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On Saturday evening, we held the Inaugural Gas-FX Shootout. This race was only open to members of the Gas-FX e-mail group. It was open to all Gas-FX members who were willing to race on a heads-up basis for nothing but trophies! It was originally supposed to have two categories, but the Quick 16 race held the same evening kept a few of the faster members from competing. Originally, there were 7 entrants, but the field was narrowed to 5 by the time we started after Jeff's 55 Chevy ate it's tranny on an earlier pass and Rick's Fiat broke the crank snout...boy...that's racing, isn't it?
The Entrants (in alphabetical order)

Don Benedict's '42 Willys sedan	Erik Carlson's 55 Chevy	Scott Hasko's 41 Willys coupe	Jeff Labas' 55 Chevy

Ron Malmsten's 41 Willys Pickup	Tom Nowicki's 56 Chevy	Rick Proctor's 48 Fiat Altered
Round 1
Names were drawn out of a hat to see who drew who to race in each round. In round 1, Tom Nowicki and Erik Carlson would face each in their Chevies, Scott Hasko and Don Benedict squared off in the Willys and Ron Malmsten got a bye.

Tom and Erik in round 1. When it was all over, Erik emerged the clear winner.		After what could be termed an "exciting" burnout. Ron laid down a very nice pass on his bye run.

Don and Scott squared off in round 1 with Don in front at the stripe.
Round 2
Another draw from the hat put Don running against Ron while Erik got the bye this time.

Round 2 saw Don put Ron on the trailer in rather convincing fashion.

After abbreviating his usual "John Force Style" burnout, Erik laid down a strong bye.
The Final

In a VERY close final that had the crowd on it's feet, Erik edged out Don by a few hundredths to take the trophy.
Summary & Followup
While we didn't have a lot of cars for the shootout, the guys that raced enjoyed, and all indications were that the crowd loved it. We'll do it again in 2005, but this time it will be an "Invitational" and not limited to Gas-FX members.