Words by Ron Ogilvie
Photos by Tim Marshall and Donna Bristan

The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was host to the PSCA Accufab West Coast Shootout. All fifteen classes were contested Oct. 8-9, including the crowd favorite Pro Street.  

Mike Maggio continued to be the leader of the class with a qualifying time of 6.033. He also ran an astounding 249.72 mph on his last qualifying pass, but was unable to run the backup to establish a new record.

In Pro Street, number-five qualifier David Dedrickson’s Firebird met the Firebird of Matt Rhodes. Rhodes left with a .037 RT and ran a 6.939, but was just beaten by the quicker Dedrickson (6.733) in the last 10 feet. Wade Maggio, in just his third race, was the #4 qualifier, but could not hold off a hard charging Ed Thornton in a battle of Corvettes. Mike Maggio and John Mihovetz both had single runs due to breakage to round out the first heat of eliminations.

Round 2 saw Ed Thornton’s ’63 split window Corvette the benefactor to Mihovetz’s red light, advancing it to the semis while Maggio and Dedrickson both had singles. In the semi-finals, Mike Maggio ran 6.05 to Thornton’s tire spinning 7.41 effort. Bloomington, IN’s David Dedrickson singled to set up the final.