Brian Grote, whose infamous "Doc Otis" 2001
Camaro SS (shown) became only the fourth nine-second machine
in SCSS history during 2004, scored his first series victory
and garnered the first win for Chevrolet in the 2005 Street
Car Shootout Series at Gateway International Raceway. Although
he had recently switched to Digital Fuel Injection and
suffered fuel delivery problems throughout the event, Grote
made up for any mechanical inconsistencies with remarkable
driving.
Grote's bright red 427 Camaro unleashed the first nine-second
run of the 2005 SCSS Series early in qualifying, clocking
a blistering 9.94. The speed on the run, a whopping 137.46
miles per hour, also made Grote the third fastest driver
in SCSS history. Subsequent attempts to improve only produced
confusing results from the new DFI system and a series
of aborted runs. The rest of the qualifying hopefuls battled
for a spot in the final with Grote, and only 2004 SCSS
Track Champion Laurence Bass cracked the 11-second barrier
with a 10.99/129.97 effort. George Wahby, whose unique
Chevy-powered Pinto was a two-time finalist in '04, made
repeated threats to Bass' Mustang but eventually fell short
with an 11.13/119.27 best.
Bass, whose renowned supercharged black Mustang had recently
hit a 10.79/132 during Wednesday night testing, gained
hope with Grote's DFI problems. Although Bass knew a reaction
time advantage might be the key if Grote was unable to
make a complete pass in the championship round, nobody
was ready for Grote's 0.015 RT...the best ever recorded
in an SCSS final round...while under the pressure of a
trophy dash. Bass pushed the 'Tree to a redlight by twenty-seven
thousandths of a second, but even a perfect RT and career-best
ET could not have stopped Grote's still off-pace 10.60/128.11.
"I'm still trying to learn how to leave on the bottom
bulb", said Grote, who is more accustomed to a "Pro
Start" Christmas Tree countdown. "Even though
we're still working on the DFI, I was pretty happy with
reaction time on the final." Grote recently received
an invitation to compete in HOT ROD Magazine's Pump Gas
Drags at Memphis (TN) Motorsports Park on May 13th as the
representative for the St. Louis area. Grote noted, "I'll
be testing here Friday and every day I can to get this
car right for that event. We really want to do well down
there for St. Louis."
The event marked the first time in SCSS history that two
front-wheel-drive machines earned "Fastest Street
Car" qualifier decals. Justin Bondurant and Rick Howie
became the second and third FWD competitors ever to qualify
in the SCSS Quick 16, (George Pocuca's Granite City, IL,
Dodge Neon became the first to do so in 2004), especially
remarkable since the race included the sixth quickest "bump
spot" ever, (Howie's 12.347/113 effort). Warrenton,
MO, Mustang pilot Chris Bates also made history when he
became the third driver ever to miss qualifying by a single
thousandth of a second with a 12.348-second pass!
The quickest truck in the race was eleventh qualifier
Hal Marshall's bright white 350-powered '86 Chevy S-10,
(12.01/110), and the best six-cylinder performance came
from Mike Simpson's blue '94 Toyota Supra. Despite traction
problems which kept its best ET to only a 13.11, Simpson's
Arnold, MO Toyota missed Bill Hansen's SCSS 6-Cylinder
Track Speed Record by only 1.01 mph with a tremendous 123.51
mph top end charge!
DragRacingOnline.com SPORT TUNER SHOWDOWN RESULTS -- 4/19/2005
WINNER: Justin Bondurant, Fenton, MO, 2004 146 Neon, 0.162,
12.484, 117.16 mph
RUNNER-UP: Patrick Jacobsmeyer, St. Louis, MO, 1991 122
Talon, 0.168, 12.589, 112.42 mph
