This article first appeared in the June, 2014 edition of SportsCar Magazine. SCCA members can read the current and past editions of SportCar digitally here after logging into their account; To become an SCCA member and get SportsCar mailed to your home address monthly in addition to the digital editions, click here.
Jim Wheeler
Chairman of the Club Racing Board
Kansas City Region
SCCA Member Since 1974
“I’ve been interested in racing since I was 5 — I had a go-kart before there was a name for them. I attended my first SCCA event at Bridge Hampton in 1959, and that set the hook. I started autocrossing in 1969, just out of the Navy, continuing through the late 1980s and then my first SCCA Driver’s School was in 1975 at Mid America Raceway in Wentzville, Missouri.
As of the Heartland Park Topeka U.S. Majors Tour over Labor Day, I will have completed a total of 265 SCCA Club races spanning EP, SSC, ITB, Spec Miata, and American Sedan, where I’ve completed by far the most races. I’ve competed in 15 Runoffs since my first in 1998 (missing the event in 2000), and have had two podium finishes (2007 and ’13), with eight top 10s.
The social part of Kansas City Region has always been very active, and attending these social and Club business meetings led me to serve on the Kansas City Region Board of Directors, as the Region’s Race Group Chairman, and as a member of the KVRG BoD.
A bad experience in impound at the Runofffs at Mid-Ohio caused me to apply to become a member of the American Sedan Advisory Committee. I served there for several years and was asked by Bob Dowie, the CRB’s Chairman at the time, to move up to the CRB. Upon Dowie’s retirement from the Chairman position, I became the Chairman, where I’ve served for several years.
Being Chairman of the CRB has exposed me to wonderful, smart people in all phases of the Club. Although it takes a lot of time, it’s also very rewarding.”
The 2016 Tire Rack Crows Landing Championship Tour, scheduled for April 22-24 in Crows Landing, California, is expected to be a jam-packed competition with racers traveling from all across the West Coast. Formerly the second tour in the West, Crows Landing is now the first and only Championship Tour in California after the SCCA switched the original Championship Tour in San Diego to this year’s Oceanside Match Tour Showdown.
The Crows Landing surface is a grippy, open, and smooth morsel of concrete brought to you by the navy (and formerly used in 1941 to train fighter pilots) that heavily resembles the concrete surface at Nationals in Lincoln, Nebraska. Additionally, the Crows Landing Tour is the last Tour before Spring Nationals, so expect lots of tuning and preparation.
While technically in Crows Landing, many autocrossers will stay in and around Patterson, CA–also known as the Apricot Capital of the World. You can expect wonderful California weather averaging in the 70’s with a relaxed small town atmosphere.
Things to Do:
Driving up? The closest place to stay is the Best Western Plus at Vista Del Lago. The SCCA has a small block of rooms that are filing up quickly at reduced rates.
Driving up in your RV? The closest place to bookend your travels is the KitFox RV park in Patterson with 10% off for all you AARP or Military members.
Driving up with your golf clubs? Check out the nearby Diablo Grande Ranch course designed by award-winning Dennis Griffths. Its signature hole almost became California’s first par-6 at 650 yards.
Driving up hungry? The Apricot Wood in Patterson comes highly recommended with “unique menu options for vegans, vegetarians, and carnivores.”
Most importantly, though, you will have hundreds of like-minded racing individuals to walk course, toast red solo cups, and swap stories in the expansive grid set over several runways. Be sure to bring your bikes for the long distances between grid and paddock. See you there!
Cick Here for Final Results
Day 2 down at the 10th running of the SCCA Dixie Championship Tour started with cooler weather, but not a single rain cloud in sight. The conditions were ripe for competition, and the 282 drivers had their work cut out for them. In STR, Ricky Crow extended his lead from yesterday, finishing a blistering 1.933 seconds ahead of Kerry Coughlin. Crow set down a 46.3 second time right off the bat, but coned. He cleaned it up and dropped down to a 46.294 on his final run, the only driver in the 46’s in class. S2000s made up the bulk of the trophies, with the exception of Geoff Walker, bringing his 2016 Mazda MX-5 up to 4th place. Nikki Edwards kept up her pace from yesterday, to finish 1.2 seconds ahead of Laura Johnson in BSL. In STU, Michael Lawson, came back from 5th place yesterday, to take the win over Nelson Antunes, in the only car in class on BFGoodrich tires. Jinx Jordan continues his multi-year Dixie winning streak in SMF, with an almost 3 second margin over second place. In SSM, Randall Wilcox, taking FTD, stands 6 seconds over his codriver Eric Anderson (who has been working endlessly to get the car back together and tuned in preparation for Dixie; apparently the tune works).
CS brought the action at the start of Heat 2. Jumping into the lead on the strength of his second run, John Wolf took the win in class over Chris Harp, with Clay McCool a scant .029 behind in third. Matt Leach had a raw time to take the win, as the only CS driver in the 48’s, but cones and traction control kept him from claiming the top step. Coming from behind also in SS, Charlie Thompson moved up from 3rd into 1st, ahead of Bryan Carbon, who had a cone on his fastest scratch time. Not content with being skirted by his codriver/wife, Keath Marx took the win in SSP, with a day 2 time a full 1.1 seconds faster than 2nd place Chad Langley, with Donna Marx rounding out the podium.
Holding onto his insurmountable lead, Ian Stewart took the STX win. His win was by much less than his .36 second lead yesterday, as David Marcus put down a smoking fast third run, the only STX car in the 46’s. At the end of the heat, Marcus was .064 out of the win, with Darrin Disimo rounding out the podium. Tim White held onto his day 1 lead, taking the win over his codriver Matthew Glagola by .439 seconds, and just losing out on top PAX for the event by one cone on his fastest raw time.
Sam Strano extended his win margin by an additional second over his codriver Michael Snyder. Taking top PAX for the event on the strength of his second run (the third, while faster, had cone trouble), Strano finished 2.6 seconds ahead of Snyder, with Cory Dreyfus taking third. Justin Barbry wins in BS over Edward Fisher, as he adapts well to the totally different style of driving a Corvette on street tires, coming from a race tire shod Mazda 323. Linda Duncan held onto her day 1 lead, winning over Eileen Blando in a tight CSL class. Danny Kao wasn’t able to get a clean first run, and never felt his head was in this course, and relinquished his lead in CSP to his codriver Mike Kline, with John Waight hot on their heels.
ES showed some of the toughest competition of the weekend, as Jonathan Roberts took the win on the strength of his second run. Eric Peterson had the time on his third to take the win, but a late cone call kept him in second place. STS was the John Brown show, putting it down on Kumho tires and staying 1.2 seconds in the lead over Lee Chhit. Coming from behind, Robert Lewis showed us just how to wheel that gorgeous Mustang fastback around, holding off his codriver Tommy Pulliam by 7/10ths. Pulliam fought cone trouble on his fast runs, while Lewis put together a third run to secure a dominant victory. Jadrice Toussaint remained on top in ESP over codriver Jeff Cox, after a little cone carnage on Toussaint’s second run.
From one of the smoothest running Dixie tours ever, the caravan moves over to California for the San Diego Match Tour: Oceanside Showdown, and then the ever popular El Toro Pro. To all those who braved the threat of rain and made it down, congratulations on the new hardware, commiserations on the cones, and thank you for the kickoff on the 2016 Road to Lincoln and the Solo National Championship.
