It’s the time of year again where about 175 members of the church of the car make a pilgrimage to South Bend, Indiana for a week of sleep deprivation, vibration and noise known as the TireRack Cannonball One Lap of America.

May 3 – 10 will mark the twenty-fifth running of the “modern” Cannonball Run – now an event that instead of racing on public roads from New York to Los Angeles, competitors travel from track to track at reasonable (we hope) speeds while actually racing on the tracks themselves.

In the U.S. the twenty-fifth anniversary is known as the silver one and maybe we shouldn’t let any of the competitors know that four-time consecutive and defending champions Mark DaVia and Drew Wickstrom’s Porsche is still silver, and it is still in top form. Each year it has looked like someone would step up and drag the Porsche of the mountain, but they are still king of this hill.

Mark DaVia will be coming back to try for his fifth consecutive One Lap of America win.

If the words “annual pilgrimage” and “four-time consecutive winner” make you think this is a mundane road trip, think again. Last year two favorites were taken out within the first few minutes of the event and Brian Smith looked to be cruising to a win in the Hennessey Viper until an ill-timed clutch failure all but handed DaVia the win with only two days to go.

“Someone is going to come hang me,” said DaVia after Smith’s clutch broke, a failure that would allow DaVia to “just finish” and get the points needed to win the event.

This year the pack has the gallows ready, and instead of one hangman looking for a pair of boots, there are about 80 teams looking to drop the trap door under DaVia’s feet to earn their pay – a coveted trophy, bragging rights and their car headlining the One Lap of America web-site until it’s time to do it again next year.

As of this writing some of the favorites may not be coming back.

Brian Smith has been replaced in the Henessey Viper by Chrysler test-driver Chris Winkler. Multi-time winner Ron Adee may have to concentrate on his business instead of a crazy race week in his earth-crushing Viper.

Chris Winkler will be taking over driving duties in the Hennessey Viper from Brian Smith, it is unsure at this point if Brian will find his way into another ride or not.

Many of the favorites are back of course - the Canadian father/son Corcoran duo and Luke the, “Flying Floridian” Russell in the TopSpeed Subaru Brighton (an STI in sheep’s clothing) will be fighting for top honors.

Bringing up a strong wildcard contingent are a pair of 1980s IMSA GTP Corvette replicas campaigned by Mongoose Motorsports and driven by the previous two years’ NASA Time Trial “U” national champions Jon Krolewicz and Danny Popp. There is a Bimmerworld-prepared BMW 135i looking rather stout and a supercharged NSX piloted by multi-time SCCA and NASA national champion Joel Lipperini on the list as well.

Of the regular One Lappers, Chuck Veth and Manny Da Silva are back with stronger cars, and they were already threats for top finishes.

Last years’ third-place finisher Leh Keen is even rumored to be in something “fast and interesting.” Leh owns a Skyline GT-R and drives a Porsche for Farnbacher-Loles in the Grand Am Rolex GT series, so one can only guess as to what kind of machinery he may show up in.

In the “wow I can’t believe they’re doing that” category, the Honda Manufacturing Plant in Alabama is bringing back its turbocharged Odyssey minivan and two guys are attacking the event in a Smart car. If you don’t know what a Smart car is, let’s say if we were playing “20 questions” you might answer one of those questions by saying “smaller than a breadbox.”

The rest of the field is filled with interesting stories of course, the Car & Driver Magazine team is running a Nissan Skyline GT-R, and there is a slew of super-civics, rock-solid Subarus, Porsches, BMWs and little Neons that can ready to claw their way to the front.

One Lap of America attracts all kinds of cars and personalities from all over the US, Canada and even a few from Europe.

The 2008 route will start in South Bend, Indiana on a wet skid pad, and then hit Road America in Wisconsin, Mid America in Iowa, Texas World Speedway and Lonestar Motorsports Park in Texas, No Problem Raceway in Louisiana, Carolina Motorsports Park and the BMW Performance Center in South Carolina, Virginia International Raceway (You can guess where that one is) and BeaveRun in Pennsylvania before coming back to South Bend for the dry skid pad event.

The event will cover roughly 4000 highway miles through 18 states making stops in eight of them for 20 competition events. If it makes you exhausted thinking about it, think of how the teams will feel after a week of living in the cars, staying in hotel rooms long enough for a cat-nap and a shower all while sustaining themselves off gas station hot dogs, McDonald’s and the energy-drink of choice.

***schedule and people of interest to follow***

 

The Schedule:

Date -- Event -- Track -- Location
May 2 -- Sticker Day -- The TireRack -- South Bend, IN

May 3 -- Wet Skid Pad -- The TireRack -- South Bend, IN
-------- Time Trial -- Road America -- Elkhart Lake, WI

May 4 -- 2 Time Trials -- Mid America Motorplex -- Pacific Junction, IA

May 5 -- 2 Time Trials -- Texas World Speedway -- College Station, TX
-------- Low E.T./Bracket Drags -- Lonestar Motorsports Park -- Houston, TX

May 6 -- 2 Time Trials -- No Problem Raceway -- Belle Rose, LA

May 7 -- 2 Time Trials -- Carolina Motorsports Park -- Kershaw, SC
-------- Time Trial -- BMW Performance Center -- Greer, SC

May 8 -- 3 Time Trials -- Virginia International Raceway -- Alton, VA

May 9 -- 2 Time Trials/Autocross -- BeaveRun Motorsports Complex -- Wampum, PA

May 10 -- Dry Skid Pad -- The TireRack -- South Bend, IN


All of the tracks should allow spectators, in 2006 when we visited No Problem Raceway I think they charged a small fee. Other tracks may do the same. If you are coming out to visit, things will get started at 8:00 am - 8:30 am, there will be a break for lunch around noon, and then most cars will be gone by 3:00 pm.

***people of interest to follow**

 

Of course, going out to the event wouldn't be as big a deal unless you knew who to cheer for. Although there are no Evo's listed on the entry list, for evolutionm.net, there are still a few to cheer on.


NO PICTURE
I suppose I will list the Mitsubishi "product" first, even though it carries a Dodge badge. It is the Dodge Stealth of George and Lauren Bruggenthies.



My ride.. I was also supposed to run this car last year, but it didn't get ready in time and Steven Rankins was kind enough to let me jump on board his STI and even let me drive a little. This car turned almost identical times to the TopSpeed Brighton at Gateway International Raceway in 2007, so I am hoping to be able to contend for a top spot.



Doug Wind, Devin Clancy, Keith Ori – evolutionm member and evo autocrosser/owner Devin is coming back in the SRT4 this year the team is looking to defend a 5th place overall.

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Rumor has it Leh Keen will also be in the event, in "something interesting and fast" - Leh is keeping quiet on the subject and people who are in the know are sworn to secracy. Leh has a good toybox to pick from though, and one that might include some type of factory Porsche GT car, so one can only guess as to what it might be.

There they are, come out, see the fastest street cars in the US fight for top honors, come cheer us on.

 

Nice... It was a treat to do the school last year and meet a lot of the characters. I hope to do this race at some point as it seems something a "car guy" should do even if your not in it to really tear it up.

 

It really is a blast of an event and I see a lot of the mid-to back of the pack jsut in it to have fun, see different tracks, meet the people and see the cars. As I heard it described once, "The ultimate car-guy's vacation."

The trouble people get in is when they go in thinking they have what it takes to win, and then find out that they are actually about 15 seconds a lap behind the fastest in the country, then their ego gets bruised.

 

Hey, if I was 15 seconds off I would cry like a baby!

Then again I was told the fast guys fly into a town, rent a car and go out and drive the tires off the car before lunch, rotates said tires and then go out and ruin any rubber left on them after lunch and then fly home that night for practice.

Sounds reasonable and fun... just far more serious than I think I would plan to be.

For now anyway.

 

So, where's the link to info on your car? I used to love those IMSA GTP vettes! They always seemed to win every race or blow up trying (a lot). Granted, I can't say I kept track of the IMSA series back then.

Oh, and I'm looking forward to reading your commentary from the event!

 

I'll extend my annual jealousy to those running this year. This is on my car 'to-do' list at some point. Good luck!!!!

 

This would be such an awesome event to run. Maybe next year.

Question -- All the racetrack events say "Time Trials." Is there no wheel-to-wheel racing?

 

+1 I wish they had one for the west coast

 

Ah, I didn't post a link to my daily blog site, here it is:

http://www.racerjon.com/events/onelap08/intro.html

There you will find a car info page, links to the main Mongoose site, a schedule, etc.


Correct, there is no wheel-to-wheel racing. The safety requires driving suits and SA helmets, but no roll bars or other such equipment, so it really isn't set to be a Road Race. What it really is is a 25-year old Time Attack where we drive the cars from track to track. (and everyone thinks it was invented in Japan.. ha )



Last year we went to Salt Lake City, in 2004 they hit Sears Point and some other west-coast stuff. There used to be an "Open Track Challenge" which was really similar and ran on the west coast.

I think because the population center of the US is in the midwest, it usually runs around that.

 

By the way... your too good to run an Evo? I know you are doing a lot of work with these guys but someone needs to mount a serious effort in an Evo.

Whos it gonna be?

 

By the way... how to the time trials work exactly? I seem to recall something about 3 laps or such but how does that work?

 

I drove the AMS evo from 2005-2006, including two One Lap of America efforts where we finished 7th and 3rd overall. AMS focused on the Magazine Time Attack events (Car & Driver not really their market, and it took a lot of time and effort for one week) So they haven't been back yet.

That being said I do expect Martin to hit up the event again, but probably not in a front-running car, but in somthing simple, actually streetable with no excuses, and probably drive himself as he is doing more and more track days. I expect we will see him fight for a 10th- 15th showing what a "normal" driver can do with a true street car.

 

It's three laps from a standing start, the time for the three laps is your time. It makes it interesting because you have to put a good launch an three good laps together, no making mistakes and getting to make up for it.

Back in the pack (read 10th - 30th) things are really close and a bobble or big slide can cost you a few positions for sure.

Times are added up for each "run" for the whole field and points are given down through the field based on how many cars run.

At the end of the week all the points from each event are tallied and you see where everyone finishes - now, there is a strange part to that. Class is scored the same, but since there might only be 12 cars in your class, the points gaps are smaller. It's why you can have something strange happen like finishing 3rd overall, but losing class to someone who finishes behind you overall. (Like I did with AMS in 2006, 3rd overall, highest placing mid-priced sedan, but 5th overall won the class...)