Watkins Glen Majors this weekend

[Michael Rand]

Aside from our usual interest in the FF side of things, where they have a decent field of 12 entered, Right Coasts own teenage sensation son of JD, Max King is branching out and is entered in one of them new fangled SRF3 cars.
I suspect that young Max will be pretty much on the pace from the beginning though I am not at all sure he has experience at WGI.
JD certainly can steer him in the right direction so aside from Race Monitoring Group 5 FF etc I will be "watching" to see how young Mr King gets on with the track and the car.
Go get 'em Max !

[problemchild]

13 cars. After Q1, Verhagen on pole, followed by Albani, Dole, Scanlon, Colasacco, Jocelyn, Schweitz, Rice, Allen, Foster, Gecelter, James, and Boyer.

[problemchild]

Race 1
Verhagen
Colasacco
Albani
Schweitz
Scanlon
Joselyn
Dole
Allen
Rice
Boyer
Gecelter
Foster
James

[Steve Bamford]

Race 1
Verhagen
Colasacco
Albani
Schweitz
Scanlon
Joselyn
Dole
Allen
Rice
Boyer
Gecelter
Foster
James

Foster was listed higher according to Race Monitor, was there a penalty?

Good luck today, race 2 is scheduled for 1:50 as far as I can see.

[problemchild]

Verhagen
Colasacco
Albani
Scanlon
Joselyn
Schweitz
Dole
Allen
Rice
Foster
Gecelter
James
Boyer

The quality of cars and competition has improved a ton in the last 4 years. Based on the races I have seen this year, FF racing in the Northeast and Southeast is really tough! Lots of really fast late model cars mixed in with really fast older cars.

[Mike Scanlan]

Greg, your Reynard was certainly one of the older faster cars, nice job. Neil Verhagen was very impressive, doing his times running alone. The rest of us needed a draft to make our times. Neil also impressed with his racecraft and the decisions he made when we had him under fire on starts and restarts. His F1600 Series experience this season was evident.

On another subject, I mentioned to a number of guys this weekend they should come to some series races even better F1600 racing and the response was always the same...it's too expensive. But, having run on both sides, the cost of dollars per lap is far more favorable in the F1600 Series. Factor in single class racing, far fewer laps lost to pace cars and speedy dry and it seems like a no brainer to me. I've put the expenses/contingencies on both sides on paper and an F1600 series season doesn't cost any more to run. The Majors program is terrific and very well run and for most classes is their only option, but the series offers another option for the FF class and gives us a chance to see and learn just how much more these cars are capable of. Verhagen just gave us a glimpse of it this past weekend, imagine being on track with ten more just as good. I just think it's a shame more guys don't take advantage of it. That's my two cents.

[Steve Bamford]

Now that everyone is on the same tire it should make it easier for cross over to the F1600 Series and to the Majors program. What was the entry fee for the Majors?

I believe the Majors is around 45 laps compared to around 60 laps for the same weekend at WG in the pro series.

[Tom Valet]

Aside from our usual interest in the FF side of things, where they have a decent field of 12 entered, Right Coasts own teenage sensation son of JD, Max King is branching out and is entered in one of them new fangled SRF3 cars.
I suspect that young Max will be pretty much on the pace from the beginning though I am not at all sure he has experience at WGI.
JD certainly can steer him in the right direction so aside from Race Monitoring Group 5 FF etc I will be "watching" to see how young Mr King gets on with the track and the car.
Go get 'em Max !

P2 and on the podium in the Sunday race for Max, so I would say your assessment of his talent was spot on Mike! Congrats Max and J.D.

[problemchild]

Greg, your Reynard was certainly one of the older faster cars, nice job. Neil Verhagen was very impressive, doing his times running alone. The rest of us needed a draft to make our times. Neil also impressed with his racecraft and the decisions he made when we had him under fire on starts and restarts. His F1600 Series experience this season was evident.

On another subject, I mentioned to a number of guys this weekend they should come to some series races even better F1600 racing and the response was always the same...it's too expensive. But, having run on both sides, the cost of dollars per lap is far more favorable in the F1600 Series. Factor in single class racing, far fewer laps lost to pace cars and speedy dry and it seems like a no brainer to me. I've put the expenses/contingencies on both sides on paper and an F1600 series season doesn't cost any more to run. The Majors program is terrific and very well run and for most classes is their only option, but the series offers another option for the FF class and gives us a chance to see and learn just how much more these cars are capable of. Verhagen just gave us a glimpse of it this past weekend, imagine being on track with ten more just as good. I just think it's a shame more guys don't take advantage of it. That's my two cents.

The F500 pack was about the same speed as Wes, Charles, and I which definitely impacted our ability to try and stay with the FF pack racing for 2nd to 7th ..... and I am sure we had a negative effect on their race as well. Unfortunately, I am busy for the FRP and ECFF events but the Canadian F1600 events are really good one-class events as another option.

.... and no matter how respectful you tried to be .... the FFs and F500s were just trashing the FV races, especially with early checkers. I just don't know why those guys would not be flocking to the Challenge Cup Series.

[RSS]

On another subject, I mentioned to a number of guys this weekend they should come to some series races even better F1600 racing and the response was always the same...it's too expensive. But, having run on both sides, the cost of dollars per lap is far more favorable in the F1600 Series. .

A thing to remember though is if you only have $500 to run it doesn't matter how much better the $/lap ratio is for the pro race it's still more than the $500 they have to spend.

[problemchild]

A thing to remember though is if you only have $500 to run it doesn't matter how much better the $/lap ratio is for the pro race it's still more than the $500 they have to spend.

The people running FF at the Glen were spending a bunch more than $500 to be there. Half the field had pro crew. While that argument may apply for some racing issues, $400 in entry fee difference, would only be a "principle" issue for most of the field in this case.

[Steve Bamford]

The people running FF at the Glen were spending a bunch more than $500 to be there. Half the field had pro crew. While that argument may apply for some racing issues, $400 in entry fee difference, would only be a "principle" issue for most of the field in this case.

I believe the series offers a discount for first time drivers wanting to try it so that takes the &'s issue out of the equation. Maybe it is just F2000 but I could be wrong.

I can only speak from personal experience that it is value to me & for sure it has made me a much better driver overall.

[Bob Wright]

The 1/2 price first timer offer is for all three FRP series. We have a few people taking advantage of it this weekend at Mid Ohio in both F1600 and F2000.