Round 5 of the NASA-SE AI/AIX/CMC regional championship was held the weekend of June 13-14, 2009 at Road Atlanta.  With the highest turnout yet in 2009 in both the AI and AIX classes, the racing was definitely shaping up to be exciting and exciting it was.  Also added to the event was a new race format which consisted of the normal race format on Saturday (practice, qualifying, sprint race), and a new format for Sunday which consisted of a qualifying race followed by the sprint race, both 30 minutes in length.  The finishing position of the qualifying race would determine the starting grid for the sprint race. In AI, Brian Tone, in a Mustang, ruled the day on Saturday as he captured the top qualifying position and didn’t stop there as he was first to take the checkered flag and making this his first win since joining NASA-SE.  Landon Ball, in a Camaro, would finish a close second with Norman Phelps rounding out the top three in a Mustang.  In Sunday’s qualifying race Tone would defend his win from the previous day finishing first again in the qualifier and putting him on point for the afternoon sprint race.

Ball would finish in the second spot once again and rookie Shawn Taylor would round out the top three edging out Phelps who began experiencing mechanical problems.  In the afternoon sprint race, Tone would continue his dominance and again take the checkered flag first putting the final touches on a complete sweep of wins for the whole weekend.  Ball and Taylor would again round out the top three with Ball finishing second and Taylor in third. 

The AIX group saw the biggest AIX turnout in the history of NASA-SE with 7 entrants taking the green flag for Saturday’s sprint race.  Top qualifier and favorite to win, Lester Leneski, was the first to turn 1 but experienced engine trouble in his Mustang on the back straight away and had to retire.  This opened the door for the rest of the field as Cash Canada was first to take the checkered flag in his Camaro, passing returning Ed McGuire, in a Mustang, with only 3 laps to go.  Rob Bodle, in a Mustang, would round out the top 3.  Sunday morning’s qualifying race would end just as Saturday’s sprint race with Canada taking first place and securing his pole position for the afternoon sprint race, McGuire second, and Bodle third.  Canada would again flex his muscles in the afternoon sprint race and prove he was the one to beat taking the checkered flag first once again.  McGuire would again finish in second place.  Rounding out the top 3 would be returning AIX veteran Jim Pantas.  Debuting his 1979 AIX Mustang (taking 3 years to complete), Pantas would finish the weekend with a strong showing overcoming several “sorting out” issues over the weekend.  He also showed off his singing talents at the Saturday night’s award banquet… 

It would be the Gregg Houseman show in CMC.  Houseman, in a Mustang, was able to pull off a 3-peat and prove too much for Pete Urbanski also in a Mustang.  Although these two would be neck-to-neck the whole weekend, Houseman ended up in first place in all 3 races.  As usual, these two would do battle with some of the closest racing of the weekend and definitely a crowd favorite! 

Respectfully Submitted,

Ed McGuire, AI/AIX/CMC Director, NASA-SE