2/9 - 2/10 CMC Race report and points!

[NickS]

The 2002 Camaro Mustang Challenge season opener was held Feb 9 & 10th

at California Speedway in Fontana on the 1.6 mile infield road course. A

total of 10 CMC cars came out for the event, which shows the dedication of

the CMC drivers as most of the drivers had to drive over 500 miles one way

to arrive at the event!

 

Some quick highlights:

 

- 10 CMC cars in attendance

- 2 35 minute races

- Fastest lap was from 1:17:128 from Don Campbell in qualifying Saturday

morning

- Fastest race lap was from Don Campbell in Race #1 on Saturday, 1:17:641,

followed closely by J.Trask with a 1:17.786 and Steel with a 1:17:875!

- Top 4 drivers in Saturday's race turned fast lap times within 0.20 seconds

of each other. In Sundays' race that gap was narrowed to 0.050 a second.

 

On Saturday morning competitors were greeted with 30 - 40 mph winds with

gusts reaching 60mph! Jason Swindle wins the hard luck award for the

weekend. A gust of wind caught the open rear hatch on his Camaro and blew it

up and over shattering the hatch glass on the roof of the car and cracking

the windshield in the progress. Swindle was able to get a replacement

windshield on Saturday and made Saturday's race without a rear hatch, and

a quick trip to the local wrecking yard on Sunday morning yielded a new

rear hatch and he was able to make qualifying and the race as well!

 

After qualifying, the top 4 spots were held by a Campbell in a Camaro,

Stowell in a Mustang, Steel in a Camaro and Middione in a Mustang, which is

a testament to the parity that CMC has achieved with the two different types

of cars. A malfunctioning transponder resulting in no laptimes forced J.

Trask to start from the rear of the pack

 

Campbell led from the start, with Steel and Stowell glued to his back

bumper. The pack of three ran nose to tail most of the race, with all three

front runners feeling pressure from each other. On the last turn of the last

lap, Stowell attempted a pass at Campbell for the lead which resulted in

Stowell going wide into the dirt which let J.Trask, who had an amazing drive

starting in last, slip by both Stowell and Steel for second place! In the

end, it was Campbell, J. Trask, Steel and Stowell finishing within a few car

lengths of each other. Afterwards, Stowell was quoted as saying "I gave it

everything that car had, there wasn't anything else left to give!"

 

Sunday morning yielded a bit of a letup in the winds, and by the afternoon

race, had almost completely died down, much to the relief of the

competitors. Qualifying again saw Campbell at the front followed by

Steel, Littleton and J. Trask rounding out the top 4. Again, it was

Campbell out front running with Steel, Trask and Littleton giving chase.

After the dust settled it was Campbell, Littleton and Steel rounding out

the top 3 for race #2.

 

===============

 

2002 Season Points as of 2/10/02:

Campbell (Camaro) 200

Steel (Camaro) 190

Littleton (Camaro) 189

Stowell (Mustang) 184

Pfaff (Camaro) 184

D.Trask (Camaro 182

Swindle (Camaro) 178

J. Trask (Mustang) 97

Middione (Mustang) 89

 

Announcements:

 

--- As some of you are aware of, there was an incident between Jeff Trask

and Don Campbell on Sunday. Without going into great detail here, after

several interviews of other drivers and careful review of video tape, it was

found by the NASA steward and Tony Guaglione that Jeff Trask was at fault.

Jeff has received a DQ on Sundays race, a one race suspension, and a two

race probation. Jeff himself said that he should be out for the season, and

at this point it would be his personal decision to do that, on the other

hand we hope to see Jeff back with us as soon as he would like. One thing

this does show, and that is that we will have zero tolerance for any out of

control driving or behavior on or off the track...we really mean it!

 

-- There are just 2 short weeks till our next event at Buttonwillow on

March 2 & 3, its looking like we'll have a big turnout!

 

-- Be sure to bring your license, log book with current annual and current

dyno sheet with you to the Buttonwillow event. We will be reviewing licenses

and log books. If you do not have a current annual inspection for your car

please get this done by the 7's Only Racing is located at Buttonwillow and

can do annuals and they have a Dyno Jet dyno as well. Please contact them

to make an appointment. The 2002 CMC rules and dyno inspection sheet are

available at the CMC website, http://www.camaromustangchallenge.com, under

the Series Info and Rules section.

 

-- Driver's meetings are MANDATORY. Effective the 2002 season, NASA is

taking roll at the driver's meetings. If you are not present, you will not

be allowed to race that day!

 

-- The new CMC sticker packs are ready! We have the new windshield banner,

last names for just about everyone in CMC and the new CMC logo stickers as

well. The cost of the stickers is $30. See Nick Steel or Tony Guaglione at

Buttonwillow and picks yours up.

 

 

-- Nick Steel ([email protected]) - Tony Guagilone ([email protected])

CMC Directors

http://www.camaromustangchallenge.com

 

 

 

 

 

[ This Message was edited by: nick steel on 2002-02-20 12:50 ]