Stotz Street Xtreme:Feels Highs
and Lows
June 16, 2004
 It
was a roller-coaster weekend for Kent Stotz and the Stotz Street
Xtreme Honda Blackbird at the AMA/Prostar PR Factory Store St
Louis Nationals at Gateway International Raceway. Stotz went into
the event on a definite high, coming off a new elapsed time record
of 7.42 seconds set at Virginia and ready to take one Rickey Gadson
in the rained out Virginia final. Perhaps even more exciting was
Stotz being featured in a full-page Honda advertisement in USA
Today.
In St Louis Stotz once again eclipsed his own all-time mark with
an otherworldly 7.32 second elapsed but in the end he was not
able to claim his first victory since his championship season
of 2002.
“I could hardly wait to get to St. Louis,” said Stotz.
“After dominating in Virginia with the new record of 7.42
already backed up, all we wanted to do was run consistent and
win the final. We were really looking forward to it and we had
all the girls there, my wife Sharon, my sister Karen, and my crew
chief Mark Harrel’s girlfriend Carol.”
Saturday’s first qualifying session produced a solid a 7.49
and he followed it up with the 7.32 in the second session –
the first run ever under 7.40 seconds. “The 7.42 was just
what we were looking for,” said Stotz. “Mark thought
the track was getting better so I put the 7.42 tune up in the
engine we call “Bessie II” for the second session.
I left a little harder and the gears came real quick. My shift
light was on at about the 1200-foot mark so I knew it was a good
pass. I was very surprised when [Prostar official] Jim Kizer told
me I ran a 7.32 at 195 mph. Rickey ran right behind me and after
his pass he shook his head and said he couldn’t believe
he has to race me for the Virginia final after that 7.32 pass.”
With atmospheric conditions remaining constant the team left the
tune-up alone for the Virginia final but Stotz spun the tire and
lost to Gadson, 7.61 to 7.54. “I felt great going to the
line for the final but when I left the tire spun,” lamented
Stotz. “I pumped it once and it hooked back up and then
it spun again at the top of first, third and fourth. I was gaining
on Rickey but drag racing is not suited well to playing catch
up. To add insult to injury because of the wild spinning tire
it stayed on the rev limiter longer than I have ever done and
it hurt the motor. The girls got to experience the highs and lows
of drag racing as we went from 7.32 to changing a motor all in
less than 3 hours.”
Stotz faced even more challenges as he prepared for Sunday’s
St Louis Eliminations. “Sunday morning I took the bike for
a ride down Interstate 55 to break in the new motor,” he
explained. “About a half hour into the ride the radiator
started to leak because the fan was contacting it. A local farmer
offered to get my bike and me back to the track in the back of
his old pickup truck. This was more than enough drama but then
we only had 15 minutes to fix the leak and be in the staging lanes
for the first round of eliminations. Mark made it happen. He is
the best crew chief I could hope for.”
Playing it safe for the first round of eliminations, Stotz ran
a conservative 7.90 to advance to round two. The team struggled
trying to find right combination for the new engine but still
advanced to the semifinal for a re-match against Gadson. “As
fate would have it Rickey ran the quickest pass of his life a
7.49 to my 7.65,” Stotz said of the semi.
The final was not the all-Honda final hoped for between the number
one qualifier Stotz and the number two qualifier Barry Henson
but the end result was still a Honda in the winner’s circle
with Henson taking the win over Gadson. “Barry’s miraculous
comeback from a very serious accident, to win on his first race
back, was the best consolation prize I could ask for after the
high expectations we came to St. Louis with,” said Stotz,
who continued by looking forward. “Everyone is asking when
we will go 200 MPH. Falicon says their Knife Rods will hold it,
JE Pistons says their pistons will hold it, Star Racing’s
head will flow it, and I know the Honda could do it, but Mark
and I really just want to win races and the championship. The
V-twin shootout class is also high on our list and we are working
hard to have our 270 H.P. VTX 1800 Turbo streetbike ready to rock
in Norwalk, Ohio.”
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