Mid-Altantic Region Spec Series

Race Reports 2004

FFR spec racing returned to VIR's north course full of intrigue and subplots. VIR is the site of the upcoming Factory Five Nationals race and the north course incorporates most the technical turns for the track. Defending Nationals Champion Bryan Dobyns (Manassas, VA) had clinched the NASA-VA championship to go along with his East Coast championship, but Brian Cates (Manassas, VA) had gotten his first series win on the north course when he entered his first race. Adding to the excitement was the west coast Team Lawson (Dan and Bob from Sunnyvale, CA) coming out and using the track as a warm-up. Local hot-shoe Charles Burkett (Eden, NC) was also returning to VIR with a new engine to see if his knowledge of the track would let him challenge for the front.

Friday practice had four drivers doing some various testing. Cates and Dobyns ran well, but Rob Mau (Richmond, VA) and Dan Elam (Richmond, VA) weren't far behind with all four being faster or close to the track record.

A loud cheer was heard on Saturday morning from the spec car drivers when the event director announced that the race would be a standing start! Qualifying found Dan Lawson with a blown head gasket and subsequent overheating, but he still nursed it around to start within striking distance of the others at the beginning of the race. Burkett played well in the mix before he lost oil pressure and retired for the weekend. Elam skipped the race after his wife was taken the hospital from a wreck in an earlier race. (She was fine and back at the track later Saturday evening.) Dobyns set a new official lap record, but Cates was only a fraction of a second behind.

Dobyns later described his rearview mirror of the start as something from cartoon. A stock car sat on the outside pole with Dobyns on the inside. Dobyns had a fantastic start and left the stock car in his dust. As he looked up, he saw Mau and Cates splitting the stock car with the spec racers running 1-2-3 by turn one. Cates bridged up to Dobyns before passing him a few laps later. The two ran very close with Mau settled into a comfortable third place. As the race wound down, Cates found himself in the lead with two turns to go when a 400HP+ Camara spun in front of him and caused him to brake heavily. The final turn meant Cates, Dobyns, and the Camaro all in a second gear drag race to the finish. Cates had a slight advantage on Dobyns with about 1,000 feet and looking for his first win of the year when he missed fourth gear. The final surge of power was enough to propel Dobyns across the line as the winner.

A post-race technical inspection of all cars resulted in no disqualifications.

Sunday featured another standing start and Dobyns, Cates, Bob Lawson, Mau, and Elam were all within a few rows while Dan Lawson wasn't that far back, but still nursing a sick car. Sunday's race meant special challenges since the top group of drivers from Honda Challenge had been thrown into the mix. With their high HP cars and solid suspensions, they were intermixed into the field and would prove difficult to handle, especially on the start.

To handle the Hondas, Cates and Dobyns and Elam and Mau made pre-race arrangements to follow each other and get some distance from other cars. On the grid the drivers were warned of some heavy oil on the outside of the entrance to turn one. When the green flag dropped Elam was supposed to follow Mau, but Mau spun his tires and the plan switched as Elam led Mau up through the field and then moved left to let Mau retake the lead at the exit. For the last two years the east coast guys have talked/bragged about how they don't have the same bumping and contact that is more common on the west coast. So it was with irony and deep regret on the part of the east coast crowd when the lead Honda Challenge car punted Lawson on just the third turn of the race, sending him to back of the entire 45+ car field.

Dobyns and Cates were supposed to run nose to tail for a few laps to get some separation from the Hondas, but the lead increased so quickly that Cates wasted no time in passing Dobyns and taking the lead. Elam passed Mau again to retake third and opened a few car lengths before deciding to try to the fast path through turn one and go through the oil. That bad move resulted in a spin that put Mau back in position. Amazingly, on the next lap Elam tried the same maneuver again (he must have been assuming or hoping that the oil had finally gone) on the next lap and spun again, this time letting Dan Lawson around him.

But the real action was up front with Cates and Dobyns running close together until nearly the end of the race. Dobyns kept attacking while Cates defended. Finally the racing become too close and the cars ended up together with Dobyns car riding up the side of Cates at an angle. Both cars spun in the dirt and the race hinged on who could get out of the dirt first. In this case it was Cates back to the track first and on his way to the win that had eluded him the day before. When the dust finally settled, Dobyns and the conservative Mau rounded out the podium with Cates establishing a new track record and signaling that Dobyns is going to have some real competition when the Nationals return in just five short weeks. Damage was minor to both Cates and Dobyns' cars and both should be repaired quickly.

Dobyns' dominance of the series has been impressive since he entered and his NASA-VA and East Coast Challenge championships are no surprise, despite the gains that others have made. Dobyns won 17 of 19 of the races in the first two years of the series and has now only lost 5 races in the two years since he returned. But as Cates has demonstrated, the field isn't standing still and is doing everything they can to close the gap.

Most of the drivers are headed to Mid-Ohio for the final, perfunctory race in the East Coast Challenge series. Then it's back to VIR for the Factory Five Nationals in what promises to be one exciting weekend.

Dan Elam

The Factory Five Spec Series made their first foray into the deep south with the running of NASA Southeast’s Peach State Challenge at Road Atlanta. It also represented the third stop on the FFR East Coast Challenge Series and attracted top drivers in the country from as far away as Michigan. The weather was “96/96” – 96F and 96% humidity on Georgia’s famously fast and demanding track.

The weekend’s field was especially competitive. Two time NASA-VA and defending Nationals champion Bryan Dobyns (Manassas, VA) has been the series dominant driver since his return to spec racing and had won three of the first four East Coast races (and a couple West coast races just for fun). Rob Mau (Richmond, VA) is the only driver to have beaten Dobyns since Kershaw in 2003. Factory Five engineers Jim Schenck and Dave Riha (Wareham, MA) made the long drive to see if they could keep their strong string of podium finishes in place. Brian Sanders (Cincinnati, OH) has shown significant improvements in the last few races while his fellow regional competitor (and defending NASA-OH/IN champion) John McIver (Detroit, MI) brought out his burgundy car. Even Dan Elam (Richmond, VA) marked his return with a competitive car with the addition of engine #10. With his new SCCA license in hand, Ed Boothman (Orlando, FL) showed up for a little HPDE work and some polishing before he begins his race career. The weekend was highly anticipated since none of the drivers had actually driven the track before although Dobyns and Mau were already claiming plenty of hours on the track thanks to the computer games.

The spec racers were treated to appearances from various Factory Five owners and even FFCOBRA.COM’s own Bill Pierce was there to distribute t-shirts.

Saturday practice was a shocker with Dobyns nearly 6 seconds faster than the pack with Schenck, Mau, Riha, and Elam. The gap closed some with qualifying, but Dobyns was clearly finding the speed ahead of Schenck and Mau who would start near him. Riha lost a transmission to end his fun for the weekend. Fortunately for the rest of the competitors, our spec cars were bunched together into their own field for a split start so Dobyn’s dominant qualifying position wouldn’t mean that much. Or so the others thought. The starter held a furled green and confused Dobyns and Schenck while everyone else behind wondered if the race was started or not. Dobyns took control and launched from the field while the starter finally realized that he needed to open the flag.

Dobyns set sail while Schenck, Mau, McIver, and Elam traded positions second through fourth. Mau ended up with the rear brakes locking up while Elam managed to find yet another way to blow up an engine (different from the previous engine failures) resulting in Dobyns taking the easy win with Schenck and McIver rounding out the podium.

Sunday showed that others were picking up some speed during practice and qualifying, but Dobyns still held a two second advantage. This time Schenck and McIver would start near the front. Boothman generously loaned Elam the use of his car for the race where Elam would start in the back.

Once again the start was a problem. Instead of a split start, there would only be one green. Dobyns held up the FFR Spec cars and Camaro-Mustang Challenge cars behind them while Schenck also failed to close the gap with the main American Iron field. This left a big gap between the front pack and our spec racers, meaning – once again – Dobyns was the only one to get away cleanly although Elam made a strong run down into turn 1 to pick up a few positions. Dobyns quickly pulled away as Schenck, McIver, Mau, and Elam fought doggedly. Elam’s engine frustrations must have been pretty obvious as he used Boothman’s Spec Car to attack in nearly every single corner. The close fighting let Dobyns open up a lead in just a few laps before a red flag brought the race to a halt.

After nearly ten minutes the yellow flag came out and the FFR Spec racers were stuck behind some inexperienced American Iron drivers. Instead of being able to close the gap with Dobyns for the restart, some of the American Iron drivers inexplicably used the yellow lap to warm their tires and let Dobyns and others build a huge lead as they hustled around the track back to the overall leaders. The frustrated FFR Spec Racers could merely watch as the idiots in the Mustangs continued to weave back and forth instead of bunching the field. On the restart Elam tried to run another lap but a stuck throttle made it too dangerous to continue. McIver and Mau swapped the lead a few times before a pass attempt resulted in contact that sent Mau into the wall. The final standings would read Dobyns, Schenck, and McIver on the podium, but with Sanders having his best-ever finish of fourth place in the FFR East Coast Challenge.

Dobyns’ wins means an almost insurmountable lead with just 4 races to go for the East Coast championship. All in all it was a pretty typical weekend for Spec Cars: Dobyns and Schenck with 1-2 finishes, Elam with a blown engine, and lots of fun by all. Everyone agreed that a return to Road Atlanta is a must for 2005.

The Spec Cars have a short break before they return to the track. July 10-11 they will be racing at Summit Point during NASA and Grassroots Motorsports’ Hyperfest weekend. That weekend should be a record field as several new cars are being completed. Look for an exciting race as the experienced drivers fight for the front and several new drivers and cars make their debuts.

Dan Elam