Paul_Z06

Well, I think I am the only one happy about today's rained out Pro 8 but more about that later.

Today was hot and humid but the weather didn't seem to have stopped the Vette Doctors Pro 8 presented by Neverlift Racecraft regulars from returning to battle it out. A nice surprise was Mike Mitchell making another appearance in his bad *** C4. Mike was running well into the 8s today. Angelo Valla got himself a new set of tires and his sled hooked up quite nicely. It would have been great to see Mitchell vs Valla in the finals (NO, I stood no chance against those two today) but mother Nature had other plans.

The Vette Doctors crew were in full force......well, almost full force. John Gorman is still missing from the field but we hope he comes back soon. Paul Major is still making shake down passes but making steady progress and Bill Maloney clicked off some solid 9 second runs today.

The field was rounded out by Mark Shaw in his red C3 joined by a newcomer to the Pro 8 in another red C3, Wayne (apologies, I didn't catch his last name), John Carter running his spotless as usual C5 'vert, Chris from ESC who had to make an early exit because of clutch issues, Dave Busch from Cartek making shake down passes in Mike Romaine's rear-mounted single turbo, and yours truly.

After two qualifiers the ladder looked as follows:

Mike Mitchell (1) vs. Paul Major (8).
Angelo Valla (2) vs. Dave Busch (7).
Paul Ziajski (3) vs. John Carter (6)
Bill Maloney (4) Mark Shaw (5)

In round 1, Dave Busch lost to Angelo when his trans didn't hold up to the 700+ rwhp or Angelo's big cubes and solid hook-up, Mike Mitchell ran a little squirelly but still managed a win against Paul Major, Mark Shaw edged out Bill Maloney, and Paul Ziajski redlighted handing John Carter a win.

After the 1st round the skies opened up and the event was called off. Winners recieved 2 points and losers 1 point. Winners also received 25% of the winning pot.

I had car problems in the qualifying runs and, obviously, the 1st round of eliminations. The rain saved my *** and my first place standing since nobody picked up 3 or 4 points. I thought I'd never see myself happy when an event was rained out

Huge props to Vette Doctors and Neverlift Racecraft for sponsoring this event and to all the racers and spectators! See you guys soon!

Tsab

Didn't I tell you to quit worrying. Now you have some time to sort some stuff out and fine tune. So to quote a line from a famous movie" Remain Calm.......all is well".

onefast99

That must of been the same thunderstorm cell we had at Monmouth park. Slowed everything down as the sky opened up for a good 20 minutes. Then it was like living in South Florida all over again. Anyword on a make-up date for this rain out?

Paul_Z06

According to Edgar, this will not be made up because we completed the first round.

Special K

That's not fair. We spent Sat night at the track just to enjoy seeing you guys battle it out. I think if enough people bi-ch we could get a make up date.

We parked outside the main gate Fri night and Sat morning I went outside with a cup of coffee. John Carter was parked behind me and he was cleaning the aluminum and wheels on his trailer. He had driven all night to get there and didn't get any sleep that day. I'm worn out today and can only imagine how tired he must be.

Paul, the fans want a make up date. What can we do?

Paul_Z06

Bob, I'm just filling in for Edgar on the forum while he's in Boston. I really don't know how these things work. I merely relayed what Edgar told me. I think we'll have to wait for an official explanation from him.

REDGAR

If you and Paul want to put on make up, do it on your own time.

If you are asking for a make-up race..no can do casue we started it. Had we not started we would make it up but we started it. Kind of like a 5 inning official baseball game ( I know not exactly)

Paul thanks for the back up

Special K

Right now I'm at a loss for words. Didn't I see a post from you asking the other guys to come out and support our quicker brothers? So some of us do, and what do we get. Zip! Nada! I know, not your fault. But, damn, we should get the event we wanted to see. This isn't a baseball game.

Also consider the money spent by the sponsors. I'm sure they're not happy either.

Special K

Hey Edgar, how come I feel like I'm being ignored?

REDGAR

You got what you paid for

ralph

Please don't say the word "reschedule" in relationship to anything to do with points races

thank you

REDGAR

Ralph I am working on rescheduling a couple bracket race now. No repeat champions

16Again

Because you are

lowets

1st run 8.42, 2nd run 8.40, the 3rd was gonna be a .30 pass but the weather had different plans. It was a fun day and major glad we got to talk good luck getting everything tuned. I was hopin to dedicate this race to a friend who had a accident and was paralyzed from the neck down, his name is John Griffin best luck on a speedy recovery.He's only 27 and has a long life ahead of him.

onefast99

I understand that many people were pissed off that there is no make up date. The analogy about the baseball game is in the simplest of words bs. The track has a lot of holes to fill after the sunoco point series is done and they should do it with something that could make the track a few bucks. I would attempt to ask the knapps for this if you feel you have a shot, but if you don't ask then you will never know. If you want me to ask them let me know!

REDGAR

Brian I don't know of anyone that was really upset that they called it and I was there. There were only 4 remaining drivers so at best, you are talking about four people who could be upset.

Of the four only two had the ET to make the final so we are probably looking at two upset drivers. Only one of the two is a serious contender for points as one of the cars is sold so we are down to one upset driver. He did not express this to me either

Spectator-wise, maybe two of five may have been upset.

The track did exactly what they would have done with any other series and what they did when our bracket race got called on account rain in 2003 after 1 round of competition http://corvettechallenge.info/2003round6.php.

Special K

I don't know anyone that was upset because they called it. We're upset because they're not going to reschedule.

And there were 5 of us with me alone not counting the thousands of other fans. Myself, Mary, Muffin, Biscuit and Katy.

REDGAR

You are contridicting yourself half-conf

You cannot say you were not upset with it being called when being called means being done (call it doctor) and therefore your acceptance of a calling it would be to not expect a reschedule. A reschedule would mean it did not happen as scheduled but it did. We started the event, so you cannot reschduled. Best we can do is postpone and but the process is to call it.

How about I use a different analogy. NASCAR....if they call the event on lap 280 of 400 due to rain, they don't come back to run the other 120 laps. If they call it before it starts, then they reschedule.

onefast99

Much better analogy, now I will go see if I can repair any of those NASCAR die-cast models that my son smashed up while playing nicely with his toys. I did mean re-schedule this event if time allows for it, but thanks anyway for getting an event like this on a Sunday I know it meant a lot to those quick 8 racers. I will get some major work done to the car over the winter and return next year. The ponies take all of my weekend time and we begin breeding in February of 2006. See ya soon.

markshaw70redBB

I am one of the drivers that would likely end up losing in round 2. My only hope against an mid-8 second car with my upper-9 second car is a red light or mechanical failure. I know Paul was not planning on a red light. I hung to the very end to see what would happen 'cause I like the competition. That's why I come all the way from eastern CT to run with the great folks in the Challenge and the Pro 8 all season long. This is a great group

In my opinion the decsion that was made was the best alternative. Reshedules create potential conflict for participants and spectators. This was very fair.

One of the drivers now heard from.