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Road Race Report Newer Road Race ReportsRoad Atlanta National/ProIT -- June 13, 1999
Will led the ProIT championship points going into this race, and with some luck, he still has the lead. The driver that is in second in the points race dropped out of the first place he inherited, with an overheated engine. Carl drove very well to a second place finish, about one second out of first. Some Sunday AM adjustments to suspension and tire pressures paid off, with Carl turning the fastest lap ever in his Honda. Will is doing fine now, but is moving like a 90 year old man when he needs to be moving fast. (Racing Rheumatism) He is finishing his new house and moving in the weekend following the race.
Mosport, Canada - Motorola Cup -- May 22, 1999Andy Felker made the 15 hour or so tow up to do the Motorola Cup race at Mosport. He and co-driver Rob Ebersol drove their Compact Class Miata to a ninth place finish in the field of eleven. Andy reports that more horsepower is required. Next Races: Carl & Brian Stubblefield will be racing at Memphis June 19-20. Vesa Silegren will take his Honda to the Driving School at Sebring July 9-11.
June 15, 1999 The racing schedule has been very light recently. Perhaps the more "moneyed" organizations (pros, vintage, motorcycles) get use of the tracks during the desirable late April-May period. Memphis Motorsports Park School/Regional -- May 15-16, 1999Carl Blevins took down his ITC Honda CRX to this event. He ran during the school on Saturday, using it as a very cheap practice day. He won the Regional race on Sunday, with only one other ITC car, which he beat by most of a full lap. But the CRX did finish ahead of several cars in "faster" classes. Vesa Silegren drove to Memphis to crew for Carl. Rivergate Racing Pod has recruited Vesa Silegren to join the Chattanooga Region road racers. He is buying the very fast Honda Civic that finished second to Will Perry at the American Road Race of Champions. Vesa will be attending the next available driving school. Jamie Blairs CRX has a new race motor, a transmission overhaul and has been corner weighted. It should be faster than ever. Jamie will be down soon to take it back to run some of the northern tracks. Andy Felker hopes to run the Motorola Cup race at Mosport, in Canada, May 22. Carl Blevins says Memphis’ lack of active corner workers is a threat to their race program. This will likely also be the case at the new track being built in Nashville. Anyone interested in trying corner work, as a way of getting very involved in racing "up close and personal"? If so, contact Bill Perry or Dave Hester.
Road Atlanta National/Pro IT -- April 4, 1999
Road Atlanta Motorola Cup -- April 11, 1999Andy Felker took down his Compact Class Miata to co-drive with Rob Ebersol in the Motorola Cup (non-SCCA) race. The Miata benefitted from the development work since Sebring, and ran well for this event, but Andy reports competitors still have a power advantage. Rob started the race, and drove at the end with Andy taking the middle stint. Published results show them finishing 9th of 11 cars in the Compact Class. You can visit Andy and Rob at www.ebersol.com/RR/. The Atlanta Region has published an updated list of lap records for each class at the revised Road Atlanta. Two of the lap records are held by Chattanooga Region/Rivergate Racing Pod drivers. Brian Stubblefield holds the ITD record at 2:00.00. Will Perry holds the ITC record at 1:52.167. Both records were set at the March, 1999 event. Good job fellas!
Memphis Regional/National -- March 20-21, 1999Carl Blevins took the CRX down to run these two regionals with Will crewing. Carl spun
off on the first lap of Saturdays rainy race, going to the back. He was able to work back
thru the field to finish third. On Sunday, Carl led most of the race. But on the last lap,
a competitor passed Carl under a yellow flag. The corner workers failed to catch the
illegal pass (Memphis is chronically short on workers). Carl ended up in second place. Sebring Motorola Cup -- March 19, 1999Andy Felker took the 1999 Miata down to Sebring planning to co-drive with Rob Ebersol in the 3 hour Motorola Cup race. (not an SCCA race but the motorsports organization formerly known as IMSA) They finished the race, but were classified as a DNF! How can this be? Preparation on the car was still being completed after arrival at the track so some
problems could reasonably be expected. And they did happen. The final trial was a clutch
failure. A new clutch was installed, completed just as Andy was ready to line up for the
start! The clutch didn’t work. They installed a second clutch finishing in time for
Andy to start his race 2 hours10 minutes after everyone else started! He was able to
finish only 17 laps, to finish ninth in the compact class. Road Atlanta SARRC, ECR & ProIT -- March 6 & 7, 1999The Rivergate Racing Pod took four cars down for this busy combined event. The sometimes busy, but very effective crew included David Stubblefield, George Lewis, Chip Mautz, Art Thompson, Gail Perry and Jamie Hamilton. Scott Dobler and Billy Miller spectated Sunday and Dave Hester worked corners. The first race of the weekend was the ECR, a 1-1/2 hour endurance race. All four cars were entered in it: Brian Stubblefield and Bill Perry in the ITD Midget, Jamie Blair, Carl Blevins and Will Perry each solo-drove their respective #34, #35 & #36 ITC Honda CRXs. The Midget was un-opposed in ITD but finished a good 15th overall in the combined ITB, ITC, ITD, SSC, SSB field. Will finished first in ITC with Carl second - Rivergate’s first 1-2 finish! Jamie had a very eventful race - but too short. A Miata tried an outside pass on him in turn 12 - in the grass! It didn’t work. The Miata spun across the track, hitting the inside wall - twice, but missing Jamie. On lap seventeen, Jamie drove the CRX into turn ten, traveling 110 MPH as usual. What was not as usual was that this time he had no brakes! The huge gravel trap at turn ten is named "Parking Lot". Jamie left the CRX parked in it, while he visited with the corner workers and waved at the other Rivergate drivers for the remainder of the race. We later found a front brake hose (stainless steel coated teflon) was worn thru by a tire rubbing. It was fixed with borrowed parts. Will and Jamie entered Sundays ProIT race. Will finished second in ITC to a Civic. The owner of the Civic said earlier that he was converting it to a GT4 car. Perhaps the engine conversion has already commenced, as he was able to outrun ITA cars down the straight! The engine sure sounded cammy. Still he beat Will by only .3 seconds. Will set a lap record of 1:52.16 during the race. (Will’s Mama said 1:52.12 and who are you going to believe, Timing & Scoring or your Mama!) I think Jamie’s adrenaline had been spent before this race - with the brake failure and his learning of a great new job late the week before. He finished fifth in ITC. Rivergate will be losing Jamie’s car from our trio of CRXs, due to his new job in Illinois. Anybody interested in building a CRX to replace him? Carl and Brian entered the SARRC race (we wanted to spread the Rivergate cars around). Brian was an un-opposed winner in ITD, with a best lap of 2:00.000! Carl kicked butt! He qualified first in ITC, and drove away from the field, to a first place finish by 50.57 seconds. This is Carl’s first win in the CRX and his first at Road Atlanta. Four first place finishes, two second places - not bad for the four Chattanooga Region cars at this event.
Harvey Templeton Club Racer of the Year Points: Carl Blevins 64 Will Perry 51 Brian Stubblefield 30 Jamie Blair 15 Bill Perry 15
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Vesa
Silegren, Ken Hurt, Jamie Hamilton and Bill & Gail Perry crewed for Will Perry and
Carl Blevins as they ran their ITC Honda CRXs in the 20 lap ProIT race. Will qualified
first in ITC, with Carl fourth in a very competitive field. About 55 cars started the
race. Will led his class into turn one on the first lap - but he never made it through. An
ITA CRX spun, with a 240Z stuck into his right door. Just as it appeared Will would make
it through, they pivoted into his path. Wills CRX tore off its left front corner on the
front of the other CRX. The steering rack was bent and locked. Without steering control
Wills car turned left and whacked Mr. Panoz’s concrete wall with the right front.
Carl and the other ITC cars made it through the mess. There was a full course yellow to
allow the ambulance to bring Will in as he had numb fingers - turns out it was only a lick
on the "funny bone".
Only one of the Chattanooga Region racers participated in this
event - Will Perry in his Rivergate Honda CRX. Will won again but in a way that he never
had before. About 14 laps into the intended 20 laps of the race, Will was second, right
behind the class leading Civic. A 240Z crowded Wills Honda off the track at turn 10,
causing him to spin off. He recovered quickly, but dropped back 10 seconds. Will was
catching the Civic at the rate of 4 seconds per lap - but the race was flagged to a halt
at 17 laps due to wrecks. But Will won in the Tech Shed when the Civic was found missing
lots of required parts. The driver was disqualified and put on probation for several
races.
Some
of the Rivergate Racing Pod just had to have another "fix" of Road Racing to
hold them through the Winter. To be sure the "fix" lasted until spring, we made
it a big one - the Longest Night 24 hour race at Moroso. Will Perry went to co-drive on
the ITA Honda CRXsi of Dwight Kelly. Carl Blevins handled the work duties required from
each crew by working Timing & Scoring for six hours, as well as helping the crew. Bill
Perry was crew chief for Squad A and Art Thompson for Squad B.
Dwight
qualified the car easily in first among the nine cars in ITA. The Honda was so fast Carl
said it was like "bringing a pistol to a knife fight". The race started at 2PM.
We soon found that the car would use only about 7 gallons of its 10 gallon fuel capacity
before cutting out in right corners. This limited us to 1-1/2 hour stints while the
competition ran 2 hours (equals four extra pit stops). After dark the car was black
flagged twice for no tail lights. A paper clip in place of a fuse took care of this. The
car was still fast on the track, the drivers were performing well and the crews did real
well considering they were strangers the day before. But the car was requiring stops too
frequently. Another black flag resulted when the timing transmitter broke loose and was
flying around in the car like Jeff Gordons can of Pepsi!
The CRX was still running near the front when a big storm hit about 4 AM
(thunderstorms, tornado warnings). With rain tires we were picking up positions in the
wet. Unfortunately, about 5:55 AM, one of our drivers was running hard on rain tires on a
drying track. He ran off into the weeds - but this particular patch of weeds was already
occupied by a Miata! Due to a misunderstanding, the driver had the car towed to a parking
lot for loading onto the trailer thinking its race was over. It took 55 minutes after the
wreck to get the car found and returned to the pits. A quick 17 minutes later it returned
to the race - but without a hood or bumper, with a new radiator held in by tie wraps, and
with one of the five lights remaining. Will drove the next 2 hours and 31 minutes, while
we worked to get the car back to race shape with five stops. By near the end of Wills
extended stint, we had the car in condition to go again. He and some of the other drivers
set their fast laps after the wreck.
