Eighteen-year old Billy Matt Johnson took his black '66
350 Nova to the early qualifying lead with a best-ever 11.60/115.62
after the grandson of St. Louis-area performance pioneer
Matt Johnson had switched the small block powerplant from
gasoline to alcohol before the event. David Starns, whose
silver '91 Mustang had most recently taken an SCSS runner-up
on June 14 after qualifying in the top four on three different
occasions, quickly stole the pole position with a 10.97/123.51.
When Johnson improved to an 11.53/116.09, Starns' Evans
Performance Center-backed machine quickly returned with
a 10.89/124.72. Only four minutes later, however, Shipley's
burgundy Ford launched from the starting line with drag
radials ablaze; even on-and-off the throttle, the 334-cubic
inch Ford hit a 10.56 at a tremendous 145.72 miles per hour.
Almost an hour later, Shipley attempted a second qualifying
run. As the Mustang rolled to the starting line, however,
the twin-turbo small block simply quit running and Shipley
nearly killed the battery trying to restart the engine.
After being pushed back behind the water box, Shipley's
father (Dan, Sr.) and crew attempted to diagnose the problem.
After ten minutes, the team was able to fire the car and
pull into the waterbox without even noticing their opponent
was none other than Starns! After a brilliant 0.044 Reaction
Time, Starns drove away from the stumbling turbo Ford on
his way to an 11.03/123.86. Clearly, Shipley's problems
were serious.
In fact, Shipley remained in the pits for the remainder
of the qualifying period. When the finalists were called
in front of the grandstands, Starns was the only Mustang
driver to appear and it soon became apparent he would most
likely face first alternate Johnson, who had worked his
Nova down to a best of 11.46/116.40.
However, 23 minutes after qualifying had concluded (and
only seven minutes before the final round was scheduled
to be run), Shipley's louvered machine appeared beneath
the Gateway tower. "We think we found the problem,
but we're not quite sure," said Shipley, Sr. as his
son pulled into the water box, "but we'll know after
this pass." Indeed, everybody on the property knew
after Shipley rocketed to a 9.92 at an incredible 148.02
miles per hour--the fastest SCSS speed since Randy Christy's
record 148.99 pass on April 27, 2004.
Shipley, Sr., asked Starns for a few minutes of cool-down
time before returning for the final, to which the St. Louis
racer agreed. "I don't mind running him," said
Starns, whose father has also appeared in SCSS final rounds.
"It's definitely an impressive car and, if he can come
back in time, we'll see what happens." It was not lost
on the fans that Starns had already beaten the turbo car
once during the evening.
Twenty minutes later, Shipley and Starns pulled to the
line in the first all-Ford SCSS championship round of the
2005 season. The silver Mustang jumped to a six hundredths-of-a-second
advantage, but the twin-turbo pulled alongside only 200
feet from the starting line and never waivered. The Marthasville
terror clocked the second-quickest run of the 2005 SCSS
series, a 9.69, at another unearthly speed of 147.75 mph.
Starns' best of the event, a 10.85/124.74, was a gallant
effort.
"We had a data logger onboard for the first time tonight,"
said Shipley, Jr., after the win, "and that's what
messed us up. When we went to download the information,
we lost everything. When we tried to tune it based on what
we thought the info would tell us, it was all wrong. When
we went back to what we knew, everything worked fine. We're
going to the NMRA event in Joliet next week and we really
needed to get a handle on things. I'm just happy we finally
won one of these races here at home!"
Asmir Catic made his return to the SCSS series worthwhile,
qualifying for the tenth time this season to increase the
"Z-Eater" Cobra's lead in the 2005 SCSS Season
Championship standings. Ford made a modest gain in the 2005
Manufacturers' Standings, but Chevrolet still leads with
eight wins over Ford (4) and Dodge (1).
DragRacingOnline.com SPORT TUNER SHOWDOWN
RESULTS -- 7/19/2005
W: Brian Orsborn, Granite City, IL; 2004
146 Neon, 0.503, 12.437/119.08
RU: Marc King, Collinsville, IL; 1988
110 CRX, -0.083, 13.384/113.46
