Sandhills Open Road Challenge

[Bill Howell]

Not much on Protouring about this event but I thought I would jot down some thoughts while it is fresh on my mind.
For the second year in a row I have had the opportunity to attend this awesome event in the quiet little town of Arnold, Nebraska. pop 681.and be part of the optima Team.
The town basically shuts down for this event and everyone there is so nice and friendly, reminds me of the south. Registration is on Thursday, but on my way to Arnold, I stopped by MPH in Hastings and saw my good friend George and the crew there. They have an open track day for those that want to play early and get ready for the week of fun. I think next year he may need to move the trackday back to Tuesday, but what a hoot to play on that track. I left there on Wednesday and headed on to Gothenberg, to my hotel. Registration was on Thursday and got the charger all stickered up, had a great meal with friends and rested up for the 1/2 mile shootout on Friday morning.
This is something you can't do just anywhere in the country, they close down a county road, line up the participants and you get three attempts at either a 1/2 mile or 1 mile run to see what your top speed is. Since I didn't have a 6 point cage, 1/2 is all I could run and with the weight of the charger, 128 was tops for me. Last year I got 129 but it was cooler then. Great to watch my buddies have fun too, and run some pretty good times.
Friday afternoon the town has a parade, carshow for all the participants and even a burnout spot for those so inclined. Steven Rupp put on a pretty good show with Bad Penny and some very used up 888s. My buddy Shane had blown up the motor in his new Camaro and borrowed my Suburban to go get his trailer so by the time I made it back to Arnold with him, I had missed the parade but did get to see the cars on display. Mandatory drivers meeting at 6pm was a big part of the event and everyone was advised of rule changes, bad places to watch in roadway and general safety reminders.
Saturday morning at 7:30 we got lined up at the starting line for the big event. 28 miles of (in our class) 91mph or in time, 18 minutes and 55 seconds. Our class started about 8:30 with myself the first car to run. Less than 4 miles into the race, the next car was on my bumper and passed me. I knew my time was pretty close so figured this rookie was running her race wrong. As it turned out, closer to the finish line, she slowed way down and I passed her. Remember here, we are running against the clock for 28 miles trying to hit the perfect time of 18:55. As it turned out, I ran a 91.005 mph on the first leg, pretty good, if I do say so.
Then you drive on to the next little town and enjoy a great pancake breakfast as the rest of the participants run their race and then the officials change the starting line and finish line for the return trip. On the return trip, I was not quite as accurate and ended up with a total time that was 1.8 seconds of the perfect score, or as it turns out, Second overall in our class, losing to our own Randy Johnson in his camaro.
Though I had to miss the rest of the fun to return home (1192 miles) the rest of the afternoon is a huge town party, great food and again, welcoming new friends you get to know.
This week included some of the regular suspects you see at the different car events all over the country like Jimi Day, Tom and Deb Farrington, Steven Rupp, optima Jim, Cam Douglass and Mike Copeland. New this year to the SORC was Mike Holloman, Chris Jacobs, Randy Johnson and a few others.
This event does require commitment to attend since it is a long way from just about anywhere, but I promise you it is one of those bucket list items that everyone should put down as a must do. Without going on to Texas or Nevada, I don't know of anywhere else you can do this legally. I can tell you this. I as you all know, attend a lot of events in the coarse of a year, some ASCS puts on, some FM3 run and some are just other events not so much PT events. However, of all those events, mine included, this is the one I look forward to attending and doing well in. This is one race that is isn't just about the fastest car or best driver but more about accuracy and planning. Plus, were else can you take up the whole road and wave at the cops as you pass them at 91mph on a country road???
You have a year to plan this, but only a couple months to apply to attend so think about it and watch the sorcrace.com website for information about registration.
I hope to see more folks there next year, and try for the third time to win instead of finishing first loser..haha



A HUGE THANK YOU once again to OPTIMA for sponsoring the 91mph class and asking me to be part of this great event!

[71duster]

that is really cool bill! i know john henry wants to go next year. i would like to look into it closer to the time next year as well. see you at RTTH's!

[RS_Customs]

Glad you guys had a great time! I was going through some of the pictures on optima's website. Looks like another good turn out.

Hope to make it out there next year if I can swing it.

Robert

[Jay71]

Curious if you need a lot of racing experience to do this? This is something I'd really like to do, I only have a few autocrosses under my belt.

Jay

[Bill Howell]

Curious if you need a lot of racing experience to do this? This is something I'd really like to do, I only have a few autocrosses under my belt.

Jay

Jay, this is in your backyard, you should certainly go. No training required, just driving on a closed two lane road. 91mph class is a sunday drive.

[Jay71]

Thanks Bill,
I'll be sending in my registration and crossing my fingers. Hope to see you there next year.

Jay

[UNGN]

We already have our car apart to make it faster for next year.

For the slower classes, anyone with some high speed driving experience + the proper safefty equipment will be fine.

We entered the 110 class not knowing what to expect, 11 years ago (before they repaved the road) and managed a 2nd place (after we straightened them out on their timing and scoring) and have looked forward to running the road every year since then.

We made a few mental errors this year but were close enough to still salvage 3rd in the 115 mph class in the SORC (.95 seconds off perfect). If we had read the computer correctly we would have only been .35 seconds off. it just means we will be more prepared next year.

We got DQ'ed in the Loup 2 Loup for exceeding Tech (130 or so) through the North finish (my navigator told me I was 4 seconds slow with 1 mile to go...and I made it all back +.2 seconds)... I guess I'm not used to going that slow.

I bet a buck Tech goes to 130 next year in the L2L. 120 it too damn slow for that road.

The SORC is put on by a great bunch of people and they are running it like clockwork. The food is great and hanging out with your "competition" is priceless.

In the old days, the drivers meetings were held in a different Church every year, because "the last Church threw us out" and the entire road was worse than the last 2 miles on the north end. Now it is a world class operation run by about 10 people guiding about 200 volunteers.

Here's my interview From the local TV Station

I'm the guy that doesn't think about anything at the start... and I really don't think about anything at the start, but pushing the start button as the green turns on. After that, I just get on it for 24+ miles, then check where I am for the finish. Its the way Open Road racing should be.

Here is another article, that even has Bad Penny

[surnufz]

Bill, it was everything you said it would be and more. I'm glad I got to experience it thanks to Mike Holleman. Good times indeed!

[Mike Holleman]

SORC, Wow! Too much fun. Chris thanks a ton for your help and advice. Bobby and I had no clue on timing before the event. We were only 1.8 seconds off on the first leg. 1.8 seconds behind which is good, except my foot was a little heavy on the second leg and we ended up 3.5 fast. But now I think I understand better how to get closer to perfect. The three winners in my class were all under 1 second. And Bill, a Sunday drive? My average required doing 45 mph corners at 90 plus. Hopefully my in car video will be worth posting a segment for you guys to look at. We also ran at MPH on Wed. Thanks for making the track available George. I ran a full tank of fuel thru the Elky on NT01s. Really fun track. Excellent flow, easy to get comfortable on. If you think you might like to do the SORC, DO IT! My round trip drive was 3530 miles. It was worth it.

[66SuperSport]

Awesome event run by phenomenal people in an incredible place! The town of Arnold is chock full of the best people you'd ever want to meet. Randy Johnson and I had a blast in his '70 Camaro this year and somehow managed to get 1st place in the optima 91 mph class. Once you get down to less than a second from perfect it's just luck after that. Hope to go back in 2013 with the wife and the Chevelle.

[howehot]

Josh and I had 6 days to prepare and had zero idea what we were getting into. Josh finish a spread sheet with seconds per mile to judge our time and had a stop watch for time. Since Dakota Digital has yet to cypher their disfunctional VHX unit with my FAST XIM and TCU, my speedometer varied 30-40 mph at anything over 80 and the tach quits at 5100 rpm and goes to zero. At the end of the first leg odometer was 1.5 miles short and we were 13.433 sec fast. Last leg 2.411 slow for a overall 11.021 fast. Going in all we wanted was a respectable run, well we didn't finish last. 8th out of 12.

We had zero experience at this, learned a lot, and had the time of our life. This is a must do for anyone who hasn't. It was great meeting Chris, Randy, Steve, Mike, and the Farringtons.

The people of Arnold are fantastic. The SORC crew is very organized. My hat is off to them. Thank you

[Mike Holleman]

Dan, It was great meeting you and Josh as well. My guess is this experience will cost you thousands of future dollars. Like crack, you will always try to relive the experience of the first time. Only thing you can do is keep doing it and keep the grin I know you are still sporting after a weekend like SORC was. Always like to see a father and son enjoying driving events together. My Son and I did 3 Hot Rod power tours together. Made memories for a lifetime. Congratulations and good luck at OUSCI.

[howehot]

Dan, It was great meeting you and Josh as well. My guess is this experience will cost you thousands of future dollars. Like crack, you will always try to relive the experience of the first time. Only thing you can do is keep doing it and keep the grin I know you are still sporting after a weekend like SORC was. Always like to see a father and son enjoying driving events together. My Son and I did 3 Hot Rod power tours together. Made memories for a lifetime. Congratulations and good luck at OUSCI.

My name is Dan and I'm addicted to speed. lol

[Mike Holleman]

My name is Dan and I'm addicted to speed. lol

You have taken the first step, but there is no recovery.

[UNGN]

Here is our Video of the Loup 2 Loup Northbound

Rated TV14 (L,V)

I went hard for about 30 seconds, then realized we were on pace to average 20+mph over target, so I backed way down.

We have never entered a race with a 120 mph Tech Speed.... so we joined Joe "respect my authoritah" Shown on Dabney's DQ sheet.

On the plus side, we ran right on the number (not that anyone will ever know)

[surnufz]

Just a Sunday drive, eh Chris? You made it look easy! You're nav made me laugh when he asked "what are you doin?" Too much fun, right? It was nice meeting you at SORC. Thanks again for your help. And thanks for the video, I enjoyed it!

[UNGN]

I love all of the different cars that come to SORC and meeting all of the new people. It used to about 80% Corvettes and now it might be 45 -50% Vettes.

Next year, they are thinking about having faster classes in the L2L. It is a much hairier road than the SORC, so they are going to have to still be cautious with speed increases. Probably somewhere between 105 and 110 would be perfect for our car.

The funniest line from the L2L came from Dabney Crump, head of Timing and scoring, when we asked him about the speed of our DQ (to verify the GPS).

Dabney told us "I knew you guys had DQ'd when you went through the traps, because the girl working the computer at the finish said 'OOOOOHHHH!! I LIKED that one!'"

We were about 50 mph faster than all of the previous finishers who were scrubbing speed because the course was shorter than advertised.