2009 Nevada Open Road Challenge - it's official - After Race Report

[James OLC]

Jimi at FM3 Performance Marketing sent this press release out earlier today:

optima® batteries to sponsor James Shipka and the One Lap Camaro for 2009 Nevada Open Road Challenge 




April 28, 2009


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 




Milwaukee, WI - optima® Batteries continues its support for the Silver State Classic Challenge in 2009 with sponsorship of James Shipka and his One Lap Camaro. The One Lap Camaro, a custom-built 1967 Camaro, featured at the 2008 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) convention, the worlds largest automotive industry trade show, will represent OPTIMA® Batteries in it's run across the public highways of central Nevada.


The Camaro was built and designed specifically for competitive sanctioned public highway competitions including the famous One Lap of America 4000 mile endurance race. James' first test of the brutal Camaro came last fall at the OPTIMA® Batteries Ultimate Street Car Invitational where it proved its prowess on the road course and autocross at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park.




OPTIMA® Batteries and James has assembled a top-notch team of OPTIMA® Batteries Ultimate Street Car Invitational veterans, including the reigning 2008 champion, Steven Rupp, Technical Editor of a popular automotive performance magazine and owner of Bad Penny. Bad Penny is a 1968 Camaro that earned the 2008 OPTIMA® Batteries Ultimate Street Car title. Steven will ride shotgun and take on the daunting task of navigator, attempting to keep James and the One Lap Camaro between the white lines and on schedule throughout the 90 mile timed run. Anchoring the rest of Team OPTIMA® is famed road course racer David Pozzi and his SCCA autocross champion wife, Mary Pozzi. They will be using their skill and experience to make sure the One Lap Camaro stays dialed-in for each event including the OPTIMA® Batteries High Noon Shootout - a one-mile top speed challenge. 




”We are very excited about working with James and promoting our continued relationship with the Silver State Classic Challenge Series. Partnering with James and this Silver State Classic event is a great example of our commitment to high performance events that prove OPTIMA® Batteries perform in the most extreme applications." said Cam Douglass, Director of Product Development and Marketing for OPTIMA® Batteries.


The Nevada Open Road Challenge, part of the Silver State Classic Challenge, is a 90 mile timed run on the closed public
highways of Nevada, starting in Ely and finishing in Ash Springs. It begins just South of Lund, at White Pine County just north of mile marker 9, heads South through Nye County, and finishes at Lincoln County mile marker 7. The journey traverses 90 miles of two-lane highway that has recently been repaved and is in excellent condition, with long straights, twisty sections, and dips, which for the faster participants, may result in an airborne experience. The winner in each class is the car that finishes closest to the perfect time for the average speed of their class. Visit www.silverstateclassic.com for more information.



OPTIMA® Batteries are like no other battery in the world. The unique SpiralCell design offers the most advanced technology and provides a strong and clean power source that far surpasses any of today's filled lead-acid batteries. With OPTIMA® under your hood, you can count on a longer lasting battery life under starting and deep-cycle applications. Stop by your local retailer or visit www.optimabatteries.com for more information.




About OPTIMA® Batteries 

OPTIMA® Batteries are manufactured by Johnson Controls, Inc. Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI - 
News) is the global leader that brings ingenuity to the places where people live, work and travel. 
By integrating technologies, products and services, we create smart environments that redefine 
the relationships between people and their surroundings. Our team of 140,000 employees 
creates a more comfortable, safe and sustainable world through our products and services for 
more than 200 million vehicles, 12 million homes and one million commercial buildings. Our 
commitment to sustainability drives our environmental stewardship, good corporate citizenship in 
our workplaces and communities, and the products and services we provide to customers. For 
additional information, please visit http://www.johnsoncontrols.com. 


### 


Jimi Day
President & CEO

FM3 Performance Marketing, Inc.
1369 Port Washington Road, Suite 346
Grafton, WI 53024
Ph: 414-702-4939
www.fm3marketing.com

[James OLC]

Obviously we are really excited about this opportunity and Dave and Mary have been working hard on the Camaro's suspension setup to prepare for this and work some of the other bugs out of the car. It's coming together really well and we will give it a run for it's money this weekend at Streets of Willow to see how it likes the improvements.

It should be a wild ride and will be awesome to have Steve navigating and the Pozzi's providing moral, spiritual, and technical support.

I'm probably going to say this more than once but I can not thank Dave and Mary enough for all of their help over the last month. They are two of the nicest people that anyone could hope to work with and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the car comes together.

Cheers!

[WS6]

Congrats James. Best of luck to you as well.

[Damn True]

You got an oil cooler in that thing?

One of the more common problems in these OR events is guys having to slow down to keep the oil temps at bay.

....and tire failures. Get some new skins.

[James OLC]

Yeah... we've got an oil cooler (not to mention the 'benefit' of the external oil tank) - it should be ok.

TORCO has also been kind enough to supply us with some of their incredible SR-5 Synthetic Race Oil for a much needed oil change before the race.

New tires are on the list - just trying to decide on which ones to go with.

[zbugger]

That's really awesome James. That's an event I'd LOVE to attend, let alone participate in. We'll just say it's on my bucket list. I wish you the best of luck on the event. Oh, and on your tire choice, go with one's that don't blow out at high speeds. lol...

[David Pozzi]

Mary called me in, pointed at this thread, and said "you better go out there and work on that car!"

[CarlC]

Very cool James! I sure is nice to have the Pozzi's in your corner.

[James OLC]

David - she called you in to tell you to go back out and keep working? lol The good news is that I'll be there in about 20 hours...

Allen it should be great. I had a list of events that I wanted to do with the car and the Silver State was one of them. We'll run the spring event as first timers (time and speed restricted) and with luck will return in September to try it again with the benefit of some experience.

Carl - I could not ask for better friends.

[Damn True]

Mary called me in, pointed at this thread, and said "you better go out there and work on that car!"

[Steve1968LS2]

Can't wait.. been on my list for a while now.

I get my feet wet here and if I survive I run Penny next time.

I found my wife online pricing out additional life insurance.. she know something??? lol

I need to find out what safety gear we need.. besides the obvious helmet

[dropit69]

congrats james ..they just had an episode of Gearz on that race Stacey David got to run it..can't wait too see how ya do..and have fun !!

[David Pozzi]

Actually she called me into her computer room, showed me this thread, then told me to get out in the shop and get to work!

It's really fun to be part of your Team!
David

[parsonsj]

Hey James, congrats!!! Sounds like a blast!

jp

[Damn True]

Can't wait.. been on my list for a while now.

I get my feet wet here and if I survive I run Penny next time.

I found my wife online pricing out additional life insurance.. she know something??? lol

I need to find out what safety gear we need.. besides the obvious helmet

http://www.sscc.us/docs/2009%20Rules.pdf

Safety regs begin on page 6

Helmet Restraint System, such as Hans, Hutchins or similar, is MANDATORY for:
Super Sport and Unlimited Divisions and any Driver and Navigator seeking a Technical Speed of 180 or Higher
And is highly recommended for all other Divisions and Technical Speeds
This will be the last year that SA 2000 Helmet will be accepted as the minimum standard. Effective in the year 2010, Snell Foundation SA 2005 Helmets (or later) will be required as the minimum standard.
Motorcycle Helmets are NOT acceptable in any Division.

[JEFFTATE]

Mary called me in, pointed at this thread, and said "you better go out there and work on that car!"

David , you are busy on everybodies car !
Are you earning extra income from all this ??? LOL

Mary and You should start a company that tunes peoples suspensions .
I'll move to California and work for you guys !!

[JEFFTATE]

Congrats on the Run Ron !!
Wish I could attend.
Maybe some day.

[rogue]

what sort of gearing are you running? has that car been shook down at 150+mph speeds yet?

A few cal speedway days in would be benifitial to dialing in that car at those speeds.

[James OLC]

Steve - we can talk about some of the safety stuff on Sunday. For our class (open door there) there aren't many beyond the helmet written into the rules. There are a few good ideas though and we're working some of them into the car now - revised anti-sub mounting (they have to be bolted and cotter-pinned) and arm restraints being a couple of them. I'll probably wind up erring on the side of caution though.

Don't give Dave and Mary an ideas... there busy right now.

rogue. We have 3.89's in the car right now. We haven't taken the car over 150 yet nor will we in the forseeable future. Out tech sped for the NORC will be 124 - any faster than that will be an automatic DQ.

September though...

[79-TA]

^ ah, running in the 110 mph class I see. Will you guys be running any of the standing mile/half mile events?

http://www.silverstateclassic.com/shootout.htm

Man, I hate how the NORC and SSC happen on very college-unfriendly dates. I'd go up and run the fox body if it were a week later (and if some money materialized out of nowhere.)