ROUND 2 REPORTS 

The second race of the season for American Iron and American Iron extreme was held at Infineon Raceway on April 12 and 13^th, 2008. The day was unusually hot, and participation was light.

Griggs Racing announced their commitment to supporting the American Iron Racing Series by again offering contingency to drivers with their suspension systems. More information is available at www.griggsracing.com

The weekend competitors were Ryan Walton in his Agent 47 prepped car with Corey Weber of Agent 47 providing trackside support, Hal Massey in the #48 Cobra along with trackside support from Griggs Racing, Bryan MacMillan in his #34 mustang, and new to the series driver James Griffith running his first AI race in his CMC – soon to be AI car. Team JMC Motorsports was scheduled to attend the event, but unforeseen circumstances left them out for this weekend’s race. They will be joining us at Buttonwillow Raceway in a couple of weeks.

Representing the AIX group was Andy Steyn of Las Vegas.

Saturday was a flying start with the drivers getting a warm up session in the morning, and running their qualifying match during a CMC and FFR race. Qualifying for Pole position was Ryan Walton, with a lightning fast 1:50.8. The race proceeded without incident nor any passing, and with each lap the distance between the cars grew. Finishing positions were Bryan MacMillan in 3^rd, Hal Massey in 2^nd and Ryan Walton in 1^st.  In AIX Andy Steyn took 1^st place.

Sunday qualifying was done during a points race for FFR and CMC. Again we saw Ryan Walton take pole position for the race. The race was a standing start, the green flag dropped and Ryan Walton’s determination to hold onto 1^st place for the race was apparent. Massey and MacMillan had their own race going on between the other drivers. As the field spread more and more between 1^st and last with each lap, these two were seen completing several passes against each other, sometimes 2-3 in the same lap! James Griffith ran a clean race in his CMC prepped car, but it was apparent some modifications would be in order to bring it up to be competitive in the series.

ROUND 3 REPORT

Round 3 of the West Coast American Iron series took place at Buttonwillow Raceway on April 25 & 26, 2008. Temperatures were in the high 70’s and it was a clear and sunny day. This race served as the first of the year in the So Cal NASA region.

We had a new driver in AIX, Andy Sutak, in his beautiful CytoSport sponsored Red and Black #11 Cobra join us from Northern California. Thanks to Andy for letting us set up our AI hospitality area at his trailer. Driver Dave Martis was also scheduled to compete in AIX, but suffered a traffic accident on his way to the track, we are happy to report nobody was injured, but his race car suffered some damage preventing him from running this weekend. We hope to see Dave up and running next month at Willow Springs.

Competing this weekend in AI we had two Agent 47 sponsored vehicles: #54 Ryan Walton and #99 Andy Bowman. Team JMC Motorsports was present in their #17 Mustang, as were John Wheeler in his #81 Pontiac Firebird, Hal Massey in his #46 Cobra, and Bryan MacMillan in his #34 M-Racing Mustang.

Qualifying went well on Saturday with the drivers running together with CMC, FFR and the Pro Trucks. Qualifying 2^nd fastest time overall was AIX driver Andy Sutak with a 1:54.3. In AI, Ryan Walton qualified for Pole with a 1:59.9 with Andy Bowman right behind him with a close 2:00.2.

The race was a flying start with all class drivers in Pro Truck, AI and AIX starting on the same flag. The race saw the most action yet in this years series with Walton, Bowman and the Team JMC car piloted by Keith Parker all working hard to take first position,  and then a bit further back in the field we had Wheeler, MacMillan and Massey all battling for the top position in their group. The crowds of spectators in the observation tower were cheering the drivers on as they worked their way through the field of Pro Trucks and eventually caught the back half of and started passing FFR and CMC drivers.

Finishing in 1^st place with a 1:59.9 was #54 Walton, followed by #99 Bowman, #17 Team JMC (Parker), #81 Wheeler, #34 MacMillan and #46 Massey. It was a good day for all and $325 in Toyo bucks going to the top finishing drivers in contingency awards.

Sunday’s qualifying session went well and with no incidents in the AI/AIX groups. The race was a flying start with the series drivers on their own flag. #54 Walton had the pole for the second time this weekend, followed by #17 Parker, #99 Bowman, #81 Wheeler, #46 Massey and #34 MacMillan. As the flag dropped and the cars approached turn 1, we saw Hal Massey pull into 3^rd place behind Parker and in front of Bowman who was followed closely by Wheeler. Bowman caught Massey on the way up to lost hill, and Wheeler soon passed Massey as well to try and secure 4^th place. In front, Walton caught up to a Pro Truck and passed it putting the truck between him and the rest of the field. He then caught up to and passed an FFR car in the bus stop putting yet a second vehicle in the way of Parker catching him. Parker got around the FFR car and set his sights on the Pro Truck to get around him and catch up to Walton. Wheeler opened a huge gap for Massey to close if he wanted to reclaim 4^th position in the race. The last couple laps of the race were intense for the top 3 drivers as Walton got caught up in a group of FFR cars, he worked on passing them but the delay allowed Parker and Bowman to close up some of the gap from earlier in the race, but it wasn’t enough and Walton won his second race of the weekend!

We are looking forward to the next race at Willow Springs on May 25 & 26, 2008.