Celebrating the first Formula Ford event in the USA.
Celebrating the first Formula Ford event in the USA.
40 years ago the first Formula Ford race held in the USA was at Willow Springs sanctioned by California Sports Car Club.
Members of Formula Ford "The Series" are joining with California Sports Car Club for a special Formula Ford weekend honoring that historic event.
Where: Buttonwillow Raceway Park
When: May 16, 17, 2009. (Practice available through the track office May 15th.)
Who: All generations of Formula Fords invited.
Drivers from all over the Western US are expected. This will be a blast, not to be missed.
Additional information is available at www.calclub.com
For information regarding Formula Ford "The Series" 2009 contact: Richard Holladay email cabsbyrh@aol.com. or tel: (760) 715-1417
Congratulations to EVERYONE!!!
I think congratulations should be bestowed on all the competitors for exciting and clean races both Saturday and Sunday.
As this was only my second weekend in the car I had a blast and learned a lot. My own personal highlight was during Sunday's race, Bob Hatle and I were running close almost the whole way so it was great fun learning how to race against someone like Bob. Being a rookie it was interested seeing how an experienced racer like Bob made changes in line and pace to keep me at bay. On Sunday the top three CF's finished within 5 seconds of each other, but it was almost a 5 way race up front, with Les Phillips and Dan Cowdrey having unfortunate incidents and dropping out. With some fast and crafty drivers racing hard I was really surprised to have the fastest lap in CF at a 2.04.6 so that was really special for me.
Saturday was fun for me too, although it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted to as i was dealing with brake issues while running with Andy Paterson, Cox, Bryce Bannatyne and Cowdrey which forced me out of contention. Andy did well holding off Tim and I had a great view of the festivities between them, but a broken engine mount eventually caught Andy out and resulted in a spin. The Paterson crew discovered further engine problems in Andy's car Sunday morning and unfortunately Andy's brother Stewart also had engine problems and never got to come join the fun on Saturday or Sunday so I am looking forward to racing with them and learning more too.
Congratulations should also go to Saturday's winners: FF- 1st Paul Wittrock, 2nd John Barron, 3rd Ken Glasser. CF- 1st Dan Cowdrey, 2nd Andy Paterson, 3rd Bob Hatle. HFF- 1st Todd Strong, 2nd John Viggers, 3rd Samuel Simpson
Sunday's podiums: FF- 1st Paul Wittrock, 2nd Krista Botsford, 3rd Ken Glasser. CF- 1st Tim Cox, 2nd Bob Hatle, 3rd Mark Wilson. HFF- 1st Todd Strong, 2nd Samuel Simpson, 3rd John Viggers.
In my opinion the competition was only marred by one competitor being GROSSLY underweight for Saturday's race, a seemingly greedy wall exiting turn 16 which claimed a fair number of cars throughout the weekend, the Paterson's being sidelined with motor issues and the 100+ degree heat (I saw 109 in the shade on Sunday).
All in all it was a fun weekend for me, with great clean competition on the track with Hatle and Cowdrey, friendly people off the track and good food celebrating the 40th Birthday of our beloved Formula Fords.
Hope you all had a good time!
Mark Wilson
