The National Chumpionship is ON!

From east and west, from north and south, even from Canada, ChumpCar teams have converged on Newton, Iowa, for the first, and possibly last, National Chumpionship. Nearly 50 cars took the green flag this morning shortly after 10:00 a.m. That's a lot of cars for the one mile road course and the 7/8ths mile oval.

About an hour into the race, the rain started to fall, soon turning into a deluge. The suddenly slippery track caught a few drivers, especially those not used to racing on a wet track.

The track configuration was supposed to switch to the banked oval at 1:00 pm, but ChumpCar officials have decided to stay with the road course until the faster oval dries out.

At 12:30 pm, the top ten look like this:
1. #33 Tubby Butterman BMW - 116
2. #1 My Little Pony, Mustang - 115
3. #68 BSD, - 114
4. #3 Three Sheets, Escort ZX2 - 112
5. #24 Bear Patrol, Lexus - 112
6. #66 Holy Rollers, Acura - 112
7. #11 BrainNerds, Porsche 944 - 112
8. #47 Chump Change, Miata - 111
9. #51 British American, BMW - 111
10. #89 Schumacher Taxi, Toyota FX16 - 110

At the finish....

#70 Speed Doctors BMW joins the list of ChumpCar winners by taking the checkered flag just 1:38 ahead of the #58 Speedlab BMW. After final hour retirements by a couple of early front runners, third place went to the #26 Shake N Bake Toyota MR2. The overall victory went to the EC (Exception Class) #23 Brake Dusters BMW 540.

EC #23 Brake Dusters, BMW 540 - 204 laps
1. #70 Speed Doctors, BMW 325 - 203
2. #58 Speedlab, BMW - 203
3. #26 Shake N Bake, Toyota MR2 - 200
4. #33 Tubby Butterman, BMW 325 - 200
5. #38 Chump Races Chump Faces, BMW 325 - 199
6. #49 Slugworks, Honda Civic - 199
7. #3 Three Sheets, Ford Contour - 189
8. #99 Team Short Bus, VW Golf - 182
EC #37 Acme Racing, Honda Prelude - 179
9. #66 Holy Rollers, Acura - 174
10. #6 Hackcent, Hyundai Accent - 169

#66 Holy Rollers wore their brakes completely out in the final hour, through the pad material, through the backing plate, into the brake caliper piston, until the piston popped out of the caliper and there was no fluid left. They were on the way to a podium finish, but instead ended up on the trailer.

#38 Chump Faces BMW, yesterday's race winner, had an electrical issue late in the race and spent the final laps in the pits.

One hour to go

EC #23 - 175 laps

1. #70 - 174

2. #58 - 172

3. #66 - 171

4. #26 - 171

5. #38 - 170

6. #33 - 170

7. #49 - 169

8. #3 - 162

9. #99 - 152

EC #37 - 152

10. #6 - 145

1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, rock!

Getting behind in my updates, so here are the 1:00 and 2:00 reports.

I have been out taking photos and pointing a radar gun at fast cars. Which would you like to hear about first? Standings? Sure!

At 1:00pm
1. #26 - 118 laps
EC #23 - 117
2. #70 - 117
3. #49 - 116
4. #38 - 116
5. #58 - 115
6. #66 - 115
7. #33 - 111
8. #3 - 106
9. #99 - 105
EC #37 - 99
10. #6 - 99


Drivers told me they gain a few MPH after turn 2, and hit top speed just before they brake for turn 3, an acute right hander. So I stood near the braking zone for 3, catching cars before they nailed the brakes.
#23 - 107 mph
#3 - 107 mph
#26 - 106 mph
#66 - 106 mph
#33 - 104 mph
#70 - 104 mph

There are other fast cars but I didn't catch all of them. #23 & #3 were clearly the fastest.

The 2:00 report:

EC #23 Brake Dusters - 148 laps

1. #70 - 147

2. #26 - 145

3. #38 - 145

4. #66 - 144

5. #58 - 143

6. #49 - 142

7. #33 - 141

8. #3 - 135

EC #37 - 127

9. #99 - 126

10. #6 - 123

#49 Slugworks ran out of fuel on track but was able to limp back to the pits under its own power. #26 Shake N Bake was not so lucky, coming to a stop in turn 5 after running dry. A couple of rookie drivers stopped, so as not to pass another car under a yellow flag, which confused the more experienced driver of #33 and he passed one of them as it started moving again. That led to a quick stop-and-go penalty for #33.

#22 BMW is back on track after repairs were made.

Halfway

1. #38 - 102 laps

EC #23 - 101

2. #99 - 101

3. #26 - 101

4. #66 - 101

5. #70 - 100

6. #49 - 100

7. #58 - 99

8. #33 - 96

9. #3 - 92

EC #37 - 87

10. #6 - 86

11. #81 - 86

A 5-minute fuel stop with the 25 mph pit road limit is good for 3 full laps.

Car #20 has re-entered the track after replacing motor mounts.

High Noon in Brainerd

The showdown continues with tight competition on the Club Course.

At 12:00 noon:

EC #23 - 91 laps

1. #26 - 91 (-10.888 sec)

2. #70 - 90

3. #38 - 89

4. #58 - 89

5. #99 - 88

6. #66 - 88

7. #49 - 87

8. #33 - 83

9. #3 - 79

10. #81 - 75

EC #37 - 75

#22 BMW just lost a wheel in turn 8, the cloverleaf.

#26 pulled in for their latest stop just after we posted the above standings.

Early Retirement ...

... may be the dream of the working class, but it is to be avoided in racing.

#51 British-American Racing BMW has been packed into the trailer with engine issues. A broken fan belt led to overheating which led to a warped head.

#20 Most Interesting Chumps BMW sheared all of the engine mounts. They were able to borrow parts from other BMW teams, but it appears that the radiator may be damaged.

#31 Chester of the Apocalypse Mazda is behind the wall with a slipping clutch again today. They are not going to attempt repairs.

#4 Mid-engine Crisis MR2 is out with a sour engine. Rod knock is the diagnosis.

#43 Ambitious But Rubbish (ABR) has made numerous stops in an attempt to stem oil leaks.