Infineon Race Report

[Tony G]

Infineon Raceway proved to be one great weekend for the 5th of 7 in the West Coast CMC series races.

Temps were in the mid 70’s,just perfect weather.

It was also the very first time that the CMC group got to use the NASCAR garages which was more than a treat to all of us.It was great to see Richard Pryor there this weekend, bringing Dave Schotz to drive his 3rd gen Camaro, as well as new CMC driver Bill Graham (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8433). There were 20 cars between CMC and CMC-2 at this event, which is a great turnout and once again set NASA’s group to be in for car count.

 

Saturday warm-up started with some excitement as the Team Whitelaw car caught on fire. (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8486)

Alex Whitelaw, the driver, was not hurt, but the car had its damage. They quickly loaded up the car, and started the trip home in hopes of working on the car for a soon return the next day. Also, Jeff Bernard blew up a brand new rear end and was working on it until the last minutes before the race, and he got it working just in time to grid.

 

Qualifying went well with Dave Schotz running in a Richard Pryor special (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8412) taking the pole running a 1:55.8, while Tony Guaglione set a blazing time of 1:53.9 to take the pole in the newer class of CMC-2.

 

The 1st race was a standing start with CMC and CMC-2 intermixed in order of qualifying time. Dave Schotz got an incredible start blowing by the two CMC-2 cars in front of him to take the CMC lead. Mike Plum (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8593) got a good start and was in hot pursuit. Dave held on to the lead for almost one lap until the faster CMC2 cars started their attack, and then a flat tire caused him to drop out of the race, giving Mike Plum open track to work with. He thought victory was in hand until Jeff Bernard (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8517) led an unrelenting pursuit to catch him, and caught Mike on the very last lap, and got a better exit off of turn 11 in order to take the win by 0.029 thousands of a second. This was Jeff’s first ever CMC victory. Sadly, his victory did not hold as it was discovered in impound that his dyno was from 2004, giving the victory to Mike Plum. Mike was followed by Nick Steel (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8543) in second place, followed by Dave Morin (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8594) in a strong third, Kevin Margetta in 4th and Carson Scheller in 5th.

 

In CMC-2, Tony Guaglione (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8511) held the lead with Jim Griffith (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8509) right behind him for almost the entire race, until late in the race with a few laps left, an AI car spun going into turn 11, and Tony was stuck behind it for a split second, Jim Griffith ducked into the inside on a great pass to take the lead and the eventual the victory, Pat Stone took the 3rd place position. As it turned out, this was Jim's first win at Infineon after racing there for 30 years and Tony told him “what a great pass Jim, you came out of no whereâ€. Good job Jim Griffith Sr.

Saturday night the CMC gang hung around the garages, and enjoyed the NASA BBQ too.

Sunday’s race, the 2nd of 3 started off with the normal Inverted Race/Qualify session. Dave and Alex Whitelaw worked on their partially burnt car all night in order to make it back for Sunday's races and they did a brilliant job and actually made it back in time. The race was supposed to have Dave Schotz on the pole, but Richard Pryor decided to fun run the car after it was found out that the car had several non-compliant suspension parts. He finally decided not to run either of the races on Sunday, but stayed in order to help out and take plenty of pictures. (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630?page=1)

The race was started with CMC and CMC-2 cars intermixed again, and it was a flying start. Jim Griffith and Tony Guaglione quickly took off in a battle from the back for a shot at first place in CMC-2. Larry Vanderford (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8515) and Dennis "Smitty" Smith (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8563 were up front for as long as they could hold on to those positions. Ed Hamilton (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8524) took the opportunity took take the lead. He held the lead for most of the race, until Nick Steel grabbed the CMC lead and the eventual victory. Ed Hamilton finished second, followed by Mike Plum.

Nick Steel set the CMC fast time with a 1:55.1, and Tony Guaglione once again set the time with a 1:54.5 for CMC2

CMC2 winner was once again Jim Griffith with some great early passes.

The 3rd race and final race on Sunday was another standing start intermixed with CMC and CMC-2 by race time from the previous race. Mike Plum jumped out to take the early lead, followed by Nick Steel and Addison Lee (http://gallery.noid.org/gallery/SearsPt20070630/IMG_8520). He would hold that lead until Addison Lee got overly aggressive in turn 3 and ending up hitting Mike Plum in the drivers door, causing both of them to spin out, Addison would leave the race due to tire rub, and Mike Plum finished seventh. With nobody in front of him, Nick Steel finished the race by taking the victory, followed by Dave Morin, Ed Hamilton, and Kevin Margetta.

Tony Guaglione in CMC2 had a huge 9 second lead on the other CMC2 cars until a full coarse yellow came out and Dave Whitelaw took advantage of that and once the green flag dropped again he quickly drove past Jim Griffith Sr and went after Tony and the two of them had a drag race from turn 11 to the finish line this time Tony ended up winning the race by 0.146 seconds.

Another big thanks goes out to Kyle Plum for doing his normal magic in grid as well as taking the safety broadcast duties for the weekend. We are having a two-month break until Nationals, and then another month until Thunderhill.

Great seeing you all there and thanks to Mike Donahoe and Gary Brantley for showing up even though there cars were not there.

 

See you soon,

Editors:

Tony Guaglione

Kyle Plum

Mike Plum