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.

The 11:00 News

After nearly two hours of racing, there are five cars on the lead lap, though #99 had not yet pitted. No major issues today, though a few cars have made longish pit stops.

1. #99, 61 laps

2. #26, 61 (-19.684 sec)

EC #23, 61 (-22.622)

3. #49, 61 (-48.770)

4. #70, 61 (-51.424)

5. #58, 59

6. #38, 59

7. #66, 58

EC #37, 54

8. #3, 53

9. #33, 53

10. #81, 51

11. #31, 51

Eighteen cars took the green flag, with five of yesterday's cars unable to start today.

At 10:00am

EC #23 Brake Dusters, BMW 540, 33 laps

1. #26 Shake N Bake, Toyota, 33 (-12.576 sec)

2. #49 Slugworks, Honda, 33 (-38.002 sec)

3. #70 Speed Doctors, BMW, 33 (-1:33.781)

4. #38 Chump Races, BMW, 31

5. #58 Speedlab, BMW, 31

6. #20 Most Interesting, BMW, 30

7. #99 Short Bus, VW, 30

8. #66 Holy Rollers, Acura, 30

9. #3 Three Sheets, 27

10. #81 Party Cat, 27

EC #37 Acme Racing, Honda, 27

11. #31 Chester of the Apocalypse, Mazda, 27

Fastest lap: #38 - 1:54.427

The fastest lap was set while battling several other cars, which all set their personal fastest times on the same lap.

Sunday! SUN-day!

It's a bee-yoo-tee-full day for racing in Central Minnesota. There are quite a few teams that have chosen to camp on the B.I.R. grounds and they have been rewarded with "great sleeping weather".

The race start is nearly an hour away but teams are making last minute adjustments, and a few race engines have been started to get the juices flowing.

The Slugworks Honda (#49) and the Mid-Engine Crisis Toyota MR2 (#4) will be joining us again today after DNFs on Saturday. The Slugworks car suffered an axle/bearing failure and did not have spares on hand, so made a trip home to the Twin Cities (round trip about 6 hours) and made repairs overnight. The #4 car made only a couple of laps on Saturday before succumbing to a rod knock. A dent in the oil pan was restricting flow to the oil pickup screen. The team located a used short block and worked all night to get it ready for the start this morning.

One of the drivers in the #4 Toyota is veteran ice racer Ron Verhagen (pictured here at the left). Ron has been involved in motorsports since the last ice age. He is now 68.

The #31 Mazda MX3 spent a lot of time behind the wall yesterday after a clutch failure. They were able to remove the transmission in about an hour, but it took two and a half hours for parts to show up from the Twin Cities, so they missed much of Saturday's race. They believe they are ready for a full day of racing today.

One of the drivers on the #3 Three Sheets Ford Contour spent time in the local E.R. Saturday after bailing out a half hour into his driving stint. Too many beers the night before and lack of water prior to the high adrenaline driving left him dehydrated. He is back today and looking much better, ready to put the Contour through its paces.

What a finish!

With only a couple of laps to go, the #26 Toyota slowed, apparently out of fuel. #70 BMW re-passed for 2nd place.

And on the final lap, #26 coasted across the finish line and parked just past turn 12 under the bridge.

The final results:

1. #38 Chump Races Chump Faces, BMW, 203 laps

2. #70 Speed Doctors, BMW 325, 201

3. #26 Shake N Bake, Toyota MR2, 201

4. #33 Tubby Butterman, BMW 325, 198

5. #66 Holy Rollers, Acura, 194

6. #58 Speedlab, BMW 325, 193

EC #23 Brake Dusters, BMW 540, 179

7. #3, Three Sheets, ford Contour, 178

8. #22, North Loop Motorsports, BMW 325, 178

9. #81 Team Party Cat, Mazda Miata, 175

10. #99 Team Short Bus, VW Golf, 173.

15 minutes remain

15 minutes left!

1. #38, 194 laps

2. #26, 191

3. #70, 191

4. #33, 187

5. #66, 184

6. #58, 182

EC #23, 179

7. #51, 169

8. #3, 168

9. #22, 168

10. #81, 166

1/2 hour to go

With 30 minutes to go, the #26 Shake N Bake Toyota MR2 is less than 2 seconds behind the #70 Speed Doctors BMW. A-a-a-a-nd #26 makes the pass in turn 4 to take over 2nd place!

But just prior to that, here were the standings:

1. #38, 186 laps

2. #70, 184

3. #26, 184

4. #33, 180

5. #66, 177

EC #23, 176

6. #58, 175

7. #51, 169

8. #22, 161

9. #3, 161

10. #81, 159

Wearing down

As the hours tick off, the drivers seem to be making more mistakes. Nothing serious, just a few offs here and there. No crashing, thank goodness.

With an hour to go:

1. #38 Chump Faces, 172 laps

2. #70 Speed Doctors, 171

3. #26 Shake N Bake, 170

4. #51 British American, 169

5. #58 Speedlab, 166

6. #33 Tubby Butterman, 166

7. #66 Holy Rollers, 164

EC #23 Brake Dusters, 163

8. #81 Party Cat, 150

9. #22 North Loop, 149

10. #3 3 sheets, 148

The 2:00 pm summary

1. #38, 142

2. #70, 142 (-1:23.074)

3. #26, 141

4. #51, 141

5. #33, 137

6. #99, 135

7. #66, 135

8. #58, 134

EC #23, 132

9. #3, 124

10. #22, 122

#20 BMW was behind the wall to replace a tie rod end, but is back on track.

#99 VW came in on lap 138 with a noisy inner CV joint. They are working feverishly to make repairs.

#49 Honda is on jack stands in the paddock area, reason unknown, but possibly engine related.

4 hours down, 3 to go

Here is the 12:00 update:

1. #70 Speed Doctors, 88 laps

2. #38 Chump Faces, 87

3. #26 Shake N Bake, 86

4. #51 Brit-Amer, 86

5. #99 Short Bus, 83

6. #49 Slugworks, 83

7. #66 Holy Rollers, 82

EC #23 Brake Dusters, 82

8. #33 Tubby Butterman, 81

9. #58 Speedlab, 81

10. #81 Party Cat, 77

#11 Brain Nerds out with engine issues.

At 1:00pm

1. #70, 115 laps

2. #38, 115 (-25.44 sec)

3. #26, 114

4. #51, 113

5. #58, 110

6. #33, 109

7. #99, 109

8. #49, 108

9. #66, 108

EC #23, 106

10. #22, 102

Hour #2

At 11:00am

1. #70 Speed Doctors, 56 laps

2. #11 Brain Nerds, 56

3. #38 ChumpFaces, 56

4. #26 Shake N Bake, 55

5. #51 British American, 55

6. #99 Short Bus, 55

7. #49 Slugworks, 55

8. #66 Holy Rollers, 53

EC #23 Brake Dusters, 52

9. #58 Speedlab, 52

10. #22 North Loop, 52

#48 STP Mustang is out with engine issues, believed to be a dropped valve.

#33 Tubby Butterman is working to overcome a 9 lap MOV penalty. They are currently 7 laps behind the leader.

The first hour

It's perfect weather for racing, at least for the drivers. Cars seem to prefer damp air and 50s.

At 10:22 am

1. #11 Brain Nerds, 39 laps

2. #70 Speed Drs, 39

3. #38 ChumpFaces, 38

4. #51 BAR, 38

5. #26 Shake and Bake, 38

6. #49 Slugworks, 38

7. #66 Holy Rollers, 38

8. #99 Short Bus, 38

EC #23 Brake Dusters, 38

9. #20 Most Interesting, 38

10. #58 Speedlab

I brought my trusty little Bushnell radar gun this weekend. Probably the fastest point on the track is coming into turn 2, which can be taken flat out. I won't say these are terribly accurate as I'm having to shoot a a bit of an angle, but it will give a decent comparison of speeds.

#3 - 97 mph

#49 - 97 mph

#38 - 96 mph

#26 - 94 mph

#51 - 93 mph

#99 - 93 mph

#33 - 92 mph

#58 - 92 mph

Several cars out with engine failure in the early stages:

#44 Tow Mater, burned piston

#83 Mayhem Racing, lower end

#4 Mid-engine crisis, rod knock

#3 and #49 are racing hard nose-to-tail with #3 barely able to hold off #49 every lap. They are clearly the fastest cars on the track, as evidenced by the top speeds posted above.

Daylight in the Swamp!

"It's breakfast time! Hot coffee! Rise and Shine!" During the 1970s & 80s, the guy who owned the concession stand in the B.I.R. race paddock would tramp through the worker's camping area shouting that phrase at the top of his lungs... at about 5:30am. He was the target of many threats from hung-over workers who had shared too much free Budweiser (or Miller or Schlitz) the night before. But dutifully they would get up and stand on corners, or man the watches in T&S, or patrol the grid and pit areas. We have a smaller crew of race workers these days, but their assistance is no less appreciated.

Our latest count shows 22 cars here, but there are rumors that another couple of cars may register late.

Pictured here is the School of Mayhem. Sister Myron wields a wicked dipstick whip. They might be considered "drag" racers.

#3 - 3 Sheets, Ford Contour

#4 - Mid-engine Crisis, Toyota MR2

#6 - Hack-cent, Hyundai Accent

#11 - Brain-nerds, Porsche 944

#20 - The Most Interesting Chumps In The World, BMW 325i

#22 - North Loop Motorsports, BMW 325

#23 - Brake Dusters, BMW 540

#26 - Shake and Bake, Toyota MR2

#31 - Chester of the Apocalypse, Mazda MX3

#33 - Tubby Butterman, BMW 325

#38 - ChumpFaces ChumpRaces, BMW 325

#43 - Ambitious But Rubbish, Buick Regal

#44 - Tow Mater, Dodge Dakota

#48 - Slow Tired Pony (STP), Ford Mustang

#49 - Slugworks, Honda Civic

#51 - British-American Racing, BMW 325e

#58 - Speedlab, BMW 325e

#66 - Holy Rollers, Acura Integra

#70 - Speed Doctors, BMW 325e

#81 - Team Party Cat, Mazda Miata

#83 - Mayhem Racing, Honda Civic

#99 - Team Short Bus, VW Golf GL

Who is your favorite Babe? Blue Ox or Winkleman?

Brainerd, MN -- Paul Bunyan's blue-hued sidekick can be found here, and so can that TV Fishin' Legend Babe Winkleman. But most ChumpCar teams will be concentrating their attention on Brainerd International Raceway.

This track first saw racing action in 1968 as Donnybrooke, named after a pair of Minnesota race drivers who had lost theirs lives in the sport, Donny Skogmo and Brooke Kinnard. The first few seasons saw the likes of TransAm, CanAm, F5000, and USAC Indy cars, as well as SCCA regional and national races. Many time SCCA National Champion Jerry Hansen purchased the track in 1974 and renamed it Brainerd International Raceway. Today the track is better known for NHRA drag races on the 5000 foot long straightaway, but the road course is still used regularly.

A few years ago Jed and Kristi Copham bought the facility, and added a new section between turns 8 and 1, creating the 2.5 mile Club Course that the ChumpCars will be competing on. With its long straights, BIR is very much a horsepower track and cars may well hit Ludicrous Speed between turns 1 and 3. But the tighter arcs from turns 4 thru 12 favor the better handling machines.

BMWs dominated last year's ChumpCar race here, with victory on both days going to the Fokker themed Flying Circus 325. But the new AIV penalties may give extra laps to those cars, so other marques may have a chance to win one of the coveted ChumpCar trophies.

This weekend will feature a pair of 7-hour endurance races, one on Saturday, one on Sunday. Live updates will be posted here.