SCSS SHOOTOUT RESULTS -- SEPT. 14, 2004

George Wahby scored a victory in his first attempt and became the thirteenth different winner of the eighteen completed events in the 2004 Southside City Speed Shop Street Car Shootout Series.

Wahby defeated SCSS veteran Clint North, who remained the second most prolific qualifier in the series by making the Quick 16 for the eighth time.

North led the field from the beginning of qualifying with an 11.32 at over 117 mph until Wahby's first run midway through the session resulted in an 11.18/118. North, whose Granite City-based '02 Trans Am had run a career-best 11.20/122 only two weeks ago, elected to remain in the pits and wait to see if his Pontiac could be bumped from the final round. Wahby's diminutive and amazingly quiet Pinto made a second pass at 11.24/118, but neither was threatened for the duration of qualifying.

When the two appeared for the championship run, North's reasons for remaining in the pits became evident; the Illinois driver bypassed the burnout procedure entirely and quickly staged. The attempt to draw Whaby into a redlight start failed, however, as the Pinto cruised to an early shutoff 11.65 at only 94 mph while North limped through the quarter-mile in 27 seconds.

"After my second run, I heard some noises I couldn't identify coming from the engine", North said after the final. "After downloading the error codes, nothing made any sense, so I knew all I could do was stage up and see what happened." In a gesture of true sportsmanship, North informed Wahby before the final that his Pontiac was ailing. "He told me he was broke before we ran", recalled Wahby, "but I've heard that from other guys before a race so I wasn't taking any chances. I ran it almost to the finish line before I got out of the throttle!"

In fact, the only effort close to Wahby and North was a Series Record-setting charge by Rob Nolan, whose Granite City turbo '87 Regal bombed its own 6-Cylinder ET mark by more than a quarter-second to an 11.47! The 16-car field was anchored by the event's quickest four-cylinder entry; Patrick Jacobsmeyer's 122-cubic inch '91 Eagle Talon unloaded a career-best 12.57 at just under 110 mph to earn his first qualifier decal. For the second straight week, a member of the St. Louis Club GP team, (http://www.stlclubgp.com), grabbed the best Front-Wheel-Drive numbers of the night after Kevin Kelly's 2000 Daytona 500 Grand Prix GTP ran 14.65 at 95.17 mph.

Top Speed of the event came from SCSS Superstar Laurence Bass, whose supercharged '88 302 Mustang qualified for the fourteenth time with a best of 11.69 at a whopping 126.82 miles per hour!

Whaby's win added a bit of drama to the season-long Ford vs. Chevy battle in the SCSS Series; Wahby's lightweight Pinto may have a Ford body, but the powertrain is all Chevy LT-1! Therefore, a half-point has been awarded to each and Fords still barely lead Chevys in overall wins, 9.5 to 8.5!