Smith-Burke Racing setting their second record of the day!
Paul McGarvey in his second run group and second Miata
Many TT drivers had moved up to the road racing classes, and several had not completed their off season builds yet. Absent was everyone’s favorite Wyoming local, TT1 Champion Shawn Murphy, but he came down to visit and show his support and supply NASA Utah’s own Matt Guiver with a well deserved malty beverage. Smith-Burke racing ran fast laps in both the racing group and the time trial group. Paul McGarvey joined the Vette with his V8 powered Miata, but Paul was one man splitting time between two different classes, while J.R. Smith and James Burke could split seat time. Hard work paid off and the Vette managed to break Danny Popp’s four year old TT1 track record with a 1:58.09.
Greg Valdez
Scott Corsetti chasing down Josh Miller
In TT2 Greg Valdez picked up right where he left off at Nationals last year. His 2:04.356 was more than enough to take the win over Scott Corsetti’s 911 turbo. Greg repeated his victory on Sunday. Both TT2 drivers were good sports and spent a great deal of their day instructing new drivers in the HPDE program.
Trip Hunter
Corry Perkins
John Carver
TT3 saw new and old Porches battle a Corvette and a WRX wagon. Rookie time trial driver Trip Hunter took the class win in his Martini Liveried Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS, posting a 2:11.793, 2.8 seconds ahead of Corry Perkins’s 911. Rounding out the podium was John Carver, who put his black and silver Corvette in third with a 2:15.329. Josh Miller drove his WRX wagon to a fourth place finish (2:16.879), and James Pasquier posted a best time of 2:18.657 in his yellow 993 chassis 911, the oldest, but perhaps classiest, car in the field.
Kyle Schick
Reigning TTU Champion Kyle Schick was learning how the RaceCo/OS Giken/Ohlins Racing/VP Fuels/AMS GTR handled in rear wheel drive configuration. 2:04.185 was his best time during Saturday’s sessions.
Will we see Shawn Murphy next round? Will Trent Smith get all four wheels of the GTR spinning together? Can there possibly be more Porsches on track? Find out all of this and more next month! The next race weekend is April 25-27 on the West track. Registration is open and we look forward to seeing everyone return for Round 2 of the NASA Utah racing series
Words by Michael Chandler and Matt Guiver. Photos by Michael Chandler
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.
NASA racers and support crew swarmed Miller Motorsports Park between the 4th and 8th of September for the NASA National Championships. Every class of NASA sanctioned racer were out there, along with your humble reporter/photographer. Well, the teams were there the whole time. I, unfortunately, only made it out on Friday the 6th, but I brought you pictures! And results!
Us Against One Clothing printed up some stickers for the locals to run if they chose to. The locals weren’t going to roll over and make it easy for the out of towners to win.
The American Iron (AI), American Iron Extreme (AIX) and Camaro Mustang Challenge (CMC) guys were taking advantage of the Full Course layout by doing what Camaros and Mustangs do best: go fast in a straight line. There were plenty of straights for them to wring their pony cars out. The AI and AIX classes were dominated by Mustangs that made the trip to Miller Motorsports Park from as far away as Ohio! But it wasn’t all Mustangs (well, the winners were all piloting Mustangs) or out of towners.
Gary Free in his RaceCo prepped, South Towne Storage sponsored FR500S took fourth in AIX, besting two other competitors. Corey Weber and Todd Davis brought out some classic American wheels to compete with. Weber took fourth in AI while Davis took tenth.
TTU, 1, and 2 were dominated by the home team. Kyle Schick ran a blistering 1:55 to take TTU, while Shawn Murphy and his full interior STi took TT1 with a 2:03. Smith-Burke Racing took TT2 by two tenths of a second! Their 2:01.039 was just barely quick enough for the title, while Greg Valdez missed out on the podium by four tenths. He still managed to out run a twin turbo 911 and a 911 GT3 by four and six seconds respectively.
George Smith took the fight to the STR-1 crowd and emerged with the title in the JDP Motorsports/Smith Marketing Services C5 Corvette. Corvettes appeared on the podium in ST2 (won by Smith-Burke Racing), ST3 and SU, with outright wins in ST2 and 3!
SU field was the most exotic. A pair of prototype-esqe cars, a pair of Thunder Roadsters, a Viper, a Honda S2000 and a Corvette all vied for the title, but when the checkered flag dropped the #7 Elan DP02 of Jon Van Canegham emerged victorious.
Also, the Brits were represented.
Spec Miata was arguably the most action packed field. Most of the packs were at least four cars deep, and dueling pairs of Miatas and lone Miatas were more the exception than the rule. Blinkers were left on, doors were smashed, it was one of the more fun groups to see tear it up. When the dust settled Matt Schultz climbed atop the podium. He represents the NASA Northwest region. The best the hometown crew could do was 13th (Chris Bond, 007). Can’t win them all…
If Spec Miata was the most action packed, most fun group to watch; then the GTS group was the prettiest. Porsches and BMWs running hard lap after lap. The sight was glorious, and the noise was epic!
Out of a possible twenty-eight championships, MMP locals took six. Nearly one quarter of your NASA National Champions call Miller Motorsports Park home… Well, not literally, but you get my drift. The number could’ve been more just as easily as less. Brendon Stewart’s Evo was still in pieces, Jason Smith sold his very quick Civic, Travis Williams’s FR500S was still down from the endurance race, and I’m not sure where Dave Dingman disappeared to. Sally McNulty’s WRX was dealing with a bad head gasket, Jordan Priestly was doing support work for some of the drivers. Those are six locals who could’ve competed for, if not taken a championship. And we’ll just gloss over the Snows and John Potter, because we know how well they usually do.
The championship trophies may have been handed out, but the racing isn’t over for the season. The final two events are in October: 4th-6th on the West track and 25th and 26th on the Outer Loop. Still plenty of good times to be had, and for the TT guys, faster laps since it *should* be cooler out.
A full list of winners, placers, show-ers, just missed its and also rans can be found here. BUT since you’re here, I present you with a list of the Champions, their class and their home region:
Alec Udell, American Iron, Texas
John Miksula, American Iron Extreme, Midwest
Aaron McSpadden, Camaro Mustang Challenge, Texas
Matt Schultz, Spec Miata, Northwest
David Schotz, TTB & C, Arizona
Sonny Watanasirisuk, TTD, California-Southern
Jason Kohler, TTE, Great Lakes
George Smith, STR1, Rocky Mountain
Michael von Quilich, Super Touring 1, California-Southern
Team Smith-Burke Racing, Super Touring 2, Utah
Kenneth Smith, Super Touring 3, Great Lakes
Jon Van Caneghem, Super Unlimited, California-Southern
Tyler Palmer, 944 Spec, California-Southern
Dick Hunter, GTS2, Texas
Tony Colicchio, GTS3, California-Northern
Michael McAleenan, GTS4, Northwest
Peter Spencer, GTS5, Utah
David Schotz, PTB, Arizona
Dennis Holloway, PTC, California-Southern
Need Speed Orozco, PTD, California-Southern
Jason Kohler, PTE, Great Lakes
Walter Carlos, PTF, California-Southern
David Dirks, Spec Z, Rocky Mountain
Shawn Murphy, TT1, Utah
Team Smith-Burke Racing, TT2, Utah
Christopher Mayfield, TT3, Rocky Mountain
Kyle Schick, TTU, Utah
And there you have it. See you in a a few weeks, and because I told them this is where to look, here’s a picture of this AIX Mustang:
-Words and Photos by Michael Chandler
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.
This past weekend Miller Motorsports Park hosted the 2013 NASA National Championships, and the MMP Locals held down the fort against the out of towners!
Kyle Schick: TTU Champ in the RaceCo prepped Nissan GTR
Shawn Murphy: TT1 Champ in the GrimmSpeed/The Boost Creep Limited STi
James Burke: TT2 Champ in the JDP C5 Corvette
And barely missing out on the podium by FOUR TENTHS of a second
Greg Valdez in #lelantos, the Ziptie Dynowerks/GolfTec/DC Spinal Care STi.
More photos are coming down the pipe, but in the meantime enjoy these photos of some of your favorite champions. They might not have all gotten hardware, but they’re definitely winners regardless.
Words and photos by Michael Chandler
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.
