The 38th Annual Pleasureland RV Show N Go, although not a true BIR Wet & Wild Weekend event, turned out to be both very wet and very wild on the dragstrip. From many personal best passes to our first 200 mph 1/8th mile pass by Troy Bednarz in Zack Novak Construction OS660, a 230 mph pass by Wade Deslauriers in the finals of Lakeside Cabinets & Woodworking Outlaw, and Sheldon Root making the first 6-second pass in Everything Automotive King Street, the weekend was one for the record books. Even with a torrential downpour Thursday evening that caused a slight delay in Friday morning's start to time trials and qualifying, all 450+ racers were able to get their three runs in. Saturday was cut down to two sessions for all classes due to some downtime midday for rain, which returned again but not until just after finishing the Street Car Cruise for Everything Automotive King Street, Holmberg Motorsports Real Street Unlimited, and Real Street Natural classes. All cars that started the cruise were able to complete the 4 laps with their lights and flashers on, and all restarted after a 5-minute “hot soak” to receive the full cruise points. The rain stopped again just in time for the great fireworks show, but it wasn’t the last of the falling rain for the weekend. Sunday’s eliminations saw some very fast, close, and exciting races but eventually had to be called off due to persistent rain showers and time constraints, with only 5 of the 7 Fast Classes and 4 Index classes completed.
Real Street Natural (RS/N): The number one qualifier was Bob Wallin in his '72 Nova with an 8.606 ET and a top speed of 155.45 mph. He also was the winner over David Beck in his '71 Skylark with an 8.640 at 155.27 mph pass.
Holmberg Motorsports Real Street Unlimited (RS/U): Jesse Nelson in his '72 Chevelle was the number one qualifier and had top speed with a 7.737 pass at 183.99 mph. He was set to face the number two qualifier Jason Bergeson in his '84 Monte Carlo SS in the finals, but the rain before they ran.
Everything Automotive King Street: Qualifying in Everything Automotive King Street saw several personal best ETs and top mph passes, with Sheldon Root in his '62 Acadian taking the top spot with the first-ever sub-seven-second pass, 6.970 at 209.07 mph. The King Street final was set to be Sheldon and Jason Gieger in his '68 Camaro, but the rain prevented the race from occurring. Rumor has it there will be a grudge race with some serious money on the line at Muscle Car Shootout during qualifying to settle unfinished business between these two insanely fast “Street Cars.”
Norm’s Tire Sales LS 600: The number one qualifier and top speed honors went to Troy Lowry in his '04 Mustang with a 4.928 at 152.62 mph. The final round matchup was the number 5 and 6 qualifiers Nick Enberg in his '64 Chevelle SS and Taylor Gullikson in his '98 S-10. Enberg used a .024 starting line advantage to pull off a holeshot win with a margin of victory of .001 at the finish, 5.316 to 5.293.
Zack Novak Construction OS 600: Troy Bednarz was the top qualifier with a 4.407 and a top speed of 181.98 mph. In the final round versus number two qualifier Chris Gullickson in his '68 Chevelle, Bednarz in his '17 Camaro ran a weekend best pass of 4.211 at 202.73 mph to record the first-ever 200 mph 1/8th mile small tire pass at BIR.
Lakeside Cabinets & Woodworking Outlaw: Wade Deslauriers was number one and top speed in qualifying with a 6.544 at 221.09 mph pass in his '67 Camaro. The finals saw Deslauriers facing number two qualifier Dave Feders in his '68 Chevelle. Feders ran 6.750 at 206.70 to defeat Wade, who ran 6.774 at an incredible 230.57 mph.
Shooting Star Casino Outlaw Pro Mod: Ray Friesen in his '69 Camaro was the number one qualifier with a 4.062 and top speed of 185.41 mph. The finals in Shooting Star Casino Outlaw Pro Mod was an across-the-northern-border matchup with Friesen taking on fellow Canadian Rob Meservier in his '68 Chevelle. Meservier had a slight starting line advantage and ran 4.367 at 165.15, but it wasn’t enough for the win as Friesen bettered his qualifying pass with a 4.053 at 184.55 to take the win.
Ice 13.50 was won by Shannon Halverson in a '78 AMC AMX over Kurt Laforge in his '77 Vega GT when he was forced to break out due to Halverson’s reaction time advantage.
Ice 13.0 went to Dillion Preston in his '66 Olds Cutlass when Jeremy Schaff in his '91 Camaro went red, leaving the starting line 14 thousandths (.014) too soon.
Ice 11.0 was another class decided on the starting line when Nick Pirkola in the '39 Willys was -.007 red, giving the win to Charles Meissner in his '02 Blazer.
In another final decided by a red-light, Bill Schilling in his '70 Chevelle was the winner in Ice 9.5 when RJ Laase went -.011 red in his '87 Laser.
Congratulations to all the winners. We would also like to send out congratulations to Muscle Car Series and Bracket Series racers Nathan Olson and Nikki Spanier who got married on Saturday at BIR. Make sure you join us Labor Day Weekend for THE GSTA Muscle Car Shootout, the third and final race of the MCS, where 2024 season championships will be decided.