“I really wasn’t sure we could run with the Chrysler”, said Buhl after the match, “and when the car stumbled off the line, I figured it was over. When I saw he redlighted, I couldn’t believe it! The guys on St. Louis Mustangs are gonna love this!” Bowman admitted that he just never found the rhythm with the new trans brake, noting, “Once I get the hang of this thing, we’ll be fine.”

The qualified field included the quickest “bump spot” in SCSS history by a full tenth of a second, with sixteen cars qualified under the 12.03 of Mike Anello’s wild Fairmont wagon. Jason Ebenrick’s Festus, Missouri-based ‘97 Toyota Supra qualified in the 10th position with a tremendous 11.39/119 to lead the six-cylinder contingent, just missing Rob Nolan’s 6-cylinder SCSS ET Record by nine hundredths of a second. The quickest truck at the first 2005 SCSS event was the brilliant yellow 2000 Ford Lightning of Mike Williamson, which blasted out a best of 12.40/112.87, followed by Michael Pyatt’s similar Lightning at 13.02/108.30.

DragRacingOnline.com SPORT TUNER SHOWDOWN RESULTS--3/29/2005

WIN:	Patrick Jacobsmeyer, St. Louis, MO, 1991 122 Talon 0.183 12.053 115.64
RU:	Justin Bondurant, Fenton, MO, 2004 146 Neon -0.007 12.304 120.26

While the traditional SCSS qualified field produced plenty of excitement, the inaugrual DragRacingOnline.com Sport Tuner Showdown for Front-Wheel-Drive and All-Wheel-Drive machines may well have been the most thrilling action during opening night. Unfortunately, a communication gaffe in technical inspection kept at least one potential entry from the first Showdown final, as some early AWD entries were not properly classified.

Although not classified as a FWD-AWD entry, Kyle Belobrajdic’s notorious black ‘96 Eagle Talon opened qualifying with a 12.33/111.41 blast, only to be followed by Justin Bondurant’s show-quality 2004 Dodge Neon SRT with a 12.63 at a whopping 118.18 mph, a SCSS Speed Record for both FWD and 4-Cylinder entries. Bondurant’s Fenton, Missouri Neon returned with an astonishing 12.25 at 118.29 to destroy both Chris Williams’ Grand Prix previous 12.62 FWD ET mark and Rick Howie’s Honda-powered 113.17 mph FWD record. Belobrajdic countered with a 12.26/112.98 which was only one hundredth of a second from Bondurant’s new 4-Cylinder ET mark!

St. Louisan Patrick Jacobsmeyer’s potent white ‘91 Talon TSi, racing for the Gateway DSM team, was the third quickest qualifier with a 12.77/108 best, but was called to the staging lanes for the FWD-AWD Championship Round when the computer system failed to recognize Belobrajdic’s Eagle as a qualified entry. Only a half-hour prior to the final, Jacobsmeyer made a 12.81/112.61 test pass and then headed for the lanes for the battle with the blue Neon.

St Louis SRT Club member Bondurant, had qualified 18th overall in the SCSS standings, narrowly missed becoming only the second FWD pilot to earn a “Fastest Street Car” decal. His apparent performance advantage over Jacobsmeyer’s AWD machine was killed on the starting line by a heartbreaking redlight of only seven thousandths of a second. The crowd gasped, however, when Jacobsmeyer drove around the Neon with a bonecrushing 12.053 at 115.64 for a new SCSS 4-Cylinder Track Record ET by a full two-tenths of a second!

Equally amazing was Bondurant’s 12.30 at an incredible 120.26 mph, becoming the only driver in the forty-one member SCSS 120 MPH Club to do so with either a four-cylinder or FWD combination.

“My Talon just wasn’t running right, so I made that last-minute timed trial to figure things out”, said Jacobsmeyer while accepting the first FWD-AWD trophy. “I adjusted the air/fuel mixture and it went slower, so I adjusted it again for the final and it sure worked. That 12.05 was even quicker than I thought it would go!” The first-ever DRO Sport Tuner Showdown resulted in no less than four new SCSS track records, courtesy of Bondurant and Jacobsmeyer.