Jason Hamstra earned the Mid-West Pro Mod Series victory Saturday at Gateway Motorsports Park when top qualifier Keith Haney was unable to stage his car due to a transmission issue. The win capped off an incredible two days of racing at the second running of the Premier Street Car Association’s Heads Up Hootenanny.
The event, postponed from its original date in April due to rain, featured five heads-up classes fielded by PSCA along with the JEGS Super Quick Series and the track’s Gateway Bracket Series, providing a preview for next month’s Street Car Super Nationals: Anarchy at the Arch IV.
Hamstra qualified sixth and laid down an impressive 3.816-second ET at 196.93 mph on a solo pass after Haney was unable to put his car in gear. Despite wanting to earn the victory against Haney on the track, the Indiana native said he’ll definitely take the win light.
“It went pretty good there at the end,” Hamstra said in the Winner’s Circle. “We figured out we had a bad set of tires on it all weekend and put the old ones on it for the semifinals and the car started going down the track again like it should be.
“I’d like to race (Haney), sure, but you take it any way you can get it. We had to get there. You have to be there to take advantage of opportunities like that.”
A visibly-perturbed Haney got out of his car to watch Hamstra make his winning pass while shaking the hands of the victorious team members. He did get a boost immediately thereafter when Brandon Pesz, driving a Keith Haney Racing machine in the Morrow Bros. Ford Radial vs. The World class, took the win over Mark Woodruff. Pesz, qualifying fifth, crossed the line with an ET of 3.874 seconds at 196.46 mph.
“That’s the first win on it,” Haney said of his radial car in only its fourth-ever race. “It was pretty consistent…we didn’t get to make the first qualifier or the second because it sheared the bolts off the flywheel. So Brandon got here, we stuck him in it and it got a 4.08. The car’s really consistent.
“Both cars made it to the finals and there’s something to be said when you’ve got two cars in the finals.”
Other results from PSCA’s Heads Up Hootenanny II:
VP Racing Limited Drag Radial
Shane Stack (4.190, 183.22 mph) over Jason Rueckert (6.944, 81.98 mph)
Mickey Thompson X275
Phil Hines (4.448, 160.59) over Cecil Whitaker (4.499, 156.79 mph)
Ross Racing Pistons/Vortech Superchargers Outlaw 8.5/MX 235
Brian Edwards (4.669, 157.71 mph) over Jason Collins (4.751, 150.06 mph)
The Premier Street Car Association returns to Gateway Motorsports Park Aug. 3-5 for Street Car Super Nationals: Anarchy at the Arch IV. For more information, visit the official event page on Facebook at Facebook.com/SCSNGateway.
This story was originally published on July 5, 2017. 
