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September 17, 2007 - Dave Standridge wins National Championship!
September 16, 2007 - Rennwerks owner and driver Dave Standridge wins the
2007 NASA National Championship at Mid-Ohio in the Factory Five Racing (FFR)
class. Paul Kaiser from the Mid-Atlantic region finished a close second
and Team Boothman/Eves from the Florida region finished in third. The
racing in the FFR class proved to be the most competitive ever, as there was no
single driver that could walk away from the pack as in years past. In
fact, the difference in lap times among most of the drivers throughout the
weekend was less than 2 seconds. Standridge was consistently fast and ran
in the top five all weekend.
In Friday's qualifying race, Standridge finished 5th behind Bryan Dobyns (Mid-Atlantic), Kaiser, Scott McKay (Florida), and John George (Northeast). For Saturday's qualifying race, Standridge qualified for the pole position with the fastest lap time, but finished the race in 3rd behind Kaiser and Dobyns. The results of the Friday and Saturday qualifying races set the grid for Sunday's Championship Race.
During Sunday's FFR warm-up session, Karen Salvaggio (CA - South Region) was involved in a very scary crash. Salvaggio led the group out onto the track followed by Standridge and the remaining FFR and CMC drivers. Salvaggio was a number of car lengths ahead as they came around the keyhole and accelerated down the back straight in the first hot lap of the session. As she approached the right-hand kink, her car went straight instead of turning and her car went into the cement wall at about 120 MPH. The session was immediately ended and emergency vehicles swarmed onsite to assist her. The safety crew and paramedics worked carefully to extract her from the mangled car (she was conscious), placed her on a stretcher and medivaced her to a hospital in Columbus. It turned out a faulty steering wheel quick-release mechanism was responsible for the accident. When she came to the kink and tried to steer her car, the steering wheel came off the column in her hands and she was left only to brake as hard as possible in an attempt to control the car. In her own words, "I thought, 'Well, this is it.'"
With much gratitude to the Mid-Ohio safety crew and their efforts, that wasn't it for Salvaggio. The doctors attending to her in Columbus attributed her life to the safety gear she was wearing, including the 5-point harnesses and Hans device. She sustained minor injuries, a couple broken ribs and a fractured collar bone. A later look at her car post-accident proved the cockpit and cage also intact, which saved her from greater injuries. We wish her a speedy recovery and look forward seeing her back on the track again soon.
Click here to see a video of the crash.
The competition was stiff for the Sunday Championship race and everyone was bringing their A game. The Sunday Championship race grid was as follows:
Championship Race Grid
1. Bryan Dobyns (Mid-Atlantic)
2. Paul Kaiser (Mid-Atlantic)
3. Dave Standridge (NorCal)
4. John George (Northeast)
5. Team Boothman/Eves (Florida)
6. Gary McDaniel (Ohio/Ind)
7. Brian Sanders (Ohio/Ind)
8. Karen Salvaggio (SoCal)
9. TC McNett (SoCal)
10. Rick Anderson (NorCal)
11. Peter LaRose
12. Tom Andrews (NorCal)
13. Richard Norgrove (NorCal)
14. Carl W. Thompson III (Mid-Atlantic)
15. Mike Beeler (SoCal)
16. Scott McKay (Florida)
17. Paul McGarvey (NorCal)
18. Robert Walter (NorCal)
McKay and Paul McGarvey had to start from the back of the field in Sunday's Championship race due to rule infractions. McKay's fuel cell was found to be too low during Saturday's Qualifying race tech inspection. McGarvey was penalized for contact with Robert Walter during Saturday's Qualifying race. As a result, both McKay and McGarvey collected only 31 points each for the Saturday qualifying race.
During Sunday's Championship race, Kaiser took the lead at the green flag with Dobyns in a close second, followed by Standridge. Dobyns hounded Kaiser for the first 4-5 laps. Standridge was not far behind in third, waiting for an opportunity to make a move. Soon enough, Standridge saw the opportunity when Dobyns and Kaiser went two-wide through Turn One. Standridge followed them through the turn on the fastest line possible and made up a few car lengths down the straight to the Keyhole. The three cars braked hard into the Keyhole. Now, close on Dobyns' rear bumper, Standridge followed him down the back straight. But the two cars were equally powered and their respective launches out of the Keyhole were good. Standridge kept his car tight behind Dobyns' car until the very last moment at the end of the back straight, protecting his intention to late brake Dobyns through China Beach. The late braking maneuver was successful and Dobyns, being the gentleman racer that he his, gave Standridge sufficient racing room to execute the move. Now in Position 2, the chase was on to Kaiser. Dobyns remained hot on Standridge's rear bumper. Standridge took defensive lines during the next two laps to hold his position, during which time Kaiser increased his lead. Finally able to put some distance between himself and Dobyns, Standridge focused on catching Kaiser.
Standridge chased Kaiser for the next few laps, occasionally sticking his nose in trying to make a pass. However, Kaiser was fast and his speed was making it difficult for Standridge to execute a pass. Continuing to press Kaiser, Standridge waited patiently for him to make a mistake. The mistake finally came as Kaiser's car bobbled coming out of the carousel onto the front straight. Standridge seized the moment and made a clean pass on the front straight taking the lead. He would remain in the lead for the remainder of the race. Kaiser later made a charge for the lead but Standridge was able to hold him off to take the checkered flag.
The race results were as follows:
Championship Race Results
Pos Name Best Time
1. Dave Standridge 1:38.468
2. Paul Kaiser 1:38.306
3. Team Boothman/Eves 1:38.837
4. Scott McKay 1:39.727
5. John George 1:39.801
6. Brian Sanders 1:40.999
7. Gary McDaniel 1:40.827
8. Paul McGarvey 1:40.153
9. Rick Anderson 1:41.216
10. Tom Andrews 1:41.745
11. TC McNett 1:42.180
12. Carl W. Thompson III 1:41.955
13. Bryan Dobyns 1:39.066
14. Robert Walter 1:41.576
15. Mike Beeler 1:46.715
16. Richard Norgrove 1:44.762
Two-time defending national champion Tony Buffamonte was fast as usual but was never a factor as he was plagued with engine problems -- going through two motors in 3 days. As a result, Tony did not start in Sunday's race.
Of his experience, Standridge said, "Rennwerks did an outstanding job preparing and setting-up my Cobra. Although we were a little down on power, I felt like I had the best handling car all weekend and we never touched a thing on the car in terms of set-up. I want to thank my crew chief, Billy Saunders, for giving me, in my opinion, the best prepared car for the weekend. I've always felt that races are won and lost before the race -- this weekend really proved that to be true." said Standridge.
The Rennwerks prepared #85 car driven by Paul McGarvey was the second highest finishing West Coast cobra. Even with the bad fortune of starting 16th in the Championship Race, McGarvey fought his way up to finish in 8th place, and his lap times were among the fastest of the weekend for the FFRs.
Also prepared by Rennwerks, the #30 car driven by relative new-comer Tom Andrew's finished in the Top 10. This was an amazing feat considering it was Andrew's first year competing in a FFR, his first time at the Mid-Ohio race course, and his first-ever NASA Nationals event. Andrew's proved a strong competitor, becoming increasingly faster with each lap. Andrew's said, "My Rennwerks-prepared Cobra never handled better -- the only thing holding me back was me."
Many, many thanks to Factory Five Racing for transporting the cars from the West Coast for this event. Their support of the FFR class is greatly appreciated. Please go to the Factory Five web site for more information.
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