Southern Fc championship winner Marc Stern
Marc Stern 2018 FC Champ!
From: Pawleys Island,SC Nov 10th, 2018- The Southern Formula car championship presented by Primusracingparts.com and American Racer tires was decided in dramatic fashion this year in the final race of the season and Marc Stern walked away with the title. The Southern Formula car championship is a open wheeled racing series that utilizes the very popular SCCA Formula Continental Class and each driver must race on the spec American Racer tires and the series is administrated through Primus Racing Parts which has a storied history as one of the most successful formula car distributors and years of experience with top level drivers which started back in 1988. Primus has trained drivers that have raced in the top levels of motorsports including 4 Indy 500 titles and also operated the Cooper tire f2000 championship from 2001 through 2006.
The Southern Formula car championship was created in the Southeast SCCA racing division to give a place for drivers with Formula Continental race cars to compete in an organized year long championship with the thought of reducing cost and bringing drivers together at the same events. All of the drivers in the series have really improved there skills by competing against solid fields of cars. In 2018 we have added new faces and the fight for the points championship really heated up. We all went to the final event of the year at Roebling Road Raceway with 4 drivers with a mathematical chance of winning the title. Skip Weld, Jim Belay , John Herscher and Marc Stern all had a chance of winning but Marc did what he had to do by leading every lap of the race therefore taking the title. It was also a very competitive year with 5 different people winning races so we certainly look forward to another action packed year as new drivers have announced their participation in next years championship.
Marc Stern won the championship in 2018 and this effort was achieved with many years of racing experience. He actually began his racing back in the late seventies entering solo competitions and hill climbs in an Alpha Romeo Sedan competing at places such as the famed Chimney Rock event which has cars flying up a mountain at a high rate of speed with the danger of going off a cliff if they make a mistake. After several years of competing in these types of events he decided that he would like to enter wheel to wheel competition in the SCCA but he had to graduate through two of the driver schools required to get a racing license. The first school took place in 1991 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on a road course that combines a high banked oval and a challenging road course inside of the oval for approximately 2 mile total course . He had done quite well at the school as he entered the final day where they allow you to race for the first time against other cars. The pace car made an error on the start and did not pull off the course so Marc had hit the gas after the green flag waved but had to make an evasive move to avoid hitting the pace car but the cars behind him did not see what was going on and it caused Marc to have a huge accident and destroy his brothers formula ford that he had borrowed to enter the school. Im not sure how that all worked out with his brother but the SCCA officials did not find him at fault and he passed the first driving school. The second drivers school he entered in his Alpha Romeo but had a similar result and crashed on the final day after another similar incident with the pace car. His racing career started out a bit rocky but he obviously shook it off and went on to win several Southeast division titles in Formula Continental and formula ford with his first championship came in FC in 1996 when the competition was very strong as the class was really booming.
Several years later Marc is still racing in Formula Continental and running a successful foreign car shop which started with his knowledge of Alpha Romeos and has grown to handle all types of exotic cars. Marc missed the first event of the year at Sebring which Skip Weld won both races. Marc finished strong at the second event at his home track Roebling Road raceway which was sponsored by Quartermaster Clutches and brought out one of the largest fields of the year . He won a new Quartermaster racing clutch by grabbing two second place finishes that weekend . the series went to Daytona the following weekend and Marc finished 7th in first race but took his first win of the year in the rain soaked 2nd race around the banks of Daytona. Jim Johnson scorched the field at race one at Daytona. Off to one of the best road courses in the country ,Road Atlanta in late July for the Gridsport.net grand prix. Marc had great battles with 2017 champion John Herscher at Road Atlanta finishing 2nd and 3rd place and leaving the weekend with the points lead taken from Jim Belay who did not make the race after engine problems in the test day. Fletcher Wullf entered the series at Road Atlanta and won both races with a dominating performance in the Wullf motorsports prepared car . Marc entered the final event of the year with a solid lead in the points but he capitalized on that lead by grabbing the pole and leading every lap of the race. It wasn't any walk in the park though as John Herscher and Fletcher Wullf were right on him much of the race. Marc was crowned a very deserving 2018 champion.
Its been another great season and it appears that the series will continue to grow with the increased support of American Racer tires who will pay out a season long cash bonus at the end of the 2019 season to the top 3 competitors . The series would absolutely not be possible without the support of sponsors like American racer, Primus parts, Taylor race engineering, OZ racing wheels, Wullf motorsports , Gridsport.net,Quicksilver Race engines and Quartermaster clutches. We certainly want to thank Dustin Hodges for his expert media coverage and we hope to have his involvement in the 2019 season. Stay tuned for season recap of the Southern Formula Ford championship and the release of the 2019 schedule.
Regards, Brad Baytos- president
Primus Racing Parts
8171 Ocean Hwy Unit D
Pawleys Island, SC. 29585
Website: Primusracingparts.com
Email: Sales@primusracingparts.com
Cell & Text 727-804-7417
Office Phone 843-314-3893
race series website : gpfourinfo.com
southernformulacar.com
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