2004 * Event 1
* Event 2
* Event 3
* Event 4
* Event 5
* Event 6
* Event 6
* Event 7
* Event 8
* Event 9
* Event 10
* Event 16
* Event 11
* 2004 Standings John Mackey captures first Event win since 2001
So many times drivers tend to obsess over the weather forecast and try to determine if the East Coast Supercharging Corvette Challenge will be a go at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. This time, again, those who guessed no, guessed wrong. Turnout was good but you can tell that many drivers skipped the April 4, 2004 event. Still that did not discourage seven new points drivers signing up, John Mackey returning to the winner's circle or Paul Major capturing his first career Pro 8 heads-up win. It was cold and damp, but the Corvettes came 70+ strong today.
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| Runner-up Tom Anderson
| Edgar Perez, Winner John Mackey, Runner-up Tom Anderson, Bob Trieschmann
| Winner John Mackey
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It has only been vehicular down-time that has kept John Mackey from being the only undefeated driver at an event in the last three years. In fact, Mackey had been treating us to a barrage of broken parts performances yet doing well in the first race of this year despite only have first gear and dialing high-teens. Today was different. Mackey was lifting the front wheels on his 1996 Torch Red C4 and running very consistent 11.9x's all day. Mackey's lights never left the .0xx range in any of his six round wins. With a best light of .020 in the semi-final, it appeared that the breakage that had been holding him back, was not coming. Mackey took the right lane in the final that he had been running all day. He dialed his car at 11.99 and his opponent, Tom Anderson dialed 13.05. Giving the two second spot gave Mackey an opportunity to see the win light come up and he went for the perfect light and came up short by -.004 though he did not light the red as his opponent had already gone red so his light did not matter. Mackey's final round win gave him a 2 point cushion in the overall standings over last event's winner, John Panuzzo. Mackey's last Corvette Challenge event win came in 2001 Event 5 when he defeated Ron Heisler, ironically from the right lane, with a 12.00 dial and by red-light, (of course he was holding back a little back then LOL).
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Tom Anderson started racing in the Corvette Challenge just over a year ago. His previous best finish was a third round appearance accomplished twice in 2003 as a rookie. Anderson's 13 second white C4 with black grand sport hash marks remained consistent throughout the day. His reaction times, with the exception one really odd round, were all in the .0xx range with a best in eliminations of .030, twice. Along the way Anderson had to eliminate former champ Bob Trieschmann, up and coming racer, Dan Swadis and a very consistent, John Hadyniak in the semi-final who ran 11.899 on 11.89 dial after running a, DEAD-ON for real, 11.900 on 11.90 dial in his previous round. Anderson used a .068 tree and huge starting line advantage coupled with a .05 over run on his dial of 13.02. Anderson was cool going into the final round against Mackey but apparently not cool enough as he left -.086 early, lighting the ugly red for him and win lights for Mackey. The final round appearance moves Anderson into a five-way tie for eighth place in the standings with Al Betz, Jim Peins, Ralph Blauvelt and Rob Farley.
Last years early points leaders seem to have their work cut out for them as once again, 2003 champ, Joe Blass left early breaking out in the second round chasing John Hadyniak. 2003 runner-up, Ralph Savarese gained no points as his car is still not ready and he opted not to make the trip for this event.
Today's event featured 63 Corvettes making first round of the Brackets and 8 for the Pro 8 Shootout.
Paul Major wins The Vette Doctors Pro 8 Shootout
Today's event feature The Vette Doctors Pro 8 Shootout which showcases the eight quickest Corvettes (points drivers) against each other in a no-dial, no-breakout, old-fashioned heads-up pro tree race. Number one qualifier, Paul Major won the three rounds needed to win his first Pro 8 Race running 9.789 @ 149.31 to Mike Romain's 10.449 @ 129.58. More details on the this Pro 8 race [click here]
Some statistics from today
Summary of driver Dial-In times
| Time |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
Total |
| # |
8 |
17 |
23 |
10 |
4 |
1 |
63 |
| % |
12.70% |
26.98% |
36.51% |
15.87% |
6.35% |
1.59% |
100% |
Clubs and Rookies
The Corvette Club of Delaware Valley (CCDV) expanded their lead in the Club Challenge Club points when they brought in nine drivers and were awarded 5 bonus points for Al Betz's semi-final appearance. Second place club, County Corvette Association, (CCA1), only brought two Corvettes, father and son, Al and Keith Conner. They were awarded 3 bonus points earned by Keith’s third round appearance. Club Challenge Standings
The Rookie of the Year chase this year is going to be a tough one with a class of nearly 30 rookies. Mike Conway took the lead with six points but right behind is a traffic jam bigger than the Garden State Parkway on a Friday afternoon in the middle of summer with Matthew Cornelison, George Geipel, Chip Steinmetz, Richard Bonilla and Bob Rosenberg all with 5 points and another five drivers with four. See rookies denoted with (r) in the standings.
Other Awards Handed Out at this Event
- Event winner John Mackey went home with $250 cash, a $100 gift certificate from Pro Torque and winner trophy.
- Runner-up Tom Anderson went home with $125 cash, a $50 gift certificate from Pro Torque and runner-up trophy.
- Semi-finalists included John Hadyniak and Al Betz who won $60 cash.
- Dan Swadis won the 'John Panuzzo Jr. Memorial' trophy and $50 cash presented by Team Panuzzo Racing for the best winning reaction time in the
1st round. Dan Swadis was quickest on the tree in the 1st round when his RT was
.018.
- Don Peppler won the 'Almost Perfect Award' with a loss
in the 1st round with the red light closest to .000 (Almost Perfect). Don Peppler's light was
-0.003 and was rewarded a trophy from Old Bridge Township Raceway Park recognizing the effort put forth to try and capture a perfect light but just slightly red.
- Al Betz won the 'Closest to Dial Award' by running only .004 off his dial. He was awarded a trophy from Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.
 Tony Abbruzze won the 'Ohh so Close Award' presented by Zaino when he was edged out in the 1st
round by the smallest margin of victory of .0124. That number is the MOV number on your time
slip. Although he lost in the 1st round by the smallest Margin of Victory, Tony Abbruzze earned a Zaino starter package that includes Z1, Z2, Z6, Z7 and a polish pad.
- All winners of the first round were awarded a trophy sponsored by United Racing. With 66 cars making this event, United Racing gave out quite a few trophies or 1st Round Trophy Upgrade Program credits.
Next race
We race again on May 29th, 9 AM. This is Memorial Day weekend so don't miss out. Visit http://www.racewaypark.com to view the schedule.
East Coast Supercharging Corvette Challenge helps Toys for Teens & Tots
The 50/50 raffle was held at the track and the racers and spectators hopeful of
winning the money while helping out a worthy organization put together $258. John Policastro won and gave his half of the $258 which was all donated to the St. Peters church in
Jersey City to Sister Grace for the Toys for Teens & Tots fund from the East Coast
Supercharging Corvette Challenge. The 50/50 is held at each of the ECS Corvette Challenges. To date we have donated $131 and $258 for a total of $389 to the organization for 2004. Thank you for your continued support.
Corvette Challenge Multimedia
Pictures
Mike Moran's pictures
We couldn't do it without our sponsors
The Corvette Challenge gives thanks to all of its supporting sponsors for whom without
this series cannot be possible. Thanks go out to
East Coast Supercharging |
United Racing |
The Vette Doctors |
Team Panuzzo |
Spectrum Voice & Data |
Simple Man |
Marotta Racing |
CCDV |
Mufflex Performance |
Quick Time Performance |
Neverlift Racecraft |
SLP |
Furnakit.com |
CFM Racing |
Tortolani Racing |
Anger Management Racing |
FINEST RACING |
Pro Torque |
Zaino Bros
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