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Round 5 of the American Iron West Race series was held at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. on June 28 & 29, 2008. The weather was chilly in the morning, warming up to the high 70’s in the afternoon. Our track configuration for the weekend was what is known as the “Long 7” or “NASCAR 7.” This month we welcomed back 2 more veteran drivers! NASA AIX former teammates, “Team Griggs Racing 1” - Bruce Griggs and “Team Griggs Racing 2” - Guy Cunningham of Griggs Racing rejoined the series in fine style. Bruce presented at the track with the infamous #40 “Old Blue” (note: car and driver haven’t seen competition in over two years!). Guy presented with #45 Darrell Anderson's 2004 Ford Mustang GR40 race car, one of the latest turn key race cars to come out of the Griggs Racing facility which is housed at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Ca. Participating in American Iron this weekend: Team JMC Motorsports – Keith Parker and John DaLuz; Agent 47 - #17 Ryan Walton, Griggs Racing - #46 Hal Massey; #81 John Wheeler; and #34 Brian MacMillan. In American Iron Extreme: Team Griggs Racing 1 - #40 Bruce Griggs; Team Griggs Racing 2 - #45 Guy Cunningham; Agent 47’s A47 Hunter - #47 Corey Weber; CytoSport/S&S Fabrication #11 Andy Sutak; and #9 Andrew Steyn from Las Vegas, NV. The American Iron group was the first out on track each day with 10 minute warm up sessions. Qualifying on Saturday went well. In AIX, pole position was awarded to Team Griggs racing 2 car #45 Guy Cunningham with a fastest lap time of 1:46.8, In AI Ryan Walton in his Agent 47 equipped fox bodied Mustang sealed another pole position with a 1:54.6 followed closely by Team JMC Motorsports with a narrow split of only 0.2 seconds showing us promise of a close race in the afternoon. The race was our familiar flying start format and as the green flag dropped the cars roared towards turn one. Team JMC Motorsports driver Keith Parker in the #17 car overtook #54 Ryan Walton early in the first lap and then also passed the #9 AIX car piloted by Andy Steyn. Steyn appeared to having mechanical issues and pulled off after the second lap. Parker managed a comfortable gap between himself and the 2nd place car #81 driven by John Wheeler then worked on staying consistent to hold his position. In AIX the CytoSport/S&S Fabrication Mustang had last minute mechanical difficulties which forced him to start the race from behind the last car in the AI Group. Despite his troubles, the car looked strong as it passed AI cars #34 MacMillan, #46 Massey & #47 Weber in the first lap. Keeping up the pace he then passed #81 Wheeler and #54 Walton over the next two laps but just as he was approaching the AIX field, he pulled into the pits due to smoke coming from the rear of the car which had started about a lap back. Sutak worked hard all weekend trying to get things working smoothly in the newly LS2 powered Cobra, but is appears there were still some issues to button up before the car would be seeing a checkered flag. By the 4th lap it was apparent that something wasn’t right with the #54 car driven by Walton, he began to drop back in the pack, passed first by #81 John Wheeler, then again by Griggs Racing #46 Hal Massey. Massey and Wheeler had a good race and traded 2nd and 3rd position a couple of times making it anyone’s guess as to which driver would prevail. Up in front the Team Griggs Racing 1 #40 “Old Blue” driven by Bruce Griggs looked at home on the track a short distanced behind the Team Griggs Racing 2 #45 driver Guy Cunningham. Both cars looked well composed on course and it was apparent in the pits the drivers were enjoying their weekend back with the NASA crowd. Congratulations to our AIX winner Team Griggs Racing #2 – Car# 45 driven by Guy Cunningham, what a great way to come back to a series! And AI Winner Team JMC Motorsports Car# 17 driven by Keith Parker!! Final race standings for Saturday were as follows: American Iron 1st place with a 1:51.5 Team JMC Motorsports #17 Keith Parker 2nd place - #81 John Wheeler 3rd place – Griggs Racing #46 Hal Massey 4th place – Agent 47 Car #54 Ryan Walton 5th place - #34 Brian MacMillan American Iron Extreme 1st place with a 1:45.4 Team Griggs Racing 2 #45 Guy Cunningham 2nd place Team Griggs Racing 1 #40 Bruce Griggs 3rd place Agent 47 #47 Corey Weber 4th place CytoSport/S&S Fabrication #11 Andy Sutak 5th place #9 Andy Steyn Sunday’s qualifying session went well and in AIX a lap record was recorded by Team Griggs Racing 2 #45 driver Guy Cunningham with a cleanly run 1:45.1 lap time! Mechanical issues prevented Team Griggs Racing 2 #40 Bruce Griggs from completing the session, but after the session we were assured he would make the race. The CytoSport/S&S Fabrication #11 car driven by Andy Sutak would be starting in 2nd position for the race followed by #9 Andy Steyn. In AI Agent 47’s #54 Ryan Walton clicked off a 1:54.5 in his 2nd lap which awarded him Pole position for the race. #81 John Wheeler followed closely with a .03 split time behind Walton awarding him second position on the race grid. The race began with the green flag dropping as the AIX cars approached start finish followed closely by the AI grid. The CytoSport/S&S Fabrication Cobra looked great at the start, but after a couple of laps was forced to come in due to mechanical issues. 1st place was held the next 3 laps by the Griggs #45 car until he too suffered a minor issue which required him to pull off course leaving 1st place to his former teammate Bruce Griggs in the #40 car and Andy Steyn claiming a 2nd place win for his final rookie race. In AI the Agent 47 #54 car driven by Ryan Walton put up a good fight for 1st place despite still having issues with a faulty mass air sensor. Hanging onto 1st until the end of the 2nd lap when both #17 Team JMC Motorsports driver John DaLuz, and #81 John Wheeler passed him pushing back to 3rd place. A yellow flag condition stopped the competition for a couple of laps, however, once the green flag was dropped to restart #54 Walton reclaimed the 2nd, and then 1st place positions. #17 Team JMC driver John DaLuz wasn’t about to settle for second place and the drivers swapped positions one more time before Team JMC Motorsports #17 John DaLuz took the checkered flag breaking Walton’s winning streak. Congratulations to Team JMC Motorsports for their win in the AI race and to Team Griggs Racing #1 driver Bruce Griggs for winning the AIX race! This will conclude the West Coast series until our drivers return from the NASA National Championship races at Mid-Ohio in September. Good luck to all of you and we’ll see you at Thunderhill Raceway in October! Vicky Griffin American Iron West Submit Article |
