EVENT RESULTS EVENT NOTEBOOK ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS			THURSDAY GALLERY FRIDAY GALLERY SATURDAY GALLERY LIVE VIDEO

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -

PX CONTINUED - With the Pro Extreme (PX) finalists in the staging lanes and previous class winners already having their trophies awarded and pictures taken, heavy rain put an abrupt end to the X-DRL's X-treme Gateway Showdown June 15, at Gateway Motorsports Park, near St. Louis.

Number-one qualifier Brandon Pesz and third-place starter Tim Tindle each survived a long, hot day of racing, but their personal showdown will have to wait five more weeks until the next scheduled X-DRL event July 26-27, at Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek, MD.

"We had an awesome weekend, the car was running great," Tindle said shortly after his new Jeffers-built '67 Mustang made its first 3.60s pass with a 3.696-seconds win at 204.57 mph over Todd Tutterow in the semis. "So it's kind of tough now because you're going to a different place, a different race track for the final and here you've got your car dialed in, you've got some momentum going and now you've got to change everything."

Pesz also expressed disappointment at being preempted from determining the Gateway PX winner, but for a very different reason.

"Waiting doesn't bother me at all. The only thing that bothers me is I can't go for the record now because you can't set the two runs at different tracks," Pesz said, referring to his 3.628-seconds  qualifying time that needed at least a 3.664 pass to back it up within the required one percent for an official record.

With only 15 PX entries, Pesz enjoyed a 3.769 at 201.97 first-round bye with his Garret Race Cars '58 Corvette, then ran 3.747 at 202.55 to beat Duane Rister and reach Quain Stott in the semis. Tindle, in the meantime, ran 3.746 at 202.18 to beat Aaron Wells and 3.748 at 203.80 to finish Mike Recchia's day before taking on Tutterow.

"I started thinking about going for the back-up against Quain, but I'm like 0-80 against Quain--every time I run him something breaks or falls off or it turns sideways on me--so I just concentrated on getting the round win and into the final because I figured I could always go for the back-up there," Pesz explained. 

Stott, who hosted a large contingent of LeeBoy Paving employees and customers at the St. Louis X-DRL event, rewarded their support with a first-round win over Danny Lowry and a holeshot victory over Terry Leggett in round two. His 3.725 at 203.25 in the semis represented Stott's best run of eliminations, but with a 3.690 at 204.91 mph, Pesz advanced to the rain-delayed final.

" We were in the same situation a few years ago in the NHRA Pro Mod series and ended up winning both races in one weekend. So that's the plan, to take home two trophies," Pesz said. "We'll be ready."

RAHAIM WINS GATEWAY - Bob Rahaim was scheduled to race Billy Glidden before the X-DRL event at Bristol Dragway was rained out in April and he was all set to determine the X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown winner against Glidden June 15, at Gateway Motorsports Park, but that match-up remains to come.

"I didn't kill it, but I didn't want to kill it," Glidden said of withdrawing from competition after going 3.953 at 179.23 mph for a semi-final victory over number-one qualifier Jeff Naiser. "I've got a spark plug it was chewing on and this just doesn't pay as much to win as I could screw up."

Rahaim said he was disappointed, but completely understood Glidden's decision.

"Billy came over and told me he wouldn't be able to fix things for the final," said Rahaim, who started from the second position and beat Blake Housley and Robert Mathis to get there himself. "I have the utmost respect for all the Gliddens going back 30 years when I first got interested in drag racing," he added. "I really admire them as a family."

Rahaim, the 2012 ADRL Pro Nitrous world champion, qualified his Jerry Bickel-built '69 Camaro with a 3.869-seconds pass at 195.14 mph, then ran 3.886 at 194.91 while Housley broke, and 3.862 at 196.19 to beat Mathis, who lost traction in the semis. In the final round, he set low ET and top speed of the meet with a solo pass of 3.846 seconds at 197.10 mph.

"Everything worked good here," Rahaim said. "We're learning more and more about the new car with every lap."

Glidden also said he "made big progress" at the Gateway event, but still has a lot to learn after qualifying fourth in the eight-car field with a 3.950 pass at 190.16 mph before going 3.946 at exactly 190 mph to beat Duke Snyder before taking on Naiser.

"We did as well as we could, but we're not running as quick as you need to in order to win one of these things, and that's because we just don't have the experience," the 2008 ADRL Extreme 10.5 champion said. "I don't know exactly what these things take to use the amount of nitrous it requires to run 195 or 197 miles per hour because I've never had to do that before."

Meanwhile, Rahaim credited crew chief Kevin Bowen, Brandon Switzer of Switzer Dynamics, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines, Jerry Bickel Race Cars, "and most of all my crew," for his success. "With that core group of people it gives me a real sense of reliability and lets me really focus on the task at hand. They did a great job. They didn't beat themselves and that's half the battle," he said.

NOBODY PUTS HOERNER IN THE CORNER - In 2012, Todd Hoerner won his career-first Extreme Pro Stock (XPS) race during the ADRL event at Gateway Motorsports Park and went on to be named that series' Rookie of the Year. This year, he's struggled in the early stages of the new X-treme Drag Racing League (X-DRL), but successfully defended his Gateway win June 15, in the X-DRL's X-treme Gateway Showdown.

"It feels like a huge, huge weight has been lifted off me," said Hoerner, who started from the seventh qualifying position with a 4.136 pass at 175.21 in the Mesquite Logistics 2013 Camaro. "To win here again is unbelievable; St. Louis has been good to us."

Dean Goforth set the pace in qualifying with a 4.083 at 177.49 mph and was followed in the top half of the eight-car XPS field by Kevin Bealko (4.088/177.21), John DeFlorian Jr. (4.100/176.97), and Matt Bertsch in his XPS return at another 4.100 at 176.30 mph.

Round one saw Hoerner outrun Bealko with a 4.158 at 175.48 before making his best run of the weekend at 4.119 and 176.79 mph to beat Goforth's son and two-time defending ADRL class champ Cary Goforth in the semis.

On the opposite side of the ladder, the elder Goforth sent Rocky Watford packing with a 4.128 at 176.17 before posting an identical ET at 177.21 mph to beat a redlighting Bertsch (-.002) and take lane choice into the final round against Hoerner.

In the final, Hoerner left first with an excellent .004 light that led to a 4.140 run at 175.64 to beat the quicker and faster 4.102 at 176.84 put together by Goforth.

"I knew as soon as we left that I was in trouble," admitted Goforth, who posted a .057 reaction time. "I'd been late on the tree all weekend and it finally bit me."

"Dean's as good as they get and he had the most consistent car by far this weekend, so I knew I'd have to be up on the wheel for him," Hoerner countered before describing his final effort.

"It left good, but then it was way light on the clutch, way light and just blowing through the clutch, so I kept waiting for him to come on around me. But I just kept pulling gears and didn't see him and couldn't wait to get to that finish line," Hoerner said. "I just thank God we got there first."

A LOT FOR GALOT - For the first time in his race-driving career, Wallace, NC's Kevin Rivenbark scored both the number-one start and the event win for Pro Mod June 15, at the X-DRL X-treme Gateway Challenge.

Rivenbark ran 3.935 seconds at 188.52 mph in his supercharged GALOT ("Get A Load Of This") '02 Camaro to secure the top spot in the six-car field at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, IL, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.

When eliminations began, he went 3.951 at 188.10 in beating late arrival Tim Savell, who made only one early-shutoff qualifying pass, then took a bye run in the semis straight into the final round against veteran racer Ron Muenks (the "u" is silent).

"Thank goodness for that number-one qualifier because then we had that bye run to the final," Rivenbark said. "We had a little issue with the motor in the semis and had to go back and fix it."

Muenks, who qualified third in team owner Dave Pierce's '68 Camaro (3.959/185.38) opened with a 3.961-seconds win at 184.80 over Keith Haney, then went 3.910 at 187.60 against Dan Stevenson to reach the final, which Rivenbark won with a huge holeshot.

Rivenbark left with a decent .054 light, but Muenks had his worst of the weekend as he waited .210 to get going, throwing away a 3.913 at 187.52 in the process.

"I knew that he'd run a .91 in his last round, so I knew I'd have to be good on the light and I was gonna' try to kill it," said Rivenbark, who won with a 3.929 at 188.49 mph. "I knew I had to go; I couldn't wait around.

"I'm just so happy to finally get this for GALOT Motorsports and Earl Wells and Todd Tutterow; I definitely couldn't do this without him," Rivenbark stated.

TWO-TIME WINNER - After winning the inaugural X-DRL event at Tulsa Raceway Park in March, Top Sportsman racer Bob Gulitti again drove his NTG-backed 2011 Camaro to the event win June 15, at Gateway Motorsports Park, near St. Louis.

Gulitti qualified number one of six TS entries and beat Randell Reid in round one before making a bye run in round two and beating the '70 Duster of fifth-place starter Mike Kikenes in the final.

"The car was moving to the right on me a little bit, but with the help of Jeff Pierce tuning we've been working with the chassis trying to get it better," Gulitti said. "We're just taking little steps with it and it's been getting better and better."

Meanwhile, in Top Dragster, fifth of 12 starters Darrell Reid beat 10th-place qualifier Jason Phillips in the final and Jackson Core won the Jr. Dragster final over Tyler Clouse.  

DOUBLE DUTY DAY - Keith Haney and Ron Muenks had more in common than just being first-round Pro Mod competitors in the X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown--both were racing two cars in two classes at the same event for the first time in their careers.

Haney was forced into double duty when veteran Pro Nitrous racer Doug Riesterer failed to show up at Gateway Motorsports Park, despite Haney saying there had been an agreement in place for several weeks for Riesterer to take over the 2012 Camaro that Haney's teammate Monroe Guest normally drives on the X-DRL trail.

"Monroe and I, we're both normally in Pro Mod, but we knew Monroe would be out of town this weekend, so Doug was supposed to be driving the black car here, but then some unforeseen issues prevented him from making it, I guess, so here I am driving the black car in Pro Nitrous, and I'm driving my car, the red car, in Pro Mod, too," explained Haney, who co-owns Tulsa Raceway Park with Pro Extreme racer Todd Martin. "The reason we have one in Pro Nitrous is just to give me time to get in and out of both cars; I can't race two cars in the same class."

For Muenks, who usually can be found behind the wheel of Dave Pierce's Pro Mod '68 Camaro, the opportunity to also drive the '68 Camaro Pro Nitrous entry owned by Jeff Cummins and driven by his son, Jeffrey Jr., came about when the Cummins clan had to attend a wedding this weekend.

"The car was pre-entered, so we thought, what the heck, let's give it a try," Muenks said.

After Muenks qualified third with a 3.959-seconds pass at 185.38 mph and Haney placed fourth with a 3.990 at 187.63, they were paired up in round one of eliminations for Pro Mod at Gateway.

In the first pair out, Haney left first with a .017 holeshot, but the advantage was quickly gathered up when he lost traction and had to shut off early as Muenks streaked by to win in 3.961 seconds at 184.80 mph. Muenks went on to finish runner-up to Kevin Rivenbark's career-first Pro Mod win.

When it came time for the Pro Nitrous class to take the track, both Haney and Muenks made first-round exits, with Muenks falling to number-one qualifier Jeff Naiser and Haney losing to third-place starter Robert Mathis.

Still, both insisted that though it was a lot of extra work for them and their teams, racing two cars at one event was enjoyable and something they'd be happy to try again.

"The cars are a lot alike, so that makes it a lot easier. The biggest chore is I've got to take my seat out each time we swap cars; I've got to bring my gloves, my helmet, take everything out at the finish line, throw everything on the golf cart and then rush up to the trailer and switch everything over," Haney said.

"But I'm having a ball. The extra seat time is always good, and really, we needed to get the black car down the track a few times and get some stuff sorted out, so doing this has really helped."

Muenks said the two cars he drove also were quite similar, pointing out that Pierce previously owned the Cummins' Camaro, "so everything was pretty much set up the same in there.

"It was very, very busy, but it was fun," he added. "I would definitely do it again."

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -


THAT'S GONNA LEAVE A MARK - Veteran Top Dragster driver Dan Phelps went for a wild ride in round three of qualifying for the X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown, as his brand-new Race Tech dragster climbed into a huge wheelstand almost immediately off the launch and ended with a rare blowover accident for the sportsman class.

Fortunately, Phelps escaped injury in the wreck, but the car was severely damaged.

"This is just my fourth weekend with it," a clearly disgusted Phelps said as he watched friends and track workers wrestle with the bright pink and blue dragster to slide it off a flatbed truck and into its trailer for the depressing ride home to Labadie, MO.  

"My feelings are hurt, but other than that I'm totally fine. Everything did its job just the way it was supposed to. People wonder why I pay extra for a Race Tech; well, that's why."

The nose of the car was already on its way skyward by the time it reached the 60-foot marker and it reached the point of no return well before half-track where it stood straight up and pirouteed to its left before slamming hard back on the track and sliding to a stop between the eighth- and quarter-mile points in the left lane.         

It all happened so quickly off the line that Phelps barely had any time at all to react.

"Obviously I didn't know when the 'uh-oh' moment was or I would've got out of it," he said. "It actually felt fine and then it just took off. I wasn't expecting that at all."

 



THANKS TO THE FANS - At 9:55 p.m., near the end of a 90-minute clean-up for Dan Phelps' Top Dragster blowover accident, a Gateway Motorsports Park official took to the PA mic and announced an anonymous X-DRL competitor was providing free bottled water and fountain soda drinks--no beer--for half an hour to all X-DRL fans visiting the track's main concession stand.

"He doesn't want any recognition; he just wants to thank you fans for sticking with the X-DRL while we clean the track up and get it ready for the rest of tonight's qualifying," the track official said.

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY - While backing up from his burnout during round two of Pro Nitrous qualifying for the X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown, Bob Rahaim noticed his engine's throttle was not as responsive as it should be--and then he saw the flames. "The fire started getting bigger and coming around the door and I was debating whether to hit the (fire) bottles or not. I shut the power down, but it seemed to just keep growing and I didn't want to take a chance and maybe not have a race car, so I went ahead and pulled the bottles." A loose fuel fitting turned out to be the source of the problem, Rahaim said as he prepared new fire bottles for installation in his '69 Camaro while his crew labored over installing a new fuel system. "Just a minor setback, one of those things that happen, but we'll get it fixed," said Rahaim, whose 3.877 at 194.72 from the opening round remained on top of the Pro Nitrous qualifying list.

MITCHELL GIVES 'STATE OF THE X-DRL' ADDRESS - On the eve of announcing significant new series sponsorship support from Blue04 bottled water and fire suppression company FireAde 2000,  X-treme Drag Racing League (X-DRL) President Jeff Mitchell held court June 13,  pitside at Gateway Motorsports Park, near St. Louis. Mitchell addressed the concerns of racers in town for this weekend's (June 14-15), X-Treme Gateway Showdown about payouts, sponsorship, spectator attendance and the overall condition of the X-DRL going forward.

The X-DRL got off to a strong start in March with its inaugural event at Tulsa Raceway Park, but a rain-plagued event at Bristol, TN, lagged in both spectators and car count, and though the race teams showed up in force last month in Belle Rose, LA, fan attendance remained less than ideal.

Mitchell sat down with CompetitionPlus.com immediately following his informal "State-of-the-X-DRL" address to expand on his trackside message prior to the start of this weekend's X-DRL action.

CP: What is the current payout situation for racers who attended the X-DRL race at No Problem Raceway a few weeks ago?

JM: Right now we have a purse payout from Belle Rose (LA) that we owe our racers and we've been jammed up by it. We've had some slow collections on our sponsor side; we needed to go back to the market and raise some more cash; we've done that and we're in a position now where I think you'll see some schedule posted on race payouts so that we don't get into this expectation.

I don't know that I know what that expectation should be, if it's a day, a week, 10 days, 21 days. It isn't going to be at the race; there's too much to do, too confusing. We run into at every race a half dozen or more W-9s (income tax forms) not in place, we run into at every race issues of credit cards not going through and sorting out all the math, but we are going to find some schedule that we can live with and once we put it up we will live by it.

CP: When will all the payouts for the Belle Rose event (May 17-18) be completed?

JM: I expect they'll all be done by the end of next week.

CP: And what about this race, will the payouts from St. Louis be delayed because of taking care of Belle Rose?

JM: No, not because of Belle Rose; it'll fit into whatever that schedule is, whether it's 10 days or 21 days or five days, I really don't know what we're going to commit to do. But we're going to commit to something we can live with. And if we just can't stick to it we'll be telling you at the race track. When you come in and give me your $500 to race, I'll tell you up front then.

CP: Have you had problems with some sponsors backing out or not paying as scheduled or expected?

JM: No, not at all backing out; we've had some sponsors who have been a little slower than expected at fulfilling their timely payment schedule.

CP: Is this because they're expressing discontent or disappointment with how the X-DRL is progressing?

JM: No, not at all directly, nothing directly. It's the economy, change of times, they forgot, all the stuff; it's a tough world out there. But when you come into an event you expect your gate to produce X, your sponsors to produce Y and you're going to put in Z, if one piece of that changes or misses, well, you're going to punt.

CP: Is the X-DRL requiring a huge learning curve for you, knowing everything it takes to put on major events and run a series?

JM: Yes, I think it's fair to say it's got a learning curve to it, but several of the guys who are with us have been around doing this for a couple of years. But you know, running somebody's show and spending your own dough aren't the same thing. So our learning curve really comes more out of, did we have our expectations set correctly; does our model take (the way it's intended)?

You know, we had the race in Belle Rose that was a booked-in race, but before the race showed it changed from a booked-in race to what we call 'self promote.' You know, they (No Problem Raceway) dumped it and said we can't do it, so you'll have to. So we went from getting paid to show up and them spending all the money advertising five weeks beforehand, to take the race back and promote it ourselves.

But we're not really race promoters; that's why we took the path we went down of being a booked-in show. So we got dropped into the promotions business with five-weeks' notice and we're not real good at it--yet--but we're working hard on it and did the best we could with what we had.

We weren't going to take it off the schedule. We were not going to put people in a position where they had planned to race, maybe already bought flights, scheduled their vacation, planned their trip, what have you and suddenly we're not racing.

That's also why I had such a difficult time about making a decision about racing in Crandall, Texas (Aug. 16-17 at Dallas Raceway). I don't want to race on a 145-degree track in August--but I said I would back in December--however, that track's ownership is in flux and I can run right up to the edge and when I get there the gates might be open or they might be locked, I don't know, or we can make a decision and pre-empt it. So we had a discussion and a vote and every racer here (at Gateway) raised their hand to scrap the race so that's probably ultimately what we'll do.

But I didn't want to do that at Belle Rose because it was too early in the year and giving too short of notice. I think giving most of June, all of July and half of August notice is reasonable, whereas giving only three or four weeks notice is where I would've been in Belle Rose and that wasn't fair.

CP: Is there a possibility of adding another class to the X-DRL mix?

JM: Yeah, we've been talking about that from the very beginning. Our Pro Turbo group has struggled, so we've got a rule change coming out next week that will relax the rules a little bit on a few points so we can accommodate the six-cylinders and some of the import turbo stuff. Harry (Hruska) with Precision Turbo wants that to happen and he's the lead sponsor for the class. Precision has a lot of guys who want a place to race and they want to sell more product, so we hear them and we'll do what we can to make that class work better for them.

What's next? I don't think it's a radial-tire class. I love radial-tire racing; it's a great show; but until someone comes up with a way to create a level playing field for everyone I don't see that happening. If the Traction Twins (track prep team at ADRL) have enough time to come up with a combination, they could do it because they know what they're doing and we'll learn from them. And I want to mention my thoughts and prayers are with their dad, Larry, who was injured in an accident. The best wishes of the X-DRL and from me go out to him for a fast recovery.

CP: Obviously, spectator turnout, especially at Bristol and Belle Rose, was not where you wanted to be, but you seemed to suggest that wasn't so important to the future of the X-DRL since so many people were watching these events at home via live streaming on their computers. Do you really believe live attendance is not all that important to survive and thrive?

JM: No, no, no, I think what I said was, over time it's been proven that all plant-ownership spectator gates suffer. Any of the national events that some of our brethren--NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA, IHRA--I don't know that there's anybody that can report significantly higher attendance than it was three to five years ago, so there's this natural progression.

My comment was that we, the X-DRL, being latecomers to the game especially, can stand by here and expect to get a bigger piece of what's already a declining attendance. We've got to be more creative and try to do something about it. So that's really where I'm coming from.

CP: Who is responsible for attracting fans to an X-DRL national event?

JM: As track partners, their responsibility is to market; ours is to support a market, bring a show, put out the material, help them produce. The track operators are telling us on a fairly regular basis that's getting harder and harder to do with the same dollars, so if X-DRL is going to get involved in cutting up that pie, I think we have to be realistic about how far that pie can go.

So it's not that I think it's okay to be playing in front of an empty set of stands; we're going to continue to have the best crowds that we can get with the timeline and budget that we have, but I think there are a lot of other people out there that are interested in watching that just don't come out. They prefer to watch from the comfort of their air-conditioned home, sitting in their favorite chair, with their laptop plugged in to their big-screen, high-definition TV.

CP: But even if there's a million people watching at home, isn't it more fun and entertaining for the fans--and the racers--if there are 3,00, 5,000, 10,000 people live in the stands?

JM: Right, but I'm not a racer, so I have a tough time commenting on whether that's fun or not. It makes sense to me, but I don't know if this 'fan conversion,' if you will, is something that's going to happen this week, next month or next year. I think as an industry we need to be realistic about what goes on in our world today.
 
You get up in the morning to your iPod playing music off the Internet, you check your e-mails first thing, you read the newspaper online, you're checking your favorite Web sites, you're taking in your business, checking to see how many people "Like" your Facebook page and if your product's growing. Who knows if five years from now that digital lifestyle continues to increase, so I'm not suggesting that these race plants need to abandon spectatorship--that is not my point whatsoever--but I think the future of X-DRL says, don't ignore this digital conversion.

You know, I was a late start on the Internet, not a big user in the beginning because I was kind of in that age group that didn't immediately embrace it, but I think as a race sanctioning organization the X-DRL cannot afford to be a late start on embracing the social network and the digital media world because someday it's going to be a big piece of this puzzle.

CP: Is there not a danger, though, of focusing so much on digital marketing that the live aspect of event attendance suffers?

JM: Absolutely; I mean, it makes no sense if you're a local drag racing fan not to get in your car and come on out here to have a look at this, because it's the greatest show there is and we don't want to do anything that would hurt or hinder our track partners in their efforts to get the five-, 10-, 15-thousand people they need to make having these races worthwhile. As long as the local markets will support the gate we want to be helping them.

And I think if you watch the show from Gateway and you're in Indiana and see all the excitement and the fun and the good times we're having here; I think you're going to want to come to Indianapolis, that's going to help that local gate when we get there (Sep. 20-21); that's where we help the live attendance in those markets that we visit with our digital stream. We create that buzz.

That's our mission, but when talking to some of our core racers, who don't just race with us, they race at other places, they make the same comment to me about some of the other organizations, that there's nobody there, nobody is spending the money, nobody is coming out. But I think that's the recession, there's a lot of competition for the entertainment dollar, families are getting younger, and so on, but we have to find a way to remind them that there's 20- to 40-thousand people watching you, so don't get all down in your cups if there's not a bunch of people in the stands.

CP: Shouldn't that live streaming be monetized then, to reach those viewers with your sponsors messages?

JM: I would say to that, wait and watch. There's some exciting stuff coming. That's a curve where I think the X-DRL is out ahead of the industry.

CP: To recap, what will it take to successfully promote the X-DRL?

JM: It's a three-legged stool: the cars and the racers, the track and its promoter, and the X-DRL with its digital community. No stool will stand with only two legs, so it has to be a cooperative enterprise. But with those three legs firmly on the ground, I think that's how this sanctioning organization is going to grow through what I think--whether anybody else wants to admit it or not--is a potentially declining live audience attendance.
 

THE BERTSCH IS BACK - Matt Bertsch lined up on the Gateway Motorsports Park starting line, not a hundred-percent sure how his RJ Race Cars-built

'07 Mustang would perform in its first pass since going to the semis of the ADRL season ender last October at the Texas Motorplex, near Dallas.

"We'll probably find out how much everyone else has improved," the second-generation driver joked shortly before making his first Extreme Pro Stock qualifying attempt for the X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown. "The car is exactly like it was when we left Dallas. We haven't even had the motor out of it."

No worry, Bertsch had his answer 4.132 seconds later after a 175.59-mph pass down the Gateway eighth mile that placed him fourth of eight entries.

"We've had some business and family commitments that kept us home early this year," said Bertsch, who hails from Tecumseh, MI. "And without sponsorship we've decided to run just four, maybe five races in 2013. We'll be doing this one, the ADRL race up at Martin (MI) in a couple of weeks, the X-DRL at Budds Creek (MD), because we really like that track, and then X-DRL at Indy. Then we'll see how we did and maybe run one more; it's hard to say right now."

GOFORTH AGAIN NO. 1 IN XPS QUALIFYING - Since debuting a brand-new Jerry Haas-built 2013 Camaro last month at the X-DRL event in Belle Rose, LA, veteran Extreme Pro Stock (XPS) driver Dean Goforth won that race, qualified last week in the number-one position for the ADRL event at Richmond, VA, and is on track at the June 14-15  X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown to pick up his second top qualifier award in as many weeks.

Goforth's 4.083 at a career-best 177.58 mph from the opening stanza of three rounds of qualifying on Friday at Gateway Motorsports Park kept the Holdenville, OK-based racer on top of the eight-car field.

"The car is doing great; now we just have to get a driver. I've been terrible with my lights all day," Goforth said. "Dean the team owner is happy; Dean the driver is not," he added.

His son, Cary, the two-time defending ADRL Extreme Pro Stock champion, definitely was not happy after not managing a decent pass in either of his first two attempts before breaking into the field in sixth place with a 4.130 at 175.68 in his 2010 Pontiac GXP.

"Watch out for Cary tomorrow," his dad cautioned. "We've been having some issues with his car lately, but it looks like they've figured it out and I expect he'll be right back in there now."

Goforth also revealed that Cary will soon be joining him in wheeling a new Haas-built Camaro, "probably in about a month."

Just five-thousandths behind Goforth at the head of the class was Kevin Bealko with a 4.088 at 177.21 in his Clean Coal 2011 GXP, with Bealko's teammate and local favorite, John DeFlorian, third at 4.100 and 176.97 mph in his 2012 Camaro. DefLorian got the nod for third based on speed after he and Matt Bertsch matched ETs, but Bertsch was 0.67 mph slower at the eighth-mile finish line.

With nine cars entered, one will be going home once qualifying concludes with a fourth-and-final session prior to eliminations on Saturday (June 15).  Rick Cowger of Spring, TX, was the lone man on the outside looking in after running a best of 4.180 at exactly 175 mph in Friday's action.


RIVENBARK BAGS PROVISIONAL PRO MOD POLE AT GATEWAY - Driving the roots-blown GALOT '02 Firebird, Kevin Rivenbark earned the provisional number-one spot in Pro Mod at the X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown June 14, with a 3.935-seconds pass at 188.52 mph.

"It carried the front wheels pretty far down the track and when they came down the car darted a little to the left, but that was probably my fault," Rivenbark admitted of his round-three run on Friday night at Gateway Motorsports Park, near St. Louis. If his time stands up through a fourth and final qualifying session on Saturday before eliminations begin it will represent Rivenbark's career-first number-one start.

With just two cars from the same team competing in Pro Turbo, the class is really not much more than a paid test session for team owner Todd Moyer in his '63 Corvette and driver Mike Murillo in his '68 Camaro. After three pairings in qualifying, Moyer was quicker and faster of the twin-turboed duo with a 3.908 at 200.95 to Murillo's 4.349 at 145.16 mph.

Top qualifying honors in Top Sportsman went to Texas racer Bob Gulitti with a 4.177 pass at 170.51 mph in his 2011 Camaro, while Coby Jones, also from the Lone Star state, was quickest in Top Dragster with the only run in the three-second zone of 12 entries, as he went 3.951 at an also class-leading (by a wide margin) 183.54 mph.      


PESZ BLOWS OWN DOORS OFF IN PX QUALIFYING - For the second-straight run, Brandon Pesz blasted straight to the top of the Pro X-treme (PX) qualifying list June 14, and for the second-straight time the driver's side door departed his Kryptonite Kustoms '58 Corvette as it crossed the eighth-mile finish line at Gateway Motorsports Park, near St. Louis.

Pesz initially lost the outer layer of his door in a 3.685-seconds pass at 206.13 mph in round one of qualifying for the X-DRL's X-treme Gateway Showdown that stole away the top spot by one-thousandth of a second from Frankie Taylor, who had run 3.686 at 207.08  just one pair ahead of his fellow Texan.

"That was a good pass, but there's a lot more in it," Pesz insisted. "We need to step it up and take that ET record away from Frankie tonight."

Pesz sat out round two of qualifying while his door was still being repaired with a spare skin that team owner Todd Martin had squirreled away in the trailer ("You'd be surprised by some of the spare parts we carry," Martin said.), but as the last man out on Friday night he laid down a potential record 3.628 at 208.91--just as his door once more exploded in a shower of carbon fiber.

"As soon as I chopped the throttle it was gone. The run before it was just the outer skin, but this time the whole thing was gone; there was nothing there but wall," Pesz said. "But I feel good. We got a leg up on the record; I just need to go out and back it up tomorrow (within the required one percent) as long as someone else doesn't improve on that, so overall it was a pretty good night.

"The door is a bummer, but we've got all night, so we'll fix it again; we'll come up with something," he added. "Actually, right now, Eston (brother of chassis builder Garret Livingston of Garret Race Cars) is on his way to Larry Jeffers' shop where they build the bodies for the car, so I've got two premier chassis builders working together to keep me going."

Pesz said he knew "right off the get go" that his car was on a good pass because it had been leaving a little soft in recent runs, but he'd made a change for the better on Friday night. "It had been a little lazy until about two-tenths into the run, so I tried something different and it set me back a lot harder, so I knew it was on a good one. I was trying to run a .63 or .64, so it was even a little better than I expected ... but I'll take that."

With one more qualifying opportunity before eliminations on Saturday, Pesz said he may again skip the session in order to focus on improving Martin's '68 Mustang, which was slotted in at sixth with a 3.725-seconds pass at 204.82 mph.

Taylor's 3.686 remained second after he was forced to shut off his '05 Corvette at the end of his burnout for the Friday-night session when he noticed a cracked burst panel on the rear of his engine's screw blower. "It was squirting out fuel through the crack," Taylor observed. "Better for it to happen then, instead of when we're racing," he added.

Taylor's teammate Tim Tindle was sitting third with his '67 Mustang at 3.703 and 204.35 mph, while Quain Styott was fourth with a bracket-like consistent 3.707 at 203.86 in his Lee-Boy Paving '63 Corvette, and Terry Leggett rounded out the top five of 15 entries with a 3.714 at 206.07 in his 2009 Mustang.


NAISER STEPS UP IN PN QUALIFYING - He didn't make a full pass under power until the third and final qualifying session of the day, but when he did, Jeff Naiser shot to the top of the Pro Nitrous (PN) qualifying list June 14, at the X-DRL's X-treme Gateway Showdown.

"We were just trying to go from A to B," Naiser said of his 3.851-seconds run at 193.40 mph that bumped 2012 ADRL PN champ Bob Rahaim down to second place with one qualifying round remaining before eliminations begin on Saturday at Gateway Motorsports Park.

"We were having issues with it being light on clutch in low gear and we were light on clutch again and I had to over-rev it a little in low, but other than that it was a decent pass," Naiser said. "But I knew it would go that fast if we could just get it to hook up the whole way. And we don't have it turned up yet; we'll save that for eliminations."

Naiser said he wasn't sure if his elapsed time would hold up as number one qualifier through the fourth session, but he would be preparing for race day, regardless. "I'll try to get a good first-round tune-up for it. I'd like to see a high .80, something that I know will go down the track to get us going," he said.

After missing the second round due to a small starting-line fire after his burnout, Rahaim also improved in round three from 3.877 to 3.869 at 195.14 mph. He was followed in the top half of the eight-car qualifying list by Duke Snyder and Robert Mathis, winner of the most recent X-DRL event last month in Louisiana.

WHOA, BABY! - Robert Mathis, winner of the most recent X-DRL event at Belle Rose, LA, last month, got a little out of shape shortly after launching into his second qualifying pass for the X-treme Gateway Showdown at Gateway Motorsports Park, near St. Louis. "It just had too much clutch and locked it up and ran over the tire there and started to shake," Mathis explained. "That could've got ugly in a hurry."

RIGHT DIRECTION - It may not have been a number-one run, but Mike Murillo was still encouraged by going 4.349 at 145.16 mph, as he's struggled this year just to make a full pass under power in his Pro Turbo '68 Camaro. 

With a fourth and final qualifying session to go before eliminations began on Saturday, Blake Housley was sitting seventh in the eight-car Pro Nitrous class at the X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown after going 4.091 at 180.60 mph in round two on Friday. Here, Housley (left) assists as Dan Carver of Jim Laurita's points-leading Pro Nitrous team helps freshen the Reher-Morrison 855-cubic-inch engine in Housley's '63 Corvette late on Friday night at Gateway Motorsports Park, near St. Louis.