Route 66 Classic 2009
California Speedway
March 6-8
By Jake Grubb | Photos by Gil Murrieta
Awhile back, a well-heeled buddy of mine invited me to a Mercedes Benz promo day at Auto Club Speedway. This was one of those affairs that allows visitors to “experience” various models of Mercedes Benz cars in autocross, slalom and on-track venues, under the guidance pro driver instructors.
Upon arrival, we encountered a drivers’s meeting room that was converted to a white-tableclothed buffet of prime rib and lobster, napkin-laden place settings, and plastic champagne wine glasses filled with our choices of bottled euro-waters. Among other special corporate touches, two well known pro drivers addressed the comfortable audience of would-be drivers with endearing war stories of their races at Indy, and other yarns.
Aside from a dizzying disorientation born of this unfamiliar Cal Speedway atmosphere and decor, I found myself elapsing into a kind of sensory vertigo upon entering the normally race-utilitarian pit bathroom, and found it adorned throughout with pastel-colored scented candles, mounted on tinted glass plates with fresh floral decorations…and that was only the beginning…
Needless to say — the varied sights, cacophony of sounds, and open exhaust scents of March 4, 2009 were a familiar and welcome indicator of Auto Club Speedway “VARA style.” And it didn’t hurt a bit that the Saturday/Sunday weather was perfection and racer turn-out was robust in all classes, for this first VARA race of the 2009 season.
After a productive Friday of practice and a fast-paced Saturday of heat races — including the once-again wonder of a brigade of visiting Indy cars from muliple eras — Sunday’s action was end-to-end pure racing and all-out fun.
VARA kicked off the 2009 season with a visit from the thundering Historic Nascars, which comported themselves as all Nascar racecars should: loud, fast, raucous, and racey! The first five cars in Sunday’s flag race nearly eclipsed each other in best lap times, with four of them separated by a total of less than three tenths, and the quickest (Craig Johnson in his Dodge) just four tenths quicker than his closest rival, Wes McNay in his Pontiac. All of the top five lapped the full Auto Club Speedway Grand Am course consistently under 1:50! And two of the remaining field did the same - while the rest gave heated chase! Dan Verstuyft bested the group in his Nascar Ford Taurus, with Craig Johnson taking 2nd overall, Wes McNay 3rd, Garrett Cosgrove 4th in his Taurus, and Garland Self 5th in his T-Bird.
In the Formula Ford Group 1 — after a Saturday 1st lap, Turn 3 wheel-touch incident that rendered two of the top cars in this group unfit for Sunday’s flag race, John Delane claimed an early group lead in his sleek Formula B and never relinquished it. Steven Luftman (Club Ford) maintained an unrelinquished 2nd overall, while Tom Sabo (Caldwell D9 FF) fought Patrick Maynard (Citation Club Ford) and Todd Gerstenberger II (Tital FF) for 3rd overall. Luftman landed 2nd overall and 1st in Club Ford class, Sabo claimed FF class win and 3rd in group, while Maynard and Gerstenberger (in that order respectively) ran steady and fast.
Group 2 — a mixed group of big bore and CP — a fascinating patchwork of brute power and well used power, made for stellar racing throughout a 30-car field. With the first four cars forming a race-to-space of their own, Erich Joiner in his CanAm style Lola B2k-10 went hammer-and-tong with Bud Thurston in his TransAM Corvette, while Tom Malloy (IMSA Kremer Porsche) chased Richard H. Wesselink in his Lola 98-10. The “second wave” of the field consisted of a fierce battle between the rocket-fast Mazda RX-3 of Wayne Graham, the Shelby Cobra of Gregory Helms, and Datsun Z of Chris Horn. After Helms inserted himself in between Graham and Helms (disallowing a continuance of Saturday’s duel between these two), these three cars repeatedly posted virtually identical lap times — with Helms passing Horn’s Z (and ultimately Wayne Graham’s RX-3) again and again with brute power on the straightaway, only to be passed on the infield lap after lap. After a prolonged and pitched battle, Wayne Graham bested in his Mazda, Greg Helms was next to checker, and Chris Horn closely followed. Graham was 1st in BSM, with Helms #1 in AP and Horn #1 in CPGT.
The Group 3 fifty-plus car field of small bore production cars was on the one hand a “race of races,” yet on the other a one-horse rout. Datsun 510 B-Sedan driver Steve Link lurched out to an early lead and never looked back. Relaxed and “in the zone,” Link laid down consistent 2.00 lap times like a digital watch, and even on old well used tires managed to maintain a half straightaway lead on the field, from start to finish. Meantime, while the Alfa GTV of Rick Clemente, Lotus Super 7 of Doug Warneke, and Triumph Spitfire of Gary Shuman diced for 2nd overall, the charging Triumph GT6 of Steven Smith led the dueling BMW 2002s of Scott Parsons and Michael Ward, closely followed by the Triumph Spitfire of Chuck Gee and bumper-to-bumper Datsun 510s of Steve Dragus and Vinnie Torres (with veteran Steven Feig hot on their tails in his PBS Mk.4). And that was only 10% of a field loaded with two, three, and four-car contests throughout! Ultimately, this race group spread over most of Auto Club Speedway’s 2.5 mile course, from the first turn to the last. Steve Link breezed to 1st overall and 1st in B-Sedan, Doug Warneke claimed 1st in D-Production, Scott Parsons earned the flag in C-Sedan, and Michael Steinberg took EP honors in his Porsche 912.
Always a speedfest, the Group 4 Wings and Slicks contest was a spectator’s delight, with the lead threesome of Vince Tjelmeland (Ralt Formula Super Vee), Dave Tweedie (Radical SR3) and the legendary Tony Adamowicz (Gurney Eagle Formula 5000) leading the pack. The fascination of these three — a span of 40+ years among the cars and their technologies — carried the added amazement of 30+ years of age variance among the drivers! Yet all three cars lapped within a second of each other. Adamowicz, renowned for his 60s and 70s Formula 5000, CanAm, Indy, and and other pro racing exploits, drove the dragon-like Gurney Eagle with a cool mastery untinged by age. Wonderful stuff stuff to watch! This race was just plain too short. Not to mention a charging Tom Malloy in his Eagle Formula 5000, Steve Brown in his ultra-fast Formula Mazda, Jerry Kehoe in his authentic March 87B Formula 1 car, and over a dozen other spectacular high-powered formula cars and sports racers of distinction from distinguished decades. There wasn’t a dull millisecond in this race!
The Formula Fords and small bore production cars of Group 5 comprised a large field with daisy-chain-like racing from start to finish. With the FV1’s of Dietmar Bauerle, Kim Madrid, Bob Hatle and Mark Fischer leading the way, drafting and threshold braking became the order of the day, with overlaps, passes, and repasses generating close racing and heated battling in twosomes among these four that kept the race result in question lap after lap. Although Kim Madrid posted the quickest lap time, Bauerle’s race craft eked out a narrow overall group and FV1 win, with Kim Madrid and Bob Hatle 2nd in both, respectively, and Mark Fischer close behind. Eric Inkott inked FV2, Rudy Madrid took FV, Geoff Monise earned G Production 1st place, and Rick Shea took home the F Production flag.
The 2009 Route 66 set a high note of anticipation for this year’s season to come, with spirited racing, widely varying cars in every class, a strong turnout, and great folks.
