What a day (Saturday)! Andrew called me at 5:30am telling me what just happened to his Plum Crazy Challenger on his way up to the Autobahn. He was about 60 miles south of the track. Thankfully he wasn't injured and the damage can be repaired.

When I left my home ~6am, the temp was 38 with light drizzle/mist; driving into some snow flurries! The drizzle/mist stayed with us all morning until it eventually cleared by ~noon.

We had close to 80 cars pregistered for the Saturday events, but the weather kept half away from ever showing up... the club took a financial loss for Saturday (track is not cheap to rent per day/wknd by any club).

Saturday morning HPDE went well; all three groups (beginners, intermediates, advanced) had their three 20 minute sessions (60 minutes total morning per group). The track was slippery and you simply had to drive around safely without spinning your tires too much... some fish tailing done for fun... learning your limits, etc... fortunately, no car accidents throughout the morning on the track... it eventually got faster as it began to dry by noon (and the temp gradually warmed up into the low ~50s.

Lunchtime we had ~30 minutes of free track touring.. a good sized group went out.. and the track was getting faster as it dried.

Afternoon competition HSAX runs were all pretty good! We got 9 timed runs per car. Everyone's times gradually dropped. There was one accident where a hot new Mustang GT500 fish-tailed out of the final turn onto the final straight.. he never let off the gas.. kept fish tailing... eventually his rear end hit the guard rail... he was done for the day after that (and was spoken to by the club/track authorities).

I had 3 cars competing in my class -- the prevailing repeated season class champ in a 93 Mustang LX, and a Subaru WRX (both cars running 140 TW tires vs my BFG Comp-2 at 340 TW). I held the lead over both of them for the first ~4 runs, but the Mustang eventually got faster by ~1.5 seconds over me and so did I, and so did he, every run we got faster by ~2 seconds... possibly my fastest run (2nd to final) was my very fastest but I lost a little going into one turn onto the grass area coming down from the fastest straightaway (I had caught up to the car ahead of me as he was driving/exiting too slow.. I requested a re-run but not granted).

So, I ended up in 2nd place behind the 93 Mustang by ~1.5 seconds.. not bad, car ran great! I had a blast; we all had good fun! Adrenaline is still flowing!

Good club BBQ held at end of day.

John Sandberg came with his SCCA C/Prepared AAR Cuda; he was going to run the day's events, but 'cause he didn't have brake lights or mirrors (not required in SCCA C/Prepared class) they wouldn't let him pass tech inspection or run on the track with any other cars... he got his money back (no problem)... next year he'll possibly be running the HPDE/HSAX at some of the MCSCC season events.

Sunday was a good day as well... Although a bit chilly, the track was ~98% dry throughout the day for the W2W races. At lunchtime I was the lead car (setting the pace) for "free track touring". A few other Mopar ppl came out to watch and take some laps (even if they didn't bring their Mopars)... we had a good time getting to know each other... and John Sandberg was still there on Sunday to show his car for the Mopar ppl. I was the afternoon Pace Car for the club's 6 W2W 30 minute races.. went well.

So, I drove the car to/from the track each day (~70 minute drive each way, 60 miles)... good cruising on the hwy... lots of typical thumbs up! as I'd drive the Challenger... Despite the weather, a very enjoyable wknd with old and new friends!

I'll post pics later.

Fellow Mopar racer Brian Garcia (#48 '67 B'Cuda Fsatback, Vintage/Historic race class) unfortunataley couldn't get his car track-ready after putting a new engine, rear end and front brakes all into the car during the past week (a small goup of us pulled an all-nighter the previous wknd getting most of the work done).... (engine running now!); he'll definitely be racing his car at the MCSCC final season W2W race at Blackhawk Farms Raceway, just w/nw of Rockford, IL, the wknd of OCT 25-26.... the races are typically Longer.... called the "Looonnng Race".... I'll be there... maybe some of you?

I hope some more of you will eventually come out next year for a MOPAR gathering. I'll post the 2015 schedule when available.


Mopar Mitch "Road racers and autocrossers go in deeper and come out harder!"... and rain never stops us from having fun with our cars... in fact, it makes us better drivers! Check out MOPAR ACTION MAGAZINE, August 2006 issue for feature article and specs on my autocross T/A!