Grand American Series
Mid Ohio

RACE REPORT

SET-UP
The race setup was good. #80 was balanced and had good grip in the race until the rear stabilizer mount broke. During some practice sessions there was mild under steer attributable to mismatched tires. After we got a handle on the tire issue, balance was okay. The main changes were shock settings, caster and wing angle.

The #81 on Thursday was good. Mae liked it in the first test session. The new #81 was driven by David Friday. During the Saturday warm-up, Mae asked that the rear stabilizer be relaxed to give a better feel.

The races are started on the back straight at Mid-Ohio and the DP's got all the way to T13 before one spun into the gravel and the race went to caution at the end of the first lap. The #64 Pontiac GTO slipped from 2 nd to 4 th and when it went back to green on Lap 5 the order was #22 BMW (from 3 rd ), #16 BMW, #80 (from 4 th ), #64 Pontiac GTO (from 2 nd ), then 36-73-65-14. The Pontiac GTO passed the #36 on the restart. On Lap 9 #73 passed #36. The 2 nd caution came on Lap 9 and it was green on Lap 14. After the restart #16 tried to pass #22 and when the #22 turned in it was #16 LF into #22 RR but they both continued. Two laps later two DP's wrecked over the hill in the blind LH after the back straight, directly in front of the first five GT cars. The BMW's went left, David right, and the #73 passed both the #36 and us. Mae was right behind all of this and got into the #6 DP stopped right in the normal line and damaged the RF. The 81 was flat towed back to the paddock but the damage was too much to complete before the end of the race. #65 pitted, Bunting out, Lally in.

When the race went green on Lap 23, we had run 13 caution laps and 9 green laps and the order was 22-16-73-80-36-64-14-61-11-21-57-05-38-65. On Lap 28, David passed the #73. On Lap 32 David and the #36 bumped while 3 deep with a DP, and both the #36 and #64 got by. On Lap 33, the #16 BMW slowed and eventually made it back to the pits with an ECU problem. When it returned to the race it was 14 laps behind. On Lap 36 caution #4 came out and on Lap 38 we pitted for fuel, tires and driver change. David out, Craig in. The stop was 50 seconds. Upon examination of the tires that came off, a LR tire rub was evident from the contact with #36. We pitted again on Lap 40 and pulled the fender out, still under yellow but fell back to 10 th in track position. The order under yellow was 36-64-65-14-71-38-73-21-61-80 and #36 and #64 got a wave-by and gained a lap on the field. It went green on Lap 47 and #64 passed #36. On Lap 48 #71 pitted on the green, Lap 48 #16 was back on track and Lap 49 #36 was in with a broken radiator after hitting #14 and did not return. On Lap 53 Craig said something broke on the bottom of the car (it was the sway bar mount) and on Lap 55 there was a hot engine warning (grass plugged up the center radiator). He started short shifting and by giving up 4 seconds/lap got the temps down to water 230 and oil 250. On Lap 79 it was caution #5 and this gave the engine a chance to cool down. The order was 64-65-21-61-73-14-80. On the yellow, the GT leader #64 limps into the pits smoking, and #57 is towed into the pits. The race goes green on Lap 81 and the order is 21-65-61-14-73-80-38-43. #38 gets by us on Lap 84 and then goes into the gravel on Lap 86. The checker comes on Lap 88 and the GT finish order is 21-65/61-14-73/80-22-42/38-89-32-05-64-57-55-16-12.

HARRY HAGGARD
Engineer - GT