Grassroots Motorsports

The Kumho Tires $2009 Challenge is almost here, and if you were busy trying to get your car running, you aren’t alone. The office is awfully busy with a double deadline for the next issues of Classic and Grassroots, future event planning, launching our first digital issue, and of course stuffing the goody bags for the Challenge competitors.

We’re just about ready to hit the road. The van is packed, we’ve got project cars warming up, and a few of us have even packed our bags. See you in Gainesville!

We’re in place at the Best Western Gateway Grand in Gainesville, and the competitors have been streaming in since last night. Of course, where there are Challenge competitors, there’s bound to be some wrench turning as well. This year’s gang didn’t dissapoint, as the parking lot is full of enthusiast scrambling to finalize their cars.

In addition to a 4G63-powered Eagle Talon, the Westside Skates team brought a BMW for this year’s event. Their BMW isn’t 100% healthy yet, so they’re still working on it. Thankfully, the team has a few spare parts on hand…just in case.

Things are picking up at our registration table. A steady stream of competitors are eager to get started with the bench racing and socializing, but first there’s a bit of paperwork to handle.

Can you see the hidden message? There’s a target on the back of last year’s winning team…look out, Hongs.

We spied Team Dirt E30 on the road, and it looks as though they’ve been hard at work since the 2008 event. One more example of box flares adding awesomeness.

After a few technical difficulties, we’re back online with fresh updates on this year’s Challenge. The concours judging is well underway, and we’re seeing some very clean presentations from the class of $2009. Here, Team Spooky Speed shows off their Pac Man-themed car to our expert panel of Judges.

Drag Race King Andrew Nelson unveiled his $2009 Challenge car this morning, and as always it’s something to behold. Look for a full shot as he rolls through the Concours judging, but here’s a little peak inside the trailer.

Jay Besch and Team MS toned down their Mad Max-themed entry from last year, but added a whole lot of wax to make a very presentable entry for the Concours. The team says the car has lost weight and gained power over last year’s entry, so they’re hoping to improve on last year’s results in the dynamic portions of the competition as well.

Bryce Nash and the Project Parts Bin team have their West Coast Challenge winner on hand, but ran into some problems after unpacking their entry. The power control module for their DIY Hybrid wasn’t cooperating, but a late night thrash might save the electrical wonder yet. Repairing an electric drive system like this isn’t for the weak of will; this might be the most direct warning we’ve ever seen.

The competitors are busy dressing up their entries for the Concours. All the money in the world can’t replace some old-fashioned elbow grease, so there are sure to be sweaty brows and stiff arms from all the polishing.

Team Parts Bin seems to have isolated the problem in their electric motor controller. Something doesn’t look (or smell) quite right with this card.

We applaud any Challenge entry, whether they’re fast, slow, or in between. We even like the ugly ones, and this particular entry from Sullivan Racing is a good example of the “ugly” breed. Ugly as it may be, it looks awfully light, so we’ll have to see if the car can overcome a dismal concours score.

The Nelson family eagerly awaits their opportunity to pass the Judges in the Concours event. Believe it or not, this car is even more radical than last year’s bug, and the two cars don’t share as many components as you might think. We suspect the 10.571 drag record is in severe jeopardy.

The Dirt E30 team turned a lot of heads on the autocross course; their wicked looking box-flared BMW was fast enough to capture second overall on the autocross course. They were ever so slightly behind the LoCost-based Zamboni from Tennessee. Since both cars are well dressed and should have comparable Concours scores, tomorrow’s drag racing event will be one to watch. Who will win?

Al Johnson and his Mouseworks Motorsports team were stepping and fetching to get their little Fiat in shape for the event. Their character rich entry scored fairly well in the Concours, but they weren’t able to sort the car in time to compete in the Autocross. Local bookies were taking odd on which time would be faster—the Fiat’s drag time or it’s autocross time. Perhaps we’ll never know.

We’re not sure if they came from a fruit cup or Vienna sausages, but these lids seem to make really excellent center caps for David Alvarado’s Supra.

No, not the Fiat. Mike Guido (AKA the World’s Fastest Clown) and his “Team Uranus” Challenge entry surprised a few folks, probably including Mike himself. He ended the first day of competition with a solid 32-second Autocross run, easily putting him in the top 10 for that phase of the Challenge. The Concours judges didn’t care about the car’s autocross chops, however.

What’s not to like about a boosted Festiva? Josh Simons and Team Phostiva made this one work well enough to earn some respect both in the concours and on the autocross course. We’re dying to see this one on the drag strip.

Grand Rapids, Michigan based Team Gutty looks as though they have the car to beat in $2009. It isn’t all cake and roses, as they had some trouble on the autocross course during early runs. They followed up with a very solid 31.01-second run, which puts them in a great position for the overall win when combined with their concours score. You can’t win without a drag time, however, so we’ll see what luck the team has on Saturday.

GRM test driver in training Stig Schroeder enjoys driving his challenge entry. It’s a little down on power, but there’s plenty of room left in the budget for some serious upgrades.

Our concours judges have come to expect some pitiful attempts at bribery, but even they were surprised to recieve birthday balloons from the SDAC team led by Patrick Culkin.

What happens when you stuff a Corvette engine in a Porsche 944 and then add a rear-mounted turbocharger? In this case, parts break, but the team got things back together in time to make a drag run. Unfortunately for them they ran into additional problems on the dragstrip today. We’ll see if they can get things together in time for another drag run.

It looks like GRM Editor and expert driver Scott Lear over revved his shoes during the autocross action on Friday.

We’re seeing a trend toward giant fender flares at the Challenge. Wreck Racing did a great job fitting wide rubber under their car for maximum grip. Unfortunately, the car was plagued by electrical gremlins in the car’s engine management again this year. The team was able to post a solid run on the autocross before having problems, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be posting a drag time this year.

We noticed a theme among the more favored bribes presented to the concours judges. While a gift for the judges isn’t required, it’s been known to improve their mood.

Team Gutty brought a second car to this year’s Challenge event. This car is the unloved twin of their primary entry, and looks a little hazardous to the occupants. An unidentified member of Team Gutty admitted that it’s real purpose was as a rolling spare parts shelf. This example of midwestern ingenuity uses the same type of chalkboard paint that we loved in Gutty’s $2007 appearance.

The Challengers have had more than their share of mechanical problems at this year’s event, and as a result the Gainesville Raceway staff has been busy cleaning up after our mess. The staff has a batch of four wheelers that they use to check the track after an incident, and if we keep up like this, they’ll need to refill the fuel tanks.

It hasn’t broken any records yet, but Andrew Nelson and family continue working to faster times. They’re in a very comfortable lead for the drag racing portion of the event, but haven’t eclipsed their previous Challenge record.

After posting the fastest overall time during the autocross phase of competition, the Zamboni pilots of the SCCA’s Eastern Tennessee Region had high hopes for a great finish overall. They probably didn’t plan on blowing out the differential, but thankfully posted some solid times before it happened. We’re getting closer to having the final results for the event, and we’ll have them up online as quickly as possible.

After a few days in the Florida sun, our annual Challenge is complete. We want to thank all of the competitors for coming out to play and for bringing another batch of great cars. Final results are posted to the $2009 Challenge page, and this year’s winning team had a dominant performance overall. Congratulations to Team Gutty on their performance. Before we call the event history, however, we’d like to take one more opportunity to thank our sponsors. Please remember Kumho Tires, eBay Motors, and Bully Dog Technologies as you get started on creating your $2010 Challenge entry.