Slipstream - May 2003

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Mavericks at TWS Club Race By Keith Olcha Every March for the last seven years, the Lone Star Region has held its annual Club Race. This year, as in the last few, there was also an endurance race, in addition to the sprint races. Just to give you a little background on the venue and the format of club racing, Texas World Speedway is located in College Station and is a 3-1/2 hour drive from the DFW Metroplex. The course itself is a 2.9 mile road course constructed by using the main straight from the 2 -1/2 mile NASCAR oval integrated with a twisty challenging road circuit complete with elevation changes and a couple of limited- visibility turns. TWS was closed down in the late 1980s as a professional commercial racetrack but has thrived with almost 50 weekends per year and several mid-week dates as a club track with SCCA, PCA, and several other clubs running driving events and race weekends. It is rarely used as a banked oval anymore. The club race format used by LSR at TWS is practice on Friday until the afternoon, then practice race-starts followed by a fun-race of 5-7 laps. The field was divided into two major run groups, the red group and the green group. Each group had about 36-40 cars with several separate classes of cars within each of the two large groups. The green group ran E-K stock, plus GT4 and GT5, the red group ran GT1-GT3, GT, C, and B-D stock. Saturday was qualifying and two separate sprint races for each group, while Sunday was reserved for qualifying and a 90 minute Enduro, with a mandatory 5 minute pit-stop and optional refueling. While club racing has been growing in popularity nationally over the last few years, this year was the biggest appearance by Mavericks at TWS, and the most chance for several first-in-class, as well as overall group (red, green) wins by Mavericks. In addition to a large number of Mavericks Photo by Kevin Hardison Wayne Brown first into a very crowded infield corner. returning to TWS, there were a large number of rookies who were using TWS as their first race, or their second after getting their rookie licenses at Hallett last October.First-time Maverick racers included Steve Patti,David Baker, Steve Watkins and Brian Amond. Rookies included Jorge Vargas and Doug Molny. Returning Mavericks included Lee Wilkins, Bryan Henderson, Wayne Brown, Wade Kolody, Hamp Williams, Carl Amond, Jim Collier, Jim Buckley, Joe McGlohen, John Souzelka, Glen Gatlin, Ed Cullen, Ned Cullen, Barry Moore, and Yours Truly. Add the Hill-Country group that many of you know from our MotorSports Ranch and Texas Motor Speedway events, and our Oklahoma pals (including Wally Ruiz 18
and Brooke Van Horn) and it was clear our gang and our buddies were a major influence on the attendance as well as the outcome of various races. There were also a host of Mavericks volunteering in timing and scoring, grid, safety, and working corner stations. The weather was great Friday, but rain on Saturday created some interesting grids for the sprint races based on qualifying in the wet. The weather was perfect again on Sunday for the enduro. Mavericks did very well, with Lee Wilkins and David Baker placing first and second overall in the green group Enduro and each winning their respective classes. Jim Buckley and Joe McGlohen won their Saturday sprint races,and Doug Molny won the Sunday enduro 996 GT3 Cup car with a 3.6 liter motor on slicks. The Sunday enduro included a first: three zone 5 region-presidents, and their zone-5 representative all driving against one another- Brooke Van Horn zone 5 rep from Oklahoma,Stan Wenger President of Lone Star Region, West Dillard President of Hill Country Region, and me from Maverick.With my superb pit crew of Joe McGlohen,Lee Wilkins,and Pat Benson, plus a boost problem with Brooke’s car I squeaked to the finish line ahead of them all. As they say… that’s racing! Photo by Kevin Hardison David Baker winning his Class in Sunday’s Green Group Enduro race. Photo by Kevin Hardison “Rookie” Doug Molny won the G Stock Enduro on Sunday! in G stock after a strong start against Jorge Vargas and Jim Buckley and others retired with mechanical problems.Glen Gatlin and Jim Collier each won races in C-stock as well, with Glen winning the enduro. Rookie Steve Watkins tore up the very competitive F-stock class with a great showing and a first-in-class. Wayne Brown unfortunately suffered mechanical problems throughout the weekend, and did not place as high as usual throughout the weekend. However, he and Carl Amond both set the fastest lap times of any Mavericks entered – low 1minute 52 –second lap times. Similar times from vastly differing cars. We had Wayne’s GT4S car, a 914 with a 2.8 liter engine on D.O.T. tires versus Carl’s GTC2 car, a 2000 Photo by Kevin Hardison Lee Wilkins captured the first place overall in his Sunday enduro. 19
Page 1 and 2: www.pca.org/mav Mini Rally Autocros
Page 3 and 4: www.pca.org/mav Volume 45, May 2003
Page 5 and 6: 3
Page 7 and 8: Road Ramblings by Keith Olcha, Mave
Page 9 and 10: Email: mayos@imagin.net or FAX at (
Page 11 and 12: Photo by Dennis Chamberlain Happy H
Page 13 and 14: Straight Arrow Rally by Jack Wales
Page 15 and 16: * DE is for Blue Approved Drivers a
Page 17 and 18: Photo by Jay Easley Photo by Jay Ea
Page 19: Boxster Boulevard by Bob Bianconi B
Page 23 and 24: Photo by Wendy Shoffit Time Trial #
Page 25 and 26: Driver Education At MotorSport Ranc
Page 27 and 28: Brackettville in which to film the
Page 29 and 30: New Wheels If you have any changes
Page 31 and 32: Slipstream Advertiser for 25 years!

Slipstream - May 2003

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