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Some of you knew. Some of you didn't & some of you didn't care. This past weekend was the 2011 SCCA Rallycross Championship in Tulsa, OK. I & a few from ALSCCA & TVR made the drive to compete. Every year when the date is announced I become excited beyond control. This year I was more nervous than excited. As some of you know ALSCCA had the 1st Southern Rallycross Championship this past April. It was an awesome event. Also during that event I rolled (turtled) my car. How was I going to defend my 2010 PR national championship? Well, like anyone with a half build SpecE30 sitting in there garage I went to work. I decided to not defend my title & run with the bigdogs in M2(modified 2WD). So i sold the SpecE30 suspension & bolted up Napa shocks with stocks springs, 2 sets of tires(rally&snow) & drove the car any opportunity i could & lets see what happens.
So off to Tulsa I go with Byron Webb,Ron Foley, Charles Wright & Leon Drake. We pulled up Friday morning for practice. What a beautiful day. Temp is low 80's, cool breeze & not a cloud in the sky.As nervous & worried as I was that all seemed to go away when were greeted with warm smiles from the SCCA National crew. Howard & Linda Duncan, Pego Mack, Deena Rowland & Ken Cashion. As competitive as I am I'm instantly relaxed when i start see all the friends I've made during my years of rallycross. From Massachusetts to California, Ohio to Florida & all the other US states ive rallcrossed. There was so much energy @ that place. I was totally amp'ed! M2 was the largest class with 24 of us. 8 RWD cars & the rest FWD. Stock ALL was the 2nd largest with 18 or so. I thought my only chance was for 6-8 FWD cars need to blow up on the 1st run. That didn't happened. They were all fast. Veteran drivers including past champions. So I said, Ed try your best & drive clean. It was 2-in-1 races for me. I wanted to do good overall, but I wanted to be first with the RWD cars. It was going to be tough!
Charles Wright was Sat. morning course designer & like always it was a marvelous Charles Wright signature course. Fast with no outside cones. Bryan Tippens designed Sat. afternoons course also a great course. Shorter than mornings course buy still fast! Sunday course was all Ken Cashion style. What a crazy looking course. It was scary just looking @ it. Looks were nothing compared to the way it drove. WOW! What a freaking FUN course. Yes it wasn't easy to not hit cones, but you could drive the balls out of your car on that course! Day 1 was good to us Alabamians except for Byron. It was his 1st National & that got the worse of him missing 2 gates. That put him way down almost last. After day one. Charles was 1st. Ron was 2nd, Leon was 3rd & I was 8th overall in M2, but 1st with the RWD cars. Now Day 2 was a whole different beast. That insane course & everyone pushing hard to catch up or have some cushion made things very exciting. Day 2 wasn't very good to us Alabamians, except Byron. Byron drove that Escort like his stole it! His was flying & clean! No missed gates & only 1 cone in that sea-of-cones course. Drivers were hitting half dozen or more cones on just 1 run including us Alabamians. It was insane! At the end we did hold on to 2 trophy spots. Charles 4th in stock-All & Leon 6th in M2. Ron 4th in stock front. Byron 8th in stock front. Way to go Byron, charging up the field like a bat-out-of hell! You know that Escort can handle more. I finished 10th out of 24. Also I missed the top spot in RWD by 2.4 seconds. I was 3rd in M2 (RWD). I had a blast this weekend. Best part was not the racing, but the friends I get to see and hang out with every year on that special date. Whatever type racing your doing, make yourself a favor & go to nationals its the best time ever winning or losing.
Peace, Love & Dirt
Edwin.
So off to Tulsa I go with Byron Webb,Ron Foley, Charles Wright & Leon Drake. We pulled up Friday morning for practice. What a beautiful day. Temp is low 80's, cool breeze & not a cloud in the sky.As nervous & worried as I was that all seemed to go away when were greeted with warm smiles from the SCCA National crew. Howard & Linda Duncan, Pego Mack, Deena Rowland & Ken Cashion. As competitive as I am I'm instantly relaxed when i start see all the friends I've made during my years of rallycross. From Massachusetts to California, Ohio to Florida & all the other US states ive rallcrossed. There was so much energy @ that place. I was totally amp'ed! M2 was the largest class with 24 of us. 8 RWD cars & the rest FWD. Stock ALL was the 2nd largest with 18 or so. I thought my only chance was for 6-8 FWD cars need to blow up on the 1st run. That didn't happened. They were all fast. Veteran drivers including past champions. So I said, Ed try your best & drive clean. It was 2-in-1 races for me. I wanted to do good overall, but I wanted to be first with the RWD cars. It was going to be tough!
Charles Wright was Sat. morning course designer & like always it was a marvelous Charles Wright signature course. Fast with no outside cones. Bryan Tippens designed Sat. afternoons course also a great course. Shorter than mornings course buy still fast! Sunday course was all Ken Cashion style. What a crazy looking course. It was scary just looking @ it. Looks were nothing compared to the way it drove. WOW! What a freaking FUN course. Yes it wasn't easy to not hit cones, but you could drive the balls out of your car on that course! Day 1 was good to us Alabamians except for Byron. It was his 1st National & that got the worse of him missing 2 gates. That put him way down almost last. After day one. Charles was 1st. Ron was 2nd, Leon was 3rd & I was 8th overall in M2, but 1st with the RWD cars. Now Day 2 was a whole different beast. That insane course & everyone pushing hard to catch up or have some cushion made things very exciting. Day 2 wasn't very good to us Alabamians, except Byron. Byron drove that Escort like his stole it! His was flying & clean! No missed gates & only 1 cone in that sea-of-cones course. Drivers were hitting half dozen or more cones on just 1 run including us Alabamians. It was insane! At the end we did hold on to 2 trophy spots. Charles 4th in stock-All & Leon 6th in M2. Ron 4th in stock front. Byron 8th in stock front. Way to go Byron, charging up the field like a bat-out-of hell! You know that Escort can handle more. I finished 10th out of 24. Also I missed the top spot in RWD by 2.4 seconds. I was 3rd in M2 (RWD). I had a blast this weekend. Best part was not the racing, but the friends I get to see and hang out with every year on that special date. Whatever type racing your doing, make yourself a favor & go to nationals its the best time ever winning or losing.
Peace, Love & Dirt
Edwin.
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