SATURDAY"S RACE #1 brought the American
Iron racers on track. With John George on pole position and
the AI points leader, Rich Dickey starting from the back (due
to a missed qualifying session), all eyes were on the two fastest
AI cars now at either end of the rolling start grid. When the
green flag dropped, Dickey took to the inside and used his 360
ft/lbs of torque to motor up into the top 5 before turn 2. Richard
Dickey's fastest lap of 1:57:45 in his Camaro just wasn't enough
to stay with the higher HP of John George's Mustang. After a
few laps of close racing, John George pulled out in front of
the pack and never looked back to take the win after 15 laps.
Dickey took second place. Todd Covini managed his first AI podium
finish in third place only after Richard Pedersen's Mustang
ran out of fuel with a comfortable lead.
SATURDAY RACE #2 gridded the AI/CMC
cars in the inverted finishing order from Race #1. This race
would start after only 20 minutes of the Race #1 finish, leaving
little time to fuel up and check for potential car problems.
With the lower HP cars of Covini and Pedersen out front, it
was only a matter of seconds when the high HP cars of George
and Dickey would come around and take the front positions. When
the green flag dropped, John George was back up in the front
before turn 1, with Dickey in the chase. Covini got right on
Pedersen's bumper and proceeded to learn the veteran's line
around TWS. The two battled for third place lap after lap less
than a car length away. With two laps to go, Pedersen's rear
tires started to go away and got sideways out of Turn 2. At
that point Covini pulled along Pedersen's passenger side and
the two went door to door all the way to the back straight where
Pedersen's lighter weight allowed him to regain his lead. In
the end, it was John George, Richard Dickey and Richard Pedersen
in that order on the Podium.
SUNDAY MORNING QUALIFYING would bring
out fresh tires and a fresh outlook on the day's racing to find
more speed. Todd Covini felt that he was losing speed and losing
ground on Richard Pedersen's wingless car on the front straight
during Saturday's races. In order, the top qualifiers were George
(1:56:57), Dickey (1:58:34), Covini (2:01:37) and Pedersen (2:01:93).
Covini found more speed with the absence of his wing, however,
at the cost of rear downforce in the high speed sections.
SUNDAY'S RACE #3 gridded the field
in qualifying order. After the green flag dropped, the similar
scenario followed with John George taking the lead with Richard
Dickey taking up the chase. John's Mustang was able to hang
on to the race lead. Todd Covini's wingless Mustang was able
to take a comfortable lead early in the race for third against
Richard Pedersen, however, Pedersen slowly reeled Covini in
by using superior exit speed on the final turn and making the
pass on the front straight. Late in the race, Covini went off
in Turn 1 at full speed handing Pedersen the podium 3rd place
finish and taking home 4th for himself. Rookie David Donovan
dropped 2 seconds of his lap times and finished behind Covini.
In the end it was George, Dickey and Pedersen for the 1-2-3.
SUNDAY'S RACE #4 was gridded for a
rolling start based upon the inverted finishing order of the
previous Race #3. During the short 20 minute break from Race
#3, Covini bolted his wing back on his Mustang in the interest
of downforce. When the green flag dropped, again it was John
George's 5.0 Resto Mustang out in front with his 325 HP taking
the lead. Dickey chased but never was able to take the lead.
Pedersen got an early lead on Covini for 3rd but after getting
off line on the start gathered a lot of loose rubber on his
tires. At the exit of turn 2, Pedersen began sliding and Covini
was well on his way to taking 3rd place...with Donavan close
behind in this trio of speed! Rookie David Donovan found the
speed he needed and dropped 5 seconds off his Saturday qualifying
time cutting a 2:02:99 and running with the pack! Unfortunately,
his success was short lived as on Lap 3, Donovan's AI engine
locked up after shifting to 4th on the front straight. A broken
crank and the end of David's weekend. Covini & Pedersen continued
their bumper to bumper battle for third with Richard taking
back his position with a textbook pass on the straight again
with good exit speed and drafting on lap 5. In Turn 6, Pedersen
drove the standard line under braking and Covini dove to the
inside for a clean pass. Again, Pedersen took it back on the
front straight with one lap to go. Covini didn't have anything
for the Pedersen Mustang and it was George, Dickey, Pedersen
taking home podium finishes.
In summary, most everyone again had a blast
at this NASA Texas event. Most importantly, there were no incidents
and no issues. The comeradie in the pits was at an all-time
high as everyone pitched in to help their fellow racers get
back on track for racing or licensing. Many new rookies were
able to take advantage of lead-follows and many of the track
veterans were able to offer instruction and rides. For every
racer that competed at TWS, there were twice as many inquiries
from future AI racers at the track and via email this week.
Expect to see more F-bodies soon....the American Iron series
is growing in Texas!!!
TRACK RECORDS* MSR
1:23:704
John George (AI) 3/7/04
MSR
1:26:609
Todd Covini (CMC) 3/6/04
TWS
1:56:188
John George (AI) 4/3/04
TWS
2:01:391
Todd Covini (CMC) 4/3/04
Hallett
TBD
* Track records only recorded from races in
race trim.
HARD LUCK AWARD goes to Wayne Manor
again for beginning his TWS weekend with engine troubles only
after spending the past few weeks removing and replacing his
prior engine. A close second for this award goes to Mike Patterson
who sat out this round of AI racing due to a damaged engine
in his Camaro. While Mike assumed his regular instructing duties
this weekend, his tow vehicle broke a coolant fitting requiring
most of Saturday nite to fix. We hope to see both racers have
a successful weekend next round at Motorsport Ranch!
2004 NASA TEXAS CMC CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON
POINTS as of 4/7/04
1 395 Varner (CMC) 2 395 Covini (CMC) 3 380 Ginsberg (CMC) 4
0 Zazzarino (CMC) 5 0 Bishop (CMC) 6 0 Runyan (CMC)
2004 NASA TEXAS AI CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON
POINTS AS OF 4/7/04
1 760 Dickey (AI) 2 746 George (AI) 3 680 Pedersen (AI) 4 340
Bell (AI) 5 325 Covini (AI) 6 257 Donovan (AI) 7 155 Patterson
(AI) 8 70 Johnson (AI) 9 70 Mixon(AI) 10 35 Manor (AI) 11 0
Mosty (AI) 12 0 Armstrong (AI) 13 0 White (AI) 14 0 King (AI)
15 0 Kinman (AI)
