Although he lost out in the semi-finals of the Indy Cylinder Head Quick 16 Doorslammer Division with a redlight, Dean Stevens’ radical supercharged ‘05 Stratus wowed the crowd with awesome burnouts prior to 6.80/205 performances.
The Indy Cylinder Head-sponsored Quick 16 programs offer 16-car qualified fields for full-bodied and open-wheeled entries. With both divisions filled with six-second, 200-mph machinery, Mike Knoebel’s Wisconsin-based 594-cubic inch wedge dragster stopped Ohioan Kelly Foster’s 528-inch digger for the Open cash while buckeye racer Chris
Wheatcraft stopped Missourian Dan Wilson in an “all-concrete” Doorslammer finale. Both Wheatcraft’s 604-inch Dodge Neon and Wilson’s 655-inch ‘79 Charger are sponsored by concrete companies owned by their families! Wheatcraft then dropped Knoebel for the $8,000 top prize in the division’s final dragster- versus-doorslammer bash.
Heads-up street-legal machines are also a part of each MM event. Joe Bernardi’s Illinois-based 462-inch ‘69 Super Bee used nonstop 10.30s at over 133 mph to claim the Pro Max Cars & Performance Muscle Street honors over Ken Clinton’s 414-inch ‘67 Dart, and Jeff Roppel’s 429-inch ‘67 Dart romped through Pro Max Cars & Performance Xtreme Street with runs as quick as 9.28/146, outrunning J.L. Robertson’s ‘67 440 Barracuda in the final round.
Rick Johnson’s outstanding ‘32 Plymouth competed in match races throughout the weekend; the St. Louisan’s eight-second ride is all steel, uses an ex-Top Fuel Hemi with mid-’60s vintage Hilborns and can fry the Goodyears with the best of ‘em.
The $25,000 bracket racing purse attracted over five hundred entries. Mike Crick, fresh from his recent NHRA Sportsnationals victory, drove his eight-second ‘65 Belvedere to the Kilpatrick Engine Super Pro Eliminator victory over St. Louisan Billy Stochl’s wheelstanding ‘70 Challenger. John Wagner’s 500-inch bronze ‘70 Road Runner ousted Troy Mann’s ‘65 Coronet for the Royal Gate Dodge Pro cash, and John Hendrix beat out Cody Hawthorne in an all-St. Louis, all-’73 Dart Sport final in A&A Transmission Street Eliminator. Jeff Bowman’s nine-second, street-driven ‘70 Charger (!) topped Mark Emerson’s ‘70 Satellite in the Extreme Sportswear Trophy division.
