Ken
Gone but not forgotten
From Car And Driver:
Tire Rack Cannonball One Lap of America 2005
And the winner is...
BY TONY SWAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARY SEELHORST
May 2005
South Bend, Indiana, May 7 — Like a band of high-speed gypsies, the remaining cars of the 2005 One Lap of America tour descended on Tire Rack headquarters today, unpacked, filled the air with smoke and noise, and before you could say “vulcanized rubber,” they were packed up and gone, leaving an empty parking lot and indelible memories in their wake.
This was homecoming for the ’05 Lap, which kicked off here one week ago with a time trial on Tire Rack’s skidpad, thoroughly moistened for the occasion.
For the finale, the skidpad was dry, a good thing for cars that had burned through most of their tire tread during the course of the week, a description that applied to a substantial percentage of the field.
The official skidpad runs were followed by a free form drifting session staged by some of the top finishers, who were invited to do essentially whatever they wanted in the way of sideways driving, spins, and other antics conceived to amuse the small crowd of visitors gathered for the event.
When the smoke and fumes of the skidpad finale had dissipated, and the points were tallied, Mark DaVia had nailed down his second consecutive championship.
This was hardly unexpected. Blending speed with consistency and first-rate preparation, DaVia had rolled into the overall lead by day four, and came into the final skidpad run needing only a 17th-place performance to hold off Brian Smith’s Dodge Viper for the title.
His 6th-place performance was more than good enough to lock up the championship, 70 points ahead of Smith.
As he did last year en route to his first title, DaVia won by being near the top of the charts when he wasn’t actually in first place. He was first in eight of the 18 timed track events, and out of the top five in only two — the bracket racing eliminations at Mason-Dixon Dragway, day four, and the dry skidpad finale.
Maintained and tweaked by co-driver Drew Wikstrom, DaVia’s Porsche 911 Turbo ran flawlessly throughout the tour. The only problem, he said, was “scooter-related,” an oblique reference to a spill in the Nelson Ledges paddock.
Will DaVia seek a three-peat next year?
“Of course,” he said. “This is a great event.
“If you’re a car nut, this is the place to be. Where else can you hang out for an entire week and talk cars?”
Smith, driving a John Hennessey-tuned Dodge Viper, was almost as consistent as DaVia, but scored top points only once, in the second run at Virginia International Raceway, day five.
Danny Popp and Jerry Onks, sharing a Corvette coupe, finished third overall. The ’99 Vette was among the quickest when it was running well, posting the fastest time in five different events, but clutch and brake problems slowed the team in other outings.
Ron Adee recovered from his disastrous starting line bog in the low elapsed time competition at the drag strip to finish fourth overall and first in the SUV class with his Dodge Ram supertruck, while Canadian Danny Corcoran battled into the top five with his Z06 Corvette.
The Team C/D Mustang GT, meanwhile, emerged as the top car in the SSGT2 Big Bore category, despite a lackluster performance in the skidpad finale.
(Big Bore, incidentally, has nothing to do with an ennui index. It refers to a sub-classification, defined by engine displacement. Big Bore equals over 3.5 liters, Small Bore under.)
The Mustang wound up 18th in the overall standings, looked great doing it, was a pleasure to drive, and drew enthusiastic comments and questions wherever we stopped.
In all, the One Lap structure includes a dozen competition classes, a system designed to make sure plenty of teams go home with trophies.
One Lap Stats
The 22nd One Lap of America drew 93 entries, and 90 official starters at the wet skidpad competition. Attrition thinned the field throughout the week, and only 82 returned to South Bend for the dry skidpad finale.
The entire 2005 tour was officially 3434 miles of public roads, wending its way back and forth through 14 different states.
An unofficial post-event survey recorded only 12 speeding tickets, although a number of teams reported being stopped and sent on their way with warnings.
One team topped the charts in this last category, with four stops in three days with no citations. Could it be that having a police officer on board helped out? Could be.
The tour was also relatively kind to fauna, at least compared to last year. The teams on hand at the South Bend finale reported 14 encounters that proved fatal to critters ranging in size from a coyote to a mouse.
Precisely how the driver spotted and identified the mouse before flattening it was not recorded.
The survey also reported reduced on-road repair expenditures compared to 2004 – about $31,000. This does not, of course, include expenses incurred by teams that dropped out with blown engines, battle damage, and other mechanical ills.
For 2006, One Lap Godfather Brock Yates promises a return to epic highway mileages — “this year was way too soft,” he said at the post-event awards luncheon.
And what might that mileage include?
“We’re not sure about the entire route,” said Yates, “but I’ll tell you this: think Nevada.”
For complete results visit the One Lap web site at www.onelapofamerica.com.
Tire Rack Cannonball One Lap of America 2005
And the winner is...
BY TONY SWAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARY SEELHORST
May 2005
South Bend, Indiana, May 7 — Like a band of high-speed gypsies, the remaining cars of the 2005 One Lap of America tour descended on Tire Rack headquarters today, unpacked, filled the air with smoke and noise, and before you could say “vulcanized rubber,” they were packed up and gone, leaving an empty parking lot and indelible memories in their wake.
This was homecoming for the ’05 Lap, which kicked off here one week ago with a time trial on Tire Rack’s skidpad, thoroughly moistened for the occasion.
For the finale, the skidpad was dry, a good thing for cars that had burned through most of their tire tread during the course of the week, a description that applied to a substantial percentage of the field.
The official skidpad runs were followed by a free form drifting session staged by some of the top finishers, who were invited to do essentially whatever they wanted in the way of sideways driving, spins, and other antics conceived to amuse the small crowd of visitors gathered for the event.
When the smoke and fumes of the skidpad finale had dissipated, and the points were tallied, Mark DaVia had nailed down his second consecutive championship.
This was hardly unexpected. Blending speed with consistency and first-rate preparation, DaVia had rolled into the overall lead by day four, and came into the final skidpad run needing only a 17th-place performance to hold off Brian Smith’s Dodge Viper for the title.
His 6th-place performance was more than good enough to lock up the championship, 70 points ahead of Smith.
As he did last year en route to his first title, DaVia won by being near the top of the charts when he wasn’t actually in first place. He was first in eight of the 18 timed track events, and out of the top five in only two — the bracket racing eliminations at Mason-Dixon Dragway, day four, and the dry skidpad finale.
Maintained and tweaked by co-driver Drew Wikstrom, DaVia’s Porsche 911 Turbo ran flawlessly throughout the tour. The only problem, he said, was “scooter-related,” an oblique reference to a spill in the Nelson Ledges paddock.
Will DaVia seek a three-peat next year?
“Of course,” he said. “This is a great event.
“If you’re a car nut, this is the place to be. Where else can you hang out for an entire week and talk cars?”
Smith, driving a John Hennessey-tuned Dodge Viper, was almost as consistent as DaVia, but scored top points only once, in the second run at Virginia International Raceway, day five.
Danny Popp and Jerry Onks, sharing a Corvette coupe, finished third overall. The ’99 Vette was among the quickest when it was running well, posting the fastest time in five different events, but clutch and brake problems slowed the team in other outings.
Ron Adee recovered from his disastrous starting line bog in the low elapsed time competition at the drag strip to finish fourth overall and first in the SUV class with his Dodge Ram supertruck, while Canadian Danny Corcoran battled into the top five with his Z06 Corvette.
The Team C/D Mustang GT, meanwhile, emerged as the top car in the SSGT2 Big Bore category, despite a lackluster performance in the skidpad finale.
(Big Bore, incidentally, has nothing to do with an ennui index. It refers to a sub-classification, defined by engine displacement. Big Bore equals over 3.5 liters, Small Bore under.)
The Mustang wound up 18th in the overall standings, looked great doing it, was a pleasure to drive, and drew enthusiastic comments and questions wherever we stopped.
In all, the One Lap structure includes a dozen competition classes, a system designed to make sure plenty of teams go home with trophies.
One Lap Stats
The 22nd One Lap of America drew 93 entries, and 90 official starters at the wet skidpad competition. Attrition thinned the field throughout the week, and only 82 returned to South Bend for the dry skidpad finale.
The entire 2005 tour was officially 3434 miles of public roads, wending its way back and forth through 14 different states.
An unofficial post-event survey recorded only 12 speeding tickets, although a number of teams reported being stopped and sent on their way with warnings.
One team topped the charts in this last category, with four stops in three days with no citations. Could it be that having a police officer on board helped out? Could be.
The tour was also relatively kind to fauna, at least compared to last year. The teams on hand at the South Bend finale reported 14 encounters that proved fatal to critters ranging in size from a coyote to a mouse.
Precisely how the driver spotted and identified the mouse before flattening it was not recorded.
The survey also reported reduced on-road repair expenditures compared to 2004 – about $31,000. This does not, of course, include expenses incurred by teams that dropped out with blown engines, battle damage, and other mechanical ills.
For 2006, One Lap Godfather Brock Yates promises a return to epic highway mileages — “this year was way too soft,” he said at the post-event awards luncheon.
And what might that mileage include?
“We’re not sure about the entire route,” said Yates, “but I’ll tell you this: think Nevada.”
For complete results visit the One Lap web site at www.onelapofamerica.com.
