Flying Editors, Flooding Racetracks make for Challenges and Charity at the Goodguys Costa Mesa and Nashville Nationals
It’s been a busy month for both the Spectre and Goodguys crews. We started the month close to home with a thrilling, cone-smashing weekend at the Goodguys Costa Mesa Editor’s Challenge. After a day in the office it was straight to Nashville where unveiled the new Spectre hauler and raced for charity as part of the Bridgestone Nashville Nationals.
The Orange County Get Together in Costa Mesa had the biggest Goodguys Street Challenge Autocross turnout since the start of the series and it was a wild and wonderful weekend for Spectre Performance. We saw old friends like Mary Pozzi, who won the participant class with the lowest time of the weekend and Deanna Marengo who drove her Spectre CAI- equipped ‘67 Chevelle Super Sport to several low-30 second passes with four people in the car! Brandy and Mike Morrow drove the Spectre Mid Engine El Camino in its first event on the new Yokohama tires, and the Spectre Mach 1 Mustang made more runs than ever before as 11 different automotive editors ran it through the cones as part of the 2010 Editor’s Challenge Cup Autocross.
This year’s Editor’s Challenge required that each of the 11 editors drive one lap in a Ford, a GM and a Mopar. The cars included the Detroit Speed & Engineering ’69 Camaro, a stock 2010 Dodge Challenger and our very own Speed by Spectre ’70 Mustang fastback. Editors had the option to substitute one lap in the provided vehicles with one lap in their personal car. Since not one editor drove a Ford, the Spectre Mustang made a lot of laps! Driving ranged from fast and skillful to just plain scary as cones and finish line flags took the brunt of over excited automotive writers. Thankfully at the end of the challenge all the editors and all the cars were still in one piece and Nick Licata of Camaro Performers narrowly held his title over 2nd place finisher, Car Craft’s Jeff Smith.
Licata, logged a 32.295 in our ’70 Mustang, a 34.396 in the ’10 Dodge Challenger and an impressive 29.955 in his own 2001 4th generation Camaro he calls ‘Black Betty.” Licata’s 3-lap average was 32.2153.
Car Craft’s Jeff Smith finished second with a 3-lap average of 32.2313 – just about .200th’s of a second off Licata.
Final 3-Lap Average Times – Goodguys 2010 Editor’s Challenge
1. Nick LiCata, Camaro Performers, 32.2153
2. Jeff Smith, Car Craft Magazine, 32.2313
3. Henry DeLos Santos, Chevy Hi Performance, 32.489
4. Steven Rupp, Camaro Performers, 33.0043
5. Johnny Hunkins, Popular Hot Rodding, 34.322
6. Kirk Jones, Goodguys Gazette, 34.373
7. Sean Haggai, Chevu Hi Performance, 34.427
8. Dan Ward, Truckin Magazine, 35.341
9. Jerry Hutchcroft, Roddin’ & Ridin’ TV, 36.147
10. Doug Glad, Car Craft, DNF – Spun
11. Courtney Hallowell, World of Rods, DNF – Spun
We’d barely buffed all the cone marks off the Mach 1 before it was time to head out to Tennessee. The 5th Bridgestone Nashville Nationals took place as scheduled May 21-23 at LP Field, despite fears that the flooding earlier in the month might have forced organizers to postpone. We saw photos of the event field during the flood and the entire autocross area was underwater. The clean up crew was actually removing fish from the racing surface! The whole Nashville community was hit hard and Goodguys partnered with Hands on Nashville to help raise money for the victims of the flood. All during the event participants were able to make donations to help rebuild homes and buildings and Goodguys matched every donation to raise well over $11,000 during the weekend.
The Nashville show was great for us for many reasons, not least being able to help a community in need. The show had amazing attendance, it was the biggest crowd ever at the Nashville event. Goodguys debuted their 2010 Give-away Boss Mustang and ran it through the cones. Speaking of debuts, It was the first show for our brand new semi and we can’t wait to bring it out again. With its walk in showroom and rolling displays, the new truck is almost as popular with the crowds as our cars! On the track, Brandy turned some of her fastest times to date in the El Camino. With the new Yokohama tires and the early bugs worked out, the Camino ran like a top. When we weren’t on the track we were able to walk around the show cars and there were some beauties.
The Goodguys events just keep getting better and so do the Spectre cars. We’re thinking there might be a podium finish in the near future. There’s lots of racing yet to come. Look for the Spectre rig and our team in Indiana at the Midwest Musclecar Challenge May 29th and 30th. There will be full-out road course, autocross, and highway driving and it will all be televised on Fox Sports Net in June!
