| BIR hosts Chumps |
The wacky world of ChumpCar racing comes to BIR(June 6, 2010) - For most folks, early summer in north central Minnesota means going to the lake where there's fishing, water-skiing, swimming, canoing, or just cruising around on the pontoon boat. For motorsports die hards, it means spending time at Brainerd International Raceway for the ChumpCar World Series. A pair of seven-hour enduros lured 24 teams to hit the 2.5-mile Competition Road Course at BIR last weekend. ChumpCar is different from most other racing series in that the rules are few and there is only one class. It starts with a $500 car plucked from the roadside or a junkyard. Safety gear such as a complete roll cage and racing seat belts must be added. There must be a minimum of four drivers to a team, and bonus laps are awarded for having a theme, the crazier the better. Since the cars are pretty much disposable, fancy paint jobs are rare. Paint is often by rattle can or roller, but that only leads to more creativity. A Porsche 944 painted bright blue to resemble Paul Bunyan's animal companion, Babe the Blue Ox, was roller painted by several kids while their parents looked on. It looked just fine from a distance. Most of the teams and drivers were from Minnesota and were new to ChumpCar racing. Some had experience in road racing, ice racing and stage rallying as well as autocross and rallycross, but about a third were new to wheel-to-wheel combat. Among the drivers entered were BIR owner Jed Copham and Gary Curtis, lead instructor at the BIR Performance Driving School, who shared a very tired Honda Prelude. On Saturday, attrition began early as the Fart-hinder* Racing Saab 900 (*Swedish for “Speed Bump”) dropped out with a rod knock on lap one. A blown radiator hose put the Team Cougar Bait Saab behind the wall with a fried engine, but that was not the last that would be seen of the team. A Toyota MR2 painted to resemble Ricky Bobby's car in the movie "Talladega Nights" succumbed to a transmission failure, and a hastily prepared, very rusty Datsun 280Z went on the trailer with an overheated engine.Halfway through the Saturday race, a trio of BMWs led the field: No. 33 Tubby Butterman Racing, decked out in a golf motif including “Cheetah Woods” across the windshield; No. 17 Flying Circus, looking much like a WWI Fokker complete with bullet hole decals; and No. 51 B.A.R., as in British American Racing, with an American flag design on one half of the car and a British flag on the other half. In the final hour, The Flying Circus BMW 325e had moved ahead into a dominant lead, with a close fought battle between the Tubby Butterman's BMW 325 and B.A.R.'s BMW. With 20 minutes to go, the Butterman car pulled into the paddock with a failed clutch. After a bit of evaluation, the car went back onto the track and the team was able to salvage fourth place by running a few laps at a slower pace. At the finish, the B.A.R. BMW was one lap in arrears to take second place. Third went to another BMW, the No. 5 SpeedLab entry, decorated in plaid and axe handles as “Friends of Paul Bunyan.” The green flag fell at 8:29 Sunday morning for the remaining 19 ChumpCars. A no-show was the Tubby Butterman. The Butterballs replaced the offending clutch Saturday evening but when they tested it, it was a no-go so the car remained on jack stands while the crew slept in. Another non-starter was the No.80 Twisted Ford Mustang, also with clutch issues. They replaced the clutch on Saturday evening as well but it, too, did not work. They dropped the gearbox again on Sunday morning, found that the release bearing had been installed backwards, put it all back together and went out onto the track about two hours late. Saturday's finishing position did nothing for the start position on Sunday, so a few of Saturday's mid-pack cars held front positions early on. The No. 26 Toyota had the lead after the first hour. Eventually, however, the strength of the BMW 6-cylinder engines drew them to the front. The safety requirement of a five-minute pit stop for fuel meant the cars on the track would run nearly three laps while a car was taking on fuel. That meant a lot of position changes could take place from hour to hour. However, the Flying Circus BMW moved to the lead by mid race and held the position to the finish. Steady driving kept the B.A.R. BMW near the top of the standings to finish in second place, four laps behind. The Shake and Bake Toyota held on to finish third, eight laps behind the winner. Enthusiasm for the event was high, with teams that were uncertain about entering the 24-hour race in Newton, Iowa, three weeks away quickly changing their plans to be a part of that event as well. Many spectators and team members who came for the drag races on the BIR main straightaway came over to ask questions and went away vowing to build a "crap can" car for next year. Just to sweeten the pot, ChumpCar has reserved two dates for BIR in 2011. Below are the standings for each day: SATURDAY 1 - Flying Circus, 197 laps SUNDAY 1 - Flying Circus, 207 laps
Other awards for the Brainerd weekend: Best Theme: #33 Tubby Butterman BMW - Golfing design with grass carpeting and golf balls attached to the hood and roof, golf bag in the rear and "Cheetah Woods" across the windshield.
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