Jason Hamstra in his blown automatic Pro Mod car rockets to the top of the qualifying ladder with a 6.16. Jason’s Camaro is two tenths faster than number 2 qualifier Cory Goforth. The 6.16 is one of the, if not the fastest pass by an automatic pro mod car.
Tim Lynch does one hell of a driving job keeping his Outlaw 10.5w Mustang off of the wall. Not only does he keep it off the wall but he qualifies number 1 with a 6.69 at 219.9 mph. The 6.69 is a little slower then the 6.62 he ran in testing earlier the day, but I think he slowed down since the pass was around 1400 feet.
Don Burton qualified well in first round, but it might have cost him his weekend. After taking the intake off the car, he found a broken lifter. The news gets worse, part of the lifter fell into the motor and it will not turn over.
Steve Miller is having trouble getting down the track. The normally consistent Pro Street S-10 has not made a clean pass all day. After qualifying he had the transmission out of the truck and apart on the bench.
Joey Bridge has had transmission trouble all day. The first pass he ruined a converter. After his second pass he is not sure if the converter is hurt, but he is sure the transmission is hurt. He has a truck coming from Memphis tonight with the parts that will hopefully get him back in to competition.
Stick Shift Pro Mod cars are not allowed. The Barkledge team showed up, but was not allowed to race. They would have to weigh 2900 pounds and their 25.1 chassis cert is only good to 2800 pounds. The automatic cars have to weigh right at the limit for their chassis certs. Ron Munks is one of the automatic pro mods that got to race, but not without totally changing his combination.
Jason Lee came ready for the drag radial class. He has converted his car to a forward facing Procharger F-2 blower and put on the bigger M/T drag radials. Jason shot to the top of the charts with his 7.74 at 174 in the first round. I would expect him to step it up even more on Saturday.
The Gateway track has proven to be tricky surface. Some cars have been very successful navigating the quarter mile in St. Louis. Others have had more trouble. There were a lot of transmission and gear changes in the pits today to get a handle on the track surface. The photo below is a shot at the score board after Tim Lynch’s run.
The barometer was right at 30 with 20% humidity and the temperature in the low 70’s makes for great racing weather. That is what we had in St. Louis on Friday, and it the weather man is correct there will be more of the same fro the rest of the weekend.
We were unable to obtain first round of qualifying sheets this evening so look for them to be posted in the morning.