting in 2009 come true, then this could well be the last big quarter mile event ever for these cars, and give bragging rights for a very long time.

In 2008 it was the quickest and fastest Pro Street field ever. Expect that to be demolished in oh nine. And unlike Pro Mod, ADRL and any other drag race you care to compare it with SCSN has a supporting cast NHRA and IHRA can only dream of. From the sick, sick, SICK Outlaw 10.5 maniacs to those wheelstanding wonders on drag radials and nearly every one of the five heads up and three bracket/index classes you have excitement everywhere you look. Hell, the biggest problem at this race is finding time to drag yourself away from the fence to go potty or re-fill that brewski.

For those of you who never got to experience 64 Funny Cars, rest easy cause SCSN is just as good, and in many ways even better.

-Larry Pfister

The Northwest SCSN contingent gets bigger every year. For 2009 we've assembled a little preview of racers who hail from the region NHRA calls Division Six. If you don't see somebody here or have more info to provide please do. We'll update right up to the day we leave and provide you with links to all the other sites covering this race from live video to results to photos to trash-talkin' message boards.

e-mail info here

Sponsorship of our exclusive coverage of the 2008 Street Car Super Nationals is still available e-mail Larry anytime

BRIAN LANE, Arlington WA Pro Street At this year's Mission National Open Lane ran the quickest pass ever for a Northwest Pro Street car - a 6.471 at 'only' 213.98 mph. This came while using just two of three nitrous systems in the former Rickie Smith '63 Corvette. Lane's team has not run for a few months but they'll be ready for SCSN. The guy who really stepped this class up almost a decade ago with a radical shoebox is back and knows he can run competitive numbers here.

JAY SYVERTSEN, Burnaby BC Pro Street The northwest driver who has run more PSCA races than all the rest combined, Big Jay is always a threat to win in his wild '38 Chevy. The boys got this thing runnin' pretty good at THE STRIP during the PSCA Mickey Thompson Fall Nationals qualifying number seven with a nice 6.777 211.20.

DALE MOZNIK Surrey BC Outlaw 10.5 When Team Moz won Outlaw 10.5 at the 2008 SCSN it proved that the fastest horse doesn't always win the race. For 2008 the Brothers figured they had better step it up and got a new Fulton motor to try and go back and seriously do it again. At the recent PSCA Fall Nationals they struggled but did manage to run as quick and fast as 7.19/203.71. It'll be tough to repeat, but don't ever count these guys out.

ROY MOZNIK Surrey BC Pro Street The former 'Bad Bob' Morrison, former Trevor Wilms El Camino has undergone a total transformation to this Pro Street beauty. Debut came late in the season and the car has not yet shown anywhere near it's full potential, but it will be at SCSN and after what happened last year to these guys in 10.5 you just never know what Roy may do...

GARRETT RICHARDS, Tacoma WA Pro Street A fan favorite everywhere they run, the world's fastest (222mph) pickup truck and 2008 CPSA champ is a fixture at SCSN and it just wouldn't have been the same without these guys and that awesome 2006 Chevy Silverado.

RASH DHALIWAL Pro Street Though it took a while for us to confirm, one of the top PS rides in the NW is coming to SCSN, and if their late season performances are any indication, we could see some stout numbers out of the Mustang.

MARK WOLFE, Marysville WA Pro Street One of the very few northwest drivers who can ever boast to have driven his own Pro Stocker, Mark Wolfe is one of the most natural drivers we've ever seen behind the wheel. Wolfe drives more like a southwest guy than anybody in the northwest, and he's gonna make a TON of new fans when he comes to his first ever PSCA race. The NHRA National Record holder in AA/AT and tuned by George Scott at Turbo Technology of Tacoma the big Bird is gonna be right there come Sunday.

"Well, I'm headed to Vegas for the National event and Lucas. I hope to finally get the car to run to it's potential at the next few races.We have a new intercooler, shock springs completely fresh engine, new M/T tires, a new four link setup... If it works it will fly at SCSN.

I can't wait to see Tamez's new Sonny engine, George was building the headers for it a few days ago and I swear you could stick your head in the collectors they are so big!"

KEN SIHOTA, Abbotsford BC Pro Street One of the newest players on the northwest Pro Street scene, Ken Sihota could well be a darkhorse with some nice consistant test runs late in the season at MRP.

FRANK TAMEZ, Yakima WA, Pro Street Somebody who simply has to be in the running for this year's D6 Person of the Year, Frank Tamez has gone to the head of the NW doorcar category in 2008. His AutoMax USA dealership in Yakima sponsors the NHRA D6 Top Sportsman class and he's goin' thru door cars like nobody this region has ever done before. He's bringin' Sonny Leonard hiself to SCSN to tune his new MegaMeal inched GTO. The guy's a damn good shoe too, so if this thing is quick and consistent, Frankie could go rounds.

"My new motor is a Sonny Leanard 892 Semi Hemi (First naturally aspirated engine to make over 2000 horses). The first one made 2060 hp. Mine is the second and he is gonna tweek it some more to get 2100. Who says size doesn't matter?! Sonny wants to be there because we are hoping to make history with the first ever naturally aspirated automatic equipped doorcar pass in the 6.40s and possibly the .30s. Just gotta get the car figured out before first round to try to win this thing also."

ROY LAZIC, Kelowna, BC, Pro Street Canada West Doorslammer dude steps up to Pro Street with this bad boy '54 Studebaker.

KURTIS TAMEZ, Yakima WA, Outlaw 10.5 Frank's only kid is coming back to Las Vegas with something to prove, and he's got an all new ride to do it in after flipping his Mustang at the Falls during testing Friday. Frank Tamez filled us in on the details: "It's an '07 Bickel Built Pro Stock Spec Cobalt with a 622 Reher Morrison motor and 3 speed T210 Trans. We are gonna strap on the 10.5 tires , maybe test it at Fontana at the next PSCA event and then decide whether to install the 815 that is currently in my car or wait till next season to do it. Its gonna depend on how many passes it takes to get the car dialed and Kurtis comfortable in the new car."

TREVOR WILMS, Snohomish WA Outlaw 10.5 Wilms is another NW racer who has been around since the early days. For SCSN IV he'll bolt on the lil tires, add some weight to the Corvette and give Outlaw a go.

PAUL SILVA, Calgary, Alberta Xtreeme Drag Radial This 427 turbo 1990 Mustang appears to be a car we may have seen before but not certain.