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By Shane Tecklenburg FASTMotorsports.com

For Immediate Release

Sept 4, 05 – Las Vegas, NV – Pacific Street Car Association Pro Street racer Ed Thornton drove the FASTMotorsports Racing 1957 Chevrolet twin turbo entry to victory over John Scialpi Sunday night at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Thornton, 38 from Chino Hills, CA easily defeated Scialpi, 45 of West Covina, CA when Scialpi’s blown entry lost traction early in the run posting a 6.81 206 to 7.10 207 win. Coming in to the final round, Thornton was the favorite based on his out of nowhere semi-final defeat of number 1 qualifier Clint Hairston. In that match up Thornton unloaded a 6.65 at 219 against Hairston’s 6.81 209 which was all the more amazing considering he could not get a hold of the track in the two previous rounds.

“That was an awesome run,” said Thornton. “Our luck has definitely changed for the better after struggling in qualifying. I think it started this morning because some friends that came with us to the race started winning on the slots in the Four Queens Hotel. They told me that their lucky streak was going to rub off on me and I guess they were right. Like they say it’s better to be lucky than good on race day.”

Thornton, clutch specialist Doug Stewart and Engine Tuner Shane Tecklenburg had arrived at the track a day before the race to test the car. With a new engine combination in the car they made a seemingly effortless 6.74 second 211 mph test run and with no signs of trouble, loaded the car up for qualifying on Saturday. What the team did not realize until the call for the first qualifying session was that a pocket in the casting of the head had allowed water to leak into the combustion chamber. The head had to be removed and replaced before the team could run. They managed to make the second session only because of a delay on the racetrack and ran 6.88 at 207 to put them solidly in the field in the number 4 slot. But that run was not without trouble as a small fire erupted under the hood in the shut down area.

“When I turned off the track I saw Randy (Walker) and his guys running over to the car with an extinguisher. They were yelling that there was fire and I was asking them if I needed to use the on-board extinguisher but they put out with theirs,” said Thornton.

“Apparently the silicone we used on the manifold end seals just had not cured by the time we went to run,” explained Stewart. “It could only hold the pressure a little while before it blew out blew oil mist out and the wind pushed it onto the headers.”

Along with the help of several friends once again took the engine apart to repair the leaks and used of all things, a bungee cord as a makeshift end seal.

The seal held without a problem on Sunday and team got a break before the first round when they learned that their opponent was unable to make the call. After shaking the tires early in the run Thornton aborted before the finish and ran a 7.27 at just 179.

The team regrouped for the next round as their opponent Jeremy Devies had lane choice for the second round. Tecklenburg and Stewart went back to Friday night’s combination with the hopes of running in the 6.70’s to give them the edge. It was not needed however when to everyone’s surprise Devies was shut off after the burnout.

Thornton again struck the tires violently about 30 feet into the run and shut off to an 11.73.

Explained Engine Tuner Tecklenburg, “I was not too surprised when it shook in the first round – I had hopped it up to see what the track could hold since we knew we had a single. I was however totally surprised when it shook in the second round because that same tune-up worked on Friday. Once we got back and saw the MoTeC data, we realized that the crankcase pressure was much lower than it had been on the first few runs. That indicated that the rings had seated and we suddenly had more power than we knew what to do with. Doug and I just put our heads together and took a shot in the dark. We were lucky – it worked!”

“Going in to that semi-final I didn’t know what to think,” admitted Thornton. “Doug and Shane were scratching their heads and Hairston had just run 6.73 which to that point was low ET by a bunch. But those two guys are passionate about what they do and they never say die, they pulled it off.”

Right before the final round match up between Thornton and Scialpi there was a problem with Scialpi’s car not being able to fire. Thornton team members went flying over to Scialpi’s car to assist in getting it started.

“We want to beat our competition heads up,” said Thornton. “We are out here to race, I would have waited as long as it took and the fact that Doug and Shane went over to help just shows they have the same thing in mind.”

Thornton was leading the points entering the race and padded his lead over second place Hairston with his win in Las Vegas.  When they return to Las Vegas for the Super Street Car Nationals November 4-6 the points won’t mean anything. Hairston and Thornton will take on some of the greatest names in all of Street car racing for a chance to win 25,000.00 dollars at the inaugural event.