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Although the battle for the TCI/FAST Pro Stock
title didn’t have quite the same level
of drama, there was still plenty of excitement
as Charlie Booze Jr. and Jamie Stanton continued
their wire-to-wire battle for this year’s
title. It was only fitting that the pair met
in the final round to determine the outcome
of a season of effort. Stanton had enough points
to hold Booze at bay as long as Booze didn’t
set a record, but with his semifinal win over
Neal Owens, Booze ran an 8.87, which was very
close to the 8.85 record Stanton had established
on Friday.
 As the two entered the waterbox for the final,
the Booze brothers of Charlie and Brian had
already set their small block-powered Ford
on kill. All that remained was to see if the
track would hold what they threw at it. It
did, as Booze Jr. pushed the car to an 8.849,
good enough for the record and the win over
Stanton who also had his car on kill, but found
his car going up instead of out on the start,
costing him valuable elapsed time when it counted
most. Stanton’s “bad” run
of 8.95 was hardly anything to be upset about,
but it wasn’t enough to deny the Booze
brothers their first PRO title. The win also
gave the brothers from Syracuse a double championship
as a week earlier they completed an undefeated
season in NMRA’s Real Street.
Tim Hendricks was the only car to race on
Tuesday in Car Craft Cheap Street and thus
won his fifth race of the season as well as
the 2004 title.
After a sluggish beginning in 2004 Mickey
Thompson Mean Street had a strong finish at
Memphis as six cars competed. Newcomer Gary
Duncan won the race over Tim Henrdicks after
Hendricks left for home before the final. Andy
Legg won the season points championship after
qualifying for the event. Legg lost on a red-light
to Hendricks in the first round.
In Hamburgers Oil Pans Nostalgia Super Stock
Kurt Neighbor of Twinsburg, Ohio drove his
wild injected ’65 Comet to a win over
Kevin Gass running a 9.50 on his 9.50 C/FX
index. Earlier in the day Joe Ewing captured
his first PRO Edelbrock Drag Racing Series
title after Joe Winick lost to Gass.
Heath Shemwell had already locked up the season
championship in DTS Nostalgia Muscle Car, but
he wanted to add another win to his already
impressive 2004 resume. That quest ended in
the third round after Shemwell left too early
against Andy Warren and his big Chevy Caprice.
In Superchips
Open Comp William Tartavoulle made
it through four rounds of racing
to advance to the final and went
on to beat Les Bigelow after Bigelow
fouled on the start. During the first
round on Monday night, Scott Laws
defeated Pete Ricart to claim the
2004 championship over Ricart. Laws
race ended in the semifinals when
he lost to Tartavoulle.
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Warren went on to the final where he defeated
Keith Broyles by running a dead-on 12.500 on
his 12.50 index. Broyles amazing run of 12.001
on his 12.00 index was a losing run due to
a .251 reaction time against Warren’s
.061 leave.
Newcomers Randy Metzier and Fred Riba advanced
to the final of Motive Gear SuperTruck with
Metzier taking the win. Bobby Barrick clinched
the championship by entering the event. He
lost to Riba in the first round.
In other action, Ed Kustoff was the lone entry
left on the property in MSD True Street and
was awarded the win in his ’95 Mustang.
Even though the rain halted racing action over
the weekend the car show went on as planned
and although there were not as many entries
as usual their were still some quality cars
including Shaun Fergersen’s beautiful
2001 Mustang which took Best of Show honors.
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