Members of the St Louis SRT Club (http://www.stlsrt.com ) have appeared in 10 of the 13 completed 2005 DRO Sport Tuner Showdown programs, but the event-winning turbocharged Dodge Neon of the July 19th race wasn't painted blue. This time, Brian Orsborn's red Neon scored a decisive victory even though friend and rival Justin Bondurant was in competition. Orsborn, the first SCSS Front-Wheel-Drive competitor to break 120 mph, clocked a series of career-best elapsed times and even beat Bondurant to the finish line during a match in qualifying.

The Granite City, IL, Dodge opened timed trials with a best-ever 12.42/117.86 in the worst conditions of the event and quickly set the pace during qualifying with a 12.52 at the same speed. Bondurant's record-holding blue Neon actually grabbed the pole from Orsborn with a 12.44/117.55, but Orsborn stole it right back with a great 12.27/118.51. In the very next pair, Bondurant's Dodge failed to make the 2-3 shift and the same problem appeared on a second run after Orsborn put down a 12.45/118.35. At that point, the two decided to determine the pole position in a side-by-side match.

It was a great race while it lasted. However, Bondurant's third gear failed for the third time and the five-time winner could only watch as Orsborn's Neon screamed to a 12.21 at 118.56 mph. The bad news for Bondurant came on the return road. "There's nothing left of it," Bondurant later said of the tranmission. "It now officially has no functioning gears at all. I think it's destroyed." As Bondurant awaited a tow truck for the ride home, he could at least take heart in the fact his earlier 12.44 qualified for the "Super Sixteen" SCSS field and, as a result, allowed him to move into a tie with Tony Huff for third place in the 2005 SCSS Season Championship, trailing only Kevin Kolkmeyer and Asmir Catic. He also still cheered on his friend, Orsborn.

With Bondurant out, the battle for the third qualifying spot in the DRO Sport Tuner Showdown became a war. Eventually, Marc King won out by a mere forty-six thousandths of a second over yet another Neon, past runner-up Chris White's jet black Ballwin, MO, rig which hit a 13.26 at a whopping 114.24 mph to become the fourth fastest Sport Tuner entry ever. King was sharing driving duties with fellow Honda racer Andy Lemons, who parked his 13-second 1990 Accord for the event to drive King's DK Racing Team CRX. It was King himself, however, who hit a 13.22/111.89 in the amazing 1.8-liter VTEC-powered ride which is equipped with a centrifugal supercharger.

In the final round, Orsborn made sure he didn't redlight. King, on the other hand, knew his only chance was a holeshot and pushed the 'Tree to a foul by only eighty-three thousandths of a second. The red Neon cruised to its sixth 12.4-second run of the event at Top Speed for the Sport Tuners, 119.08 mph. King, meanwhile, clocked a 13.38 at a wild 113.46 mph, surpassing Rick Howie's unofficial 113.11 mph SCSS speed record for Hondas to become the fastest VTEC in the series!

"That thing's pretty amazing, isn't it?" remarked Howie after the final while looking over King's CRX. "I couldn't believe it ran 113 against me. My whole goal was to work on my 60-feet ETs tonight, and I guess I got 'em down a bit better. I just finished quite a few mods and they all seemed to work pretty well. It picked up four tenths of a second, so I must have done something right but, after what happened to Justin tonight, I'm getting a little worried about my transmission!"

Carl's 4WD SUPER TRUCK SHOWDOWN RESULTS -- 7/19/2005

W: Shawn Rose, Florissant, MO; 2005 214 Colorado, 0.623, 16.594/83.75

Some days, you just can't lose. In the case of Shawn Rose, he couldn't lose even if he tried. He waited for somebody to show up to beat him. But, NOOOOOO....

Jeremy Homeyer's 2005 Chevy Silverado was the low qualifer in the Carl's 4WD & Performance Super Truck Showdown with a respectable 14.71/88.30 from its Duramax diesel. When Homeyer and second qualifier Mark Eagan's '00 Dodge Dakota were called in front of the grandstands for the final round, neither showed. When announcer Rich Tivitt called alternates Lynn Caldwell's '05 GMC and Brian Sample's 2005 Dodge Ram, they didn't appear, either. Finally, Shawn Rose was paged as third alternate, and the North County driver pulled in, ready to race. At that point, however, his 2005 Colorado pickup was the ONLY truck in the pits. Some days, you just can't lose.

Rose's Colorado is a unique ride. Using a 220-horsepower Vortech inline five-cylinder powerplant, it features variable valve timing and both electronic throttle and transmission. Rose actually got the bright red truck into the 15-second zone at over 86 miles per hour, (15.97/86.11), which is substantially faster than the stock version. "I've done a lot of work to the manifold and the drivetrain," said Rose after the final round, "and it's a fairly difficult piece to work on. There aren't too many of these out on the street yet, but it has potential. I would've raced anybody that showed up, but, hey...I'll take the win!"