After fourteen grueling races in the IDRC program, the fifteenth would prove to be the best heads-up racing to end the 2001 season. Championship points were close in the Quick, Outlaw and All Motor Classes and this made competition extremely tight. In the Quick Class alone the fight was down to whom would make it to the finals. As the weekend approached, the weather looked bad for Sunday, which set Saturday up for all three qualifying passes. As Sunday rolled around the dark clouds looked to put an end to the races, but it turned out that the rain would just miss the track and head out towards the mountains, leaving clear skies for the rest of the afternoon.
Pro IVThis is by far one of the most expensive classes to compete in, but the level of competition makes it one of the most interesting. Japan has stepped up by shipping out some of its fastest pro cars and we expect to see more for 2002. The Escort Racing 300ZX came to the States late in the season but has since built a reputation of being undefeated in the Pro classes of NIRA, NHRA and IDRA. A newcomer to the field also made the trip out to Japan; the Blast Racing SC400 was unloaded from the docks two days prior to the race and would finally be able to stretch its legs out at LACR.
The Blast Racing SC400 has been in Japan for nine years racing competitively and has now finally made the trip out to the United States to compete. At this particular event it was apparent the clutch and suspension setup was not in tune to the track. After a few shakedown passes the V8 twin turbo-powered rocket set a new Pro import record of 7.38 secondds at 184 mph.
The class was comprised of six tube chassis cars and effectively became a battle of the chassis builders. Hansen Racecars was well represented with the likes of Abel's RX-7 and the R-100 driven by Efren Vaquez, as well as Adam Saruwatari's NSX. Ben Ma's Focus, piloted by chassis builder R.J. Simrock, and the two Japan-based cars, Escort's 300ZX and Blast Racing's SC400 were built in San Diego by Willie Relles senior of Willie Rells Racecars.
In the first round Simrock faced off against Saruwatari. As always, when these two faced off it became a staring contest, and while Adam tends to surpass the full stage time limit his antics have never fooled R.J. into losing. This time his game made the NSX victorious, but only due to the fact that the AEBS Focus hit the guardrail. After a 30-second staredown the lights flashed green and both vehicles launched full tilt out of the hole. The end result was Adam with a broken driveshaft at the 330, and R.J. in the wall after a 140-mph spin at the 660-ft mark. It's stupid games like this that can get people killed, and let's hope there was a lesson learned in this incident.
With a new driveshaft installed in Adam's ride, the next round had the hard charging Blast SC up against Saruwatari. The NSX was able to pull an upset over Tatatoshi Wakita due to the latter's late reaction. Adam set a personal best with a 7.95-sec. run. Tatatoshi ran a 7.79 but crossed the lights second, giving Saruwatari the win.
The finals would line up Hiroshi Shiobhara's Escort Racing 300ZX and Adam's Nitto Tire NSX. Escort dealt with traction problems as well as issues to keep the car going straight. As a last minute effort to keep the car straight a new set of slicks were mounted, shocks were adjusted, nitrous was turned off and boost was dropped. While the team took a chance by dropping power against Adam's NSX the Escort team was able to win with an 8.0 e.t. against Adam's red light.
Outlaw VIIIBefore the race started the points race had Pepe Loco pilot Carlos Montano just one first place victory away from stealing the points from Steph Papadakis. In the semis the AEM Civic was gifted with a bye run, while a light confusion game between Ray Lochhead and Montano gave the SR Motorsports RX-7 the win. It turns out that Ray went to full stage before Carlos went to pre stage. Since Carlos didn't trip the lights at this time, Ray was allowed to reverse out of the full stage position. As a result, The Pepe Loco Datsun went to full stage and red lit, giving the win to Lochhead and the SR Motorsports RX-7.