Auto Club Speedway (Fontana) MAJORS, Jan 29-31, 2016

Brian Linn

Brian Linn

Well-known member
With about 10 days to go, we have reasonable entries for the small bore group. We're grouped with STL and T4 and have 30 cars in the group. SM, which has it's own group, currently has 10 entries. Tom Tuttle, now in one of the Saurino Midgets, and I may switch to GTL on Sunday, while Huffaker will likely do the opposite.

2 .. Droese, Brandon .. E Production .. 1987 Mazda RX7 .. Goleta, CA
50 .. Jimerson, Anthony .. E Production .. 1986 Mazda rx 7 .. benicia, CA
13 .. Larsson, Toby .. E Production .. 1994 BMW 325is M-Technic .. Anaheim, CA
138 .. Longwell, John .. E Production .. 1977 BMW 320i .. Fallbrook, CA
96 .. Swifts, Kale .. E Production .. 1990 Mazda RX7 .. Surrey, BC

3 .. Eisele, R. Inness .. F Production .. 1991 BMW 318i .. Evergreen, CO
21 .. Linn, Brian .. F Production .. 1972 MG Midget .. Hermosa Beach, CA
98 .. Murph, Gary .. F Production .. 1970 Opel GT .. Bellflower, CA
7 .. Okell, Bill .. F Production .. 1992 Austin Healey .. Victoria, BC
66 .. Parks, Michael .. F Production .. 1975 MG Midget .. Benicia, CA
11 .. Tuttle, Tom .. F Production .. 1975 MG Midget .. Windsor, CA

44 .. Bower, John .. GT-Lite .. 1994 Nissan Sentra .. Granada Hills, CA
38 .. Ermish, Troy .. GT-Lite .. 1971 Datsun 510 .. Tracy, CA
77 .. Huffaker, Joe .. GT-Lite .. 1972 MG Midget .. Petaluma, CA
95 .. Linerud, Tim .. GT-Lite .. 1983 Volkswagen GTI .. Belmont, CA

5 .. Bachman, Mike .. H Production .. 1960 Sprite MK I .. San Jose, CA
32 .. Cummings, Michael .. H Production .. 1964 Austin Healey Sprite .. Martinez, CA
37 .. Hussey, Steven .. H Production .. 1990 Honda CR-X .. Los Altos, CA
99 .. Isley, Jason .. H Production .. 2015 Toyota Yaris .. Coto de Caza, CA
43 .. Markos, Cory .. H Production .. 1987 Honda CRX Si .. Riverside, CA
144 .. Valentine, Ben .. H Production .. 1970 MG Midget .. Fullerton, CA
33 .. Wittman, Gary .. H Production .. 1961 Austin Healey Sprite .. Costa Mesa, CA
 
138 .. Longwell, John .. E Production .. 1977 BMW 320i .. Fallbrook, CA
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John is probably running his trusty 328is in EP. The 77 320i is an FP car anyway.

3 .. Eisele, R. Inness .. F Production .. 1991 BMW 318i .. Evergreen, CO
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Really good to see Inness coming back out.
 
Here are Sat's results: http://cdn.growassets.net/user_files/scca/downloads/000/012/200/Gr_1_Sat_Race.pdf?1454254279
and Sun's: http://cdn.growassets.net/user_files/scca/downloads/000/012/222/Gr_1_Feature_Race.pdf?1454340200

Tom Tuttle (in ex-Saurino MG) and I ran FP on Sat and GTL on Sun while Huffkaer did the opposite. We had asked for a split start between the slick tire/DOT tire cars. Unfortunately it wasn't clarified that cars that can run slicks but choose to run DOT can start with the slick tired cars. So grid made GTL of John Bower start in the back with the DOT tires since that's what he was running. He still set the lap record (faster than Huffaker) with them, but couldn't get to the front. I hooked up with Huffaker and just tried to stay with him because Inness in his BWM was right behind us. Joe was trying to eke out one more session from his Runoffs tires (had run them the previous sessions this weekend) and they weren't a match for my new tires. As much as I thought I was doing a good job hanging with him, I knew that he had an extra 100lbs of GTL weight in the car. I got around Joe with about 1.5 lap to go and gapped him a bit, only to see him and Inness drafting together and making up a huge amount of space. Joe went for the outside to outbrake me coming off the oval, which would have given him the inside for the next. He almost did it, but I had the corner and was able to hold the lead to the finish.

On Sunday there had been rain forecast all week. We were racing at 9:05am and it was still dry at 8:30, but then started to sprinkle. You could see it raining to the north at the base of the mountains. I choose slicks as I figure many others did. As soon as we pulled out for the pace lap, it started to rain a little harder. By half way it was truly wet. Isley in his FWD yaris had no problems (not sure what tire) and drove to the front. Soon Hussey was past me in his FWD Honda. Huffaker was on some fresh hand-grooved slicks that were the right call for at least the first part of the race. I did a quick spin early on with a poor downshift. As it track got wetter, visibility got worse and I just wanted to bring it home in one piece and drive it into the trailer. I had the rain tires sitting right next to the car, shuolda woulda coulda.... Lucky to get a win in GTL. They didn't give us a split start on this day after the problems on pre-grid the previous day. Bower who had the GTL lap record and Isley touched in the first real corner and that spun Bower.

Good to be back in a MG, but that Mazdaspeed contingency money sure was nice! Oh well, onwards and upwards.

Great to meet Inness and look forward to having some more close racing at Willow Springs!
 
It was good to see healthy Prod fields in all three classes, the last few years FP has been a ghost town out west, but Huffaker seem to be on a mission to change that - damn there were a lot of black cars out there. :lol:

I was disappointed to see a couple of H cars missing, on Saturday, I know Bobby was having some ECU issues with his Yaris and the Honda boys blew up their Fit at the 25 hours. Hopefully they can join us at Willow Springs.

I was a little disappointed with how the idea of a split start was seemingly discouraged on Saturday. I mentioned it to an official one on one earlier in the day, and during the drivers meeting it seemed as though it was not even going to get a mention. Brian and I spoke up and we were given a split start (GT/Prod-ST/T). But it sounds like someone wanted it to fail. Rumor has it a couple of DOT shod cars from the GT/Prod group were forced to start with the ST/T pack. :shock: Not sure if that is true or not, I know the pole sitter for the group was an EP car on DOTs, and he started up front. I have never seen them do a split start based on the actual tires on the car, it is always by class. If an ST guy would have ran slicks would you move him up? Don't think so. Not sure what actually took place, but it seemed like someone did not want split starts and found a way to justify killing it for Sunday, and reportedly the rest of the west coast season. :ask:

Saturdays race conditions were epic, it was cool with little wind and the track seemed pretty clean, I think five classes in our group reset track records. I think Steve had some type of ECU issue and DNS. I got to see some great racing up front from the E/F/GTL guys.

Like many on Sunday I had prepared for the wet. I installed the wiper, defroster, Rain-X anti-fog and rain tires Saturday night. But we were greeted by mostly dry conditions Sunday AM. Changed back to slicks and headed for grid. Fortunately I had left the wiper and defrost on, as it started to rain while sitting on grid. And it only got worse as the race went on. Everyone was really bunched up on the start, thanks in part to the lack of the split start, and everyone seemed real conservative in the oval on the first lap. Getting down to Turn 3 (the first real turn at ACS) we were three wide, Brian outside, John in the middle and I was inside. As we got to the cone that marks the inside of T3 (I think I could have reached out and grabbed it) the door got closed on me. I tried to give more brake but it was to late, my right front got John in the left rear and he spun. :( Not sure what happen to him after that, he ended up several laps down. Steve gave me a chase in the rain, and was a good bit quicker, but he had some fogging issue so he smartly pulled in for rains and a wipe down. That would have been a lot more fun on rain tires, just happy to have survived.
 
Well, yes, both John and I were in the 2nd pack of DOT cars. I don't think it's too difficult for T&S to just make up a grid sheet that has B-Spec, T4 and STL are in the 2nd group, and GTL, EP, FP, and HP in the first group.

John did run on DOT tires on Friday, since he said he didn't want to burn up his slicks.

It didn't make any difference to me but it was pretty rotten for John, since he and Joe would've had a hell of a race for the GTL win. Joe even mentioned it on the podium to John "Where were you, I was expecting to see you up front with me"

Oh well, glad they abandoned it on Sunday. I enjoyed my first visit to ACS, and if I come back, I'll need some more gearing, or go with some larger tires. I was already at terminal velocity by S/F and was just hanging on, listening to my mice under the hood SCREAMING, the rest of the way around NASCAR 1-2.

Sunday's race in the wet was a real challenge for everybody. This was the first time I've run this car in the rain, and EVERYTHING leaked. There was more standing water in the floor pans than everywhere else, except for turns 18-19. I've never hydroplaned with slicks and a locked front diff, but I did it there. I thought I had lost a CV joint again, so I backed out of it on the banking, but everything was fine, so I keep on going.

John spun again, and had visibility issues, and pitted and put on rain tires, but his visibility problems forced him to just putt around. He did finish in 4th, and completed more than 1/2 the laps, so he got credit with a finish.

Need to get more Rain-X for the rear Lexan hatch as well. And get the soap anti-fog treatment on both windows.

Towing back home over the GrapeVine was also a challenge, with the winds and the snow.

All in all a good weekend with 3rd place finishes both days.
 
racer_tim":1z74x3p4 said:
Well, yes, both John and I were in the 2nd pack of DOT cars. I don't think it's too difficult for T&S to just make up a grid sheet that has B-Spec, T4 and STL are in the 2nd group, and GTL, EP, FP, and HP in the first group.
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I have never seen that done before for a split start, that should not have happened. And the pole sitting EP car qual and raced on DOTs without being moved.
 
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