NASA Rocky Mountain - Pueblo

March 15-16 2008

“It was a dark and stormy night, as the Red Baron took to the skies…”

Well, it wasn’t night, but we had dark, stormy, and our own band of flying aces at the NASA-RM CMC season opener in Pueblo.

March in Colorado is always a mystery. Will it snow? Will it rain? Will I need sunblock 30? So far this month, it has been all of those, but for our race weekend, the weather chose to start cool on Saturday, and end with a spring storm on Sunday.

Saturday opened with one new CMC racer, as Rich Vogl made the switch from Spec E30 in 2007, to a Fox body CMC in 2008. Alas, the day was not kind to Rich, as his “low mileage, good condition 5L” blew up after six laps. But Rich showed the true CMC spirit, and stayed at the track both days, helping others, lending parts, and generally reminding us why CMC is such a great group.

Two more new CMC’ers were taking their Comp School this weekend: Dave Thede and Ken Rockwell. Both bring Mustangs to the group, in a welcome sign of some balance to this region. J Both graduated with honors, and joined the Thunder racing group on Sunday.

In Saturday’s qualifying, Mike Kapp in the #17 Camaro took the pole with 1:48.299, followed by Chris McComb #35 Mustang with 1:48.836, Kyle Shaw #20 Camaro with 1:53.798, and Rich Vogl #71 Mustang with 1:58.901. These were bittersweet laps for Rich, as it only made it more frustrating for him to have to watch from the sidelines later.

The Saturday race saw some great back and forth between Kapp and McComb. They went through several turns side by side, and swapped the lead several times, but in the end, an “off” in turn 9 by Kapp put him too far back, and McComb took the win. Fastest laps were McComb at 1:47.745, Kapp at 1:48.837, and Shaw at 1:53.931.

During dinner on Saturday, Hanksville Hot Rods stepped up as the 2008 CMC series sponsor, and presented a winner’s check to McComb. CMC is thrilled to have Hanksville in our corner, and we look forward to a continued partnership.

On Sunday, the CMC group doubled in size, from three on Saturday, to six, with the addition of Thede and Rockwell, and veteran Dave Fessenden making it to the track. Remembering that it was March, the weather had our attention: it was grey, colder than Saturday, and as the day progressed, the area around the track grew foggy. But the track was clear and dry, so far…

In Sunday’s qualifying session, McComb took the pole with 1:47.335, followed by Rockwell in the #11 Mustang with 1:50.451 (go rookie!) then Kapp with 1:51.213, Fezz in the #12 Pontiac GTA with 1:52.045, Shaw with 1:54.348, and Thede with 2:00.559.

And then we waited for our race. The Thunder group was originally scheduled to go on track at 3:35pm, but as the skies got darker, the schedule was compressed, and we went to grid at 3:00pm. While on the grid, it started to sprinkle, but that was not going to stop a bunch of V8 racers. Within minutes we were on the track, and by the time the flag dropped, it was a legitimate rain. As you can imagine, in the interest of weight reduction, some accessories are deemed less important than others, which meant that several of us were out there without wipers. “Wipers?! We don’t need no stinking wipers!”

The tone of the race was set by the AI and GTS5 racers as they came out of Turn 10 the first time after the flag dropped. Note to self: never step on the gas when turning across a section of track used by drag racers – it will be like ice, and you will spin. Many times. Several AI cars finished behind the CMC group, and manties will be presented at the next NASA weekend.

As the race progressed, rain turned to snow, and lap times slowed. There was some jockeying for position, but for the most part, positions were set by the fifth lap.

The end of the race saw McComb in first, Kapp in second, Shaw in third, Fezz in fourth, Rockwell in fifth, and Thede in sixth.

This was a fantastic season opener, with great attitudes, great racing, and great support by all.

Thanks to Chris McComb.