EWC News 03/05/05
Here is the e-mail that I sent out to earlier today to everyone in the EWC driver recruiting pool. If you are not on my mailing list but should be, please send me an e-mail or give me a call.
Steve Beeler
Lola T-540 HU44
home: (734)416-8865 sbeeler@wowway.com
office: (313)390-1818 sbeeler@ford.com
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At 85 days and counting until the Friday test day before the series openers at Grattan, here is the latest EWC news:
Bob Schaefer from Frisby Performance tire has firmed up his EWC contingency award program. He will donate $5 for every Goodyear and Hoosier tire and $10 for every Avon tire purchased from Frisby by EWC FF and CFF drivers. I gave some thought into skimming this money off the top but instead I'll share it with those who are running the entire series.
Bob will also be offering $60 Frisby bucks for the Saturday evening prize drawing. These can be applied towards tires, mounting, balancing, whatever. But wait, there's more: Frisby Tire will also be awarding one Avon tire to the winner of each FF race.
The eligibility requirements are pretty simple. Everyone needs to register with Frisby and have Frisby decals on their car. Those applying for the Avon tires must have purchased a set from Frisby, have Avon decals on their car, and (of course!) have Avon tires on their car. When you buy your tires from Frisby, let them know that they are for the East/West Challenge. Before you buy any tires, give Bob Schaefer a call at (702)433-7390.
Still more good news: Lindstrand Motosports will be hosting an end-of-season EWC party at their race shop. Date and time to follow.
As of today, a total of seventeen sponsors have signed up. I still hope to close one more tire deal and Butch Deer from DRE / RaceCarSupply.com is bringing in some more Saturday evening prize drawing goodies. Here is the list so far with more to come:
- Continental Motorsport Servces
- Lenhart DeSign Werks
- International Racing Products
- Shelter Systems
- Two Dogg, Inc.
- Frisby Performance Tire
- DRE / RaceCarSupply.com
- Racing Flow Development
- Schulz Automotive Machine
- CARQUEST Auto Parts
- Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies
- Avon Racing Tires
- FormulaCar Magazine
- Harvey's of Elkhart Lake
- Cheboygan Chamber of Commerce
- Monarch Graphics
- Lindstrand Motorsports
I talked with Duane Bailey from Western Michigan Region about some of the problems we had last year with the reserved paddock area at Grattan. As everyone knows, the paddock at Grattan is very tight. WMR is understandably cautious about roping off too much space. Duane offered up an interesting alternative: put the EWC paddock outside the track up on the hill overlooking the last two turns. On the plus side, we would have all the room we need and more. On the negative side, we could only cross the track between sessions and would have to be ready when our race group is called. By being the first race group, this "window" could be extended somewhat. We have some time to think about this. If we choose to have a reserved paddock inside the track, we must give WMR a firm car count ahead of time. Please forward me your thoughts.
I'll close with a prediction: the over/under for the Grattan EWC openers is 29 cars. That's way more than Bernie Ecclestone is starting tonight in Australia and might be alll that Tony George can come up with for the Indy 500. See everyone in 85 days.
