At Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit, IL this weekend, DB Racing had its double national season opener. With mixed weather and an oiled down track, we were able to finish our first national in sixth place. Our second national was much better, finishing in second place to last year’s national championship winner, Jon Brakke.
During our cool and dry Saturday morning practice, our lap times placed us second in the E Production class. Later in the morning, it started to rain. During our wet qualifying session, we were able to qualify third; in front of Brakke, but behind a couple of front drive Hondas. The race turned out to be a handful as one of the Hondas dumped lots of oil on the track. We ended up developing a shake in the front end during the race. After a couple of stops in pit lane, it was diagnosed as a flat spotted right front tire. This was no doubt caused by tire lockups while driving thru the oil.
Sunday's race order was set by lap times from Saturday’s race. After a couple of cars dropped out on the pace lap, we started fourth. We worked our way thru the field and ended up finishing second; lapping nearly half the field.
Thank you to Eileen Bunt for stepping up to crew chief for the race, Paul Glinski, Brandon Glinski and Mitch LaMonica for helping crew this weekend.
I want to thank Nissan for coming back to amateur road racing and offering race contingencies. I also want to thank Bunt Software with SMPLink for sponsoring us again this season.
Our biggest race of the year, the SCCA Runoffs, was held on Saturday, September 22 at Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI. We ran our Bunt Software/ SMPLink sponsored Datsun 240z in the E-Production class.
The SCCA National Championship Runoffs has evolved into what is now commonly agreed to be the pinnacle of American motorsports. The Runoffs were named by Car and Driver magazine as one of the Top 10 racing events in motorsports. More than 500 drivers are competing for National Championship medals in 28 different classes.
There were three qualifying sessions for our EP class scheduled last week. During the first qualifying session, we managed to set a personal best lap time of 2:38.5 on Road America's 4 mile course. This time was good enough to position us 22 of 31 entries.
During the second session, the car developed a push and overheated a left front tire. After the session, while inspecting the car we found that the section of frame that supports the front crossmember was severely torn. We immediately went to work to cut out that section of frame and to repair it while at the track. It took 10 hours to fix, and unfortunately, we missed out on our third qualifying session.
We started the 13 lap race from the 22nd spot. We spent the first half of the race working our way thru traffic. Once clear of these cars, we were able to set another best lap time of 2:35.8. In the end, the Bunt Software/ SMPLink sponsored Datsun 240z finished 9th of 27 starters.
"I have to thank our sponsor, Bunt Software; my wife, Doreen; my children, especially my crew chief, Caitlin Bunt and crew members, Paul Glinski and Mitch LaMonica for their help and support." says Don Bunt. "Also, thanks to my engine builder, Sam Neave of L. N. A. Enterprises, for building a hot rod motor for us this season."
Our biggest race of the year, the SCCA Runoffs is coming up on Saturday, September 22 at Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI. We run our Datsun 240z in the E-Production class. In order to qualify for this race in EP, the driver must complete at least four national races and be ranked in the top 50% in the country by points. This year we are ranked 34th of 85 drivers nationally.
Last year, while racing in the rain, we won the Sunoco Hard Charger Award while picking up 18 positions during the race.
We have high hopes this year at the Runoffs. We switched to using an engine prepared by Sam Neave of L.N.A. Enterprises and have been setting personal best lap times all season.
The race schedule and other information is posted on the SCCA website at http://www.scca.com/runoffs.