KERR UNLIKELY WINNER IN WSN'S SUPER PRO STREET
The last time Gene Kerr had his race car out was last year about this time at Orlando Speed World Dragway. So realistically, he never expected to be sitting in victory lane for winning the premier Super Pro Street class at the 18th annual World Street Nationals.
“We only brought enough nitrous bottles to make a few time runs and maybe one round of eliminations,” said Kerr of nearby Winter Garden, FL. “So when we started going rounds we had to borrow more bottles from Tony Christian.”
None of the expected heavy hitters even made it to the semi-finals as one by one, the likes of John Vergotz, Tim Baptista, Steve King and Chris Rini fell by the wayside, soon followed by Rob Mansfield, Tony Williams, Jeff Lutz and Mike Hill. Top qualifier Christian actually did earn a berth in the semis, but a top-end crash at the conclusion of his quarter-final run ended his day.
The last time Gene Kerr had his race car out was last year about this time at Orlando Speed World Dragway. So realistically, he never expected to be sitting in victory lane for winning the premier Super Pro Street class at the 18th annual World Street Nationals.
“We only brought enough nitrous bottles to make a few time runs and maybe one round of eliminations,” said Kerr of nearby Winter Garden, FL. “So when we started going rounds we had to borrow more bottles from Tony Christian.”
None of the expected heavy hitters even made it to the semi-finals as one by one, the likes of John Vergotz, Tim Baptista, Steve King and Chris Rini fell by the wayside, soon followed by Rob Mansfield, Tony Williams, Jeff Lutz and Mike Hill. Top qualifier Christian actually did earn a berth in the semis, but a top-end crash at the conclusion of his quarter-final run ended his day.
After a great show of sportsmanship in which Kerr allowed quarter-final opponent Lutz to fix a leaking fuel line before they raced, it was left to him and Greensboro, NC’s Rocky Raynor to determine who would go on to face off against Halvor Hansen Jr., who gained a free pass to the final at Christian’s expense.
Raynor enjoyed a distinct performance advantage in his Rick Hendricks Chevrolet of Durham, NC, ’63 Corvette after going 6.57 to beat Jimmy Marino in the previous round, while Kerr ran consistent 7.0s all day long in his ’88 IROC Camaro.
Raynor lost traction early in his semi-final run, however, as Kerr put together a 7.029-second pass at 195.53 mph. Hansen, who’d run 6.31 and a pair of 6.29s
leading up to the semis, faltered in his solo run to a 7.61 run that put him in the less desirable right lane. Still, Hansen, driving a ’68 Camaro for car owner
Gary Thomas, was the clear favorite heading into the final.
It was all over at the flash of green, though, with Kerr posting a solid .031 reaction time against Hansen’s apparently sleepy .330 that allowed Kerr’s 7.013 at 195.42-mph package to hold off a much quicker and faster 6.815 at 210.21 by Hansen. In this case, however, appearances were deceiving.
“The motor choked on me on the starting line just as the tree came down and I waited for it to recatch its fire before I left because if I didn’t we could’ve had a nitrous explosion,” Hansen explained. “That’s why I was so late on the tree. I’d rather do that than blow the engine up and lose anyway. And then on the run it shook and I had to pedal it a little, so that didn’t help either.”
Kerr credited his engine builder, Central Florida Machine and Speed, for providing good, consistent power all weekend and thanked crewman “Ozzy” from Horsepower Sales for all his help at the track.
“(Chassis specialist) Hank Hill told me this morning that we had a consistent car and that’s what it was going to take to win this thing. And he was right,” Kerr said. “It’s like a dream come true, really.” - Ian Tocher
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