It's been a busy September with 6 races in 3 weekends, but very successful with 5 poles, 5 wins, and one 3rd. I'd like to thank my wife Michelle, without her this wouldn't have been possible, as well as FormulaCar Magazine, SCCA Enterprises, and Hoosier for their support of the class and the series. Next stop: Road Atlanta for the ARRC.
Five days after a good trip to Mid Ohio, Keith and I headed up to Watkins Glen where I planned to wrap up the FormulaCar Magazine FSCCA Championship for the Northeast Division, and Keith was planning to wrap up 3rd place. Eric Cruz came up from SEDIV and Denny Marklein came out from CENDIV, so the competition looked to be good. There were two divisional championships on the line- Central and Northeast, and two divisional 3rd places on the line- Southeast and Northeast. The other drivers contesting the championships didn't show, so Denny pretty much just needed to finish the races, and I needed to score at least 14 points. Eric Erps and Keith McDonald had to duke it out on track to decide who got 3rd in NEDIV.
We had 12 different classes in our race group, and some of the drivers probably should buy sailboats. Qualifying Saturday for the long course was affected significantly by slow traffic. My best lap of 2:03.0 was over 5 seconds off my pace last time at the Glen, but good enough for the FSCCA pole by 1.4 over Eric Cruz. Eric Erps was 3rd with a 2:10.8, Keith was 4th with a 2:15.2, and Denny's plane was delayed and diverted so he didn't put in a qualifying time and had to start at the back of the winged grid. The grid was split between winged and non-winged, so at least there were 19 FF/CFF cars Denny wouldn't need to pass.
The start Saturday was really really slow, but side by side Cruz and I timed it well and split several cars in front of us. I moved from 7th overall to 3rd by turn 2. With traffic better organized by speed I managed to run away from Cruz, finishing 1st in FSCCA by 41 seconds, and lapping Eric Erps and Denny in the process. I turned the fastest race lap at 1:58.696, with Cruz second fastest at 2:03.771.
Sunday we ran the short course that the NASCAR guys run. Average speeds were up significantly, although the reduction in track distance made for more traffic. I managed to handle the traffic better, turning an FSCCA pole time of 1:18.669, fifth overall. Cruz was second again with a 1:20.944, but 5 spots back overall. Keith was 3rd in FSCCA with a 1:23.6, Denny was 4th with a 1:24.9, and Erps was last with a 1:25.4.
The start was a little less jumbled, but still slow and I managed to get a good start and pick up a couple spots overall. By the time I finished my first lap the rest of the pack was well behind, and no FSCCA cars ever got close enough to be a threat. On the shorter track I lapped everyone except Cruz, won by 39 seconds, and turned the fastest FSCCA lap with a 1:18.713.
The points races played out with me winning NEDIV, Denny winning CENDIV, Cruz getting 3rd in SEDIV, and Erps/McDonald tied for 3rd in NEDIV. See the story in eFormulaCarNews.
Just 4 days after a successful trip to Summit point, Keith McDonald and I loaded both cars into my trailer and headed out to the Mid Ohio FSCCA race. The weather was much better than Summit Point- a couple drops of rain fell, but nothing significant. Saturday the Hoosier tire guys had problems getting to the track so I qualified on the same tires I ran at last year's Runoffs, which with the FSCCA rules meant I'd have to race on them also. I managed to slide around to a decent time- good for 3rd on the FSCCA grid. We had a split start without a second pace car, and that was really dangerous. Apparently the grid workers had told some of the competitors they could go when the main group got the green, so 3 turns before the front straight I was getting passed. I think by the time I could see the green flag I was already back to 6th. Corey Dalenberg who qualified on the pole said he was passed before the green flag also. No black flags were thrown for the guys who took off early, so it really made it tough for the rest of us. We hit the slow guys from the main multi-class grid starting on the first lap and really had a lot of slow cars to deal with early on. That plus the old tires made it tough to setup passes on the other FSCCA cars, but I gradually worked my way back up to third. By that time Corey Dalenberg and Denny Marklein had a huge lead over the rest of the pack. I pushed the car hard for several laps, caught Denny on the last lap and managed to get beside him in the esses as we lapped Keith. It wasn't quite enough as he was able to hold me off for second place. I finished 3rd, turning the fastest race lap of 1:30.320 in the process.
Sunday the Hoosier guys had a better day and I got a new set of tires for qualifying. Also thank goodness the split start was done away with so we could start based purely on time. In qualifying the traffic was a little heavy, but I managed to time a few breaks in traffic to turn a few good laps, including a 1:27.662, good for the pole by half a second over Corey and 3rd overall. The next FSCCA car was Denny in 8th overall. The second place FA car had engine troubles and didn't start the race, so I started on the front row with Corey inside on row 2. With a great view of the flag I got a little jump on the FA pole sitter, but it was short lived as he simply powered by just before turn 1. Corey got a little better run through turn 1 and pulled up along side me and we ran side by side down to the keyhole. We ran in deep under braking with Corey running just a little too deep with some lockup and sliding in the turn, allowing me to get clear of him and run away at the exit. I pushed the car really hard the first several laps and built up a big lead. Late in the race a Formula Atlantic passed me for 2nd overall, then a few laps later a CSR got by on the back straight and put me back in 4th overall. I caught a large group of lapped traffic in the esses and got held up really bad for about half a lap allowing Corey to get back within sight. The next lap I caught another lapped car who slowed my run out of the keyhole allowing Corey to get even closer, but next time by Start/Finish it was one lap to go. I eased up a little just to be safe and brought home the win by 2.74 seconds over Corey. Denny finished 3rd, and Tom Mihelich finished 4th.
Given the high quality of the competition and the really old tires, the weekend went pretty well. See the story in eFormulaCarNews.
The first time back in the formula car in almost a year was for a wet qualifying session at Summit Point for the Labor Day Double. And to add to the challenge, the track was extra greasy since we were group 1. I gradually picked up speed and dodged the wrecks to what I thought was a fairly slow time, but it turned out to be enough for the FSCCA pole by 6 seconds! The afternoon qualifier was a little drier, but Larry Oliver had a pretty significant oil leak and the carousel was slick. I improved my time by about a second, but the other FSCCA cars improved a little more. I still had the pole, but by just 4 seconds.
The race Sunday went smoothly for me, even though it was the first time driving on a dry track since the Runoffs. The jumbled field from the wet qualifier sorted itself out pretty quickly, and I settled into some good racing with Bob Woodward in his FC. Fairly quickly we caught and lapped Eric Erps, then late in the race we caught and lapped Keith McDonald. FSCCA results for Sunday had me first, Bruce second, Keith third, Eric fourth. Keith spun early on in turn 5 while trying to hold off Bruce.
The race Monday went even better for me- the CSR that had slowed me up the first 2-3 laps on Sunday didn't show up. Without being held up I stayed with the overall leaders longer, and Bob wasn't able to catch me in his FC. A real Atlantic did manage to catch me and get by in the last few laps, but hey, he should be faster. Keith did much better and managed to hold off Bruce, and I only ended up lapping Eric. Results for Monday had me first, Keith second, Bruce third, Eric fourth.
Two poles, two wins- That's a pretty good weekend for the first time back in the car in a year. See the story in eFormulaCarNews.
With my win in the 5th event of the season, I've wrapped up the Washington DC Region SCCA Street Modified Championship with two events to go. Good thing since I'll be road racing one of those weekends! Who would have thought a Mustang could win SM in a region where we had 50 different competitors throughout the season? Having an excellent driver helps. All season in the Mustang I only got beat once, and then by just 32 thousandths of a second. Most of my wins were by more than 1 second.
WDCR SCCA points race season so far: 3 events, 3 wins. Total season: 6 events, 6 wins, 1 FTD. Not bad considering I bought the tires in April 2005.
Took the Mustang up to Aberdeen Maryland for a little fun with the Philly Region SCCA. Ran second heat, which probably cost me some time- 3rd and 4th heat were much warmer. Course was fast but with some bumps in key places. Had the longest sweeper ever- entered at about 63 MPH (rev limit in 2nd), but the radius decreased at the end to probably 35 MPH. My second run was quick enough to win SM, and my 4th run was enough to win SM by 1.4 seconds and take FTD! Now that's the way to start the season! See results.
Formula Car Magazine and SCCA Enterprises announced a divisional series with a $5,000 payout for the winner in each division. I plan to run the NEDIV series, the race at VIR, and the Summit Point and VIR nationals.
On the practice day Monday I wasn't happy with how the car was working, so out came the scales and I changed nearly every alignment parameter available. Yes, it's a big no-no, but with 3 days of qualifying I figured worst case I'd just switch it back. We were combined with FM for qualifying which made for a huge group with major speed differences- the fastest Atlantic turned a 1:16.6, and the slowest Formula Mazda turned a 1:32.7. After many complaints about the rolling chicanes, we were split into two 10 minute groups for Tuesday's qualifier. I ran new tires for Q1 figuring the 10 minutes would be enough to turn a fast time but still leave plenty of tire for the race. With all the changes the car was slightly loose, but that's ok, I turned the fastest FSCCA time by 1/2 second at 1:27.672.
The second day of qualifying we were scheduled for 8:25 AM. I figured the track wouldn't be as good, so I threw on the used up tires from the August race. Unfortunately the stewards decided to combine us with FM again due to complaints about the lack of track time- on Tuesday the FM guys were sent out while we were on the cool down lap (dangerous!) and only got about 6 minutes of green flag qualifying. While waiting to get started, the grid godesses told us it would be an extra 15 minutes to clean up a big wreck at turn 11. The sun was out and it was warming up quick. Eventually we got to head out, gridded by qualifying times. Several of the Formula Mazdas behind me passed me on the warm up lap- evidently they all thought they'd be held up by a faster car. Once I got the tires up to temperature I caught up with them and after viewing several stupid antics too close I decided to take a trip through the pits to get away from them. Unfortunately that dumped me into a group of even slower Mazdas, but immediately a black flag all came out. When most of the folks stopped in their pits to consult their engineers I moved up a few spots in line to get some clean laps. When we restarted after a couple laps I could see the old tires wouldn't let me go faster, and I saw more stupidity so I pulled in and went to impound where Ken Brown checked the car over. Ken was also looking for Kyle Watkins and Oliver Zitzmann who was paddocked near us. Kyle came by to visit- he hadn't been on track due to working on his A-Sedan car really late. Michelle looked for Oliver but didn't find him. Eventually word came that he was in a wreck in turn 11, another pile up much like the FC guys did earlier.
Oliver took a trip to the hospital, got checked out and released. He was bruised and his back was really sore, but his car took most of the damage and his Hans device likely helped him avoid more serious injury. When he came over the hill in turn 11 a Mazda was sideways right on the exit line. No way to avoid it or slow down much- he probably hit at around 80 MPH. Both cars were destroyed. Both drivers were ok and driving the next day.
Qualifying results showed nearly everyone went faster except me, with Oliver turning a 1:27.9, narrowing the gap to 0.3 seconds. I contemplated my tire choice for the next day and after hearing FA would be split from FM again, I decided on new fronts with the old rears. We were going out later so I though the track would be at its best for the week. It might have been, but the car was too loose. I managed to just squeek into the 27s, still fastest by 1/2 second on Thursday with Kyle finally showing up to turn the 2nd fastest time of the day. I threw the tires from Tuesday on the car and a new one on the right front to keep the car balanced for the race.
Race day on Friday we were scheduled to start at 5:10 PM. I can't stand days where I wait around the whole time- way too antsy. So Michelle and I slept in and got a big breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and got to the track around 11. We watched a few races, I set the corner weights for the last time, and got ready to race. The race had a lot of excitement in the first few laps. I got a *REALLY* bad start- haven't been on row 10 for a long time and when I looked for the starter stand, the flag was already waving and I was off the gas. Kyle Watkins got a fantastic start and got well ahead of me and Oliver but about half way down the front straight a Pro Formula Mazda came over on him and spun him out, removing both his wings and damaging his suspension. I backed off heavily to miss the mess and tucked behind Oliver to work together and get away from the rest of the pack. After a few laps we were clear and I got a run out of the keyhole and tried to pass into 7 but he stuck next to me and we went side by side through 7, 8, 9, 10a, 10b, and 11 before getting back in line. Next lap tried the same thing and got the same result through 7, 8, 9. Don Schanche (FV guy) said we had the whole grandstands on their feet when we were going side by side so much. He said when we came around side by side again it looked like we had done the whole lap like that. Two laps later I got clear of Oliver through 7 and put some distance through the next few turns, then ran away. By the end I could see him coming out of 1 as I was about half way down the back straight. Fighting what must have been intense pain Oliver fell into the clutches of Keegan Van Sicklen but managed to hold him off for the rest of the race. I won the unofficial FSCCA National Championship! No trophies, but Erik Skirmants from SCCA Enterprises presented us with gift certificates before we even left pit lane! Mine was for $2,500- a great end to a great week!
My record for the season in FA is one 2nd, three 3rds, one 6th, one 10th, one 14th. If FSCCA had its own class, it would be 6 wins, one second.