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On a Saturday, July 4th week, the prime vacation week of the year, we were hoping
for a 20 + car field. Well, did we have a great turn out for Event 3 of the 2001 Cartek Corvette Challenge Drag Racing Series at Raceway Park! A total of 51 cars went through tech
inspection with 46 making the first round call. The racing action was unreal with
super reaction times and on the money dials. But when the smoke cleared, it was Bill
Maloney in his 1997 Black Corvette Coupe powered by the Vette Doctors' 485 Rx package coming out on top of
Keith Brownlee in his wheel standing 9 second 1987 Black Corvette Coupe. Each driver
in the final had to go a grueling 5 rounds before making it to the 6th
and final round (okay Bill had a bye into the final but you gotta be there to get
the bye). The two black Vettes lined up with Brownlee in the left and Maloney in the
right. Maloney dialed in at 12.10 and Brownlee at 10.17. The tension built as the
long hot day was about to come to an end when the lights began to drop. Maloney took
off with the 2-sec head start. As Maloney raced to the finished, he breathed a sigh
of relief as he looked up at the boards and saw a win light was on in his lane.
Brownlee had red-lighted. Maloney ran out the race and ran 12.13 as Keith could not
run his number at 10.46. This was Bill's third event this year and had not faired
well and felt he had some ground to make up. He made up quite a bit of ground indeed
with a total of 7 points for the day putting him in second place in the point standings for the year. You can find out more about
Bill by viewing his personal home page and on the Corvette Forum under the name Boweryboy .
Bob Trieschmann took over sole possession of first place in the standings by
making it to the semifinals in his wife's 1994 Polo Green convertible. Bob is one of
the key sponsors of our Corvette Challenge under the name Simple Man Racing . Bob treated some of his friends who
he considers to be Simple Men racing to a new designed Simple Man Racing tee shirt.
Thank go to Bob for that. Bob is having a great racing season. Not only is he the
leader in the Corvette Challenge but also in the Raceway Park Summit Racing
sponsored Real Street Points series where he drives Camaro RS and on the night of
the Corvette Challenge made it to the finals in that eliminator. Hats off to Bob.
The first round "John Panuzzo Jr. Memorial First Round Best Reaction Time" trophy
was taken by Keith Brownlee with a .520 light. Keith, who made it to the finals, was
on the tree all day long. Incidentally, that car Keith was driving is for sale. It
is a 1987 super charged huge engine Corvette capable of many 9 second passes. If you
are interested in seeing the car, Keith races it every week at Raceway Park. If you
would like more information, we can put you in touch with Keith by sending an email
to John Mackey .
Congratulations again to all the competitors. We did not imagine that we would
grow so quickly but this proves Corvette owners are the best.
Again the turn out was super and I hope to see you all at our next race. One final
note, we will be updating the rules once more regrettably. With such a large
turnout, pulling numbers out of a can is not feasible to line everybody up. We will
be going with race the one next to you for rounds one and two from here on out. In
the third round and beyond, we will use "the ladder".
Mark your calendars for the next Corvette Challenge, which will be held on August
4th with elimination rounds beginning approximately 6 PM. Please make sure to note
that the August 4th event will be an afternoon event. In the meantime, do
come out to the Vette Magazine and Corvette Express sponsored Show and Go on
Saturday July 28th for an opportunity to see some great Corvettes and
race with a great many more. The July 28th event not a Corvette Challenge
event.
Hope to see you at both of these events
Thanks go to the Ocean Cruisers for sponsoring the first round trophies in Event 3 for
2001. John Mackey and Edgar Perez
NOTE: The August 4th Event was rained out. If you did not make it, you
can go to the next event. Click on the Come Home link in the menu bar to see the
next date for the Challenge.
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