HOT TIMES IN ST. LOUIS

Compiled by Ian Tocher
Photos by Ron Lewis and Jeff Burk
7/703

he NHRA held its only night race of the year June 27-29, at Gateway International Raceway, just across the river from St. Louis, MO, and fans packed the stands all three days in response. Traditional high temperatures and humidity kept the record setting to a minimum, but the racing was close and often spectacular.

In the end, Doug Kalitta prevailed over first-time finalist Scott Weis in Top Fuel; Del Worsham upset John Force in the Fuel Coupe final; Ron Krisher beat Allen Johnson for Pro Stock honors; and Geno Scali ousted G.T. Tonglet in the Pro Stock Bike capper.

EARLY EXITS

It was a bad day to be number-one qualifier in the pro ranks, as Kenny Bernstein, Gary Densham, and Warren Johnson each exited from the first round, marking the first time since 1997 that the Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock polesitters all met with the same disappointing fate. Densham went up in smoke against eventual race winner Del Worsham; Johnson was simply late off the light, handing a holeshot win to Greg Stanfield; and most surprisingly, one of Bernstein's parachutes deployed immediately off the start while Rhonda Hartman-Smith streaked to her first career win over the Bud King.

"In a nutshell, the rods that connect the brake and parachute levers are positioned next to each other," Bernstein explained. "When I moved the brake lever forward, my arm and fire suit caught the parachute release rod which moved the lever forward and released the parachute."

Shawn Gann, top qualifier in Pro Stock Bike, made it to the semi-finals, where he lost to event runner-up G.T. Tonglet.

TOP FUEL

KALITTA GAINS GROUND

Doug Kalitta had a dramatic weekend at Gateway, which began with him waiting until the final round of qualifying just to break into the 16-car field and then taking the number-two spot away from Larry Dixon with a 4.631 pass at 307.30 mph. The event win, combined with Dixon's loss to Darrell Russell in round two, gained Kalitta 61 points on Dixon, leaving him 207 points back in second place.

"It was good to see Dixon go out early and to gain some back from them, but you can lose points just as easy as you can gain them," Kalitta said. "We just need to stay consistent. This is a strong running car; we all saw that today. We can win races and we can contend. This group of guys has been together a long time and they know how to win."