2016 Indiana CAM Challenge Results
The third event in the CAM Challenge Events Powered by SCCA was held this past weekend at the Grissom Air Base in Peru, Indiana. The first was held in Southern California at Fontana Speedway and the second event was held in Mineral Wells, Texas. The event at Grissom was the largest ever for an SCCA CAM event, with 133 competitors in attendance! We had Hoosier Performance Engineering, Victory Speed Equipment, Pro Turing F-Body.com and Grassroots Motorsports magazine on site with displays.
The weekend festivities started on Friday with an Evolution School and ten students in attendance, working to hone their autocross skills under the watchful eye of Sam Strano. This was followed by a test and tune that many participated in, getting a handle on the grip at Grissom. Registration and tech took place after the test and tune, along with a welcome party hosted by Indianapolis Region / SCCA. Of course, we had a large tent with tables and chairs so people could get out of the sun. Great place for people to socialize, bench race, tell lies – you know, what autocrossers usually do!
Saturday morning competition started with the CAM T class, with 34 competitors in that class. Matthew Braun dominated the class with over a 3 second win in Rich Gregory's 1969 Camaro. The top four drivers were from all over the country – Michigan, New York City, Barrington, IL and Mitchell, SD. There was a real good variety of cars, including Camaros, Firebirds, Mustangs, a 1970 Dodge Challenger and a 1972 Chevy Nova.
The second heat on Saturday was the CAM C class, with 66 competitors in that class. Dave Feighner dominated the Saturday competition in a borrowed 1996 Mustang Cobra. He led from start to finish. Also in the top 5 were Sam Strano, Mike Snyder, Jeff Cox, Robert Lewis and Danny Kao. The end of the day saw Mustangs in nine of the top 10 spots, with Danny Kao the lone Camaro in 5th.
The third heat consisted of 20 competitors in CAM S and also the Index Class. The Index Class was open for non-CAM cars for folks who were willing to come out and help where needed. At the end of Saturday, Jim McKamey was in the number one spot in the Hoosier Performance Engineering sponsored Corvette in CAM-S.
Saturday night was the time for trophies, give aways and dinner! The dinner was sponsored by Ridetech, ProTouring F-Body.com and Hoosier Performance Engineering. Mexican was the fare and the caterers did a great job, with the meal being capped off with ice cream sandwiches made with homemade cookies! In addition to class trophies being handed out, we had several sponsor giveaways. Matthew Braun earned the automatic spot in the Good Guys Finale in Scottsdale, Arizona in November. J.J. Mallrich won the Wilwood Brakes. Robert Lewis and Mark Pilson won the K & N Intake systems. David Hamilton was voted to receive the "Spirit of CAM" award. He received a free Evolution driving school, a $50 gift certificate to Speedway Motors and a trophy. A good time was had by all!
Sunday morning – competition started all over again and times from Saturday were wiped from the slate.
CAM-T ended up with Matthew Braun as the number one qualifier, with Cody Mason at the number two qualifier. Matthew won the CAM-T Challenge.
CAM-C saw a lot of shuffling of the deck from how things finished on Saturday with Rob Ippolito taking over the number one spot. Dave Feighner was number two qualifier. However, the final round in the challenge was Robert Lewis as #4 and Tony Reitdorf at #3, with Robert Lewis winning the CAM C Challenge.
CAM-S had Jim McKamey continuing his dominance as the #1 qualifier. Jim met Adam Popp, #4, in the finals, with Jim winning the CAM-S Challenge.
One more round of runs to go with the three Challenge winners going up against each other. For this set of runs, because the cars are in different classes, their times are indexed. Matthew Braun finished 3rd, with clutch problems. Robert Lewis came up half a second short of Jim McKamey who took the overall CAM Challenge win.
These events wouldn’t be possible without the help of our sponsors. The presenting sponsors are Ridetech, Detroit Speed, Falken Tires, Wilwood Brakes and Speedway Motors. The associate sponsors are Good Guys, Evolution Driving Schools, SPS, Pro Touring F-Body.com, Hoosier Performance Engineering, Mike Maier Inc., Gen II, Vorshlag Engineering, Dusold Design, SKF and Victory Speed Equipment.
