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2005 SCCA SARRC Invitational Challenge Race Report...

Southeast Division South Atlantic Road Racing Championship – SARRC

SIC - Roebling Road Raceway - October 9, 2005

The SCCA Southeast Division includes drivers from the states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, S. Carolina, N. Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. The divisional championship series is the Southeast Atlantic Road Race Championship; more commonly referred to as the SARRC series. Drivers compete at various tracks within the division for points. Even though there are many SARRC races during the season, only the points from the best six finishes count toward the final championship.

The season finale is the SARRC Invitational Challenge (SIC) held at Roebling Road Raceway near Savannah, GA. Drivers who have finished at least three SARRC races in the current season are eligible to compete in the SIC. Double points awarded for this race are added to the regular season points to determine the champion in each class. Coming into the SIC, we were in 1st Place by 9 points. That gave us a little breathing room. We only needed to finish in 2nd Place to clinch the championship, but we intended to run hard for the win.

Dave had gone through the car thoroughly. The transmission had been out, clutch plates replaced, new brake rotors installed and a broken valve spring in the engine was replaced. (It was a good thing we didn’t run the 2nd race at Daytona, or we would have lost the motor for sure!) We wanted to run the test day held on Friday to bed in the new rotors. The first session on Saturday would be a qualifying session and we wanted to be ready.

It was a dark and rainy night Thursday (of course) for our drive up to Savannah. Keith Corderio rode up with us. We found a great paddock parking spot near the Grid and there was only a light sprinkle while we set up our tarp. It had rained over six inches that day already. The ground was saturated, but our spot was fairly dry. We were looking good for Friday...

...the weather was not! It rained off and on all day. We didn’t want to risk the car in the rain and didn’t want to use up the rain tires in case we would need them for qualifying on Saturday. Just before lunch, the track started to dry out and the skies were a little brighter. Our next session would be right after lunch, so we decided we would go out then.

During lunch, the skies opened back up and it poured. NOAA radio said we could expect 1-2 inches with possible tornados. No tornados, but we did get the rain. There was standing water under the car and deep water on some of the paddock roads. That decided it…no testing for us. So much for bedding in the new rotors.

Thank goodness, it was not raining Saturday morning. The skies were cloudy and it looked as if it could rain at any moment. The rest of the crew: Mark, Casey, Deb and Dennis arrived around 7:30, but we were Group 7, so we did not go on track until after 11:00 am. That gave us plenty of time to hurry up and wait. The rotors must not have been a problem as Dave ran a 1:11.106 on Lap Three. He ran several more laps and brought the car in. The qualifying results had us on the pole. Jeff Emery was 2nd with a 1:16.277, almost 5 seconds slower. Emery was third in points and real competition for the championship.

Each Group had a second qualifying session in the afternoon. After a bit of discussion, we decided that our lap time would be hard to beat and it would be better to save the car for the race. The crew went over the car and we had it ready in case Dave changed his mind.

When our group went on track we took the iPod (real time timing readout) over to Turn 4 and anxiously watched the action. Emery brought his time down to a 1:13.986, but everyone else stayed about the same. Toward the end of the session, Emery went off track and was sitting in the tire wall. We were still on the pole for the race. Would Emery get his car fixed for the race?

Of course he got his car fixed for the race. In Sunday morning warm up, the car looked real good and Emery was still running close to his qualifying time. Once again, we watched instead of using up our tires for warm up. It was a long day. The car was ready and unlike some race weekends the crew had time to watch some of the other racing action. As the cars went on track, the weather was overcast, but dry with the temperatures in the mid-eighties. It was perfect racing weather.

The start of the race at Roebling Road is on the front straight, which is almost a half mile long going into a horseshoe turn at the end. It is always an exciting start. Dave was on the pole, but Emery was stronger on the straight and led into Turn 1. Dave was hot on his tail. We knew the Olds was better than Emery’s Monte Carlo in the twisty sections on the backside, but we also knew that it was hard to make a pass in the turns.

It was agony, not being able to see what was happening on the backside. The crew watched anxiously for the cars to come off Turn Eight onto the front straight. Each lap Emery was in front with Dave glued to his bumper. On lap 7, Dave made the pass on the outside of Turn 3 when Emery was held up by lap traffic.

Then lap traffic slowed Dave coming on the front straight. He had the lead at the flag stand, but the Monte Carlo had the number one position again going into Turn One! For several more laps Dave pursued Emery around the track looking for any opportunity or mistake he could to make the pass. On the radio I reminded Dave not to throw the race away trying to make the pass. He would still have the championship even if he finished 2nd.

On lap 14, it happened! Lap traffic slowed Emery enough for Dave to get past coming out of Turn 2. When the Olds rounded Turn Eight in the lead, the crew cheered! One lap to go! I clocked Emery at 6 seconds behind Dave. The Monte Carlo closed the gap a little on the front straight but Dave was still in front going into Turn One.

We knew that if Dave could keep the Olds on the track he could hold Emery off in the back section. Last lap…we could hear the cars roaring through the turns…Turn Eight…the Olds onto the straight... the Monte Carlo several seconds behind! Could he catch Dave before the Finish? No!!! Dave took the checkered flag, winning by 7.679 seconds! He was the SIC winner and 2005 GT-1 SARRC champion!

A big thank you to our great crew: Dennis Monroe, Mark Bacher, Keith Corderio, Casey & Debbie Miller.