Clear sunny skies but cold temperatures and high winds greeted the drivers, crews, and families as they descended on the tight paddock of MSR-C. Attempts to line up trailers to block the wind didn’t succeed, but some wind was still a marked improvement over the rain of the previous year for this event.
MSR-C WEEKEND RACE SUMMARY: + 3 CMC/CMC2/AI races toward Texas Championship points as the last race had to be cancelled due to extensive track cleanup in a different group’s session resulted in too much time lost + 5 AI cars with the return of Marshall Mosty+ Eddie Rock joins the group for his first AI race+ 11 CMC2 cars including Dan Allford driving CMC2 for the first time+ 4 CMC cars + CMC2 driver Jeremiah Kellam sweeps all three races AND has a son! SATURDAY WARM UP – Saturday’s warmup session was shared with the Group G cars which includes ST and GTS cars. Thankfully there were no on track altercations, but word in the paddock was all about how slick the track was.
SATURDAY QUALIFYING – MSR-C’s lap times are slightly below 1 ˝ minutes which enabled the drivers to squeeze an extra lap out of the short ten minute qualifying format. A couple of drivers were so excited about being out on track that they missed the checker…but the extra lap only yielded ribbing from their fellow drivers and not faster times. SATURDAY RACING – Saturday’s first race was a typical Texas standing start with three classes bunching up to three wide into the very slow Rattlesnake complex. Patterson took the lead early in the AI battle while Marshall Mosty put up a strong fight until a tie rod failed, a little foreshadowing of things to come. In CMC2, Proctor slid into the marbles wide in 1 and continued rally-cross style with Boudreaux close behind. The rest of the pack settled into a rhythm with very close battles throughout the field. Al Fernandez and Jerry Jordan had a disagreement over real estate resulting in plastic shrapnel being strewn all over Little Bend. Michael Mosty and Jeremiah Kellam continued their battle from the previous weekend, with Jeremiah getting the upper hand at the end. The light field in CMC doesn’t accurate describe the battles within, with Jeff Wirtz logging another win. The second race was an inverted grid based on R1’s results, giving Randy English his first opportunity to lead the pack into turn one. The pack was tight and intermixed as fast cars used out of class cars to try and create a buffer between them and the wild dogs coming up behind. Unfortunately three wide into turn one is difficult and a quick sideways step and correction by Boudreaux resulted in a domino effect that left Proctor with a bent tie rod. Wade Zimmer’s weekend ended early due to a transmission failure. Somehow Patterson, Kellam, and Wirtz all managed to work their way through the pack to each win their second race of the weekend.
After the racing was done, everyone gathered in the paddock for a barbeque feast. The Calders had the smoker running all day and provide some choice meats, while others like English, Leinart, Proctor, and Landrum provided the rest of the various sides and desserts. Of course there was plenty of draft beer on hand as well. The bench racing went on well into the night!
SUNDAY Qualifying – Sunday dawned sunny and cool. Without a warmup session, the group went on track for a short qualifying run. The fastest times were posted by Patterson in AI, Kellam in CMC2, and Wirtz in CMC. You just can’t say enough about the consistency these three showed for the weekend.
SUNDAY RACING – Sunday’s first race, standing start based on qualifying, is a good opportunity to make up for the previous day’s mistakes and everyone was ready to give it everything they had. Traffic and dodging for position was fast and furious for the first few laps until the group stretched a bit. Up and down the field, the battles for every inch lasted throughout the 30 minute session. In the end, the familiar trio of Patterson, Kellam, and Wirtz stood on the top step of the podium in AI, CMC2, and CMC respectively making it a clean sweep for all three drivers. Normally the Texas region runs a fourth race on Sunday. Unfortunately during a prior session an extreme amount of required oil cleanup forced NASA to shut down the fun before we had a chance to run the last round. It was an unfortunate occurrence but kudos to NASA for making the call and ensuring the racing is as safe as it can be. THE TECH SHED – All cars had the new NASA annual inspection stickers placed on them this weekend, following the new procedures. The news of not having to fill out a tech form prior to each weekend was welcomed by the drivers. Post race inspections over course of the weekend included:AI - post race weight, track width, wheelbase, rear framesCMC and CMC2 - post race weight, rear wings, strut tower bracing No issues were found during any post race inspections
CONCLUSION - The second round of Texas style pony car racing is in the books and the competition is getting closer each session. Its only a short break until the third round at Texas World Speedway on April 24th/25th, so make plans to be at College Station to join in on the madness then! For more information, the following websites should be able to answer any of your licensing/rules/racing questions:
www.nasaproracing.com
www.nasatx.com
www.americanironracing.com
www.camaromustangchallenge.comwww.aicmctexas.com