Mid Ohio ConAgra Foods 10/06/2001   Race Report   Andrew S Hartwell The grid was almost as colorful as some of the people in this sport at the start of the Conagra Foods U.S. Road Racing Classic Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at Mid-Ohio. Whew! The title alone took half a lap. The sun broke through again as the field took off for the formation lap, ending up in place on the grid and ready to go racing. The national anthem was sung acapella by a talented young lady and the signal to start engines was given. The field came around cleanly and took the starters flag under blue and white skies. James Weaver pulled out quickly but he had Jon Field right behind him. The two went off and the race was on. The #50 Porsche of Aasco-Boduck Racing started from the pits because of a throttle problem it encountered on the grid. Once underway, GA officials considered black-flagging the car for going too slowly. They brought the car in and changed drivers looking to find enough speed to stay away from any waving officials. The #84 Comer Racing AGT car was hampered with shifter problems and eventually came into the pits for good. At about the 35-minute mark, the first yellow came out when Steven Ivankovich, in the Zip-Pumpelly Porsche #34, spun near turn 11 and went into the gravel. Most of the field took advantage of the caution to come in and take care of servicing and / or driver changes. One exception was Jack Baldwin in the #74 Ranch Robinson Racing R&S. But the move failed him when he had to later come in on green with a tire going down. The #45 American Viper Racing Viper, with Gene Martindale at the wheel, was bumped in the carousel by the #82 Wendy’s Corvette, sending him into the land of broken dreams, and noses. Team owner Tom Weickardt never got in the car so his weekend is over. Weickardt: “We started the race and believe it or not, we found out in the first lap that all we had was fourth and fifth gear. Gene did a great job driving it. He was pushing 29’s and 30’s with two gears. “We changed transmissions after late practice yesterday and we never got to take a hardship lap so we didn’t find out we had a problem until the first lap. It didn’t show up in the things we could do in the pits. “Gene got tagged in the carousel. There is no sense ripping the hood off. I tell you what, sometimes racing is just not as much fun as it ought to be.” Spencer Pumpelly yielded the qualifying and start of the race to team benefactor Steve Ivankovich. Ivankovich recounts the circumstances of his off: “I got bumped going into the right hander pushing me into the gravel trap. I still hadn’t gotten comfortable out there. The track was real greasy and there were a lot of spins in front of me so I tried to pull back a notch and a guy behind me pushed me out of the way. I think he got bumped from behind as well. “This is just one of those weekends for me. I ran some good laps. I was trying to stay out of the way of the sports racers. And we have never run a car with this loose of a set up so I am a little uneasy with it. I will go back out again though.” Joel Field put the #28 R&S Intersport car into the wall and sustained some damage to the front splitter. Clint Field: “Joe came in because the throttle stuck and caused him to hit the wall and bang up the splitter. I got in and it was fine except that it has too much understeer. We are just trying to keep it on the track.” Standings after the first hour: SRP 16, 27, 37, 20, 74, 78, 28 SRPII 89, 21, 25, 22 GTS 5, 99, 56, 19, 07, 45, AGT 09, 71, 11, 82, 46, 84, 41 GT 15, 61, 66, 54, 81, 57, 42, 75, 10, 32, 80, 43, 72, 58, 85, 50, 34, 35 Craig Conway looked a ball of sweat when I asked him how he was enjoying his day in the Ohio sun. “The car is running perfect. We blew out two engines this weekend and that is our second spare in the car now. It is not a very powerful engine but it is reliable. We hope.” John Heinricy is behind the wheel of the #32 Phoenix American Motorsports Corvette running in GT. He too was pouring water over himself to keep cool. “The track is a bit greasy but not too bad. The worst thing is they got some debris out there and they got to get it cleaned up. I had a chunk of debris go through my front windshield when a car passed me. There is a hole in the window and pieces of glass keep falling into the car.” The #07 Jennifer Fund Porsche of G&W Motorsports was out with a brake problem. Steve Marshall: “The support that holds the brake caliper in the front let the caliper fall down on the rim and broke the rim and messed up the front so we are done.” The Muzzy Viper (#56) came in for problems with the rear diffuser but repairs were made quickly and the car was sent back. The car was refired while one of the poor mechanics was still underneath the back of it. He jumped straight up and back as quick as any Olympic Medalist could have! After a little over one hour in, Grand Am officials reported three track records were broken. Andy Lally in the #21 Archangel Motorsprots Nissan-Lola went a 1:22.494 lap in SRPII. Chris Bingham took the GTS Saleen around in 1:24.766 and Randy Pobst made it a tri-fecta with a GT lap of 1:27.715. “Uncle Joe” Field's difficult day became even more so when he was brought in for reckless driving. GA officials cited him for running the Ferrari-Judd off the road allowing Jon Field to take the lead in the #37 sister car. Joe was assessed a 30-second penalty. On lap 59, (3:52 PM) the overall standings were: SRP 16, 37, 27 SRPII 89, 21, 22 GTS 5, 99, 19 GT 15, 61, 66 AGT 09, 71, 11 On lap 63, the #20 Dyson car got past the Ferrari-Judd to take over third place. But the triumph would be short lived as the car retired with gearbox trouble. The #78 Norma went out with gearbox problems after having come into the pits without power. The Saleen continued to hold down first in GTS, even putting the #99 Porsche down a lap late in the race Oliver Gavin and James Weaver were dicing it up for the overall lead now, with Gavin in front. Weaver noted earlier in the day that the Intersport Lola was the faster car and now it seems Gavin doesn’t want to make a liar out of him. It is great to see these two in the hunt, though Weaver is a good 42 seconds back on lap 71. The #16 car relinquished the lead when Leitzinger came in for tires and fuel and to hand over to James. When Weaver went back out, the #56 Viper got into the gravel bringing out a full course caution. At the restart, there were six cars between the two Englishman but Weaver soon dispatched them and went on the move. With 3 laps to go, he pulled within 7.7 seconds of Gavin. By the next lap, the gap was down to 6.8 seconds, but Ollie was having none of that and he quickly got back the loss. The white flag has just waved and Gavin saw it first. Weaver continued to push but it appeared that the end was too near. As I write this, I see Gavin coming out of the carousel and onto the front straight with his fist in the air as he takes the checkered flag! Weaver put all he could into it and managed to come across just 5.02 seconds behind. Quite a wonderful weekend for Jon Field as this is his home track and he must have had 150 guests here this weekend. Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport