With margins of victory averaging in the three-hundredths range, the Premier Street Car Association’s Heads Up Hootenanny gave the assembled crowd at World Wide Technology Raceway a thrill Saturday night. Roselle, Illinois’s Mike Recchia earned the Pro Xtreme title, along with a special-edition Wally, against Doug Riesterer of Victoria, Texas with Recchia’s 3.688-second pass at 207.43 mph edging past his opponent’s 3.658-second lap at 198.52 mph.
Riesterer, qualifying sixth, would beat event Top Qualifier Bubba Stanton in E2 to advance & earned his trip to the finals thanks to a bye, but was stopped in the final round by the Illinoisan.
“What a finish!” said PSCA President Mel Roth after the race. “Almost every round of eliminations was a door-to-door drag race and every final round was the kind of racing you dream about seeing. Another world-class performance by the track crew at World Wide Technology Raceway. It’s no wonder St. Louis has the rep it does for drag racing given its legacy as one of the best racing surfaces in the sport.”In addition to x275, LDR, and the N/T classes earning special-edition Wallys for their victories, every PX driver who made it to the second round of eliminations qualified for a special ten-car Pro Mod exhibition field (eight qualifiers with two altnerates) for September’s NHRA Midwest Nationals. They are:
1. Bubba Stanton
2. Mike Recchia
3. John Sullivan
4. Jason Hamstra
5. Randy Merick
6. Doug Riesterer
7. Judd Coffman
8. Randy Adler
9. Jerry Hunt
10. Paul Gibbs
In another close side-by-side finish, Rob Goss took the MagnaFuel x275 Wally with his run of 4.230 seconds at 170.23 mph over Scott Kincaid’s pass of 4.267 seconds at 169.02 mph.


This story was originally published on August 16, 2021.