More Racers, More Sponsors, More Records Set
DSPORT Issue #267
Text by Michael Ferrara // Photos by MaryBeth Kiczenski and Jared Baschko
After A historic turnout for the 30th AnniversAry of the shootout in 2023, many wondered if the event growth was simply due to the milestone aspect of it being the 30th anniversary. Would the success of the 30th be just a flash in the pan? Could the evolution of the Mitsubishi vs. the World feature, a surge in event promotion and the addition of some new classes allow the 31st running of THE SHOOOTOUT to match or better the 30th? The answer turned out to be a resounding “Yes”, as more sponsors and more racers than ever before were once again treated to some record-breaking action that you could only find at THE SHOOTOUT.
FRIDAY: LET IT RAIN!!!
The eternal enemies of all outdoor events are weather and weather forecasts. Beautiful weather made setup for sponsors on Thursday a breeze. Thursday’s weather also welcomed all the pre-registered racers that decided to take advantage of early tech inspection. What a difference a day makes, as the rain rolled in on Friday morning and stayed the entire day. Of course, the Friday morning car show was the hardest hit as the number of show cars was essentially cut in half due to the weather. The number of fans attending Friday was also down about 20 percent. When the Friday portion of the event was called just a er noon, the expected exodus simply didn’t happen. The racers and fans there used this opportunity to visit each other and the sponsors on vendor row. In producing close to 200 drag events over the past 25 years in the IDRC, we had never seen anything like it before. Of course, we would have rather been watching cars trying to set new records, but we had more fun than anyone would have guessed catching up with the racers, fans and sponsors that make THE SHOOTOUT the biggest import event in the Midwest.
Those attending SHOOTOUT 2024 came from all around the country. In pre-sales made over TheFOAT.com, tickets were sold to people across 37 states, Canada and even Puerto Rico. In fact, the average distance from the event was 400 miles for the tickets being purchased (which was double the average distance on TheFOAT.com). Perhaps this is part of the reason why many of those on vendor row said the quality of THE SHOOTOUT crowd is second to none. These enthusiasts love performance and they are willing to drive the distance to see it and be a part of it.
SATURDAY: DRYING and CLEANING
While Friday’s rains had left us, the cloud cover and colder temperatures decided to hang around. As a result, it took about four hours of continuous jet drying of the track to remove all the moisture and begin to put some heat in the racing surface. While we had hoped to get in at least three rounds of qualifying on Saturday, we ended up only getting two rounds completed running into about 1am at night. The ultra-prepped, sticky surface racers had hoped for to set records also took no prisoners. The weak were destroyed or le wounded and oil downs and cleanups plagued efforts to get a steady flow of racecars down the track.
In the reserved area of the pits, a new larger Autocross layout served as the site where an increased number of Autocross and Max E ort cars converged on the chalk-outlined course. Later, the Max E ort cars made the trek to the dragstrip to get the drag strip challenge completed so that final scores could be tabulated.
SATURDAY: PITS ARE FULL
With a record number of racers and a 30-percent increase in event attendees on Saturday, THE SHOOTOUT was in uncharted territory as the pits became FULL! This forced a few racers to temporarily pit on the spectator side of the track for a few hours.
The main attraction on Saturday morning for the spectators was the Autocross. The Autocross featured a new company to set up the course with timing equipment and manage the course. This group helped to improve the experience for those competing in the action. This year also marked the first year of a ride-along session a er the conclusion of the Autocross competition runs. This ride-along program allowed some fans to see what it was like to attack the cones. Based on the smiles out there, we expect many more to join in the Autocross classes next year.
SUNDAY…THE FUN DAY
After some initial attrition early in the day, the strong would survive and eliminations would feature the many heads-up and index class eliminations. As usual, the Mitsubishi vs. World classes were the highlight.
Last year’s champion in the Quick 32 Chris Dutkewycz was back in his Hombre pickup to take the number one qualifying position for Team World. He was joined by four AWD Hondas. This left 11 unoccupied spots for Team World, which would be filled by those missing the Top 16 spots on the Team Mitsubishi qualifying ladder. As a result, the Quick 32 class would have 26 Mitsubishis and 5 non-Mitsubishis in the first round. Since the ladder was set up to create a first-round challenge between Team Mitsubishi and Team World, it would be curious to see how many Team World racers would survive the first round. Of the five non-Mitsubishis, only two of the five were able to advance: the AWD Civic of Frank Martinez and the Isuzu Hombre of Chris Dutkewycz.
Rich Ong’s DSM (previous DSPORT cover car) took out last year’s champ in the round of 16. The other Team World competitor Frank Martinez would also su er a quarterfinal loss. This time Chance Aubry would be the eliminator.
With only Team Mitsubishi racecars advancing to the quarterfinals, it was clear that Team Mitsubishi would secure the win, but no one knew which of the eight would be crowned champ. Michael Wohler and Kyle Heule were the newcomers to the quarterfinals while Brad Gary, Chance Aubrey, Rich Ong, Jared Early and Devin Schultz (number one qualifier on Team Mitsubishi) were in familiar territory. While Devin qualified with a 7.37, Brad Gary was close behind with a 7.60. On top of that, each and every car was ready, willing and able to set a new personal best on the awesome track surface. Rich Ong would face the EVO X of Raif Fejzo in one semifinal where Raif advanced. In the other semifinal, Brad Gary would see Devin Schultz. Devin would advance to meet Raif in the final. When the win light flashed, Devin Schultz would take the win and the big $20K payout.
A new addition for SHOOTOUT 2024 was the SFWD16 class, which featured a field of 16 of the quickest and fastest SFWD front-wheel drivers racers from around the country. While some were concerned that the SHOOTOUT crowd might be too AWD- and Mitsubishi-leaning to enjoy a class entirely made up of FWD Hondas, the reality was that THE SHOOTOUT crowd thoroughly enjoyed the level of competition and professionalism exhibited by the SFWD teams. If fact, there is a good chance this class will be back and those SFWD drives brave enough to make the call will be eligible for Street32 and Quick32 competition also. This event also featured continued growth in the number of ECOBOOST and 2JZ-powered entries.
SHOOTOUT 2025
Despite Friday being fully rained out, the racer count increased by 25% compared to last year and spectator attendance was up by 5% over the three days. One can only imagine the event growth had Friday’s weather not been an issue. The IDRC is committed to make the 32nd annual THE SHOOTOUT even bigger and better. Most of the sponsors have already committed to returning and new sponsors are getting on board. The annual rules meetings will be held amongst each class of racer and rule revisions will improve the parity and level of competition for the crowd to enjoy while also improving vehicle reliability, decreasing oil downs and improving driver safety. Finally, new promotion streams will be activated to get an even larger crowd in attendance for what many believe is the best import event in the world. For everyone wanting to join us at THE SHOOTOUT, be sure to keep 9/4-9/7/2025 open on your calendars.
