July 2008 SARRC Qualifier

With 40+ cars on the track I knew getting a clean lap would be paramount, and as I came around for my first lap the front straight was clear so I went for it even though the tires were not fully warmed up yet. I had a bit of a moment in Turn One (Court Dowis said it looked a lot worse from the outside than it did from where I was sitting) and it wasn't a 10/10ths lap by any means, but when Dennis radioed "33.4" I was feeling pretty good. The fastest GTA lap I'd ever turned (which was back in 2005 at the ARRC) was a 1:33.746 so I figured a 33.4 in the July heat would have us in the hunt. I stayed out one more lap to see if I could do better, got balked by traffic a bit going down through the Esses and still turned a 34.2, but I was coming up on a gaggle of cars so I backed off and came in. Ends up our official time on lap one was a 1:33.472, but Ron Fariss had followed me on our second lap (which was a 1:34.274), got a better break on the traffic I'd caught in the Esses, drafted me down the back straight, and was on the GTA pole with a 1:32.923. Bob Davis (another Late Model) was third in GTA with a 1:34.661 followed by Tony Amico and Tom Graham (ASA cars) at 1:35.002 and 1:36.233 respectively. Randy Gay, Steve Magowen, Preston Fowler, BJ Holley, and Bobby Reuse filled out the rest of the GTA field, so there certainly was adequate competition for everyone

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• SCCA
• SARRC
• Racing
• BKRacing

[400exkid]

great driving out thare! =]

[ke0ki2k]

what class? GTA like a stock car with a crate LS series engine in it?

[ButchKummer]

The brakes squeak pretty much all the time (although I can't really hear them inside the car), but the thing that surprised me was the tires squealing. I've NEVER heard that before!

[ButchKummer]

The brakes squeak pretty much all the time (although I can't really hear them inside the car), but the thing that surprised me was the tires squealing. I've NEVER heard that before!

[benspeeder]

I heard those cold brakes squeak - you get the hall pass on T1 for the wiggle on cold tires :-)