Q&A: Brian Carter
couldn’t have been a better day. I think
about half the people showed up, so I think
I got 13 runs and we left by 1:30-2. There
would have been no way you could have
done that on a normal day. That was defi-
nitely a great first experience as far as
driving. You got to run back-to-back and it
was definitely worthwhile. It was nice being
out there in the car that had the stock block
and I think 106,000 miles on it at the time,
and I was able to get 164 mph out of it.
Nothing broke, nothing let me down, so I
was more than pleased with it.
OPEN
CONTAINER
KARI BAHUS FEELS AT HOME IN HIS
UNIQUE STREET/STRIP TRUCK
Story & Photos by Kevin Cox
On a cool September evening last fall during Street Car Takeover, St. Louis, Kari Bahus
pulled up to the burnout box at Gateway Motorsports Park to heat up the rear tires on his
unique “Open Container” K5 Blazer. He then staged at the starting line and mashed the
gas upon the light turning green, lifting the truck’s front tires completely off the ground,
with the rest quickly becoming personal history.
“I crossed the finish line first with my fastest pass to date of 10.80 seconds. I was running
the 11.0 index class, though, so I ended up losing with that pass, but you know what? I
couldn’t have been more happy to break out the way I did because it was a personal-best
run and the first time I had ever been in the 10s,” Bahus proudly recalls. “I came back to
the pits with the biggest grin on my face. At that moment I knew the track was my home.”
Born and raised in West Plains, Missouri, Bahus has been a speed and horsepower junkie
for as long as he can remember. “I grew up racing dirt bikes and four-wheelers and always
loved that rush of going fast. In high school when I was finally old enough to drive, I got
my first truck, a ‘67 Chevy long bed, but I never actually got it to run,” he admits. “Soon
after high school was over I joined the Army and I eventually picked up a short-bed Chevy
that I thought was decently fast at the time. I knew I wanted something faster, but every-
one has to start somewhere.”
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STREETRACE