SCSS SHOOTOUT RESULTS -- SEPT. 7, 2004

Randy Christy, whose Chevy Vega holds the overall elapsed time and speed records in the 2004 Southside City Speed Shop Street Car Shootout Series, scored another victory in his second appearance as Mother Nature helped shatter more records.

The second consecutive event in the cool fall season featured a corrected altitude of 900 feet above sea level. While not quite as beneficial as last week's unseasonal conditions, the weather helped

produce yet another record field for the SCSS series with sixteen qualifiers under 12.14 seconds.

Matt Deason, whose supercharged '57 Chevrolet Bel-Air is a regular at Midnight Madness events at GIR, qualified for the final round in his first Tuesday night appearance of the year. Both Christy and Deason made their marks early in qualifying; Christy's lightweight big block Vega came within three hundredths of a second and two miles per hour of his current Series records with a blistering 9.06 at over 147 mph, while Deason clocked a great 10.34 at nearly 130 mph.

While Deason was content to wait in the pits to see if anybody could knock his Bel-Air out of the final round, Christy spent the night trying to hit the eight-second zone with the aid of nitrous oxide injection. Each attempt was cut short when the yellow Vega went berserk, and Christy failed to accomplish his goal. Only Mike Gerau's gorgeous Mustang came close to qualifying with a best of 10.94/124.

In the championship round, Deason attempted to chop down the 'Tree but the primered small-block redlighted by a mere six hundredths of a second. Christy hit a great 0.027 Reaction Time but the Vega once again headed toward the centerline at the 1000-feet mark, forcing the Granite City veteran to lift off the throttle. Deason stayed on the gas and his blown '57 became only the sixth member of the SCSS Series 130 MPH Club with a 10.15 at over 132 mph.

The SCSS Series records for Front-Wheel-Drive machines, held by George Pocuca's Illinois Neon SRT since June 15th, were destroyed by Missourian Jon Bizzell and Illinois racer Rick Howie. Bizell's 2002 Grand Prix clocked an amazing 12.748 at over 106 mph to secure the ET mark for the St. Louis Club Grand Prix team, (http://www.stlclubgp.com), while Howie's Civic hatchback hit 113.17 mph for the speed standard while running as quick as 12.82!

Equally impressive was Patrick Jacobsmeyer's 12.64/108 effort from his 122-cubic inch '91 Eagle Talon and Bill Simpson's 12.70 at over 100 mph in his Belleville-based four-cylinder '91 Toyota MR2. No fewer than 35 machines ran quicker than 13.00 seconds!

With Christy's win, Chevrolet is again closing the gap, although Fords still lead Chevys in overall wins, 9 to 8.