2011 National Championships Official Race Recap

[tacovini]

 

I am so proud of all our Group B Racers! Such an awesome weekend which was topped off with THE best race of the event. Each and every one of our American Iron racers truly stepped up so that we could have 45 minutes of green flag racing. (That was one of our goals.) It made for some spectacular racing coverage online!!!

 

There are lots of stories and pictures from the weekend and I am almost done with the recap. Stay tuned here for the official writeup in the coming days !

 

Congrats to our 2011 National Championship podium drivers:

 

AIX Champion - Chris Griswold

AIX 2nd Place - Paul Faessler

AIX 3rd Place - Jake Parrott

 

AI Champion - Dean Martin

AI 2nd Place - Chris Cobetto

AI 3rd Place - Richard Golinello

 

Stay tuned for more!

[tacovini]

PS...the cars in the photo were your AIX and AI pole position cars.

 

Congrats to Griswold and Cobetto!

[sperkins]

Congrats to all the racers who made the event. That 71 car would shake the ground as it passed.

[tacovini]

For Immediate Release:

Sept. 15, 2011

 

TO: GROUP B COMPETITORS (AI & AIX)

CC: All American Iron Racers, Family, Followers and Friends

 

RE: Official 2011 National Championships Race Summary

 

 

Congrats to all of our Group B competitors for one of our most successful 2011 NASA National Championship Weekends!! It was a pleasure being your Race Director. I know that Adam Ginsberg (your Series Director) and I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend of racing and sincerely hope that you did too.

 

I like to think we achieved our goals…to have a SAFE, FAIR & FUN Weekend. The event went off with minimal group contact, minimal group damage, NO full course yellows (NONE) and minimal issues. Thanks to your help, we achieved an outstanding internet broadcast (along with the help of some fiber-optic fed video cameras). Maybe I’m a bit biased, but I truly believe our Group B Championship race was the best of the weekend!

 

Here’s a recap of how we got there…

 

WEDNESDAY

While most all racers arrived from near and far, a number of Group B racers practiced. The track day was full to capacity with 200 pre-registered cars from various race groups. For this day only, there appeared to be a grey market of racers looking to purchase session wrist bands from other racers who wouldn’t be using them for whatever reason. At the end of the day, NASA held it’s Welcome Ceremony under the big top tent trackside. A number of amazing prizes and gifts were given out including a complete Traqmate data acquisition dash for all 10 or so competitors who had been identified as completed every year’s Championship to date. Other prizes included a complete set of Toyo tires, Hoosier tires and Pirelli’s. At the conclusion of the ceremonies, Todd Covini held a breakout session for Group B introductions, expectations, weekend format and the rules of play for the weekend. Due to the rain forecast for the week, the decision was made to NOT do standing starts as previously discussed.

 

THURSDAY

The planned photo shoot for 7:00AM including all CMC, FFR, AI and STR drivers was cancelled due to wet, dreary weather. All Group A & B cars went out for combined practice at 8AM. Mid-morning, the competition started heating up with a wet qualifying session. Pre-gridding for the qualifying session was on a first come-first serve basis and Audrey Zavodsky’s Mustang was in P1, which helped to provide her with a clean, wet track and a pole position for AI while Chris Griswold took the pole position with AIX. Dean Martin’s qual time was thrown out after passing under yellow on the front straight of the misty track.

 

After qualifying each day, Race Director Todd Covini held a Driver Meeting at approximately 1130. The decision was made to start STR1 behind AIX for the first flying start and to start STR2 behind AI for the 2nd flying start.

 

Thursday’s qualifying race schedule was running behind due to some wet track incidents in earlier sessions. Many racers used the additional delay time to decide whether to grid for the race on wet or dry tires, with looming clouds overhead. As our scheduled race time approached, NASA was able to make up the lost track time and get back on schedule for our Group B Qualifying race. This caused many racers to be late to grid. Some lost their grid positions and started from the back of the pack for the warm up lap and others arrived to grid after the race had started. When the checkered flag flew, the top 3 finishers were:

 

AIX P1 Chris Griswold

AIX P2 Todd Rogers

AIX P3 Ed McGuire

 

AI P1 Chris Cobetto

AI P2 Brian Faessler

AI P3 TJ Bain

 

Ryan Winchester’s car #56 was later assessed a paddock penalty for speeding on his way to join the race. Jim Pantas’ AIX Mustang pulled off early with an apparent oil leak. Audrey Zavodsky was disqualified for failure to complete a body contact form involving a slight nose to tail incident turning Elliot Fisher around and ending his session early. Cars were impounded at the completion of each session and the following items were checked:

 

o Weight

o Appearance (decals, windshield banners, dyno decal, #’s, class, etc)

o Safety items

o Ride Height

o Wings & Aero

o Dyno (Cobetto #4 AI Mustang & Hermann #03 STR2) passed

 

Following the day’s racing activities, many people headed over to the Ohio State Reformatory where the movie Shawshank Redemption was filmed, for dinner & drinks.

 

FRIDAY

Morning Practice was again with Group A (CMC & FFR) first thing at 8AM and the weather was foggy and wet. At approximately 10AM, it was time to qualify. Audrey Zavodsky again got to grid early to try and grab another pole position, however, once out on track put the Poe Motorsports Mustang into the tire wall. At the completion of the session the fastest qual times were:

 

AIX P1 Chris Griswold (1:29.2)

AIX P2 Paul Faessler (1:30.1)

AIX P3 Jake Parrott (1:35.1)

*Note- Audrey Zavodsky’s qual time was dismissed due to a 1 lap error.

 

AI P1 Ryan Winchester (1:34.12)

AI P2 Richard Golinello (1:34.13)

AI P3 Chris DeSalvo (1:34.26)

 

Brett Mars and Ryan Winchester had side to side contact going into Turn 7 which resulted in no change of position and no damage. Technical inspections were conducted following the qualifying session and weight, wheelbase and track width was checked. Todd Rogers qual time was disqualified for exceeding the wheelbase rule on one side. All others passed tech and Ryan Winchester and Chris DeSalvo’s Mustangs passed dyno recertifications.

 

For Friday’s Driver Meeting, the “elephant in the room” was to discuss coming to grid per the schedule and that even if the track schedule is running behind, NASA Tower Control will always work toward getting back on time. RD Covini commented that flying starts have been good. Reinforced that ANY contact on track required drivers to fill out body contact forms. Lastly, the pit out blend line was discussed and only 2 wheels up and over the blend line berm would be allowed…not 4 over. Jake Parrott’s qualifying position was disqualified for missing the driver’s meeting and he would start the Qual Race #2 from the back of the AIX field.

 

On Friday afternoon all drivers came to grid early and were ready to race. After the pace car pitted, a few drivers peeked out of line, but got back in line before the green flag dropped. Chris Cobetto & Chris DeSalvo had minor contact in T1 after the start after they went 3 wide with Brian Faessler. It was deemed as an unavoidable racing incident. Brian Faessler developed a handling issue and went off track 2 times collecting grass in his radiator which had to be cleaned on pit lane in 2 separate occasions. While T&S recorded 3 of the 7 laps completed by Brian, in-car video proved that Faessler had completed 4 laps before retiring to the paddock. This proved to be the difference between a 5th place and a 13th place starting position for the Championship race! (Note - drivers who complete less than half the laps of the class leader only receive half of the last place points.)

 

Finishing order for the Friday’s qualifying race #2 was:

 

AIX P1 Chris Griswold (1:28.6)

AIX P2 Jake Parrott (1:35.2)

AIX P3 Audrey Zavodsky (1:37.2)

 

AI P1 Ryan Winchester (1:34.5)

AI P2 Richard Golinello (1:34.5)

AI P3 Dean Martin (1:34.4)

 

 

Following the race, weight, dynos, ballast and steering wheel locks were checked in tech. Dean Martin’s results were disqualified for being over horsepower on the dyno. Golinello’s Mustang passed the dyno certification.

 

Following the Friday races, an impromptu regional series director meeting took place to discuss a handful of current topics. Present were Todd Covini, Al Fernandez, Chris McCombs, Ed McGuire, Pat Weyhmeyer, Chris Griswold and Adam Ginsberg. Agreement by all was to commit to having the 2012 Rules Package available by Halloween, and finalized no later than Thanksgiving.

 

Promptly at 6PM, the party got started for all. NASA hosted a reception with beer & margaritas as well as non-alcoholic beverages. Troy Lindstrom’s sponsor, Jagermeister, provided products for one and all. Rehagen Racing provided the tent location in the event the weather again turned wet. An estimated 100-200 people were in attendance and the celebration of speed went on past midnight.

 

SUNDAY – The Big Day.

Having Saturday off with no racing (and a late afternoon fun-run) provided all the racers some time to rest and relax, but also some time to work on their setups. The Sunday morning practice looked very “racey”. Come 11:30 AM, the final Mandatory Driver Meeting occurred at Elliot Fisher’s Garage 20. Todd Covini commended the group for excellent driving to date and to keep it up. There was some concern that the “gloves would come off” for Sunday’s race. As such, Todd handed out copies of CCR 27.11 for Issuing Penalties. Now with an explanation of the penalties for each scenario, the group was armed to make educated decisions on track. Furthermore, Todd brought out his toy racecars and went over the Evolution of a Pass for the group. Once the meeting was over, group photos were taken in front of the AI & AIX pole position cars AND in front of the Fisher Racing hauler. These photos will be available soon!

 

Starting grid for the Championship Race was calculated upon the average of the Thursday and Friday qualifying races. They were gridded as follows:

 

1 AIX- Chris Griswold

2 AIX- Jake Parrott

3 AIX- Elliot Fisher

4 AIX- Ed Mcguire

5 AIX- Jim Pantas

6 AIX- Todd Rogers

7 AIX- Audrey Zavodsky

8 AIX- Jeffrey Hederson

9 AIX- Paul Faessler

 

1 AI- Chris Cobetto

2 AI- Ryan Winchester

3 AI- TJ Bain

4 AI- Richard Golinello

5 AI- Brian Faessler

6 AI- Robin Burnett

7 AI- Brett Mars

8 AI- Chris Desalvo

9 AI- Stephen Post

10 AI- Landon Ball

11 AI- Will Stukas

12 AI- Robert Korzen

13 AI- Bruce Byerly

14 AI- Dean Martin

15 AI- Pat Weyhemeyer

 

On the pre-grid, Stephen Post stalled his carbureted AI car and could not get it refired to take the green flag. While rolling to the green flag, Cobetto and Winchester in Row 1 of the AI field rubbed side by side as each tried to jockey for position. Winchester took to an early lead and stretched his legs before he lost a clutch cable and was relegated to 4th gear. 2nd place Cobetto caught up to the wounded yellow car and made contact to the rear of Winchester before motoring by on the straight. There were tight battles throughout the field of cars. The race can be seen on www.SpeedcastTv.com and the final results can be found on www.nasachampionships.com .

 

Immediately following the Championship race, all cars were impounded. All drivers reported to winner’s circle for celebrations, podium pics and group photos…regardless of finishing order. Your podium finishers conducted multiple driver interviews and were then directed to bring their cars to tech.

 

All cars were checked for weight, wheelbase, track width, wheel & tires, transmissions, brake rotors, and inspection of cowl, frame, tub and suspension. Additional searches for switches, dials and wiring which could have alternate use were also conducted. While the top 5 AI cars were held, only the top 3 AI cars were sent to the dyno. All were in compliance.

 

Congrats to our 2011 National Champions!

 

AIX Chris Griswold

AI Dean Martin

 

Happy Motoring!

 

Todd Covini

2011 NASA Championships

Group B Race Director

[email protected]

 

Adam Ginsberg

2011 NASA Championships

Group B Series Director

[email protected]

[Red Tornado]

You know I just don't know if that was detailed enough. Clearly we had bathroom breaks in there somewhere..

 

Great recap!!

 

For everyone sitting at home you should have come. Following Nationals tradition next year should be bone dry.

[drivinhardz06]

Dean Martin’s results were disqualified for being over horsepower on the dyno.

 

no penalty for avoidable contact during the morning warm up (on Fri?)

 

great action, it was a great group to watch

[Cmy70go]

Hey Todd,

Can't I at least get credit for my pole on Thursday in the rain? I beat Grizwald by 3 seconds...with no ABS! But then the sun came out