11 racers show up at Marty’s excellent track with heavy hearts at the recent passing away of our friend and racer Dan Loeffler. But I’m sure Dan would have liked us to continue racing so we went ahead and the race turned out to be a dozy. Dan would have especially enjoyed Zane breaking Marty’s longtime single lap record with multiple laps in the 4.11 region. Zane’s smile when he unhooked after an awesome (and late body mount thrash session) was as big as the skies. I’m sure Dan was smiling down on him and us at that moment.
But Zane ran into some serious gear problems in the 2nd segment of the A consi losing enough laps to not even make the last chance. It was a big setback since he is a big threat to Paul in the points and clearly had the fastest car at this race. This allowed a slightly off the pace Greg to make the main. But a very on form Dave made Greg work for it keeping within 8 seconds of him almost throughout the consi. Marty won the “B” with a tough fight with Mark. Paul won his consi over his son’s David and James. Mark and Dave made the Last Chance over a very fast field where only .8 sec seperated Top Qualifier from the 10th spot. Everyone is going faster! I would like to get on my soapbox for awhile and also mention that not only are we getting faster but when was the last time we had a controversy in the club? Dan reminded us what a close knit group of friends or even a family we are. I hope everyone is having fun and any ideas to help us to continue would be appreciated.
The Last Chance lined up and David and Mark jumped put 2 laps ahead of James and Dave and continued their battle throughout the race. James moved into 3rd with Dave fading to 4th. Mark stumbled on green allowing David to ease ahead but Mark close up in the final minutes. At one point he got within a few feet but a thumb job put him back a lap and that was all she wrote. It was a tough lost and this excellent racer is long overdue for a win. Everyone knows when he is on form he is very tough.
At the start of the main, Greg jumped out and led by over half a lap. The 3 behind were in a tight bunch until Greg crashed at turn #1. David grabbed the lead to go in front by a lap. Paul was 2nd, Marty and Greg tied for 3rd. On the fast yellow David continued leading but Marty and Greg closed up. When Paul moved to yellow he tied it up with David at 75. Greg was at 74, Marty at 71. It would come down to the final segment. Everyone made a run at Paul during those 2 minutes. At one point all 4 racers were on the same lap! But mistakes by Greg and Marty, crashing on the main straight and falling on the floor, allowed Team Banta to finished 1st and 2nd. Paul just edge David 100.32 to 100.16 justing missing the track record of 100.56. A good win for Team Banta and an affirmation that the Tycos are far from dead. Hope to see you at the next race on the tight roadcourse at Paul’s.
The T-Jet race held in Dan’s memory at Zane’s track July 18th was a great event. The “You’re not going to throw that away are you?”race quoting one of Dan’s favorite phrases. It is interesting that Dan holds the T-Jet 8 min. record with a incredibly fast 50 laps! 8 racers showed to donate their entry fees to Dan’s family and race the plastic stuff that Dan loved so much. Dan’s son Chris showed to race a sano looking Dodge Charger that handled like the real one but Chris looked like he had a lot of fun. The racing was fast with a 4 way tie from the heat races to make the main. Zane, Dave, Marty and Rich all were at 44!
The 1st heat lined up and at the start Rich jumped out into the lead with his Lola GT. Zane was giving chase with his 53 Vette. Greg and Chris followed with Greg’s Ford GT handling fine but down on top end. He’ll be massaging the car a little more you can bet! There were some small problems with drivers disagreeing with the lap counter but in the end Rich barely edged Zane for the win. Greg was surprized to be within 3 laps with his slug giving hope to improving the car and getting in the fight in the future.
The 2nd heat saw Marty move into a lead that was challenged by both Dave, Mark and Mike. The standings after the 2nd segment was Marty, Dave 22 and Mike, Mark 21! Dave moved into the lead in the 3rd with Marty and Mark tied. Mike faded to 4th with a 9 on red to drop 2 behind. There are way too many M names in this heat! Marty and Dave cracked the 44 laps with Mark just missing with a 42. That made the main setup of Zane, Rich, Marty and Dave.
At the start Rich jumped into the lead with Zane and Dave right behind. Marty who had got the holeshot began crashing his way back to 3rd place to finished with a great 44.06 but at Rich’s pace that wasn’t gonna cut it. Dave hung on as long as he could but when Zane starting cutting a solid string of 12 lap segments it only took a small mistake and he was gone. Rich’s came on green lane when his 11 dropped him 1 lap behind which he never made up. It was great to see Dan’s good friend Zane win this memorial race. That makes the T-Jet race coming up on Oct. 10th real interesting! Hopefully we’ll have a good turnout.
Enclosed you’ll find the prelimary schedule for your consideration. Please look at it carefully and let me know if any changes should be made. Also the rules for the upcoming Endurance races held in Sept and Nov. I think you’ll find them interesting. Go Fast, Have Fun!
Points:| Pos | Driver | 5/2 | 5/16 | 5/30 | 6/13 | 6/27 | 7/11 | Total | drop 2 |
| 1. | Paul | 7 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 51 | 39 |
| 2. | Zane | 10 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 50 | 37 |
| 3. | Greg | 8 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 49 | 35 |
| 4. | Mark | 9 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 45 | 32 |
| 5. | Marty | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 40 | 29 |
| 6. | David | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 34 | 26 |
| 7. | James | 5 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 32 | 24 |
| 8. | Dave | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 31 | 23 |
| 9. | Ken | -- | -- | 5 | 5 | 5 | -- | 15 | 15 |
| 10. | Mike | 2 | 4 | -- | -- | 3 | 5 | 14 | 14 |
| 11. | Pete | -- | -- | -- | -- | 7 | 6 | 13 | 13 |
| 12. | Josh | 3 | 4 | 5 | -- | -- | -- | 12 | 12 |
| 13. | Eric | -- | -- | -- | 6 | -- | 5 | 11 | 11 |
| 14. | Bryan | -- | 5 | 5 | -- | -- | -- | 10 | 10 |
| 15. | Dan L. | 3 | -- | 5 | -- | -- | -- | 8 | 8 |
| 16. | Dennis | -- | -- | -- | -- | 6 | -- | 6 | 6 |
| = | Rich | -- | -- | -- | 6 | -- | -- | 6 | 6 |
| 17. | Dan | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | -- | 2 | 2 |
P.S. He may be 11th in points, but he’s 1st in our hearts!