Larry Beutlich wins Event 7!


Larry Beutlich receives winner trophy from Tracy Lewis
Saturday August 23, 2003 and it was time to go racing again in the Eckler's Florida Corvette Challenge for race 7 of 10, at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton Florida. Going into the race, the points championship was tight and we, sure enough, came out of the event with a new points leader. Before we get to the points leader, let's look at today's winner.

Larry Beutlich, Tampa, FL, went the needed five rounds to come out on top of the 23 Corvette lass. Larry knows the importance of a good light and had a great day at the tree, cutting a .526, .513, .551 and .593 on the way to the win. Larry's opponent in the final, Bill Wadsworth, Safety Harbor, FL, also had a super day at the tree and took the bye into the final. Beutlich first had to get past Emily Lewis in the semi-final. Lewis dialed 13.00 would give Beutlich the head start at 13.53. Beutlich treed Lewis with a .551 to .744 taking the win fairly easily. Emily said "she forgot to go". On to the final, Beutlich again dialed his Corvette at 13.53 to Wadsworth's 13.00. Beutlich used a starting line advantage of almost a tenth of a second to force Wadsworth to breakout with a 12.905. Wadsworth took the stripe but the win went to Beutlich because of the breakout. With 62 points for winning today's event, Beutlich moved up from a tie for eleventh place to sole possession of fourth place with 162 points to help make up for missing the previous event.

Today's race was not short of drama as Event Six winner, Rodney Campo, vowed to return to the finals and make another jump in the points standings. This month's event introduced pairings for first round drawn out of a hat and the hat paired Campo against Emily Lewis, who was ahead of Campo in the points chase. Campo welcomed the opportunity to race Lewis as it was the opportunity to make the points move. This particular drama ended early as Rodney suffered from "premature acceleration" cutting a .386 light handing Emily the win and putting her in position to take over the points lead as incumbent points leader, Mean Green, lost first round in his new Z06 breaking out while taking way too much stripe. Mark was too busy working the 6 speed and forgot to look back and peddle it. Chalk that up to a "re-learning" experience for Mark. Keith Valone came out of the event in exactly the same position as he came in, second place back by 2 points. Only after this event, it is to new (returning) points leader, Emily Lewis. Valone running his small motor (454) C4, qualified number 1 with an 11.30 @ 118.17. Keith treated the Challenge racers to a Mustang slaying in the time trial runs when he "pushed the button" on the C4 (which is for sale) and ran a 9.96 to hand "it" to the Stang. Lewis took the points lead by going to semi-finals before taking her "nap" against Beutlich. The odd thing is she did it in a borrowed car. Tracy Lewis suffered an accident while driving on the street incurring thousands of dollars in damage and their car was not ready for the race so Jim Terry stepped in and offered up his C5 for Emily to run. She took the opportunity and the points lead with it.

Today's event featured 23 Corvettes participating and we welcome our new racers, Michelle Teague, (Mrs. QTip,) and Bill Russell, who each won their first round races and Robert Wilson, who did not fair as well in the first round be we look forward to having these new racers back at our next event.

Florida Corvette Challenge invaded by New Jersey Corvette Challenge

Okay so it was only an invasion of one as Edgar Perez, Howell, NJ, drove his 1999 Corvette back to Florida for the EFCC (this time on the trailer). Perez brought his family as is in Florida on vacation but still brought the C5 Corvette to race. If you recall, he attempted this a few months ago and suffered a hydrolocked engine before racing his car (though he too borrowed a car to race that time). His fate in the brackets was the same this time as he went out in the first round. This time it was the tires that failed him as he could not run the 11.81 dial when he blew the tires away and had to lift and ran 12.09. However, Perez has the third quickest qualifying ET and 2nd fastest MPH at 116.51 during qualifying earning him the Norris Motorsports Best MPH plaque.

Runner-up Bill Wadsworth receives plaque from Tracy Lewis

Remember, anyone with a Corvette can participate in the Corvette Challenge. The next race in Florida will by Saturday September 27, 2003. Be sure and come out to race or watch at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, FL. Even if you do not know how to, come on down and meet the racers as we will take the time to teach you about drag racing in particular bracket racing. You can get up close to the action at the track.

If you would like to visit the Corvette Challenge throughout the nation, visit The National Schedule