Mustang Challenge
Rounds 3-4 at Barber Motorsports Park
Back to the Podium - On the track, and down the hill
The Modified Mustangs and Fords faithful are certainly aware
that Buffomante Racing Enterprises (TeamBRE) did not start the Mustang
Challenge season at Homestead as we would have liked.In the month between races, we talked to all
sorts of teams, series officials and other drivers about our alleged (down-on) horsepower
issue.We provided some AIM data for the
experts to analyze and they all said the same thing, "This series is really
about driving, not about motor".OK...I
guess we forgot how to drive since the podium appearances last year at Mid-Ohio
and Mosport.
Enter my sister Barb and her husband Bill Strang.They had the car at their house in Charlotte
between races and went to every Ford dealer in the area trying to get someone
to actually look at the car with some real diagnostic equipment and see if we
were down on power or if the kid should hang up his driving shoes.Fortunately they found a tech who was willing
to run some checks and sure enough, he came back with two pieces of
information, one on the electrical system, one on the heat.With some long distance thoughts from Dad,
and engineer Mike Stahl, the Strang crew went to work to try to solve the
issues.After a quick run over to our
friends at TRG to check progress on the dyno, we realized we picked up
15-20rwhp and that we needed to do everything in our power to keep the motor
running cool.OK...now what?No more excuses for the driver, should have the
same ponies as everyone else now.If we
can barely crack the top 10 again, time to pick-up a new hobby (bridge anyone?).
Friday Practice
Sessions
Cool...car feels good so far...at least I think so.Uh Oh...no ABS!I go sailing right through one of the gravel traps after locking up both
fronts at the end of the straightaway.Not cool, we cut an ABS sensor line and now have two trashed BFGs and a
rock collection that would make my kindergarten teacher proud.Ended the first session 7th.Please tell me we are going to do better than
this!
Now then, second session is an hour long.We get a chance to try a lot of things and
end up 2nd on the charts!Now
that's what I'm talking about...the only one quicker was Ted Anthony by about .6
seconds.Ted was clearly the class of
the field all weekend.
Saturday Qualifying
and Race #1 (Round 3)
Saturday started with a 25 minute qualifying session to set
the field for the afternoon race.Since
there is really only one "magic lap" on the BFGs and everyone slows down after
lap 3, I figure I'll let the field go out and get some heat in the track and
when they all come in after their three laps, I'll go out on a clear track and
see what we've got.Sounds good right?Well, that is unless you got out for your
flyer and someone crashes coming out of the last turn!Now we get to sit at the end of pit lane,
with no timed lap on the board, waiting for the clean-up...waiting...waiting.Luckily, we get the go ahead to go out with 3
minutes left in the session.We run our
one lap and will start 5th for the race.Not exactly what we are looking for, but
hey...it's better than starting last because I outsmarted myself!
During the race, there were great battles all over the track,
which is common in the Mustang Challenge.We had a great scrap with a number of cars and moved up to 3rd
by the end.BACK ON THE PODIUM!Awesome!Man, that feels good.What a
difference a month (and a normal HP level) makes.Got to celebrate on the podium with Dad,
Mike, Barb and Bill.I'm so glad they
believed enough to work their tails off to fix the problem.I can keep my license for now I guess.
Saturday Night Hill
Races
Any of you who have been to Barber know it's a beautiful
facility with 3 levels of paddock space, and between each level are very steep
grassy hill areas.For those of you who
have been around us at the race track, you also know that we are going to
celebrate the fact that we ran like we should again (finally).If you can stand the cigar smoke, stories of
racing "back in the good old days", and some absolutely brutal margaritas out
of the blender, I think you'd have a good time.
Well, that's exactly what was happening with us and a number
of other teams that came by.One in
particular, Capaldi Racing, has a number of guys who have been around in the
paddock and behind the wheel.They are
always up for a challenge.This time,
it's hill races, the brainchild of one Chris Capaldi, who demonstrates by
taking a drink and (very) quickly rolling his body down the hill at warp
speed.Is Tony going to back down from
that challenge?...no, no, no my friends, that would not make you proud readers of
the Tony B. blog at all.
Unfortunately, it turns out I end up second in the hill
races, getting beaten by Chris (who practiced by the way) pretty soundly at the
bottom of the hill.The fact that I roll
right into the rig on the asphalt probably isn't good either.Slight shoulder pain...nothing Jose can't fix.
Sunday Qualifying and
Race #2 (Round 4)
Ah, what a beautiful day...rain everywhere!Haven't run one of these things in the rain
before, this should be fun.We go out
for the practice session and I run about half of it before pulling in as the
track is drying.We jump up to the top
of the speed charts in the wet, and then get passed by another competitor as
the track dries out and I'm under my tent.Ending up 2nd in the rain session is fine by me, we've got
lots of confidence now after yesterday's finish...and the shoulder is just fine.
Our qualifying run was better today.It's dry now.We are second after lap one, and then got knocked down to third a lap
later.We'll take it...we are still a few
tenths off the leaders, but you never know what will happen over 45 minutes of
racing.
The race started out great, we jumped into second for a few
laps, and then got passed-back by Anthony, who ended up winning both days.Was running a solid third, waiting for second
place to burn his tires and brakes down, when we came up on lapped
traffic.One of the "Media Car" drivers
who just got in the car for the first time today was about 9 seconds/lap off
the pace.While coming around to lap
him, it looked like he was giving me the inside, so I went down there.Unfortunately, so did he and I rubbed him
with my front bumper.No problem for me,
other than losing some of the 2.5 second lead on 4th place that I
spent 30 minutes building.He spun out
though and was done for the day.I
started to get some radio contact from the other team where they relayed a
message from the other driver that he was sorry for getting in the way and
potentially screwing up my race.No
problem...or is it?Next radio transmission
I get is telling me to come down pit lane at the 45mph speed limit for a drive
through penalty for avoidable contact!Right away we get to the officials and bring the other crew chief into
the conversation to explain that the other driver indicated he was at fault.So what do the officials decide to do?...they
stick to their guns and call us in for the penalty, stating that they saw it on
video.So...they've taken us off the
podium on effectively out of the championship in one fell-swoop.I serve my drive through penalty and finish
15th.
Well friends...we came...we proved that we can still be
competitive...we tackled the hill...and ended-up getting treated less than
favorably.All-in-all a pretty eventful
weekend for the 45th Anniversary party for the Mustang.Met a lot of great fans and got some
confidence back that we can still compete, if not here for the championship
this year due to the officiating, then maybe somewhere else...hopefully in a
Mustang!