All four 2004 FF/CFF East vs West Challenge double regional weekends are now set and its the best EWC schedule yet: great tracks, motivated partner regions, minimal conflicts with other CENDIV races, and a nearly perfect one race per month cadence.
May 29-30 @ Grattan Raceway Park (Western Michigan Region)
July 10-11 @ Blackhawk Farms Raceway (Blackhawk Valley Region)
August 14-15 @ Road America (Chicago Region)
September 11-12 @ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Ohio Valley Region)
Even with the down economy in 2003, we had a good series. A total of 53 drivers contested one or more race weekends. However, the average entry was only 22 cars as very few drivers towed through Chicago to race on the other side of the lake. Getting people over Chicagophobia is a must. The math is simple: if every driver had enterered just one more EWC weekend, the average car count would have been in the mid 30s.
To that end, there will be some changes in 2004. The best six of eight races will count towards the driver's championship. Drivers must appear at races on both sides of the lake to be eligible for end-of-season contingency awards. There will be no spec tire Formula Ford class.
Two things that are working just fine won't be changed. Club Fords will continue to run the Hoosier R60. The hotly contested East vs West team champiosnhip will again be based on the sum of FF/CFF driver points.
To increase our bargaining power for single race groups for FF/CFF, there will be a concurrent EWC series for FVee/FFirst. It was a winning strategy last fall at Mid-Ohio to pool our driver recruiting efforts with the Volkswagen powered brigade and we'll do more of the same in 2004. This cooperation will increase the already high visibility of the EWC and provide our sponsors better promotional value and our partner regions even bigger entries.
And if all that is not enough, we'll have the usual surprise and delights: photo gallery poster, Saturday evening tech talks and prize drawings, and more.
More news on contingency awards and driver recruiting to follow as it becomes available. Put these weekends on your calendar. Do it NOW.
Steve Beeler
Lola T-540 HU44
home: (734)416-8865 sbeeler@wowway.com
office: (313)390-1818 sbeeler@ford.com
P.S. Please note the new e-mail address. My family has multiple e-mail accounts with this ISP and we are having some problems receiving mail in the wrong in-box. If you are concerned that I have not received your e-mail, resend it to my office e-mail. The thebeelers@peoplepc.com e-mail address will not be active much longer.
