- 6/4/11 Final Results
- 6/4/11 PAX Results
- 6/4/11 RAW Results
- 6/5/11 Cancelled due to weather
HOT – WET. That would describe the difference between the two days.
FUN – Disappointing. That would describe the mood difference between the two days.
Saturday started bright and early with Robert Burkholder, Dan Cummings, Greg Luckach and myself as first responders. Robert worked on the ground level grunt setup and Dan helped me set the course. Greg gave us the SS OK at about 7:55 and we were up and running registration at 8:00. We had 56 drivers, you will see Richard Baker listed but I just forgot to delete him from the event as a no show.
Rolled off the first car at about 10:36 and with the length of the course we got five runs in. Lots of first time spectators and the usual Coles County Crowd, Mr. and Mrs. Deffenbaugh were there to cheer for their little boy, Adam. One small incident as Tony Waguespack tapped a taxi light with his Vette. From what I heard no damage to the car, but the light popped off the base. Sorry to hear that.
A couple from South Florida was in Charleston for a wedding and stopped by when they saw the cars. In the conversation with them I found Mike, the husband, was a corvette lover. I said sign the waivers and come in and we will see if you can get a ride. He said “I want to ride in the Grand Sport.” I said I think I can arrange that. Intro to Greg and then the ride. He stuck around for the second heat and rode with Kerry Riley, WOW was all he could say. He rode with me and I cut 2 seconds off my time. Not enough to move up with the likes of Ricky Bobby and Todd Ballou, though. I am not sure how many others he rode with.
After the rides he mentioned how great everyone was. He said we had some really nice cars and even better people. I agree, CCSCC has the best kind of people at these events. Deb and Mike Erpelding asked to be in the same heat, but I managed to not comply. So we just put them together and they worked the Grid in the first heat. Deb said that was the best for them. They got to talk with everyone and get to know them better. I am sure it went both ways. Another great autocross couple added to our family.
Now for the info you are looking for. If you saw the results, you know that Kerry Riley was King for the Day. Top in Pax and Top in Raw. He took the FTD trophy. Adam Deffenbaugh was number two in Pax and took home the FTDI Trophy. FTDIS went to Jason Daily in his 350Z. He was third in his bump class of CS, ES, FS, but came out with the street tire award. Matt Hicks did a nice job of driving but his best time saw a cone. He still managed one good enough to win his class. Emanuel Martin continues to roll in his ES Miata. He did complain that he needs to build up some muscle for those tight slaloms and R Compound tires. Ned Neuhaus only got one run in his car before an air bubble in the clutch line ended his day in the RX7/LS7. He did get a consolation prize of making a run in Kerry’s Porsche. Tim Oyer was bumped from FSP to ESP and took home a hard fought win against the likes of Brian and Sandy Grable, Jim Landes and Cathy Burkholder. When you can outpace those four you are doing something. ESP seems to be about the most competitive class this year. Always at least four cars and always at least four really good drivers. Linda Hicks took the Ladies class.
I am sorry to report that we called the Sunday event due to extended rain threat. We waited until 10:30 and it looked like the rain would stick around for a few more hours. It was not quite that bad, but I think we did the right thing. Dan Cummings had a really novel course set up with what amounts to seven Chicago boxes pretty much in a row and then a national style feature at the end. Greg test ran it in his Dodge Pickup to see if it was too tight. Well he made it fine. Then he ran it in my Miata with street tires just before as the sprinkles came in. He claimed FTDI, and Dan claimed FTDIS in his Honda Odessy;) We still have the course on scale map so don’t be surprised to see it at a later event.
Thanks to everyone who was there and worked in the heat and lost out to the rain.
Tom Ingles, Event Chair