SCS Invades: FWD Toyota in SS at Pomona (1 Viewer)

[MoparBilly]

While combing over the abysmally low entries so far for the Winternationals, I was looking through Super Stock, and an interesting entry caught my eye:

714K SS/EX Scott Kelley Anaheim Hills, Ca 09 Toyota Toyota 158

My first thought was: What's SS/EX?
The New Rule book descibes it like this: 11.5 lbs per CI. Naturally Aspirated, Methanol only, front drive only, must be full bodied, Competition License required.

My second thought was: How'd he get into a National that's just now requiring a grade point of 3, when I know I've never seen anything like this in Divisional competition?
So, I checked the 2008 Division 7 Points...No Scott Kelley. I check the last few qualifying sheets in SS on Dragracecentral...No Scott Kelley. On a whim, I decide to look at qualifying for the SCS World Finals. There he is, qualified #5 with an 07 Corolla in All Motor, running 9.87 @ 135!

The Purist side of me screams Foul!! But the part of me that's always intrigued my new combinations wants to immediately know: Are the rules for SS/EX ver batem for All Motor, or will be carrying more weight? What changes did he have to make to cross over? How fast will it go in legal trim?

Beats sitting around worrying about short fields.

 

[Mike]

Billy, he has already run a couple of events in comp.

 

[CrewGuy]

Beats sitting around worrying about short fields.

I agree with that!

 

[Dave]

As Mike English noted, Scott has competed in Comp. Here, you can see pics of the car at the NHRA Finals

 

[----NONE----]

Scott is a good guy. He used to race VWs with us for years, then got his deal with Toyota. You will not find a nicer team than Scott and Larry Kelley. Larry ran a few events with his VW in Super Gas a few years ago. I'm not too sure if it was a So. Cal. Pro Gas race or not (maybe Mike English remembers?). He also ran it in S/G at Pomona in the 90's. Anyway, Scott will represent himself and his sponsors in a positive way.

 

[Toejam]

I'm glad NHRA's opening up SS and Comp to the Sport compact crowd. Only the serious racers will even pursuit it as opposed to the NOPI Bling crowd.

 

[MoparBilly]

Mike, Thanks for the info.
Dave, thanks for the pics.
I'm not suprised that a few would show up in Comp, and I should have checked there as well. Just didn't expect to see one in SS! I know NHRA has blurred the line between Comp and SS quite a bit lately.

Gary,
I noticed Scott was one of the best on the tree in the SCS, he'll certainly need that skill in Super Stock, I'm sure Toyota and Toyo will be pleased.

 

[suckeez azz]

He had a very unrealistic index in comp..9.49 or something like that. I believe his best pass ever has been in the 9.6 or 9.5 range. I hope he does well in SS, he is a great driver and him and his father are nice people.

 

[Dave]

Brian,

It's not that the index was unrealistic. He was running a FWD car in a RWD class.. It would have been an amazing accomplishment if he could have been competitive.

 

[BigTuna]

Scott is a hell of racer and is a good guy to represent sport compacts. The index is very hard for those style cars. Not to mention they are not allowed a tow vehicles for the pits. Who knows why they put semi tube chassis, fiberglass front end, methanol, wheelie barred FWD cars in SS???

 

[haagar]

Brian,

It's not that the index was unrealistic. He was running a FWD car in a RWD class.. It would have been an amazing accomplishment if he could have been competitive.

Not only that but Allyn Armstrong's L/A was a fast car. At most meets he went to he was number one or two. And the last year he ran the car he had the second farthest under the index run in comp. They are lucky the index wasn't lower than it was.