Anthony Vanetti makes his living working on Don Prudhomme's Top Fuel car, but what he would really like to do is race Pro Stock bikes full time. He had a week off from the NHRA tour and raced his first Pro Stock event at St. Louis. He went a couple of rounds and lost to Paul Gast in the second round. He is looking for some sponsorship. Look for an Innerview with Vanetti in a future issue of DRO.

In the first round Gast set low elapsed time of the event for PS bikes on a single with a 7.123/183.84 lap. Number two qualifier Doege answered with a 7.135 in his first round match-up with Holly Wallace. Both Gast and Doege mowed down their opponents with steady 'teens to meet in the final round.

The final was vintage Pro Stock bike action. Doege had a .026 light to Gast's .028. He never trailed as he ran a 7.162/183.59 to beat Gast's 7.166/180.12.

PRO STREET

After the Top Fuel bikes this class was my favorite and likewise seemed to be the favorite of the fans in the stands. Aside from requiring a VIN tag, current license plate and a DOT legal rear-tire the facts that  the these bikes don't  allowing wheelie bars, allow any engine mod and any one power-adder makes them my kind of hotrods regardless of how many wheels they have.

Fourteen of the street legal hot rods showed up at St. Louis. Barry Henson led all qualifiers with a 7.442/191.89 timing which covered the rest of the field by just under two-tenths. Trevor Altman was the next quickest with a lap of 7.631/191.13.

In the first round No. 12 qualifier Alphonso Thompson unleashed a mind-blowing 7.433/199.26 on a day when the heat and humidity of St. Louis made most people think that few records would fall this year. That lap gave him a shot at breaking both ends of the national record held by Henson at 7.470/200.20.

In the semi-finals, record holder Henson re-set the national record at 7.442 with a 7.467/190.38 lap that took out first time racer and journalist Nick Ienatsch. On the other side of the ladder Thompson lost to Trevor Altman setting up a final between the first and second qualifiers.

The smart money was on Henson, but when Altman slaughtered Henson on the tree with a .078 light to Henson's .174, the race was over as Altman ran his best lap of the event at 7.491/191.70 and Henson ran a shutoff 7.781/143.34!

CONCLUSION

There are just too many classes for a complete rundown of each so we've listed the winners and runner-ups from all the classes. As for the race itself, I'll be back! It's my kind of racing with plenty of nitro and with street cruisers that make laps in 7.5 seconds at over 199 mph with no wheelie bars and on street tires.

And one more thing -- they have something they do on Saturday they call "Chaos" where everybody comes to the edge of the track and I'm told that the most serious racing (and betting) takes place.