60+ Racing Adventures-3rd
Round at Lucas Oil (IRP) Oval
The 3rd Round of the 60+ Racing Adventures
League for drivers age 60 and older ran Wednesday, 6/28 at Lucas Oil Raceway,
aka Indianapolis Raceway Park., running the Pro Mazda. 19 drivers qualified for the first session
with most breaking below the 19.0 second lap mark. All cars ran an “assymetrical”
oval setup built by the Series Organizer, Donald Wayne Strout.
Unlike in previous events, starting on the Pole really
mattered here as in both race sessions, the polesitter led all 70 laps. Jos van
de Ven set a fast lap of 18.792 in the first session and won the race handily.
According to Jos, “I determined in practice that it was very hard to overtake
here—there is one “best” racing line. So, I practiced diligently to be able to
earn the pole position and get really good starts at the beginning and on each
restart.”
The 72 year old League Steward Joel Martin provided a bit
of excitement on lap 2 of the first session, spinning in mid corner. (Tires did not reach maximum grip here until
the lap 3.) Joel managed to perform a nearly perfect 180 degree turn coming to
rest directly facing an oncoming Richard Coulombe bearing down on Martin at 120
mph. (Yikes!)
From the resulting violent collision, Martin would get
launched over the wall in a spectacular aerial ride, with several cars passing
under.
Both sessions ran with only 3 cautions over the 70 lap
race. Several drivers drove carefully and consistently and were rewarded for
their caution. Newcomer, Joe Renn from Ohio in his first event with the League
moved from P14 to P9 in the first session. He is shown here avoiding a spinning
Kenneth Dummer on Lap 7.
Jos van de Ven dominated the first session, winning with
the rest of the field barely in sight.
Like Jos van de Ven stated, “very hard to overtake here”, Below: Team #1’s Bill Lawrence battles with
Team #5’s Kenneth Baldwin, with Lawrence going to the inside line to attempt an
overtake on Baldwin for P3. The inside
line is a shorter distance, but the outside line’s more gradual arc and better
grip allows Baldwin to run at a speed almost 8 mph faster.
The result was Baldwin catapulted ahead of Lawrence on
exit.
The Group 2 “second chance” race was a little less exciting
then the first session. Team #5 dominated the race with positions P1-P3 for the
entire race. Donald Wayne Strout earned the Pole with a 18.785 time, and like
Jos van de Ven in the first session, led all 70 laps. His teammates Wayne
Galloway and Kenneth Baldwin followed in P2 and P3.
Strout missed the first race session due to computer
issues. He and Jos van de Ven have been League Champions in previous seasons.
Their qualifying laps were only 0.007 seconds apart and a contest here between
them would have probably been “entertaining”. “Jos is fast---of course HE IS 6
years younger than me…” commented the 66 year old Strout with a smile.
After three events, the Team #1 of Carkner, Lawrence and Robertson still have a substantial lead over the Team #6 of John Unsbee, Jim Oliver, Michael Key and P J Salley. Not far behind in third place in the Team Championship is the Team #7 of Bruce Poole, Joel Martin and Jay Freels. These are the same positions each of the three teams held after the 2nd event.
Team #5 of Strout, Galloway and Baldwin moved up from 7th with their P1-3 finish in the Group 2 race and now are 5th in the Team Championship. Clearly, these three drivers from the American “Rural Heartland” are pretty comfortable on ovals. Strout is from Central Pennsylvania. Baldwin from Missouri, and Galloway from Tennessee.
Team #3 of van de Ven, Just, Lison, and Florissen continue to
be 4th in Team Standings.
Only 7 points separate the 5th place Team#5 from
3rd place Team#7.
The series maintains a Driver Championship and a Team Championship. Team assignments are determined by the League Organizer to pair up 3 or four drivers that together have a “fair” chance compared to other teams. In other words, less experienced or accomplished drivers are paired with the more experienced so each team is deemed to have a “fair” chance to win the Team Championship that pays $100 to the Winning Team, $50 to the 2nd Place Team and $25 to the 3rd Place Team for the Season.
Jos van de Ven has taken over the lead from Steven Carkner
in the Driver’s Championship, but they are only separated by 2 points. (43 vs
41) 3rd is Carkner’s teammate, Bill Lawrence.
The next event for the 60+ guys is at Brands Hatch. It is highly likely that Team #1 will hold on
to their substantial lead. Carkner, Lawrence and Robertson are working closely
together—more cohesive than any of the other teams. They are constantly in touch over
TeamSpeak. The standings for P2-5 are
close and a particularly good result by one team could change the order,
