Road Race Report Newer Road Race ReportsRoad Atlanta National/Pro IT -- June 14, 1998
Will was passed in early race traffic by an ITC car with more power. He followed this car (closely!) for twelve laps, knowing his competitor would eventually make a mistake. He did. He missed a shift at corner 3A and over-revved damaging his engine. Will took first in class with almost a lap lead. He finished 18th overall.
Jamie’s big adventure happened in qualifying when a Datsun 240Z spun as it passed
Jamie into turn one. With the Z car sliding sideways in front of him, Jamie slid along
about three feet away from him. Jamie’s crew had toilet paper and fresh underwear
ready when he returned to the paddock.
Total Points Best Six Andy Felker 123 117 Will Perry 109 109 Carl Blevins 96 96 Brian Stubblefield 99 89 Bill Perry 65 65 Brian Flanagan 50 50 Jamie Blair 38 38 Paul Hayes 14 14 June 18, 1998 Roebling Road Double ECR -- June 6-7, 1998
Andy Felker took the SSC Miata down to do these 1-1/2 hour enduros, again co-driving with Rob Ebersol. They finished first, of two in class both on Saturday and on Sunday, 10th and 13th overall in the small IT and SS race. Andy also co-drove with Rob in his ITA Miata, in the larger IT race, but it lost the engine and DNFd on Saturday. Brian "Belts Too Tight" Stubblefield raced the MG Midget in ITD both days, with Bill Perry co-driving. They finished first in class, uncontested, each day and 22nd and 18th overall. Will Perry ran the Honda CRX in ITC, with Carl Blevins co-driving. They finished second in ITC and seventh overall on Saturday in an incident-free race. On Sunday they managed to finish second in class and eighth overall, but with a bit more drama. The track had been patched with an asphalt sealer. Late in the sunny Sunday afternoon race, this sealer turned semi-liquid (and SLIPPERY). Carl spun off at turn five and was joined in the slide thru the grass by an ITB VW. After a near miss or two while sliding, they finally came together, smashing the left side of the CRX. Carl was able to continue at speed, despite the car needing a new door and fender to be whole again. Crew for this weekend at Savannah included David and Susan Stubblefield, Gail Perry and Jamie Blair.
Memphis Motorsports Park School & Regional -- May 30-31, 1998A couple of the Rivergate Racing Pod cars took part in this event. Jamie Blair took the ITC Honda CRX down to attend the driving school. He performed so well that the chief instructor waived his second school. Therefore he was able to compete in his first regional race on Sunday. He finished third in a field of seven, after an extended battle with a 510 Datsun for the position. Carl Blevins finished second in a field of six in the ITA Toyota MR2. Only the locally based RX7 that seems to be king of ITA at Memphis beat Carl. Rarely does anyone else outrun the MR2 at Memphis. Amanda Dobler and Brian Flanagan made the long trip to Memphis to crew for Jamie & Carl.
Road Atlanta SARRC/Pro IT/ECR -- May 16-17, 1998The Chattanooga Region sent four cars and six drivers down for this busy weekend. What can an uncle born in the 1930s and a nephew born in the 1980s possibly have in common, other than family? Co-driving a race car, of course! Brian Stubblefield brought the ITD Midget. He and Bill Perry raced it in the Enduro to an uncontested first in class and 17th overall. Brian ran his first SARRC in the Midget, qualifying second to the fast Midget from Knoxville, but he drove well to finish first in class. Brian Flanagan drove the ITS BMW Funky Monkey in the SARRC and Pro IT races. The car ran well in the SARRC race, finishing seventh of 16 in class and 14 of 36 overall. The Monkeys brakes misbehaved badly in the Pro IT race, forcing Brian to limp around to finish. I continually tell the young drivers that as all brakes can do is slow you down, therefore they should be faster when their brakes fail. So far no one is buying this logic. Andy Felker shared driving with Rob Ebersol in the ECR in Andys SSC Miata. They finished first of two in class and fourth overall. Andy also co-drove Robs ITA Miata in the other Enduro. Their good drive was negated by a spoiler that was found to be one quarter inch too low in impound, so scored a disqualification. Will Perry shared driving of his ITC Honda CRX with Carl Blevins in the Enduro. They finished second of five in ITC and fifth overall. Will ran the Pro IT, taking the CRXs first win in a field of five. This was a better result that expected due to the competitiveness of the ITC field and the early stage of development of the CRX. Four first places and a second for the Regions four cars - we can accept that!
Region members crewing these efforts included: Jamie Blair, all five Doblers, Darlene Felker, Jamie Hamilton, Kenneth Hurt, Gail Perry, David & Susan Stubblefield and Art Thompson. The enduro pit stops went just as planned, smooth and on schedule. Harvey B. Templeton Award - Road Racer of the Year Points: Total Points Best SixAndy Felker 123 104 Carl Blevins 97 97 Brian Stubblefield 99 89 Will Perry 88 88 Bill Perry 65 65 Brian Flanagan 45 45 Jamie Blair 24 24 Paul Hayes 14 14 Andy Felker (with Rob) and Brian Stubblefield (with Bill) both lead their class in the Endurance Championship Racing series by a nice margin. Will Perry (with Carl) is currently second in ITC. Will Perry also is tied for the points lead in ITC in the Pro IT series. June 11, 1998
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The Chattanooga Region was represented in this Pro IT race by Brian Flanagan
in his ITS BMW, Jamie Blair in the ITC Honda CRX and Will Perry in the (other) ITC Honda
CRX. All the IT classes run together in Pro IT. Brian qualified 9th in class, 12th
overall, Jamie 4th in class, 34th overall and Will 1st in class and 25th overall. All went
smoothly for them - until turn one. Brian got in a four wide - him on the outside. The
track isn’t that wide so he was off the black and into the red and green. He quickly
found out that the field outside turn one is ROUGH. He was able to return to the race but
developed a miss - because the battery had ripped out of its mount. With a couple of pit
stops he finished 10th in class, 27th overall.
Jamie drove well in his first look at Road Atlanta. He held fourth, catching
up to the third place car, trailing him closely most of the race. With attrition, he
finished third in class, 23rd overall.
Andy Felkers Miata and two Rivergate Racing Pod cars went to Savannah for
these enduros.
Andy
Felker took the Showroom Stock C Mazda Miata down to race the endurance race on the 3.65
mile Daytona track. Andy qualified first in a class of four cars, all Miatas. About 55
minutes into the 1-1/2 hour race he pitted and Rob Ebersol took the wheel. They lapped the
SSC field, for an easy first place.
I
don’t think I would be going too far out on a limb to finger Andy as favorite to win
the Endurance Championship Racing Series in SSC, as well as the Chattanooga Region Harvey
B. Templeton Road Racer of the Year Award.
Brian Stubblefield took the TS Micro/Rivergate/Mini Mania ITD MG Midget to the
double Driving School and Regional, for a very busy weekend. He was also bumped up to ITC.
He successfully completed both his schools, winning his class in both the 5 lap and the 17
lap school races. On Sunday he ran his first Regional race. He finished a fine 16th
overall and first of four in ITC. Most of his race was spent dicing with an ITS RX7. He
also raced a Mustang V8. He would pass the Mustang in the infield only to be re-passed (of
course) on the oval. Clearly, this 17 year old racer took advantage of his years of Go
Kart racing experience.
Brian
Flanagan brought the Elite Motorcars/Rivergate BMW 325is for its first Regional race. On
Saturday he finished fifth of six very competitive ITS cars and only 1 second per lap off
the winners time. On Sunday he finished sixth. The BMW ran fine all weekend but Brian says
it needs more horsepower. (Who ever heard of a race driver thinking his car needed more
power!) His only contact of the weekend was while lapping a Pinto with a driver who seemed
to be having trouble mastering racing which required turning both right and left.
Andy Felker took the SSC Miata all the way down to Moroso for an
Enduro. He and
Rob Ebersol couldn’t share their IT and SSC Miatas as all classes ran together. So,
once again, he solo drove the two hour enduro. He qualified first in class, in an
all-Miata field of three, but fifty eighth overall! Too many cars on the track at once?
Probably, and with the expected results - lots of spins, contacts and wrecks. Andy had at
least 10 cars spin in front of him close enough to require avoiding action. These included
an incident in which 5 ITS cars tangled just after lapping Andy. He described it as a blue
cloud of smoke with auto parts flying out of it. Thru it all the Miata only got one
smashed door. The fresh engine did great. Andy took first place in SSC, giving him the
early lead in ECR points.
Brian
Stubblefield, a Speed Freakz member, will be attending a couple of driving schools this
spring in the former Rivergate Racing MG Midget. He will then be running sprints and
enduros. He hopes to maintain the 87% race winning average of the Midget after getting a
bit of experience. Brian has raced Go Karts for the past few years so he should transition
to the Midget quickly. (see 