Making Lemonade out of Lemons ....

[Christopher Shoemaker]

RFFCS Adds Thompson

So the 2018 Jefferson 500 is history and a good, but painful decision was made by the VRG to cancel the event as the rain continued for another 3 days and only Sunday was dry.

Our own Jim Van Deurzen, having driven 16 hours from Wisconsin to cook pork tenderloins for our party, went to the track to see for himself on Sunday and confirmed much of it was still under water. Many thanks to those who stuck it out or put in the long hours needed to prepare for our event.

One person making the long trek home on Thursday night was Mike Stumbo going back to Maine. On Friday, he unhooked his trailer and went shopping. Returning later to the house, he found the trailer ablaze. By the time the fire brigade had doused the fire, the trailer, the Titan Mk. 6, along with his tools, race suit, Hans and helmet were destroyed.

So we had a meeting and took some action.

First, we decided that to give people a chance to add to their points (some people would not now be able to complete four meetings) We've added The Motorsports Festival at Thompson Speedway June 21-23 onto the schedule. Chris and Storm will be leading the charge there. It's a Thursday to Saturday meeting. The RFFCS barbeque is set for Thursday night, raffles will take place as usual and normal points will be awarded. We currently have ~15 entries with more coming and some doubling up with Mosport the prior weekend. For those that don't know, Thompson was the first permanent road course for the SCCA back in 1952 and became the model for club circuits across the US. Thursday will be a test/tune day with 4 sessions followed by the RFFCS barbeque. Friday will have qualifying and two races after which you can enjoy the included dinner at the clubhouse. On the final day, Saturday, there will be two races, the second being the RFFCS feature race. Paul King, one of the event chairs has extended the Early Bird deadline until May 28th, so all of this fun only costs $425 if payment is received by then and includes the Thursday Test/Tune day, driver plus three crewmembers and two Friday Dinner Tickets.

We hope that will help some of you out and if you are not going to Mosport, you now have an alternative before New Jersey in July. It's a fun weekend, very laid back and Thompson is a tricky circuit to learn.

As for Stumbo...Our hearts went out when we heard about his disaster. Mike, in true Maniac form said, "Well, I had just better get going if I want to get the car ready for The Jeff next year!" He has already started on a full restoration. Everything not made of metal is gone, the body, seat, tires and wiring all up in smoke. Also gone, the gearbox case and rear uprights. The frame needs some repair (though the nickel-bronze joints remained intact, it seems)! The full engine rebuild it needs is minor in comparison to the rest. What really made Mike sad was that he was looking forward to entertaining family at Thompson as his sister and brother in law were coming over from the UK. Generously, Royale Racing offered up a Citation Z16 and RaceQuip stepped up to offer a full race outfit... and the VRG along with the track will comp his entry! So, Mike Stumbo rides again! If you happen to have some Titan bits lying about that might help Mike in his restoration bring them along to Thompson...or just come and support Mike.

We look forward to seeing you there.


Hope to see you at Mosport and/or Thompson! (And we'll be telling you about July's NJMP event soon too!)

Andrew, Bernard, Chris and Storm
RFFCS Committee

[Christopher Shoemaker]

I hear a lot about track time being at a min? Or the cost of racing tooooo High!

Well if you have a Formula Ford and do not attend, Thompson ... definitely must be something wrong with you. The original SCCA track ... Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park and Royale Formula Ford Challenge Series will have the following:

• Test day with 1.5hr of track time to get acclimated or re-acclimated with the track
• 2 days of racing, starting with 1 qualifier, then add 5 (yes 5) races (including our RFFCS Feature)
  
  • ?~2hours of total track time
  
  
• ?3 Crew / 2 Banquet Tickets
• Thursday evening RFFCS BBQ
• Tire Raffle, and other great prizes and awards

All of this for a $425 price tag? RFFCS is welcoming all Formula Fords to come out and see what all the hype is about. I challenge anyone to show me a better offer .... DON'T MISS OUT!


--- Christopher Shoemaker
Royale Racing, LLC

[Allan31]

I was hoping you guys would do something like this !!

Yes, The Jeff was a bust but VRG and Summit Point made absolutely the right call. Conditions were dangerous. Not so much the on-track but more importantly the off-track. If I, in my Formula Ford, had gone off down in the carousel, (before it was completely under water,) I could have dug in tires in soft earth, flipped over and drowned in the in-field. No emergency vehicle could have gotten to me other than an Air-boat...



Last time I looked, no corner worker station had equipment like this available for use, they don't have boats like that either.......

Summit was wet, my brother and I were one of the few that DID get out before it got stupid wet...I could not get rid of that orange nose in my mirrors!!



Thank you VRG for making Thompson a points counting event !

Allan