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NASA Midwest Makes First
Visit to Mid-America Motorplex
Here’s the down and dirty. Gary McDaniel and Lyle
Riggen were the only FFR Challenge Series cars that were in attendance
this weekend. Randy was unable to get his car back together in time
after his unfortunate deforestation efforts at Brainerd. Lyle almost
didn't make it due to his efforts in mosquito population control in
Western Iowa. An oil line broke on the tow vehicle about an hour from
the track causing him to miss Saturday.
So, Gary started the Group A (SM, GTS, and everything else that wasn’t
AI or AIX) race in 5th position on the grid Saturday. They couldn’t get
lined up for the start so they went at it again. He quickly knocked off
one spot after they finally got the green and ran a pretty clean and
uneventful race except for a small moment in Turn 3 which put him to 5th
overall behind a very fast M3. On Sunday morning, Lyle was ready to go
for his first outing at MAM. Rain Saturday night led to a few wet spots
for the first practice but in the hot sun and 90+ temps they didn't last
long. During qualifying Lyle found out how tricky Turn 3 can be and how
high the prairie grass can get if not mowed. Gary and Lyle qualified 6th
and 7th for the race with Gary edging out Lyle by a short second. This
time the field was ready for the start but the starter kept them quiet
up to the last few feet, so it seemed from the stands between turns 11
and 12. Gary’s line had trouble getting going and Lyle took the
opportunity to get an early lead. The lead was short lived as Gary got
around him going into turn 5 but Lyle was hanging on to Gary lap after
lap, turn after turn until a missed shift coming out of turn 15 put him
back about 7-8 seconds. But a few laps later Gary had the same miscue in
the same spot allowing Lyle to get back a few seconds on Gary. Gary held
on to take the FFR Challenge Series win while finishing 6th overall.
Here are some miscellaneous notes from the weekend. On Friday the oil
line from the HP Oil Pump let go on our tow vehicle and we were
temporarily stranded. There were a couple of people who stopped in the
hot sun to see what they could do for us. One gentleman even tried to
arrange his truck to tow our trailer to the track but it was already
headed East for a Friday Night Feature. If you ever have a chance to
help out please do. You may only be able to call for help but that may
be all they need. Help arrived in the form of Hansen Towing of Atlantic,
IA who took the trailer to their shop near Atlantic and the truck to
Atchley Ford in Omaha. Atchely Ford had the part in stock, a diesel
mechanic on duty and were open long enough to get it fixed on a
Saturday! Saturday morning at the drivers meeting Lyle and Julie tried
to see if anybody would volunteer to get our trailer to the track and to
my surprise two people who we’d never met jumped forward. While he was
doing that I got the call that the dealer would be able to fix it but
the generous offers were much appreciated. If you’re going to camp at
MAM (nice facilities!), a month before you expect to be there, start
playing loud train horns while you’re sleeping. By the time you get to
MAM you may not even notice them. During the day they were going by
about every 10-15 minutes (not an exaggeration) but I only heard three
at night. Julie must be nocturnally train-deaf I don’t think she heard
any that night. What luck!
Hope to see many of you at Autobahn next month!
Joe Gilmartin
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