Since there are 25 of these morsels to date, here's a consolidated list.
To date there have been 18 GRM $20XX Challenges including the first $1500 Challenge held in 1999.
Did you know….
1. ....in those 18 events there have been 881 entries?
2. ....Dynamic scoring was first used in 2005 and has been used 13 times?
3. ….6 out of 18 Challenge Winners did not win a single segment of the event?. Ed Malle's $2014 overall win included a 2nd place Concour, 2nd place Auto-X and 2nd place Drag finishes.
4. ….the smallest margin of victory in the Auto-X was 0.050 seconds? 3 times FTD was set with less than a 0.100 second margin.
5. ….that the Auto-X FTD 1-2 gap was over 1 second (2) times at the Challenge? Ironically, both times a college team schooled the field by gapping everyone by 1.323 in 2015 (Texas A&M) and 1.275 (GT Wreck Racing). The other 16 events were decided by a margin between 0.050 and 0.820 seconds.
6. ….of the 881 entries, a car originally made by Mazda has participated (127) times (14.4% of the fields)? (58) Miatas (6.58%) and (46) RX7 (5.22%).
7. ….a car originally built by Mazda has the most Challenge wins with (4)? Honda has (3). MG, VW, BMW and Dodge all have (2).
8. ….that the Team that ran the FTD in the Auto-X in 2017 has a checkered past? That's right. The school has a 60+ year history for auto racing. But in the early days they were into .......Gasp!!!......Drag Racing! ...... Thud!!!
9. ….that cars manufactured by Mazda, Dodge and Ford have been part of all (18) Challenges? BMW, Honda and Chevrolet have all missed (1) year each.
10. ….that (11) of the (18) Challenge Winning Cars were powered by an engine originally sold by Chevrolet or Ford? Chevrolet has (8) [44.4%] and Ford (3) [16.7%]. Dodge and Honda have (2) each.
11. .…that (3) of (18) Drag races have been rained out? 2002, 2007 and 2011?
12. .…that there have been (5) two time Challenge winning teams and (0) three time winners? Of those two time winners, only one won with the same car (1999,2001 Mike Guido). Of those two time winners, (4) times the wins were won back to back. (1999,2001) (2002,2003) (2012,2013) (2015,2016). Of those two time winners, only one team did not win back to back. (2010,2017 GT Wreck Racing)
13. ….that the longest and shortest Auto-X were run in back to back years? 2004 FTD was 54.442 seconds and was held on the road course. 2005 FTD was 29.657 seconds and is the only event that was under 30 seconds.
14. ….that the speed record for the fastest Challenge team for (9) of the (18) events was none other than the Stepp/Jules/Westside entry? Yup. Those two kids from Cleveland, Ohio. In 2004 they laid down a pass over 128 mph. That mark stood for 2 years and in 2006 the flywithjunk Racing Datsun went 128.71 barely clipping the previous mark. Then, in 2010, Stepp/Jules/Westside shocked everyone with a 132+ mph lightning strike. That mark lasted 7 years and was eclipsed in 2017. Westside held the record for 9 years.
15. ….that the longest Auto-X held in 2004 also had the tightest gap between 1st and 10th? The (18) event average in gap between 1st and 10th has been 2.422 seconds. But 2004 had a 1.103 second gap 54.442 to 55.545. Ironically, the 10th place Auto-X car won the overall and the 1st place Auto-X car took 10th overall.
16. ….the 2003 event was the second longest and the only other A-x held on the road course? Ironically, while the 2004 event had the narrowest gap between 1st and 10th... 2003 had the widest gap between 1st and 10th at 4.092 seconds.
17. .…that there is no correlation between Auto-x length and the gap time between 1st and 10th? However, there is a direct correlation with 1-10 gap time, drags performance and the overall win. Statistically speaking: A. The winners of the Challenge for the events with narrow 1-10 gaps (under 2.3 seconds) never finished below 3rd in the drags. B. The winners of the Challenge for events with wide 1-10 gap (2.3 seconds or more) have had drag finishes 10th and higher.
18. ….in the Dynamic Era, the Challenge winner finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the dynamic score every year? Dynamic finish for the Overall winners - (9)-1st, (3)-2nds and (1)-3rd. The concour helped the winner to leapfrog over the dynamic winner 4 times.
19. ….that ever since Cliff Sebring and Erik Lawson broke the 12 second mark, (1) in (16) (16.31 to be more accurate) Challenge cars have run 11.99 seconds or better in the quarter?
20. ....that in the (18) events the Challenge Winner won (5) Drag segments, (5) Auto-X segments and (9) Concour segments? However, since the start of the Dynamic Era, the Challenge Winner won (3) Drag segments, (5) Auto-X segments and (6) Concour segments. That's right...all of the Auto-X winning Challenge Winners have won since the Dynamic Era started.
21. ….that Tim Suddard won the first Auto-X at the first Challenge?
22. ....that in 18 events there has not been a 3 time winner of the Auto-X? Tim Suddard won the first Auto-X and the GRM/GRM Team won the 2001 (I don't have any details on that team). Since 2001, Lee Graser with the Tennessee Region SCCA, External Combustion and GT Wreck Racing have won it 2 times each.
23. ....that (2) of the (18) Challenge winners did not have a podium finish in the Concour? The (2) cars that did win would easily be considered in any conversation for greatest Challenge cars ever. The $2006 Winner Steve DeFayette crushed the field with a Dynamic score that separated his RX-7 from the field by 3.5 points. Steve ran 0.2 seconds behind the FTD Auto-X time and mowed down the clock at 10.926 seconds in the drags. Post Challenge, Steve has raced (and wins with) the RX-7 in Georgia posting 9 second ETs. The $2013 Winner Pat Culkin also won the Dynamic score with his Shadow. Pat ran 1.3 seconds behind the FTD time in the Auto-X and clocked in a 11.319 second pass in the quarter. Pat’s Shadow is one of the 'greats' in our world as it has successfully competed and completed Drag Week, been Land Speed Raced and won the $1008 Challenge within the Challenge.
24. ....that an engine sold through Chevrolet has powered every Drag winning car at the Challenge except one? Pat Culkin's Dodge broke the string by winning the 2012 Drag event.
25 ....the oldest car entered at the Challenge was Jon Haas's 1949 Chevrolet? It showed up in 2007 and is still one of the all time favorites for anyone who saw it. The car identified as a 1947 Coupe was actually a 1971 VW.
