2007 LABOR DAY MOTORSPORTS SPECTACULAR!

Words by Tim Marshall
Photos by Tim Marshall and Paul Schmitz/Reflections of Motorsports
9/10/07

Pro Street was the name of the game at the very hot and humid Labor Day street race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Pacific Street Car Association and the staff at LVMS combine their effort every September for what is usually a very pleasant race weather-wise. This year was not the case with temperatures hitting 106 degrees in the day and around 100 even at night. Still, the Pro Street guys were on their game as they turned in incredible times!

As Eric Lenore, the other driver of Bob Griffith’s Viper Pro Streeter put it, “Pro Street was totally insane, with 14 of the hottest cars on the planet there.” There were three turbos, six blower cars and a couple of nitrous cars to boot. The top six were within a tenth of a second of each other, plus the top six were under 6.67, and all were over 211 mph. This was all done with a best air at 1:30 a.m. and 95 degrees. Plus, remember this is an altitude track.

Here’s how it went in that tough Pro Street field. John Mihovetz (shown) in the Accufab 2002 Turbo Cougar qualified #1 at 6.574, 211.96 mph, followed by Big Ed Thornton in the Extreme/Accufab 1957 turbo Chevy at 6.582, 219.01 mph, while local Las Vegas racer, Gil Nevarez in the Sandlin Lumber/West Coast Racecars 1969 blown Camaro was #3 at 6.589, 216.48 mph. Next up was the potent Kirk Kuhns-prepared Viper of Bob Griffith and Eric Lenore which ran a fine 6.631, 211.99 mph with the big Hemi-powered Viper.

Up and coming Giuseppe Gentile with the Turbo Boys 2002 Mustang cranked out a fine 6.69 at 216.24 mph to qualify fourth. He bettered the elapsed time to 6.61 during eliminations.

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