Kepner and his Merc are a deadly combination. He has two World Series of Drag Racing titles and more than one at Sikeston Raceway, but not this night. (Jeff Burk photo)

The triple-digit heat that blanketed the Midwest didn’t stop a large contingent (22) of X275 heads-up racers and bracket racers from putting on a great heads-up doorslammer race. The nice crowd of spectators paid just $15 for a ticket to watch the featured 275 tire heads-up race and the vintage Pro Stock cars, Bill Neri’s Jerry Bickel-built Warren Johnson tribute ‘84 Camaro and and the Reher-Morrison Camaro owned and driven by Mark Pappas.

The main event

(Jeff Burk photo)

If you have never seen the X275 class it is basically a street style cars on relatively narrow tires that cannot exceed a max width of 275 mm and must be DOT approved. The tires make the tuning “window” for these cars very small. As a result there were a lot of wheelstanding, tire-smoking laps in qualifying as the drivers and tuners tried to find out just how much power the unfamiliar track would handle. The driver skills required to man-handle one of these cars down the track is often a major factor in who wins in this class.

The $3,000-to-win race attracted 22 doorslammers representing five states and included a diverse collection of Fords, Chevys, Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles and at least a couple of pickup trucks.