Grattan EWC Results?

[Bill Bonow]

I was there, running in group 1, and FF/CFF was group 2. I didn't watch the Saturday or Sunday race (impound ) and was curious who finished where. I read that 15 cars ran in the group, which isn't all that bad considering that the BFR National was 200 miles away.

[mblanc]

It was Incredible, unbelievable racing!! Thankfully, a couple of late register CFF's showed up so we met the tire contingency minimums and had a decent field. Mike Baden, (young kid from Indy in a really fast in a Zink Z10 CFF) had overall pole saturday, on rains, on a fairly
wet track. I had a great start, and led the group for almost 3 laps. Baden, Dave Harmison and
I battled the entire dry race. Multiple passes in multiple corners, was in 3rd at 1 lap to go, took the lead, dave almost spun, busted his nose off on my LRear tire in "the bowl" and should have collected my Crossle but somehow didn't. Those that saw the video know what I mean. I continued on to win CFF by 0.406 seconds to Baden, then Harmison, who set fast CFF lap at 1:26.764. CFF 2nd through 4th overall, ahead of all R60 shod FF's.
Don't know too much about FF race, other than Scott Hanba won overall, and took fast lap of 1:26.439 with FF victory at 27.6 seconds. Pat McCammon 2nd, and a young Brandon Abbott doing a good job finishing 3rd.

Day two, Q on drying track w/ slicks. Harmison had the CFF pole, outside front row, then inside line row 2 through 5 was CFF, me, Baden, Lindstrand, and Neylon. I took early CFF lead, same incredible battle for entire race. No busted noses this time, right Dave? Last lap, Harmison drafted me up front straight, and finished 0.113 seconds behind, no I should say beside me. So it was Blanc, Harmison, and Baden. Harmison set fast CFF lap again at 1:24.815.

The FF's that ran R60's seemed to be on a steep learning curve for dealing with hard tires in cold/wet weather weekend. Lots of spins and off's. I think Mike Baden was the only driver not to spin over the entire weekend.

Scott Hanba won FF and overall again by only 0.227 seconds over a good run to 2nd by Gary Godula w/ Jim Dietz setting fast FF and overall lap at 1:24.079. Pat McCammon 3rd. Dan Faust was penalized 30 seconds per Chief Steward. Jim Dietz was penalized 1 lap per SOM. Don't know what happened there.

If you weren't there, you missed an incredible weekend of racing. 10 FF's and 5 CFF's which was great considering the other events going on, the weather forecasts.

Don't miss out, plan on being at BFR for "THE FIRECRACKER" ON July 5-6. I'm sure there will be plenty of Fireworks for everyone!

[Scott Hanba]

Saturday Results
1) Scott Hanba FF
2) Marc Blanc CFF
3) Michael Baden CFF
4) David Harmison CFF
5) Pat McCammon FF
6) Bruce Lindstrand CFF
7) Brandon Abbott FF
8) Gary Godula FF
9) Michael Neylon FF
10) Gordy Good FF

Sunday
1) Scott Hanba FF
2) Gary Godula FF
3) Marc Blanc CFF
4) David Harmison CFF
5) Michael Baden CFF
6) Pat McCammon FF
7) Bruce Lindstrand CFF
8) Brandon Abbott FF
9) Michael Neylon CFF
10) Daniel Faust FF

I agree with Marc that it was a BLAST and great racing, despite constantly changing track conditions.

I had a bad start on Saturday and Gordy chased me down. We split Marc on the 3rd lap going into turn 1, myself inside and Gordy outside, and Gordy spun. Apparently there was a lot going on mid-pack with some people getting sidelined before the first lap was done.

On Sunday I got a better start, had Gary on my tail from about the 7th lap on and three laps from the end Jim Dietz caught us and went into the lead. We were nose to tail (Jim actually had a couple car lengths on us) until the last lap when traffic came into play. Jim had an incident trying to lap a car in turn 3 which allowed me to get the lead again and hold off Gary by 0.2 sec.

Congrats to Gary and Brandon on a good job in their first visits to Grattan. I can't wait for BHF.

[csrazzle]

I have been waiting for a summary, Thanks Marc! I feel more needs to be said about the EWC races. Marc was not making a false claim, the competition was great. The front CFF's were not more than a couple of feet apart for two days of racing as witnessed by Dave's nose job!(grin) It is great to have prizes for these efforts. The bar was raised at Grattan by the CFF field in that great efforts by the entire CFF field made a time of 1:27 seem ordinary. (Mike and Bruce are going to be in the mix when they choose.)This would have pressed for the win in better track conditions at Grattan last fall. Steve has done a great job promoting this series and I hope everyone will support him by turning out. We had to struggle to get to the track, work schedules, car repairs etc but it was worth it. The FF race was fun as Marc stated, the FF worked to understand the R60's. Great job on interpretation Jim. I believe the R60 rule for FF does jam the field a bit with CFF and we had our moments, I also believe it is confusing as some FF's continue to run on soft tires. This is a cen div issue and not an EWC issue. I feel it should be one way or the other, spec or soft uniformly. But, if you want to bench race with a great group in the evening, and race nose to tail in the day in CFF or FF try the EWC series.

[Gary Godula]

Grattan and the EWC was a blast. Wonderful racing with 15 cars on the grid. I had a RR rocker collapse on me on Saturday and managed to stay on track on three wheels. A huge thank you to Brian Burke (CFC Reynard) who was able to trade spares with me when needed.

Sunday was a giggle. I got an excellent start, went around Pat and slid into third by turn 1. I was thanking Tom Andresen for a killer engine the whole way down the front straight. I was on Scott's tail from about lap 3 on, and was content to sit there for a while and learn the track. I was faster in turns 5 thru 7, but did not have the room to pass. I tried him in the toilet bowl a couple of times, but got loose and Jim got around me. I did not have enough rear tire or rear suspension droop to hold it flat thru turn 9 to get a run down the front stretch. Scott drove a great race. We raced clean, he protected his line well, treated traffic gently, and stayed fast even though both of us were running out of rear tires.

Damn that was fun. Now I wish my on-board video camara had not failed. It would have been an awesome tape.....could have sold it for $$$.

The only negative comment for the weekend, besides the morning dampness, was that all of the formula cars were in the first three run groups, so that we could not watch or crew for those classes. Minor issue in the long run.

Again congrats to Scott for his double, to Steve for putting together a great series, and to the entire EWC field for a very fun weekend. We need more like this......gmg [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Frank C]

Gary:
It seems that you are very rapidly getting the hang of applying longer periods of concentration! How does it compare to solo and did you do your course walk?
- Frank C

[Gary Godula]

Frank,

Yes, I did a track walk on Saturday after dinner. I needed to know where most of the dips and jumps were. It is more difficult to walk a road course and learn something than it is a solo course as the speed differences are huge and things that are small or possibly missed on a walk (dips, pavement changes, ect) may have a big affect in the race.

As for a comparison to solo for concentration, solo is still mentally more intense as you are dealing which multiple turns and more difficulty knowing where to go. The car is never straight, the events are more tightly bunched, and I just feel much more rushed in solo than I do in road racing. The fact that I am more competitive and experienced in solo than I am in road racing may be affecting this perception.

Overall, solo is more intense over a shorter period of time and road racing is intense over a long period of time. I feel just as mentally exhausted, and satisfied, when I compete well in either. The competition level in the Formula Ford class in both is very intense and you have to drive your a$$ off to win in either. I think both forms of racing have their place and their purpose and that neither one is better or more deserving than the other. Other people may not agree with this opinion, which is fine.

I have a hell of a lot to learn in road racing, and with events like this one at Grattan I will be learning fast. The problem is, so will everyone else. Hmmmm.........gmg

[Steve B]

Many thanks to Marc Blanc, Joe Fisher, and Cindy Lindstrand for sending me results from what was by all accounts a great weekend of Formula Ford racing. I am still missing a couple of things before I can publish driver/team points and contingency awards:

- Saturday/Sunday qualifying results
- Dan Faust's tires (spec R60 or stickies)

If you help with either of these questions, please call or e-mail.

Steve Beeler
Lola T-540 HU44
home: (734)416-8865 thebeelers@peoplepc.com
office: (313)390-1818 sbeeler@ford.com

[dc]

[mblanc]

bump
couldn't resist, it's such a great picture, as it was such a great series. Thanks again Steve Beeler, Hoosier Tire and everybody else.

[csrazzle]

It was a lot of fun at Grattan. Michael has been doing rain dances ever since. I prefer dry warm weather myself. Hope to get some ARRC photos posted to share if I can get some help. I think everyone should dig action photos out and post so those of us in the northern states can continue to get our doses of CF/FF racing.