englishtown weather N - NON-points and '07 Top 16
T - Includes Pro 10.0
P,E - Includes Pro 8 Shootout and 11.50
16 - Top16 - NON-points
'08 National, VA
Featured Drivers
2008 East Coast Supercharging Corvette Challenge Event 4 Winner Ralph Savarese 2008 American Racing Headers Pro 8 Shootout Race 1 Winner Could be you 2008 Cartek Racing Pro 10.0 Race 2 Winner Wayne Keegan
2008 Vette Doctors Pro 11.50 Race 1 Winner John Panuzzo
Edgar Perez wins 2002 Cartek Corvette Challenge Event 4
On Saturday July 13th, a prime
vacation week, Cartek Corvette Challenge Drag Racing Series Event
4 hosted a 1st round field of 73 Corvettes. The weather for this
event was a little less brutal than Event 3 but hot nonetheless.
Event 4 marks the halfway point of the Challenge series points
events with two additional non-point races to be held in
November. At the end of the night, the Corvette Challenge had
it's first repeat winner of the 2002 in points leader Edgar
Perez. Perez made his way through the field of 73 cars while
encountering some great competition along the way. The toughest
was runner-up Ralph Savarese. Ralph comes to the Corvette
Challenge from Mahopac, NY and is an established racer. The final
round gave us Perez, from Howell, NJ, in his 1999 Torch Red C5
Coupe and Savarese in his 1985 Black C4 Coupe with some '96 body
panels. Edgar dialed 12.69 and would get the head start to
Ralph's 11.86. Edgar got off the line with a cautious .571 light
and Ralph also, not pushing it got off to a .610. It was close at
the top end with Edgar staying in it all the way running 12.74
vs. Ralph's barely breaking out 11.852. Ralph took the strip by
very small .0195 for the win light came on for Edgar because of
Ralph's .008 breakout. Ralph did everything he could but with
such a small margin advantage at the stripe there was nothing he
could do. Ralph's car was limping through the event with tire and
fuel issues but managed to make it to the his first Challenge
final of 2002. Ralph was asked by a fellow driver why he did not
hit the brakes and replied "I had to catch him first!" Only Ralph
and Edgar could see how close that race was as both drivers
looked up for a win light fully expecting to see Ralph get it.
This is one of the closest finals the Challenge has ever seen.
Great job by both drivers.
Plenty of drama in Points Chase
The points chase had some heated battles as the top 4 in points
tried to settle amongst themselves. Round 2 saw the #4 points
racer, Aaron Askenback take on the #1 points racer in a move that
could have shaken up the points chase. Aaron dialed his usual
dial and took off 3 seconds ahead of his opponent. However, Aaron
was caught by the 330' mark and Perez coasted through the traps
at 70 MPH. Aaron evidently had a problem. What was not evident
was that Aaron had the problem since time trials. Aaron was
running with only 1st gear and could run nowhere near his dial
with 1 gear. Aaron did what any competitor should have done and
that is run it and don't let your opponent know. He got the
benefit when his first round opponent went .486 red giving Aaron
a win and point. It did not work in the second round but Aaron
did leave the event with two points and with a broken car. Good
job Aaron.
The third round featured #3 in points Bill Wilson against #1
in points in a rematch of Event 2 finals against Edgar Perez. If
you missed that one, you can read about it at www.corvettechallenge.info/2002round2.shtml.
Both drivers wanted this one bad as they left the line with
identical .536 lights making it a race of execution and how well
you know your car. Wilson gave it everything he had with a great
run 0f 14.025 on a 13.96 dial, enough to win many races but not
this one. Perez ran 12.737 on a 12.73 dial.
Number 2 points driver, Jack Schwarzwalder also fell in the
third round when he came up against eventual semi-finalist Eric
Fischer in his dad's unique LT4 with an automatic transmission.
Eric put it in himself for his dad to race. We will have a
feature article on this conversion in the near future.
Drivers please remember that the top 4 in points at the end of
our next event, July 27th, will be invited to the race at Raceway
Park Wednesday night July 31st in the PC Richard & Son All
American Jet Car Nationals. Please check Raceway Park points
standing to see where you stand. Remember, there are 8 points to
be had at each event so the top 4 is wide open right now. Raceway Park for the complete points
standings
Some statistics from Corvette Challenge Event 4
Time
#
%
11
3
4%
12
24
33%
13
32
44%
14
11
15%
15
3
4%
Total
73
100%
(above) dial-in times for 1st
round.
Congratulations to the drivers that made the ladder in round 4.
That means each driver won at least 3 rounds. This week's ladder
featured 10 drivers of which 6 were in their first 4th round of
the season. Again you will see how this series is open to all to
win. Good job drivers.
Cash and Prizes awarded drivers courtesy of the
sponsors.
Event winner Edgar Perez went home with $200 cash and gift
certificates for a free dyno tuning session at Cartek Racing and
a $100 gift certificate from Pro Torque and the Event Winner
Shore Motorsports sponsored Trophy. Shore Motorsports is located
in Howell, NJ and can be reached at 732-370-2067 or on the web at
www.shoremotorsports.com. Cartek Racing is in
Garwood, NJ and can be reached at 908-317-4496 or on the web at
www.cartek.net.
Runner up Ralph Savarese went home with $100 cash, a $50 gift
certificate from Pro Torque, the "Money Back Runner Up Award" for
$20 cash from Boweryboy Racing and the event Runner-up Vette
Doctors sponsored Trophy. The Vette Doctors are located in
Amityville, NY and can be reached at 631-841-0779 or on the web
at www.thevettedoctors.com. Pro Torque, in Bohemia, NY
can be found at www.protorque.com or by calling 631-218-8700.
Eric Fischer was the sole semi-finalist and won $50
cash.
All winners of the first round were awarded a trophy
sponsored by CFM Racing. With 73
cars making 1st round Chris Coriell, Frank Schear and Mike Moran
gave out 37 trophies.
John Panuzzo won the
Closest to Dial Award sponsored by Walden Farms by running a
12.86 on a 12.85 dial. John received a beautiful gift package
from Walden Farms filled with low calorie low carbohydrate
products. Unfortunately for Panuzzo, he did not win this round as
his opponent got a better light. You can purchase Walden Farms
products at local grocery stores or on the web at www.waldenfarms.com.
Frank
Fiori from Newark, DE won the "Ohh so Close Award" sponsored by
Zaino when he was edged out in the 1st round by a mere .0021
second. Although he lost in the 1st round by the smallest Margin
of Victory, Frank got to drive off with a Zaino starter package
that includes Z1, Z2, Z6, Z7 and a polish pad. Zaino products can
be purchased online at www.zainobros.com or at Shore Motorsports on Route 9
in Howell.
David Hollingshead from Clark, NJ in a 1977 C3 Corvette won
the Almost Perfect Award sponsored by Roybulit Racing when he
took himself out in the 1st round with the red light closest to
.500. Dave's light was .495 and for that he earned a $50 gift
certificate to the Raceway Park Souvenir store donated by Roy
Johnson of Roybuilt
Racing.
Frank Schear from Lakewood, NJ won the "John Panuzzo Jr.
Memorial Trophy" donated by Team
Panuzzo Racing for the best winning reaction time in the 1st
round in his Torch Red 1993 C4 Corvette. Frank hit the tree hard
with a .503 light and a win. Congratulations Frank.
No Bounty on points leader, look what happened
You will remember in Event 3, John Panuzzo put a "bounty" on
points leader Edgar Perez. Edgar went out 1st round. This week,
no "bounty" was on Edgar's head but Panuzzo and Perez lined up
1st round in the match up Panuzzo would have preferred last
event. You already know that Panuzzo ran his number winning the
"Closest to Dial Award" but it was the tree that made the
difference. Panuzzo apparently was thinking about something else
when he left the tree a whopping .657 after the third green. That
was an error that Perez capitalized on leaving the tree himself
at .555. At the end of the race, Panuzzo says to Edgar "The
student has taught the teacher." All Edgar can do is say "I am
still shaking from having to race you. You are probably the last
guy I want to see in 1st round", paying Panuzzo the ultimate
compliment. What does it all mean, (borrowing a line from fellow
racer Bill Fischer)? Panuzzo, you may have to do the "bounty"
thing again.
Points Standings after 4
events
The Points standings took yet another shuffle though 1 and two
stayed the same. Savarese, thanks to his runner-up finish moved
into 3rd while Aaron Askenback's bad tranny dropped him to 5th
place tie with Rob Farley(Aaron would win the tie breaker becasue
he came in higher than Rob)
1. Edgar Perez 25 **
2. Jack Schwarzwalder 17
3. Ralph Saverse 16
4. Bill Wilson 15 *
5. Aaron Askenback 14
6. Rob Farley 14
7. Mike Carr 13 *
8. Joseph Conover 13
9. Vic Gandhi 12
10.Jim Kovitch 12
Raceway Park is the offcial points keeper and the complete results
are posted at http://www.racewaypark.com/main/points/corvette.html
Cartek Corvette Challenge helps Toys for Teens &
Tots
The 50/50 raffle was held at the track and the a racers hopeful
of winning the money while helping out a worthy organization put
together $270. Donald Peppler's son was the winner. Of the total
collected, $135 was donated to the Toys for Teens & Tots
fund. Special thanks to Jaymie Shuleski and Mariana Trieschmann
making the rounds to collect the money. The 50/50 will be held at
each of the Cartek Corvette Challenges this year. Please see
Jaymie or Mariana in the staging lanes if they do not find you
first. You do not have to be a racer to participate. Raceway Park
officer, Tim, thanks the Corvette Challenge racers and fans for
supporting the Toys for Teens and Tots. Thank you for your
continued support.
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