18 Day to the Golden Part 2 at Road Atlanta

[Purple Frog]

Saturday's Combined race: Even though there was heavy frost at sunup, it was perfect conditions for the race. Typical ARRC weather, cloudless blue skies and about 65 degrees.

It had been decided to have a split start so the FFs would have a clean field.
At the end of the pace lap the F5s in the front were waved off, but unfortunately they took off at full tilt as if there had been a green.

Hoping the F5s would see double yellows all around and slow down, it was decided to leave the pace car out for the FFs for one more lap.

The F5s didn't seem to be slowing down. So the stewards were having to make a quick decision... They didn't want to go BFA and ruin the FF race. And they didn't have a way to black flag just the F5s. So it was decided to give the FFs a green at the end of the second pace lap, and give the F5s a big lecture meeting at the end of the race.

In some ways it worked out better because the FF field didn't catch the slow F5s until much further into the race.

Doing that saved the race for the FFs which was pretty spectacular, with Phil Kingham winning CF and Simon Sikes winning FF.
Sikes was a runaway win. But the battle in CF was exciting to the max, setting the stage for Sunday's races.

[Purple Frog]

Sunday CF race:

Race was at about 9:30 am. Late enough (because of "falling back") to have really good weather/track conditions.
The race for the top four was intense from the get-go.
Those four main players; Kingham, Brooks, Baggett, and Harmison. At first it looked like Kingham and Brooks were going to run away and hide. But they kept racing each other and Harmison and Bagget kept working together to catch up. With Harmison setting fast laps; in a few laps it became a four car race.
As the laps wound down Kingham and Brooks would keep swapping the lead two or three times per lap while Harmison and Bagget were right in their draft.
Most laps Kingham would pass Brooks in T1 and Brooks would pass Kingham in T10. Not the best plan for Phil. So ... on the white flag lap Phil didn't pass Steve. But, look out Baggett had passed into an aggresive 3rd. Obviously, Baggett having so many laps at Atlanta saw himself getting the pull of two front cars coming down to 10a and a draft into 1st for the checker.

I believe it was Kingham, Brooks, Baggett out of T7. Over 9 it looked like Brooks and Baggett were towing by Phil. But i think Phil saw the backmarker first. He zigged left, and too late to do anything, Brooks and Baggett had to lift for a second. That was enough to Phil to own T10 and go on to the checker. Really fun stuff.

Meanwhile... Arears of this action by about 4 seconds Rand and Brumbaugh were having their own party for 5th place. 37 and 86 were having their own intense race, swapping places numerous times. At the white flag it looked good for Kevin. And even coming out of 10b going to the flag Kevin was ahead. But... Rand let it all hang out to pass Brumbaugh on the inside under the finish stand by maybe 5" in a photo finish. Really fun stuff.

Mark Seiler and Tom Stefani carried the "old skool" torch and raced on treaded tyres.

[Dave Harmison]

The Sunday morning race was one for the highlights film. Everyone in the front four got a chance to lead.

Sunday afternoon was almost the same. Because it was combined FF and CFF Phil and Steve had Sam Lockwood for a drafting partner although I’m not sure it helped them. Don and I got left behind by a fair gap early so I decided the only way we were going to have a chance was to play wingman and draft Don until we could close the gap. It worked and at the end of the race it was the same Gang of Four taking the white flag with Don in the lead and me second. Unfortunately I let ambition get the best of me in turn two of the last lap and hooked Don’s back right tire. Totally my fault. Don’s a gentleman and accepted my apology. I limped around the last lap with a dead flat left front tire to take an undeserved second. While it lasted it was some super racing.

The organizers had some issues getting grid sheets out correctly. After the fiasco Saturday my crewman, Brian Hammerman, who raced CFF years ago and I produced one by hand and just sort of took over grid. For the Sunday afternoon race Joe and Brian did the sorting and publishing. Thanks guys.

[Purple Frog]

Sunday FF races:

All weekend Simon Sikes (Rice Prep) had been the class of the field. Let's face it, its not often that one guy is lapping 2 seconds faster than the rest, So there was a lot of grumbling. It got so intense that one team pulled their restrictor for the Sunday morning qualifier and still couldn't catch Simon. More grumbling...

Meanwhile all weekend James Lee and JR2 were pulling their hair out trying to figure out why their Kent was falling off in mid revs. Changing fuel pumps, distributors, carbs, etc. etc. looking for a cure. They seemed to find the solution in the Sunday am hardship session.

At the green flag for the FF only race after lunch Simon went off on his own about 2 seconds a lap faster than Ketchie, JR2, and Bjerke. If you were a spectator at that point you just focused on the incredible battle for 2nd. Intense position swapping on every lap. Really exciting stuff.

Then ... Hold on a second! On the white flag lap the call comes in from around T3 that Sikes right front suspension had collapsed and he was struggling with about 45 degrees of tow out.

Simon who had about a 24 second lead is struggling to keep the Mygale straight. He comes into T10 with 3 cars coming over T9 at full tilt. He hangs on and manages to cross the line first. So, what seemed a boring race for the win turned out pretty dramatic.

Sunday combined FF/CF race:

Greg could not repair Simon's car (pickup point torn from chassis), and Cliff Johnson in the other Rice car was flying back to Middle America, so it was decided to put Simon in Cliff's car and let him start from the back of the whole field.

Yawn... By mid race Simon was clearly out front and walking away to sweep every FF race for the weekend.

[Purple Frog]

Applying the laws of physics...

It is amazing that Dave Harmison can compete heads up with the likes of Phil Kingham.
Dave is something like 15" taller and has very big shoulders. The center of gravity of his car has to be 3" higher than Phil's Zink.

Yet he was always in the thick of the battle.

Dave reported on the Sunday afternoon combined race above, but a few more details.
At the white flag Brooks was a strong contender. A blanket covered all 4 going down the pit straight after the white flag. Then, oops... Brooks runs out of gas, literally. and coasts out of the picture.

Phil couldn't believe his luck as the T2 action unfolded, but he said the rest of the lap was his most nervous as he spent the whole lap looking in his mirrors waiting to be passed by Brooks, which he didn't know was MIA.

[Purple Frog]

And the biggest trophies of the weekend go to:

Duffus (a.k.a. East Coast) always gives out their most coveted award at the end of the year. This year it couldn't be limited to just one huge horse's ass trophy.

Clay Aulbach was a shoe in for the annual award because of his continued support of other racers in 2019.

I'm guessing the big surprise was the matching award was given to Mark Kingham. Phil's son could be said to be the only "staff" that Rand and Marcinski had while they managed the Series. Mark was always available to deliver grid sheets, results, run errands, and be the series general gopher. I think he was super surprised to get the much deserved award.

[Purple Frog]

More news from the social...

Wayne Nicolette dug up a October 5 1968 copy of Competition Press with the article reporting the beginning of Formula Ford in the U. S. of A. He then made a bunch of copies on thick stock paper and presented them to all present.

A really nice touch to the 50th celebration.

[Purple Frog]

Jowe was handing out some nice 50th bling.

Decals Pins Patches

[Earley Motorsports]

The whole weekend was a blast. Absolutely a 50th to remember with a big thanks to Joe and Mike. Absolutely amazing racing even for us back markers. Plenty of races within the race. Thanks to all and what a great series. Thanks and see you next year.

[Purple Frog]

Graham's 1971 Lotus 61 was so beautiful!
He ran on treaded tyres i believe.
It was the perfect example to have to show the many generations of cars in the field.

Being that i was afforded the honor of sitting between Ed Conway and Scott Conway calling races from the tower I didn't get to take on track pictures.
Here is one of Saturday's grid for qualifying. It was so cool to see so many FFs on a grid.
And... check out that beautiful ARRC November sky.
Flag shows wind behind your back on the back straight. Perfect conditions.

[swiftdrivr]

Wow, what a weekend! There were battles throughout the field, intence racing, perfect weather, and lots of comradarie in the paddock and at the socials. This was the first time I had run with the Right Coast group, and it won't be the last. Everyone was super-friendly, and really into FF and racing. It was really cool to get the Competition Press article to add to my FF trivia collection, and Mike Rand had programs from the 20th FF celebration which he shared with everyone. [Even saw a familiar name in the participants list!] Old friends I hadn't seen in a decade came out to run, and many new friends were made. Tim Voth, Keith Hall and I had the most intense race of my racing career, all leading at some point, and swapping that lead probably 20 time in a twenty lap race. It was so intense and aggressive that I couldn't turn the wheel without checking my mirrors first, but really clean. Tim made a super pass on the inside of the bridge, and it felt like the 80s runoffs for a second. It was awesome, laughing-in-your-helmet kind of fun. I'll post some photos later, but this was an event to remember. Many thanks go out to Joe and Mike, to Dave Weitzenhoff for coming out to run with guys who used to watch him from the inside of the track, and to everyone who came and made the event what it was.

[recaryob]

This weekend was probably the most complete weekend of outstanding, clean, intense racing that I have experienced since joining the FF ranks. The wheel to wheel racing with Ryan Bjerke on Saturday and with both Ryan and John Robinson on Sunday was fantastic. Passing just about every lap and many times several times a lap. The only thing that could have been better is if all of that had been for the lead. After Sunday morning's 15 lap race, I wasnt quite sure how we would be able to keep that intensity up for a full 20 laps, so we kind of stayed in line on purpose for the first 2/3s of the afternoon race.

I have to hand it to Simon Sikes and Rice Race Prep. Simon was in a class all by himself all weekend. While it would make me feel better to say there were some engine shenanigans, the limited wheel to wheel, on track experience I had with Simon would suggest otherwise. While I did turn 40 this year, I am not quite ready concede ALL of that 1.5 seconds to the shoe behind the wheel. . Congrats to both Simon and to Greg for prepping a fine ride.

[swiftdrivr]

I have to hand it to Simon Sikes and Rice Race Prep. Simon was in a class all by himself all weekend. While it would make me feel better to say there were some engine shenanigans, the limited wheel to wheel, on track experience I had with Simon would suggest otherwise. While I did turn 40 this year, I am not quite ready concede ALL of that 1.5 seconds to the shoe behind the wheel. . Congrats to both Simon and to Greg for prepping a fine ride.

The kids so good, he only needed three wheels for the final lap!

[problemchild]

It was too bad that the other top Pro teams and their world class drivers chose not to support the event, but it is a long season, budgets are gone, etc. After waiting 10 years for this event, I was not going to pull our entries, or pull Simon, and we went to have fun and prepare for 2020. Sorry that we stunk up the show, but there was lots of great racing on display. Anybody who skipped the event because of potential weather, sure got that wrong. It was spectacular!

I have to thank Joe, Mike, Mark, and the Right Coast community for letting us be part of this special event.

Congratulations to Phil Kingham on his success. Having driven around him, and watched him, he is a master at hanging around and staying out of trouble. When there is trouble around him, even a bobble, he avoids it, goes like hell to get the gap he needs ....... at which point, the race is all but over. To do that repeatedly, as he did 3X at the ARRC, and all year apparently, is a special skill.

[Joe Marcinski]

Hi,

Brief reply to a couple of the questions above.

The ARRC race was shortened because the Atlanta Region made a terribly flawed assumption and sent a grid sheet that showed a split start; F5, followed by CF then FF. The Right Coast series has/had no say in the ARRC portion of the program, but we did point this out as not being necessary for the FF/CF portion of that race group. Apparently fell upon deaf ears. The confusion on the grid sent our race group into a timed race rather than the full 20 laps, hence the 14 lap race.

No cars/drivers/teams were busted for removal of Honda restrictor plates. There was an issue between two teams. One of the teams drivers told the driver of the other team the MPH peak that he as seeing on the straight. That was relayed to the team principles and they decided to remove the restrictor to see if that might explain the top end speed differential. The experiment yielded an exact match for top end MPH. The word of this began to circulate in the paddock and some drivers came to Mike and I and asked what we were going to do about it.

Before we even had time to decide; the team principle who had pulled the restrictor came to Mike and I admitted to doing it with the explanation that I have written above. We thanked him for his candor and honesty. I then went to each of the team principles and explained what we knew. I got them to agree to a mutual inspection of each others restrictors in the impound after the FF only 50th Anniversary race. The inspection took place and restrictors were present in all the Hondas that were inspected and NO illegal/oversize restrictors were found.

I thanked both principles for being incredibly civil regarding that and we all moved on to the 50th Anniversary feature race.

I will follow up with a race report in a day or two, but the racing all weekend was fantastic.

Joe Marcinski

[problemchild]

Having watched the Saturday race as a spotter on the outside of corner 11, I can provide an overview that most involved cannot know.. I agree with Mike's assessment. The F500s made a complete mess of everything, showing no respect for their fellow racers, in any of the classes, including their own. We disagreed within our team, whether the pole-sitter went too fast a pace, or whether the 2nd starter refused to keep up, but the initial start was waved off, and then they did not reorganize for a 2nd attempt but came around in single file and spread out. The starter did not go green at that point (again), but did for the FF/CF pack, catching some off guard. As it turns out, that was the best and only option they had, as the only other choice was to black flag all and regrid everybody for another start attempt. As much as I hate to, I have to once again state my opinion that the SCCA officials made the best of a bad situation, and were again saved by the excellent racing of our class racers. I would have sent the two lead F500s home without trophies, but with points on their license. Not sure who was to blame for the initial wave-off but the pole-sitter definitely was in the wrong for not reforming the grid for a 2nd start attempt.

Clearly, the SCCA official assigned to be Joe's contact, was not doing a proper job of communicating with his fellow officials, but fortunately our group did a great job, once off the grid, and did not give the SCCA people much opportunity to mess up the actual on-track competition.

[swiftdrivr]

. After waiting 10 years for this event, I was not going to pull our entries, or pull Simon, and we went to have fun and prepare for 2020. Sorry that we stunk up the show,

Seeing such talent put on a driving display in a legal Formula Ford is not "stinking up the show", it is a show. Well done, and glad you came.

The grid goof-ups and green-flag timing were a small irritant at worst. The racing was fabulous, as were the competitors, the weather and the venue. I had a great time, and from the smiles and comments, I think most everyone else did too.

[swiftdrivr]

A couple of pics to start things off. I hope others have video [Tim Voth, are you listening?]

[Anyone know how to rotate a picture?]

[swiftdrivr]

Here is one for Keith Hall. Drove from Colorado for the event, and was turning great times almost from his first lap [well, after the distributor got fixed]

[stonebridge20]

Nice article here:

http://www.racintoday.com/archives/6...tBM#more-64772

[MikeR]

What a weekend of racing. Standing in pit lane watching all of the FFs and CFFs come under the bridge, down the hill, and race down the pit straight, swapping positions into turn one, lap after lap, was a sight to behold. There was incredible racing action throughout the field in every race this past weekend.

Unfortunately it was back to work and I haven't had much time to post video of the races. Finally, here is the first installment. This is video of the Saturday afternoon ARRC race. I hope you enjoy it. I'll be posting video of the Sunday morning FF50th CFF only race and the Sunday afternoon FF50th combined FF and CFF race over the next couple of days.

Saturday afternoon ARRC race:

https://youtu.be/FlqCtuVlIKk

[MikeR]

Here is more of the action from Sunday.

Sunday morning FF 50th CFF race:
https://youtu.be/PLCjaX2A7mM

Sunday afternoon FF 50th combined FF / CFF race:
https://youtu.be/j9ZBu7bmyeE

[swiftdrivr]

That was some prety intence racing! Thanks for posting it.

[Michael Rand]

Intense....to be precise

[DaveW]

That was some prety intence racing! Thanks for posting it.

Yup! Neat stuff!

[marshall9]

Awesome video, thx

[Garey Guzman]

....Saturday afternoon ARRC race:

https://youtu.be/FlqCtuVlIKk

Great video! It must've been a lot more fun for people NOT punted in turn 10a of the first lap!

[swiftdrivr]

Gary,
Sorry to hear you got punted. I hope you got some good laps in during the other races. I spun in 5 [un-forced error, so nobody to fuss at but me] and lost 5 places or so in the ARRC race, but I managed to keep going and get a few of them back. It looked like several cars were not as lucky. I saw 2 go off and not return, including Sam, who did some weekend-fatal but not too severe damage to his very pretty club ford. I hope everyone and their rides are not significantly worse for the wear, and had as good a time as I did.

[andyllc]

https://youtu.be/7100q7TYb8U

Here is the battle between Kevin Brumbaugh and Mike Rand in Sunday mornings race. .001 separated the two at the finish line.

I didn't have much time to edit so fast forward to the 7 minute mark to get to the race actually starting.

[Earley Motorsports]

I saw 2 go off and not return, including Sam, who did some weekend-fatal but not too severe damage to his very pretty club ford. I hope everyone and their rides are not significantly worse for the wear, and had as good a time as I did.

I was right there with you going under the bridge when that happened. Difficult to see where he was. Yes it was a great weekend.

[swiftdrivr]

https://youtu.be/7100q7TYb8U

Here is the battle between Kevin Brumbaugh and Mike Rand in Sunday mornings race. .001 separated the two at the finish line.

I didn't have much time to edit so fast forward to the 7 minute mark to get to the race actually starting.

Interesting camera angle; Never thought of using a camera as a hood-ornament! I see that shifting problems were common over the weekend. DW and Graham were working on issues with their gearboxes, and I had issues too. Unfortunately, my biggest problem was when I GOT a gear, but it wasn't the one I wanted. Foot to the floor, exiting 12 in a crowd, went for forth and found second. 7900 RPM! But it held together for 2 more laps. Rollin builds good stuff! [Got to do a leakdown test today and see if I damaged anything.]