2010 Motor State Challenge OFFICIAL Results and Recap

We did it! The 2nd Annual Motor State Challenge is the largest performance-driving event ever held for muscle cars. In fact, with almost 80 entries, we almost doubled the 2009 field. The reason for the event’s success is a simple formula of affordable entry fees, SCCA safety and scoring, plus tons of exciting pro-touring performance and camaraderie. Those of you who came out, we can’t thank you enough.

Lane Automotive, the parent company of Motor State Distributing and Allstar Performance, make the event possible. That is no gratuitous plug. While many mainstream companies are dismissive of pro touring, Lane Automotive believes that well-rounded performance is the future of hot rodding. They believe in our community. For 2010, we certainly did our part by bringing some of the fastest, grippiest, most refined hot rods ever built.
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The results were nothing short of amazing. The cruise turned into a free for all when 70 mph winds and driving rain forced everyone to race back to the hotel. It’s not every day that you see dozens of hot rods hauling ass under black skies and extreme weather.
Despite being cut short, the cruise and bbq was a success. On the way to Warren Dunes, Lane Automotive arranged for a full police escort. We must have blown 20 red lights and stop signs on our way to the barbecue. I elbowed a small child to be first on line. I’m sorry kid.
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At Gingerman Raceway, tire treadwear, once again, proved to be irrelevant. Stielow and Finch ran within one second of each other in the finals despite running 220 and 300 treadwear tires, respectively. Unfortunately, the silly tire rule did have one negative impact. It kept Hotchkis Performance, from participating in the Quick 16 final. Hotchkis trekked all the way from California with their familiar yellow Challenger and ran fourth overall in road course qualifying. The performance of that car is nothing short of amazing given that it only runs bolt on Hotchkis suspension parts like torsion bars, leaf springs and sta-bars. But because Hotchkis ran the same 180 TW tires that are legal at Goodguys, they were not allowed to back up their fourth place qualifying time in the finals. Other participants chose to stay away rather than buy an extra set of “compliant” 200 TW tires. As one of the event promoters, I’m wholly embarrassed by this turn of events. We don’t want anyone to feel excluded or denied. In our world, driver skill has proven to far outweigh any other parameter including tires and horsepower. The top 8 cars in the field ranged from 400HP to 1200HP. It’s all about the driver.
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When you see Mark Steilow’s new ride, the Red Devil, you won’t believe it’s not quite finished. The proof could be found out on the track, though. On hard decel, flames would shoot out of the exhaust. Flamethrowers are cool, but so is a finely tuned air/fuel map. Likewise, engine coolant temps reached 245 degrees. But the car still flew around the track and did so with grace. The trophy results fail to show that the Schwartz Performance Ultima posted the second fastest lap time overall. Jeff Schwartz is an experienced driver and the Ultima has a mid mounted twin turbo LS motor. The Ultima is fast and fun to watch. It’s also impossible to ignore the fact that not one but THREE Detroit Speed equipped Camaros were hanging with and even eclipsing the Ultima’s lap times. And the Hotchkis Challenger and Roadster Shop Chevelle were right there also. That’s HUGE news for the pro touring community! Once again, we clarified that, with the right driver behind the wheel, a well-built pro touring car can yield honest Supercar performance.
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In the road course finals, Brian Finch’s 2nd place finish set the tone for Sunday’s autocross. Brian has only been road racing for about one year. But he can run with accomplished drivers like Stielow and Mark Hotchkis. Finch’s raw talent really shined through on Sunday where he bested the entire field of autocross entries. Newcomer Chris Jacobs posted the second best autocross time in his Chevelle. Chris is a real gentleman and his performance is impressive. The Hotchkis Performance Challenger came in 3rd place overall with Mark Hotchkis behind the wheel. 300 treadwear tires (Finch) beat out 180 treadwear tires (Hotchkis). And what about Stielow? His overall autocross rank was 9th. When you knock out ineligible entries like vendors, newer cars, Cobras, and sub 200 tires, Stielow’s rank improved to 4th place. That right there is how Brian Finch beat Mark Stielow. The gap between 1st and 4th was big enough to erase Stielow’s road course lead from Saturday. Both guys built cars in their home garages. Both guys have day jobs. And both have proven that driver skill is the most potent, shiniest upgrade you can make to your hot rod.
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My 20-year career has brought me to some amazing events. NHRA Winternationals, Daytona 500, Bonneville, Power Tour—it’s a long list. I can honestly say that the Motor State Challenge is the best-kept secret in hot rodding. From the endless line of amazing cars in the paddock to the smell of superheated metal from high dollar machines, the action is impressive. And you get to dispel the many “bench racing” myths that are so pervasive in the internet age. See it with your own eyes: Who’s fast? Who blows up? Who is all talk? Who is conspicuous by their absence.
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We’ve learned a lot about our cars’ capabilities and limitations. Some things will change for the future and I’m proud to be a part of the process. Earlier today, we roughed out a radical plan to accommodate 120 cars at the 2011 Motor State Challenge. We hope to see you there next year.

Thanks for looking
/Steve Chryssos
Technical Director Motor State Challenge

Hey Steve, is there any way that we can post the times, for both days. I think most of us want to see how far we are behind the fast guys. After watching the Motorstate video, its amazing how you can see what you did wrong, and what you need to improve on. Good seeing you again this weekend. Ron

Workin' on it tonight. I can either be late shipping out parts to Twist Machine customers or late posting results.

I will have them up shortly Steve, waiting now on Melinda to get them in a format that I can post. The autocross will be from first to last, no separation of vendors or Tread Wear. Road course will have vendors separate, though some of the vendors listed were not really vendors.

OK here they are, in raw form. You can deduce you own opinion about who finished where. TW is not a factor in this format, though, as Steve pointed out, I like the fact that it seems, again, driver talent is more important than a TW number. I do still stick to my guns that TW 200 is the correct place for us, since we are streetcars racing sometimes and not race cars. I feel TW200 makes our cars well rounded PRO-TOURING rides. If you want to race, by all means get RACE tires, however, be sure you know your limits, as getting over your head with race tires can be dangerous to you and our car. Steve and I agree to dissagree on this point and that is fine. You draw your own conclusions and make your mind up what is the proper tire for your application. Remember, the rules said, from the beganing TW200 and that is how it was done for the trophy and overall win placement. Vendors did not qualify to win the event, as per Motorstate rules. Below though, you will see all the results, and you can see the actual placement of all cars regardless of tires or status.
This was indeed the biggest event so far and will only grow as time goes on. The SCCA guys were great to work with, Scott and Motorstate went overboard to see everyone was satisfied and happy. Gingerman is a great place to run, and will always hold a special place in my heart as it was my first track to ever run flat out also. Good times for sure. If you haven't made it out to an event so far this year, you are missing out. We can all talk the talk on the net, but to get out there and play with your car is much more fun and it will let you know where you stack up with everyone else. As the pictures show, it wasn't a stellar weekend for me and the charger, but if you don't push, you never know where your limits are. We ruined a tire in the spinoff, so were never really competitive all weekend, but that had nothing to do with the fun factor.
Again, attached are the raw results of the weekend. The autocross sheets show first to ? with the best time of each person. The Road Course is a bit harder to read because vendors are separate, however, all the scores are there.
To clear up one thing, I did make a mistake at the event in my haste to get the results and I do apologize to both Jeff Schuartz and Chris Jacobs. The both scored a score of 13, however Chris had a higher score in the autocross and as per the rules, put him in third place overall, and moved Jeff to fourth. Sorry guys, prove yet again I am human...haha
One other thing, disregard the first name on the autocross, that was a SCCA guy on slicks, not sure what car. Brian scored first and second, his second place in the vette was thrown out in both the autocross and road course, and wasn't figured in to the results. I think had we figured it in, he would have actually been first and third.

Thanks Bill...I mean Melinda. Here is my attempt:

Steve, Are th red names DQed? If so why was Brians Corvette DQed? Bill said something about that also?

I was sure I got into the 1:37's or 6's but the sheet shows my best as 1:39.08. Something is amiss....

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Originally Posted by Charley Lillard

I was sure I got into the 1:37's or 6's but the sheet shows my best as 1:39.08. Something is amiss....

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I will double check to make sure I posted the right paper, but on the sweet 16 you finished with a 1.39.74 and that moved you back one place so I think the 1.39.08 is correct. No one other than Mark and Brian had a time in the 37s. Kyle was closest with a 1.38.10
Maybe you are confusing your self with your autocross times....haha

LOL...that could be...

LOL...You are right...my autocross was 36.8

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Originally Posted by Charley Lillard

LOL...You are right...my autocross was 36.8

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I was thinking they were more like 1.36.8 since you enjoy autocrossing so much. You know, spend as much time on course as possible.

In first gear....I think I might have gotten up to 40..Nah

I'm starting to join the dark side with Charlie. Autocross ain't that great unless you have an Evo or Scooby doo.

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Originally Posted by ProdigyCustoms

Steve, Are th red names DQed? If so why was Brians Corvette DQed? Bill said something about that also?

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DQ is harsh. The red helps us differentiate OVERALL times from TROPHY times. In Finch's case, he ran fast in two cars overall and we want everyone to know that. But since he can't drive two cars at once, the slower of the two cars gets cut out of the finals to give someone else a chance to play.

That's a good rule.

Another example is Mark Hotchkis. We was fast overall, but not allowed to run in the finals because of his 180 treadwear tires. They are legal in Goodguys, but not here. We'll fix that for next year. Other cars got the bump because they were too new or too light (Cobra).

Ultimately we all learn more about our cars by studying the overall times.

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Originally Posted by Charley Lillard

I was sure I got into the 1:37's or 6's but the sheet shows my best as 1:39.08. Something is amiss....

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I need to check, but I'm guessing you slowed in the finals. We told SCCA to drop earlier times and post final times. We can work on retrieving the day's worksheets and show your other times. If anyone is interested in that please email me.

I just dug thru my truck, and found the sweet 16 shootout results that Bill gave to me after we ran. Looks like we were all a bit faster then the other sheet. I will see if I can scan it and post it. Kind of cool,if you throw out the vendors,first and second stayed the same, but Randy took 3rd, Charley was 4th, and I was 5th.

My quickest time of the day was in the shootout as well, but it is not reflected in the time sheet either. I moved up from 15th to 9th out of the 16 cars that were in it. My quick time I believe was a 1:42.1, not a 1:42.9

Yes, these are before the final shootout. The results of that were as follows
Mark Stielow 1.35.73
Brian Finch 1.36.23
Kyle Tucker 1.38.10
Phil Gerber 1.38.37
Randy Bell 1.38.43
Jeff Schwartz 1.39.15
Charley Lillard 1.39.74
Ron Schwarz 1.41.06
Chris Jacobs 1.42.16
Bret Voelkel 1.42.22
Tom McBride 1.42.49
Vincent Allegretta 1.42.71
Randy Johnson 1.42.71
Stacy Tucker 1.42.88
Steve Lenning 1.46.07

Remember, due to carnage, TW and other factors, you can look on the other list and see how far down the list we went to get 16 cars, and then number 16 did not make the show because of car issues.
This list was where we scored the top three after we took out the vendors, but the other list shows a more clear story of where everyone placed, TW and vendors included.
I know there are Monday Morning Quarterbacks everywhere guys, but scoring is much tougher than you might think. I am beganing to think it is overrated.

My first event and we had a ball

Thanks Bill, I know we can be a pain in your ass. I was just comparing what you gave me in Michigan, to the other sheets. Officiating is a thankless job, all you here is the bitching. I stopped officiating some of my kids sporting events, because it got so out of hand. I appreciate all the effort you, Melinda, and Steve put into it. Ron

some more i shot

For you Ron

Is there a list of the final results overall? We would like it for our records.

Thanks.

I will take all of the worksheets and compile into one overall sheet over the weekend. We're not far off, but a couple of entries got shuffled off the list when we zero'd out times for the finals. Jef Schwartz and his crazy Ultima is one such case. Looking at the overall times, the Ultima placed 3rd. It was booted out of the finals because Jeff entered multiple cars. Both the Ultima and Temptress were fast, so we kept the car that better represents pro-touring. But make no mistake, when looking at the overall times, the Ultima was fast.

J Schwartz 1974 Ultima GTR Yellow

P1: 01.42.62 Q1: 1.38.65 Q2:1.36.45 1.36.45 (Best)

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Originally Posted by streetfytr68

I will take all of the worksheets and compile into one overall sheet over the weekend. We're not far off, but a couple of entries got shuffled off the list when we zero'd out times for the finals. Jef Schwartz and his crazy Ultima is one such case. Looking at the overall times, the Ultima placed 3rd. It was booted out of the finals because Jeff entered multiple cars. Both the Ultima and Temptress were fast, so we kept the car that better represents pro-touring. But make no mistake, when looking at the overall times, the Ultima was fast.

J Schwartz 1974 Ultima GTR Yellow

P1: 01.42.62 Q1: 1.38.65 Q2:1.36.45 1.36.45 (Best)

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Steve,

Just a off in the weeds thought, if Jeff's Ultima was bought turn key, would the work he's done to it, be considered Pro-Touring?

--JMarsa

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Originally Posted by JMarsa

Steve,

Just a off in the weeds thought, if Jeff's Ultima was bought turn key, would the work he's done to it, be considered Pro-Touring?

--JMarsa

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That's a good question, and one we never considered. Even though it's a kit, could we still classify it as pro-touring.....? Way to think outside the box JMarsa!


Steve: Thanks. We just like to have results as thorough as possible to track our performance and growth.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JMarsa

Steve,

Just a off in the weeds thought, if Jeff's Ultima was bought turn key, would the work he's done to it, be considered Pro-Touring?

--JMarsa

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It might be easier to create an exhibition class for cars that exist at the far end of the bell curve. For example, power to weight ratio, and engine layout are bigger concerns than vintage--although the spirit of old cars/new technology is also important. To drive that point home, we also had a real deal Cobra and a Factory Five Cobra at the MSC.

That Ultima is awesome. I want cars like that and the Cobras at the event. And there was a Caddy CTS-V that was mind boggling. For us to profess the benefits of modern technology, we should welcome cars like these. But when the chips fall, we can either give these cars their own class or simply review the overall data relative to the "trophy" data.

For me, it's enough to show overall data. Trophies be darned.

Now that the Ultima's times are posted, I expect to hear some comparison between the heavy, front engined old Camaros and the mid engined rocket ship from planet Schwartz. This should be the topic of the year.

Mark Stielow Red 69 Camaro 1.35.73
Brian Finch Yellow 71 Camaro 1.36.23
Jeff Schwartz Yellow Ultima 1.36.45

You always have a way with words Steve. After watching Mark run the course, I can't imagine too many cars putting the smack down on him, I'd love to see some true race car times at Gingerman, just for comparison.

Ron,
You ARE coming to the Pirelli Ultimate Track Car Challenge at VIR. I will find a pro driver for your car. Please let it happen. There, you will get to see Stielow compete against race cars, street cars and other drivers.

And then I want you to stay the weekend and do HPDE. Pretty please.

Trying to work out the logistics, still a little timid about putting someone else in the car. If it gets balled up, I want to be the guy to do it. Ron

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Originally Posted by streetfytr68

the mid engined rocket ship from planet Schwartz.

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I vote this as quote of the century! :cheers::firefire:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryne@SchwartzPerformance

I vote this as quote of the century! :cheers::firefire:

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Your dad gave me a ride 3 - 4 years ago in Georgia. Under boost that thing pulls like a freight train.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Charley Lillard

I was sure I got into the 1:37's or 6's but the sheet shows my best as 1:39.08. Something is amiss....

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No one has ever referred to me as a miss.

Charley Lillard 1969 Chevrolet Camaro yellow 1
P: 01.45.35 Q1: 1.39.08 Q2: 1.39.47 Best: 1.39.08 F: 1.39.74


If anyone is wondering how the scoring works, Charley's quickest OVERALL lap time occurred in his first qualifying session, but they don't let you use practice and qualifying times in a real race, so his OFFICIAL trophy time is 1.39.74.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bow Tie 67

Your dad gave me a ride 3 - 4 years ago in Georgia. Under boost that thing pulls like a freight train.

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Not my dad, just my boss LOL. Dale is Jeff's son.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bill Howell

Yes, these are before the final shootout. The results of that were as follows
Mark Stielow 1.35.73
Brian Finch 1.36.23
Kyle Tucker 1.38.10
Phil Gerber 1.38.37
Randy Bell 1.38.43
Jeff Schwartz 1.39.15
Charley Lillard 1.39.74
Ron Schwarz 1.41.06
Chris Jacobs 1.42.16
Bret Voelkel 1.42.22
Tom McBride 1.42.49
Vincent Allegretta 1.42.71
Randy Johnson 1.42.71
Stacy Tucker 1.42.88
Steve Lenning 1.46.07

Remember, due to carnage, TW and other factors, you can look on the other list and see how far down the list we went to get 16 cars, and then number 16 did not make the show because of car issues.
This list was where we scored the top three after we took out the vendors, but the other list shows a more clear story of where everyone placed, TW and vendors included.
I know there are Monday Morning Quarterbacks everywhere guys, but scoring is much tougher than you might think. I am beganing to think it is overrated.

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I hope these are good to go since they are what I'm using for the story :)

Speak now or hold your peace.