1948–2020 CELEBRATING 72 YEARS VOL. 61 | February 2020 The official publication of the San Francisco Region of the Sports Car Club Of America Fresno Chapter Solo p. 8 SFR Regional Races 1 & 2 p. 10 Re ntals, Arr D ive & rive, & We will be at all key races Support All regional races ● SpecRacer & Prototypes (P1&2) Most west coast Majors ● Fast and reliable cars ● Large fleet of GEN2 & 3 Rentals - 7 Cars COTA Pro race in November ● Driver coaching - Our rookies win races The Runoffs at VIR ● Experience support team ASE certified www.accelracetek.com Phone: (669) 232-4844 Email: [email protected] SONOMA RACEWAY (800) 708-RACE WWW.WINECOUNTRYMOTORSPORTS.COM ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEW RULEASK REQUIRING ABOUT FORWARD OUR SCCAFACING SPECIALS!CAMERAS? WE ARE! SPECIALS FOR SCCA! GoPro Hero 7 Silver 99 $199 GoPro Hero 8 Black FREE 32GB SD CARD 99 $399 AIM Smartycam HD CALL 800-708-7223 TO ORDER - GET ITFREE SHIPPED ROLL BAR MOUNT TO YOU AT NO EXTRA COST! $999 FREE ROLL BAR MOUNT 2020 SEASON KICKOFF AUTO RACING SUITS CAMLOCK HARNESSES 10-30% OFF 15% OFF Start at $159 95 FEBRUARY 2020 Above: #17 Kevin Mitz in his Stohr WF1 rounds turn two Cover #71 Jerry Aplass, #55 Stephen Controulis, and #83 Steven Cento all race into the carrousel 6 RE News 18 Fiberglass Repairs 25 Woolf Barnato Award FEATURES 7 Wheelworks 20 Formula F Resurgence 25 Two Solo Greats are Gone 8 Fresno Chapter Solo 22 Notes From The Archives 26 Full Body Contact 10 SFR Regional Races 1 & 2 25 Hall Of Fame 28 Thunderhill Park Began IN EVERY ISSUE 4 Calendar 4 Travel Tech 29 Race Car Rentals 30 The Garage: Classified Ads The views expressed in The Wheel are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of San Francisco Region or the SCCA. SAN FRANCISCO REGION SCCA REGION OFFICE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MAILING ADDRESS TIM SULLIVAN Regional Executive PO Box 308, Willows, CA 95988 [email protected] LOCATION LINDA ROGASKI Secretary PUBLISHER: THE WHEEL PUBLICATIONS 5250 Hwy 162, Willows, CA 95988 [email protected] 530 934 4455 Editor BLAKE TATUM [email protected] 530 934 7275 fax Director BLAKE TATUM Art Direction & Design CHRIS BECKREST [email protected] [email protected] BeckrestDesign.com The Wheel is the Official publication of the San Francisco Blake Tatum, region of the Sports Car Club of America located at 5250 Hwy R.J. GORDY Director CONTRIBUTING WRITERS David Vodden, Tim Sullivan, Bruce Richardson, 162, Willows, California 95988. It is published monthly by Wheel [email protected] Publications, 6185 Riverbank Circle, Stockton, California 95219. Paul Newton, Lynne Huntting, Katie Elder, Norm Opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily Marshall, Eric Little those of the San Francisco Region, Wheel Publications, The Wheel, BEN FRENCH Director it’s staff or advertisers. Material submitted to The Wheel that is [email protected] CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS & ARTISTS slanderous, libelous, profane, pure inflammatory criticism offering no Mike DiCarlo, Anothony Topalian, Lynne Huntting, constructive alternatives, sexually explicit or material as directed by Richard Gordon The Board, such as competitive series schedules, ads, etc. shall not DAVID VODDEN, Director be published. [email protected] Permission to reprint materials from The Wheel is hereby granted Please send address changes to: to all SCCA regional publications with the agreement that full credit POSTMASTER, be given to the author and The Wheel. SETH REID Director The Wheel The Wheel • ISSN 0888-1103 • USPS 0625-160 • is published [email protected] monthly for $15 per year for the San Francisco Region of the P.O. Box 308 Sports Car Club of America, 5250 Hwy 162, Willows, California 95988. Periodicals Postage paid at Willows, CA and at additional Willows, CA 95988 mailing offices. FEBRUARY 2020 | SFRSCCA.ORG | 3 CALENDAR 2020 FRESNO CHAPTER SOLO SCHEDULE Event 3 - March 1* Event 7 - May 24** Event 11 - Aug 29* *Held at Fresno Fairgrounds Event 4 - March 28* Event 8 - June 13* Event 12 - TBD Oct*** **Crows Landing Event 5 - March 29* Event 9 - June 14* Event 13 - Nov 14* ***Buttonwillow Kart Track Event 6 - May 23** Event 10 - July 25* Event 14 - Nov 15* www.FresnoSCCA.com SAN FRANCISCO REGION'S 2020 SOLO II CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE March 7 - Starting Line School and test and April 25-26 - SFR Event running with AAS October 3 - SFR Event OR test and tune Note: All of our currently planned events are at Crows Landing. The rumors are true, Marina tune May 23-24 - October 4 - SFR/Fresno/Sac joint regional's SFR Event is effectively closed for autocross effective March 8 - Round 3 June 20-21 - SFR Event November 7-8 - SFR Event immediately as a drone company has April 17-18 - obtained a use permit that involves putting a National Pro Solo July 25-26 - SFR Event building up on the tarmac. SACRAMENTO SOLO SCHEDULE Round 1 - March 28* Round 6 - May 24** Round 11 - Aug 17* Endro Practice - Sept 22* Round 2 - March 29* Round 7 - June 22* Round 12 - Aug 18* *Held at Thunderhill Raceway Park Round 3 - April 25* Round 8 - June 23* Round 13 - Aug 17* **Crows Landing Round 4 - April 26* Round 9 - July 13* Round 14 - Aug 18* Round 5 - May 23** Round 10 - July 14* Endro Practice - Sept 21* TELEPHONE HOURS: RATES TRAVEL TECH 6 pm–9 pm Mon. through Fri., and 10 am to 6 pm Sat. & Sun. • 1 car/$10.00 + mileage Travel Tech is a volunteer, in shop/ • 2 cars/$9.00 each + 1/2 Morris Hamm Tom Turner mileage at home tech inspection service for Marin/ Sonoma/ Napa/ San Ramon Area, • 3 cars/$8.00 each + 1/3 pre-race and purchase inspection of Infineon 925-389-6181 mileage 707-738-8860 Jason Hohmann race cars, including newly built cars. Phil Munoz • Logbook for new car or Patterson - Central Valley re-issuing a Logbook is Travel Tech Scrutineers are: Santa Cruz Area, 209-620-0559 831-297-2457 $30 plus mileage. 4 | SFRSCCA.ORG | FEBRUARY 2020 2020 2020 SFR/SCCA RACE SCHEDULE AND PRO SUPPORT SCHEDULE MARCH 14-15 AUGUST 8-9* DOUBLE REGIONAL 3&4 – THUNDERHILL PRE-REUNION WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA APRIL 3-5 SECA SCCA MAJORS WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA AUGUST 13-16* SECA REUNION WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA APRIL 30-MAY 3* AUGUST 29-30 SVRA/TRANSAM WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA DOUBLE REGIONAL 13&14 WEATHERTECH RACEWAY SECA (FULL SUPPORT) LAGUNA SECA MAY 23-24 SEPTEMBER 10-13* REGIONAL 5&6 – THUNDERHILL IMSA WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA JUNE 6-7 SEPTEMBER 17-20* DOUBLE REGIONAL 7&8 – THUNDERHILL INDY CAR WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA JUNE 26-28 OCTOBER 23-25 DOUBLE REGIONAL 9&10 AND TEST DAY SONOMA TRIPLE REGIONAL 15,16,17, DOUBLE POINTS/5 RACEWAY MILE TOM MCCARTHY TRIBUTE RACE JULY 24-26 THUNDERHILL RACEWAY FERRARI CHALLENGE WEATHERTECH RACEWAY *Pro Race Support for Volunteers LAGUNA SECA (LIMITED SUPPORT) Double points for the Triple race weekend Oct. 23-25 JULY 31-AUG 2 REGIONAL 11&12 WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA + TEST DAY FEBRUARY 2020 | SFRSCCA.ORG | 5 RE News BY TIM SULLIVAN Hi All, registration on Motorsports Reg. Our April Majors is already full! If the event shows you on a “wait list” for a room, let the office know. If Here we are already in February! We possible, we may be able to get more rooms, if we have ample notice already have our first Regional Race of attendance. For example, for the April Majors, the Colton Inn has weekend behind us. While Attendance asked us to provide a rooming list the first week in March. was light on Sunday, we did have quite a few cars show up to race. We had to We will be having some prototype exhibitions this year at Laguna as combine the open wheel cars due to low well. Bruce Richardson has put together a Spec Racer Ford-E. The counts in Groups 2 & 4. While not optimal, E meaning “electric”. The goal is to have this as a class in 2021, with we really couldn’t have a race Group with 2 exhibitions at Laguna this year. This seems exciting! He says they cars only. Thanks to all the competitors for have the performance of a 3rd gen SRF. Keep your eyes open for this! putting up with the change. We also had a The new forward-facing camera rule was in effect at our February Formula Group join us. Brent Morgan, from Exclusive Racing brought races. All Drivers had them, and footage was requested in one 11 cars for our weekend. He will be joining us quite a few times this instance. Thanks to all for complying with this. Another new rule in year. We also had quite a few new Volunteers. We also had a couple the GCR is the “rain light” provision. There has been some confusion, of Drivers volunteer. As always, they were welcomed by all, and I but the official word from Allen Davis is that they need to be believe we will see them back again. Bernie Novack brought in three operational. They only need to be on if the SOM calls a “rain” race. I new people, we had a new person working with Jess in the Course wanted to make sure this was clarified. Marshalling team, and a new person working on the E Crew courtesy of Jennifer Bicket. Our new Course Marshall was also there, and did a As an update, David Vodden has resigned his position as a member great job, including assisting with Social. of our Regional Board of Directors.