EFI Renegade - Swill Racing sat on the pole at the Michigan and Maple Grove events, and Scott "Swill" Lovell brought his top-qualifier momentum to Kansas City, leading all racers in the Renegade field with a solid 8.83 at 156 mph. The Swill team's '89 LX trunk car was the fastest 'Stang in each round of qualifying and it appeared they had a handle on hot-weather tune-ups. However, Swill's first win in Renegade remained elusive, no thanks, in this case, to Lovell's 0.037 red light in the final. "I knew Kurgan has always been able to cut good lights under pressure, so I went in pretty far against him but I didn't deep stage," Scott said. "I must have hit the gas slightly before I hit the transbrake button, because when I put my right foot to the floor, the car moved forward another inch or two and the top bulb went off, which I didn't see. When I saw yellow, I popped the button and was just a little bit early." Despite the loss, the Swill team was confident that once they got a better handle on the launch and 60-footers, win number one couldn't be too far off.
Hot Street - Charlie "Dude" Booze Jr. and Crew Chief Matt Wirt have to be intimately familiar with P&G procedures after having engines pumped two times during the weekend. On Friday, Tech Director Thom Bates pumped Booze's primary Kuntz bullet to end speculation that the engine may have been similar to that of another Kuntz customer, and bigger than the 440ci limit for Hot Street. The motor checked out fine, but, on Saturday, Booze and Wirt suspected the engine had a problem after the second round of qualifying, so they blew the dust off a used, backup piece and installed it Saturday night. On Sunday, with the smaller 436ci and tired replacement mill, Charlie shocked everyone when he blazed to a 9.09 at 149.32 over David Purlee in the opening round of eliminations (the quickest/fastest pass of the weekend for any all-motor entry) and went on to take out Pat Topolinski in the semifinals. The two were Hot Street finalists at last year's KC event, and after winning his rematch with Andy Schmidt in the final, the engine Charlie referred to as "Ol' Reliable" also had an appointment with the P&G pump. And, like the first engine, it also checked out fine.
Hot Street - Andy and Matt Schmidt tried to get a handle on a hot-weather tune-up and increasing the survival rate of their valvesprings prior to the Kansas City race. After making several test-and-tune laps on Friday, the brothers found the preferred settings their BES 400ci engine and it rewarded them with a 9.10/148.41 shot in qualifying that put them at the top of the ladder-without having to replace any valvesprings. On Sunday, Andy Schmidt backed up his qualifying number with another 9.10 in a first-round single, and reached the final after his 0.003 reaction time ended Dan Paolini's day. With payback on his mind (Andy and Charlie met in last year's Hot Street final), Andy pulled a holeshot and led Charlie to the 330-foot mark, but a malfunction with his shifter sent the transmission into Neutral instead of High gear and ended his weekend at KCIR with a runner-up finish for the second straight time.
Real Street - Tim Matherly's win in Real Street was a testament to his skill as an engine builder. The '04 class champion qualified number one (9.77/135.86) in the five-car field, burning two pistons along the way. Tim tore down his injured 4.6 (see photo) and worked all day Saturday and early Sunday morning, completing repairs right before the start of eliminations. If his 9.80 at 133.84 in a first-round single had fans wondering whether some performance was lost with the rebuild, Tim's 9.78 in a round-two victory over Uncle Robin Lawrence confirmed that his '01 Bullitt hadn't missed a beat during the downtime.
When asked about his race weekend, Tim said, "I came into this race 100 pounds lighter because of a mid-season rule change [mod-motor/blower combinations now can weigh a minimum of 3,000 pounds]. The heat was killer and the track was real bad, but we were lucky enough to win."
Real Street - The runner-up finish was the lone bright spot in Craig Baldwin's weekend. He made the trip to KCIR with a heavy heart after putting his dog down, then in the first 100 miles of his journey, he had two flat tires on his trailer. "I almost turned around and went back home when that happened," Craig said. Another member of the "Round Two of Qualifying Got Me" club, all eight pistons in his brand-new engine were hurt after the timing apparently moved right before the lap. However, despite the damage, Craig was able to squeak by Real Street newcomer Mike Bell in round one, and the luck of the ladder, thanks to the small field, gave him a free trip into the final.
Real Street - Jim Breese, plagued by transmission/clutch problems throughout the weekend, qualified last and lost in the first round to Uncle Robin. Despite beating Robin convincingly off the line (.061 to .082) in their first-round matchup, Jim could only watch as the red '05 drove around him when his transmission wouldn't go into Fourth gear.
Pure Street - Gene Hindman continued with his winning ways in Pure Street. Gene took this one from wire to wire, qualifying number one with a 10.49/128.38, and winning the final over Rich Groh, in what has become one of the more-popular (but friendly) rivalries in Ford drag racing. The victory brought Gene's '05 record to a perfect five for five midway through the season, and stretched his points lead considerably. When asked after the race how his brother, Robert, made out in Mod Motor at the FFW event in Norwalk the same weekend, Gene said that when they're racing at different events at the same time, they usually don't talk until after they've both returned home. Silence must really be golden, as the KC/Norwalk Ford racing weekend had them both talking about victories back in Knoxville, and gained Gene another step on the road to wearing a Pure Street Champion's jacket at the end of the year.