Silverstate Classic/Open Road Racing

Open road racing is a great form of grassroots motorsports. Does anyone have any connections that might help me get coverage for this type of racing in Grassroots. I have been reading Grassroots for years and every issue I hope to find something on openroad racing so I am making it my mission to get some press. The most well-known event is the Silverstate Classic Challange(SSCC). People familiar with the SSCC know that the majority of the entrents are just looking for a venue to drive fast cars fast, but if you look at the supersport and unlimited catagories that have an unlimited tech speed the level of engineering and preparation that is put into the cars is on par with many professional race cars.

I'm a volunteer courseworker at the Big Bend Open Road Race between Fort Stockton and Sanderson, Texas.

BBORR

The variety of machinery is amazing, and the approaches to precision at speed vary wildly. (At least once you get past the Corvette parade)

Winged 'Vette

Superbird clone

Monster Garage Lincoln

Rotary Opel GT

VIDEOS

Connections? Of course! Even if David doesn't see your post to the forum, you can always send in your suggestion via the GRM website or call them on the telephone.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/contact/

I did an in-depth 6-page feature on Open Road Racing, focusing on the Big Bend event in the December 2000 issue of GRM.. Maybe they still have back issues. This is a really great form of high-speed event - but be assured that you must be diligent about safety. An accident on one of these events can be big. That year (1999) we had a driver killed when his Mercedes went off at around 145 mph just short of the finish in Sanderson, and a good friend of mine totalled his (first) Corvair V8 at over 165 in Nevada a couple of years ago. Fortunately, he was rigorous in his safety preparation and is now running his second V8 Vair. The first one was radared at 189 before the "incident". Great racing, just be sure to over-build for safety.

Jim Pettengill

Thanks for the reply to the posts. I will call for a copy of the 06 issue.
The safety issue is one of the hardest things to engineer for in this form of racing.
Is your friends name Charlie? There is a pic of my car posted in reders rides posted on Sept 12.

That Opel is wicked! I follow those events also and find minimal coverage, so I would love to find some also, I'll have to get that issue.

That is one excuse to go to Texas for me!

I would love to dive in one of these, preferably in a convertable...LS Miata?

neon4891 wrote: I would love to dive in one of these, preferably in a convertable...LS Miata?

Was that "dive" some sort of freudian slip somewhere between "drive" and "die?"

lol... ;)

Clem

Yep, Charlie's name is Charlie Friend, from Alamogordo, New Mexico. Awesome car, excellent fabricator, excellent driver. Got out of the incident OK, built another Vair, and the last time I checked was back racing it and aiming for 200. There's a short profile of Charlie and the first Vair in the December 2000 article as a sidebar.

Here's Charlie's "new" 'Vair:

SBC, Porsche transaxle, fast (204.2 MPH on the radar)

I met him when the car ate a distributor gear and coasted to a stop near my flag station on the second leg. I was busy and didn't get to talk with him much, but he seemed like a nice guy with a cool car.

Don't think that this sport is limited to heavy hitters. There are plenty of grassroots cars in the Street Rod and Grand Touring classes, with target speeds as low as 85 MPH. Camaros, Mustangs, even, yes, Miatas:

Check out the lift on the rag top and the left side of the hood on that Miata!

The Miata was running with a target speed of 120 MPH. I'm not sure what he had under the hood, but there were HKS, Toda Power, and FatCat Motorsports stickers, along with the "prancing chicken" emblem ...

There's an FM II on that car, you can see the intercooler. The Pollo Rampante is from Team Voodoo.

On my Targa car, I get lift on the hood right at 100 mph. Kinda handy sort of speedometer.

interesting mix of cars

really cool

this really is very cool and after one year of seeing espn cover the silver state classic one year on thanksgiven i have been very stoked about running this one day. and seeing coverage of this event is also way cool. thanks for the video links its cool seeing it run in person over pics though.

I ran in the same class as Charlie this year. Great guy. He gave me a lot of good pointers when I moved into the faster speed classes.
I will be at the Spring event this year running for an average of 170, However this event I will have a tire that allows me to tech unlimited. The tire tech at the event did not alow me to run the toyo R888 over 180. So I used them up at the trach.

M427 - Will you be at Big Bend this spring?

big bend is on my "have to do at least once" list... the SR class seems very doable and has got to be a blast...im shooting for 2010...

Anyone looking for some more info on open road racing, there are some links here http://www.iwannagoracing.com/Other_Racing_Events.html

slantvaliant

My plan is to do the spring run on hwy NV-318 in NV. However, I have been getting a lot of pressure to go to Big Bend also. It will be a money thing. My goal this year is to have a high trap speed over 200 and average 170.

p.s. I would share some pics of the car if I knew how

That Corvair is F'in GNARLY!!!

Yeah, an open road race is something I hope to get to do sometime in life. Looks like a ridiculous amount of fun.

M427 wrote: . I would share some pics of the car if I knew how

I use Photobucket to host mine.

Definitely on my list to do but geography drives me to the TX or NE open road events.

http://durkadurka.net/photocart/index.php?vp=2&do=photocart&viewGallery=1259

if you follow this link there are several pics of the GMW. The first pic is the second photo in row 2 and goes for about 17 more. Let me know what you think. Even most of the local bmw guys in phoenix even like it.

That MG Lincoln is the hawtness. Thanks for reminding me just how wiggly inside that car makes me.

http://www.remarkablecars.com/ppads/showproduct.php/product/3875

I want. Bad.