Three words describe the season opener for the Midwest Region at Road America; cold, wet, and foggy. The Friday practice day was windy but sunny and dry. The weather changed early Saturday when the rains came in. Not a dry lap was taken by either race group the entire weekend.

Saturday qualifying was very wet with a bit of sleet on lap three. Rusty Ferguson grabbed the AI pole in the wet with a 3:07.916 for the four mile track. He was followed by Robin Burnett, David Algozine, TJ Bain, DeanSmeltzer and Steve Post. Chris Griswold snagged the AIX pole with a 3:04.535 followed by Fred Fetzer and John Miksula.

The cold rain kept the thunder race group from using all the available horsepower at the start of race one. Chris Griswold pulled out in front of Fetzer at the start as the AIX trio lead into turn one. The AI start proved to be much more exciting. Rusty Ferguson got a great jump and tried an outside pass in the grass at the start. That turned out to be a bit optimistic as the half grass and half pavement sent him spinning in the grass on the outside of the approach to turn one. The AI field was shaken up from the spinning, flying grass and mud. Dave Algozine benefited the most by getting by Robin Burnett as he slowed a bit for Rusty’s spinning. Davetook the AI lead and held it for a lap until Robin Burnett came inside of him going inside of him into turn 5. Rusty had worked his way back up to 3rd and decided that if Robin could go inside of Dave at turn five, so could he. Rusty made it 3 wide, in the wet, going into turn 5 to take the lead. Rusty and Robin would then slowly pull away from Dave in the remaining laps. TJ Bain racing in the rain for the first time took it easy in the beginning, and was closing in on Dave at the end. Dave held him off for third with TJ less than a second behind at the line. Rusty slowly pulled away from Robin to take the checkered flag. Post, Smeltzer, andAdams finish the AI running order for race one. Congratulations to Rusty on the NASCAR style “Spin & Win”. Griswold paced the field to take the overall and AIX win, followed by John Miksula and Fred Fetzer.

Race two on Saturday was much less exciting race two started off in a similar manner as far as positions, but Rusty decided that a great start with some late braking instead of a spin. That proved to be a better strategy as he assumed the lead over Robin once again. The AIX battle again had Griswold take the early lead and slowly pull away from John Miksula and Fred Fetzer. The AI results were also similar with Ferguson taking the win, followed by Burnett, Algozine, Bain, Smeltzer, Post and Adams.

Sunday had the weather throw us another curve in the form of fog. Qualifying was fairly wet with a fairly dense fog going into turn one. That made for stressful driving as it was very hard to see cars in front of you. Rusty Ferguson again claimed the AI pole over Robin Burnett, TJ Bain, Dave Algozine, Jay Andrew andMark Adams. The AIX pole had Chris Griswold on top, followed by John Miksula, and Steve Post.

Sunday’s race looked like it might be dry as the rain let up at lunch time. By 1:45 PM we actually had a dry track. Unfortunately, we did not race until 4:30. A makeshift lynch mob converged at Griswold’s motorhome at 2:00 when it started to rain. Apparently the mob is not used to the possibility of the weather changing every 5 minutes in Wisconsin. The third race of the weekend started similar to the first two, with Griswold and Ferguson leading the way in AIX & AI respectively. The third race would prove to show some attrition. Algozine lost oil pressure going into turn five after a few laps. Steve Post had an electrical issue also come up going into turn 5 and retire early. Griswold lost power steering also going into turn 5 with 2 laps to go but finished in the lead with Miksula closing fast. If you are superstitious, turn five seemed to have everyone’s number this day. AIX finished with Griswold limping followed by Miksula and Post. AI once again was lead by Furguson, Burnett, Bain, Andrew, Smeltzer, Adams and Algozine with his mechanical issue.

Despite the absolutely crappy weather, it was still good to be at the first class facility Road America. Most impressive was that there was not one single metal to metal between any cars the entire weekend. That is saying a lot with no dry laps for any race groups. Great job everyone! The Next event is not long away at a cross over event with the Great Lakes region at Putnam Park Indiana May 16 & 17. See you there.

--Chris Griswold