Thanks to Meziere Enterprises & The Roger Kato Racing Family for sponsoring Race #5 & #6
The Meziere Enterprises Pro Gas Double Header and Barbeque at The Auto Club Dragway in Fontana was fantastic!
Event trophies for both races were furnished by Perma-Coil Racing.

2008 Race 5 Results   Auto Club Dragway Fontana, Calif. July 5-6, 2008
By Bob Johnson

Dave Coapstick hadn't raced in the Southern California Pro Gas series this season as he has been building a new race car. The 2001 series champion made the most of his return to drag racing as he was .001 seconds away from a perfect weekend at Auto Club Dragway. Coapstick drove the ‘68 Camaro-bodied car into the winner’s circle during the Saturday afternoon race by defeating Travis Balough in the final, and then went to the final of Sunday'srace only to lose with a .001 red light– despite a perfect 9.900 time slip–with the win going to Roger Kato,his third series event win. The Meziere Enterprises Pro Gas Double Header and Barbeque had 48 cars go into the first round, with Pete Jimenez knocking down the Cordeiro Family Motorsports number one qualifier honor with a 9.901 time. Vince Campa, Mike Blodgett, Don Gatlin, and Rick Gunther all qualified with 9.90 times.

Coapstick got to the Saturday afternoon final with a round one win over the Sunday afternoon champion Kato, and point’s contender Pete Bothe in round two. In round three he beat Craig Whelen, before stopping Ron Marcum in the quarterfinals and getting a bye in the semi. Travis Balough, driving his newly acquired ‘63 Corvette, went to the final with round wins over Randy Balough, Paul Chaffee, Tom Bayer, Wayne Newman, and Rich Okerman before facing off with Coapstick. Coapstick was nearly perfect on his way to defeating Balough in the final, clocking a 9.901, 152.00 mph for the win with a .018 reaction time. Balough’s best showing of the season came with a 9.941 in the final.

2001 SoCal Pro Gas Champion Dave Coapstick has been a busy man since taking on the rebuilding of the crashed Corvette roadster of Jim Sowards. Jim had the misfortune of wrecking his car at last year’s SportsNationals at Fontana. Coapstick took on the rebuilding project and the car was debuted at the Meziere Barbeque race with a new front-half, back–half, and ‘68 Camaro roadster body. The results of his 8–month long effort were obvious, with a win and runner- up over the double header weekend race. As for his weekend effort, Coapstick stated "I haven’t raced in nearly 9 months, and I think I forgot some of my bad habits. I drive truck for a living and I spent most of my weekends building this car, I’m more than please with my initial outing, and I thank everyone who worked with me on this car."

Dave Coapstick thanks Jim Sowards, Glen Dicks Race Cars, Tietz Racing, Carroll Shelby Goodyear Tires, Hughes Performance, Extreme Powder Coating, Glen Smith, Crew Chief Pro 7.0, Jed Bourquin, Joe Roubicek, Randy Balough, Gary Mignacca, Craig Whelan, Wayne Newman, and his wife Sharon and son Dakota and daughter Kelly for there support. He also thanked Meziere Enterprises for sponsoring the weekend race.