People Places & Racing News

Racing News: 2013 Nitto Tires United States Touring Car Season Kicks Off at Thunderhill Raceway, April 13

Compiled by SEMA Editors

  nitto
The GoGoGear.com team will add a new E90 BMW chassis to be driven by Brad McClure.
   

2013 Nitto Tires United States Touring Car Season Gets Underway at Thunderhill Raceway April 13
The 2013 season of the Nitto Tires United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC) will kick off April 13, at Northern California’s Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, California. Round two will be in June at Utah’s Miller Motorsports Park, where the USTCC teams will race at the same weekend with the Lucas Oil Off Road series. In July, the teams next will head out to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in California’s Monterey Peninsula. This is a special invitational event hosted by the National Auto Sport Association. The double-header weekend at Sonoma Raceway in September will be headlined by the FIA World Touring Car Championship. The teams then head to Southern California’s Buttonwillow Raceway in October before finishing off with another major challenge in Sonoma with a two-hour endurance season finale.

There are lots of new cars and teams for 2013. Some of the existing teams will expand their efforts with added drivers and cars. The GoGoGear.com team will run three cars at most races and four cars at selected events with the addition of their new E90 BMW chassis to their existing BMW M3 and Hyundai Genesis Coupe cars. The new E90 chassis will be driven by Brad McClure, who has scored multiple championships in the Spec E30 class and is making the jump from the amateur ranks to the pros. The Life’s Good Racing team will run a Chevrolet Camaro in the GT class while they have signed a new driver to their Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart. They are also adding a third car to run in the Touring class. The TNI Racing team is adding a BMW M3 to their lineup of two Mazdaspeed 3s. The BMW will be driven by Doug Makishima, who scored a win in 2013 at the Mazda Raceway round. The 2011 Champion, Brandon Kraus, is also making a return to the series. Kraus will drive an Acura Integra with teammate Mike Lock. Speedy Motorsports will debut their new Acura RSX to be driven by Tom Milburn and Tony Mak. In the GT class, the big news involves the introduction of the new Turbohoses Noble M400 to be driven by veteran Rob Rodriguez. He will go up against the V8 Camaro of the Life’s Good Racing team and the 2012 GT Champion Ken Kurtz’s Pontiac.

lemans
Cooper MacNeil will join Larbre Competition in the No. 70 WeatherTech/Chevrolet Corvette C6.R for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
 
   

MacNeil to Drive WeatherTech/Larbre Corvette at Le Mans
Cooper MacNeil will join Larbre Competition in the No. 70 WeatherTech/Chevrolet Corvette C6.R for the 24 Hours of Le Mans to run June 22–23, at Circuit de la Sarthe. Larbre Competition enters Le Mans as the GTE-Am race champions three years running. The No. 70 Larbre Competition Corvette C6.R will be driven by MacNeil, Philippe Dumas and Manu Rodrigues. The 24 Hours of Le Mans test day is Sunday, June 9 with the race running June 22-23 at Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France.

  fox
FOX took the overall win at the recent General Tire Mint 400 in Las Vegas, sweeping the podium in the Trick Truck class, winning the unlimited open-wheel class (1500) and grabbing eight of the top-10 finishing spots.
   

FOX Athletes Win Off-Road Race in Las Vegas
FOX took the overall win at the recent General Tire Mint 400 in Las Vegas, sweeping the podium in the Trick Truck class, winning the unlimited open-wheel class (1500) and grabbing eight of the top-10 finishing spots. Second overall finisher Mark Weyhrich qualified outside the top 10, so he was in traffic immediately. A flat kept him fighting for third with Rob MacCachren and still three minutes behind Jesse Jones.

No. 1 qualifier MacCachren finished third in the Trick Trucks followed by Gary Weyhrich in fifth, Steve Olliges, driving his brand new BFG Ford Raptor in sixth, Cameron Steele in seventh and Dan McMillin in eighth. In the lead pack among all those Trick Trucks was Chuck Hovey who won class 1500 and finished sixth overall. In class 1000, it was Chip Prescott taking the win and Greg Parker in third. Prescott hit a huge rock that peeled back the skid plate and broke the housing on his brake master cylinder. He drove most of the race without brakes.

2011–2014 5.0L Mustang Shootout Announced for NMRA Ohio Event
The NMRA series will host the first-ever ’11–’14 5.0L Mustang Shootout at the McLeod Racing NMRA Ford Nationals event at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, the weekend of June 14–16, 2013. Granatelli Motor Sports is the title sponsor and manufacturer of several products for the ’11–present Mustang platform, including the Coyote Coils that are on many of the big power 5.0 cars and are run by the defending NMRA Coyote Stock world champion. The 5.0L Mustang Shootout offers big money with purse, prizes and contingency that could total upwards of $5,000 to win the class.

  scherer
Jason Scherer won the first race in the Ultra4 Stampede Race in Sacramento.

Jason Scherer Wins Ultra4 Stampede Race at Home Track in Sacramento
Jason Scherer won the first race in the Ultra4 Trail Gear Western Series—the MetalCloak NorCal Stampede—at Prairie City SVRA, Saturday, April 6. After finishing first in his pre-qualification heat race on Friday, he ran home to Danville, California, to replace and rebuild his differential before the main race on Saturday. Showing up just hours before the green flag, he started in the second row of the main and by the first lap was already leading the race.

The #76 car went to Texas to the PSC Steering shop after the King of the Hammers finish. Scherer started on the pole position at the 2013 Griffin King of the Hammers presented by Nitto Tires and finished 21st with 25 minutes to go. He completed two entire laps of the race with no power steering, stating it was one of the most physically and mentally demanding races in his career. Back at the shop, after tearing the steering system apart, it was determined that it was internal pieces in the steering rack that were the cause of the issue.           

The army green-colored race car with air force-style panels complementing the Rubicon Express, Nitto Tires and PSC Steering logos was at the Moab Easter Jeep Safari Vendor Show, and then it went straight to Northern California for the MetalCloak Stampede. Scherer took first in his pre-qualifying heat race last Friday then went home and spent all night fixing a broken differential. The Scherer team arrived back at the race track Saturday with only a couple of hours to spare. The next race for Scherer will be the Ultra4 4 Wheel Parts Glen Helen Grand Prix, May 24–25.