| Atlanta Motor Speedway |
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| Atlanta Motor Speedway |
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Well a normal Labor Day race weekend consists of three days of racing at Road Atlanta along with the hot Labor Day sun! This was not a normal race weekend for the Chattanooga Region SCCA racers! To start with the race was moved to Atlanta Motor Speedway. Yes you heard correctly we were racing at the big boys track and we were racing to get away from a hurricane on our heels! With Hurricane Francis looming off the Florida coast I guess everyone started sweating! The weekend actually started early with a few of the CRSCCA folks trying out the Atlanta Region sponsored test day on Friday. Will Perry in the Honda CRX, Michael Cartwright in a BMW and Michael Hartberger in a Spec Miata. All had a time trying to find the track as it was not the same as when SCCA last ran it in 1993. At the end of the day we had found the track but the track had also found our tires. By the end of the test day Will Perry had already corded one full set of tires. After a fun day of testing we all settled in to watch what the Weather Channel had to say about Francis and her looming eye on the Florida coast. |
2004 Races November |
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The next race for most of the Chattanooga Region road racers will be at the SARRC Invitational Challenge at Roebling Road in Savannah, Georgia. Ken Walker is going into this race in the points lead in G Production. Will Perry is also 1st in points in ITC, with Vesa Silegren 5th in ITC points. -- Jamie Hamilton |
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September 7, 2004
As
we started the first day of racing (Saturday) we found that most of those
large rigs and other late arriving rigs we not where we were expecting
them. We guessed that Francis must have scared them away. We also found to
our amazement two other CRSCCA members had not shown up. (David Hester,
and Vesa Silegren). With the threat from Hurricane Francis and a small
turnout, the rumor that had circulated during test day came true, our
racing for Monday had been rescheduled for today and that we would be
racing Sunday’s schedule as planned. (So much for the long day of practice
and qualifying.) I guess they were just trying to “get R dun” before
Francis arrived. 
As
the CRSCCA folks made their way through qualifying they swept the
competition under the rug. On Sat., Ken Walker qualified his G Production
CRX second but DNF’ed the race after only completing 5 of the 15 laps.
Overheating from a suspected blown head gasket is the reason for him
pulling out of the race. Also on Saturday Michael Hartberger qualified his
spec Miata ninth and finished ninth in the 14 car field, although he did
have left side body damage from a run in with an ITB Celica on Lap 3. In
the same race, Will Perry started 1st of five qualifiers in ITC and
finished 1st with about a 10 second lead. Michael Cartwright qualified his
ITS BMW 6th in class and finished 5th; also moving up several positions
overall in the process, but had a clutch that was slipping by the end of
the 15 lap race. 
Michael
Hartberger and Will Perry were the only ones our of the Chattanooga region
members who stayed to race on Sunday. Michael ended up qualifying 7th in
the 12 car spec miata field and Will Perry qualified 1st in the 5 car ITC
field. Michael had a couple of spins through out the race, one being right
in front of Will, which resulted in contact with wall on the right side of
the car. He pulled out of the race and into the pits as a result of the
body damage. Although it was a hard hit according to Perry, who heard it
inside his car, Michael was unhurt. Will ended up finishing 1st in 15 Lap
ITC SARRC race. Bill Perry also completed the requirements this weekend to
receive his Divisional Steward’s license. Congrads! BILLLLLLLL!!!
