PERU, Ind. (Aug. 13, 2015) – Sam Strano, of Brookville, Pennsylvania, was the overall winner in the bracket-style Speedway Motors CAM (Classic American Muscle) Challenge Shootout competition at the Grissom Aeroplex, beating out fellow finalist, and Indy 500 winner, Al Unser, Jr. A total of 94 entrants showed up for this second event of the season for their chance to show off and compete in their 1960s-70s era and late model muscle cars.
The competition used a similar format to the Tire Rack Match Tour as Saturday featured a full day of traditional class-based competition. Sunday morning’s runs set the field for the Super Shootout bracket. From each heat, the top 16 indexed times were placed into a Super Shootout bracket.
In the Super Shootout, the bracket competition whittled the field down to one driver from each heat. In the final round, each driver took two runs to determine the bracket winner. The winner was deemed to be the driver with the fastest lap.
Weather was not a factor during Saturday’s runs, but reared its head on Sunday. Sunday’s competition started with temperatures in the low 70s, under overcast skies. The clouds were just a foreshadowing of the rain that arrived during the Shootout portion of the event.
The second event of its kind, hosted by SCCA, attracted some big-name sponsors who showed up in force with staffed product displays. Among those were Speedway Motors, Ridetech, Hoosier Performance Engineering, Pro-Touring F-Body.com and Solo Performance Specialties.
Aside from the series partners displaying their wares at the event, Falken Tires sponsored the Friday night Welcome Party while Ridetech funded a dinner for all competitors on Saturday evening.
Also of note, was the help of the Indianapolis Region SCCA which played host for the event. They were responsible for course setup, in addition to helping in other support roles throughout the weekend.
Strano Started the Shootout portion of the competition as the top seed, and class winner, in the CAM-Contemporary (CAM-C) class. Strano (Stranoparts.com Chevrolet Camaro SS) had an opening-round meeting with Rusty Henderson (CAM-C, My Hard Work Chevrolet Camaro) and beat him by setting the fastest time during his two runs.
Following that, Strano was pitted against Zach Rogers (CAM-C, Ford Mustang). Strano was able to get closest to his dial in set during his first match in the bracket round. That moved Strano onto the semi-finals of Heat Two.
In the bracket final, Strano met, and downed, Robert Lewis (CAM-C, Mod Squad Garage Ford Mustang). That win allowed Strano to move to the three-way final, which included Al Unser, Jr. (CAM-Traditional, Speedway Motors/Team Speedway Chevrolet Nova) and Paul Kolatorowic (CAM-Sport, BOR!!!!!! Racing/Hawgee.com Pontiac Solstice).
Following two runs from each of the Challenge finalists, Strano was declared the winner turned the quickest single lap of the course.
Additional information on the Speedway Motors CAM Challenge at Grissom can be found here.
General facts regarding the Speedway Motors CAM Challenge can be found at SCCA.com.
Image: Historic and modern muscle cars get ready to compete at the Speedway Motors CAM Challenge at Grissom Aeroplex.
Credit: Steve Jackson
