Yes it is going to happen!

We will be having the first two races of the the Sportsracer Challenge in conjunction with the

Freedom Sprints Double National at High Plains Raceway June 30 and July 1.
http://www.motorsportreg.com/index.cfm/event/event.advert/uidEvent/14B6C02B-DD5C-0A18-2FC0C3B16043A48D

Not only is it going to happen, some guys with pretty long "Pro Racing" resumes will be joining in the fun. Can you say: Chris Funk, Mike Davies, Keith Scharf (notice I didn't mention an old guy from Muleshoe, Texas but yes he will be running also).

This race will be run within the "Wings and Things" race group but will utilize a separate split start and podium ceremony.

Contingency will be available from Mazda and Hoosier in addition to raffle prizes and some serious brow beating/ridiculing Saturday evening at the KC Racing Hospitality trailer provided by Chris Funk and Kelly Toombs - owners of KC Racing.

There has been a lot of talk about the need for a class of real sports racers where the driver makes the difference and the car has low operating costs, high resale value, and simple maintainance. This is the place!

In addition to the race we hope to use this event as an organizational meeting of interested parties. I hope to have representatives of Enterprises and SCCA present to participate in our discussions about this exciting venture.

While the Sportsracer Challenge series is my concept, it is designed in a manner that can be duplicated anywhere within the SCCA system. We are following the SCCA rulebook, participating in SCCA events, and utilizing SCCA event personel. I am simply the organizer/ cheerleader/ abuse taker/ spokesman for the group.

If you are interested feel free to contact me, Eric Skirmants at SCCA Enterprises http://www.scca-enterprises.com/ or any of the drivers/teams listed below. If you are in the area, please come by at High Plains and try one of the cars on for size (used car salesman smile inserted here).

I think you will like what you see!

Early entries (prep shop/driver):
KC Racing - Chris Funk
KC Racing - Keith Scharf
Surface Exploration/Chris Doyle - Mike Davies
Surface Exploration/Chris Doyle - Rand Donahoo
Messenger Racing/Thinkfastbook.com - Jay Messenger


See you at High Plains.

Sportsracer Challenge
Jay Messenger
Muleshoe, Texas USA
806-946-7252
muleshoeracer [at] yahoo dot com

Cool.

Dave,
They really are. Part of what I miss from my Spec Racer days is just being able to go out and flog the car every lap of every session. This car let's me do that and gives me the other aspects of racing I want. I added some photos in the original post for those who read pictures better than words - most of you actually.

JM

I can't thank Jay enough, as so often happens in our community, our customers are the best marketers. Jay has taken that to a very high level. Obviously we have just made it clear what we have been up to in some relative silence, project wise. The ESR is there and available now. The restructuring of the SCCA SportsRacer classes is an opportunity and we have a nice gap in price and product performance. We really do have the SR spectrum covered. The ESR is our unsung hero that Jay has brought some renewed viewership to.

I love all you guys, especially Chris who is driving the car I bought when they first came out, but my money is on Mike.

For anyone who has never driven one of these I can tell you they are darned fast, handle really well and look awesome. They are the perfect step between SRF and D-Sports Racers with operating costs that are a fraction of the latter. Have fun boys!

Our inaugural Sportsracer Challenge event is happening this weekend at High Plains Raceway. This should be a great time to show off the cars and spread the word about our fun, fast and cost effective sports racing group.

I want to extend a special invitation to all SRF alumni to come by and check out the cars, sit in them, meet the people and talk to us about where we would like to see this concept go. If you are at High Plains this weekend, please stop by and look up Chris Doyle, Chris Funk, Mike Davies, Keith Sharf or myself. I think Eric from Enterprises will be around some also. Most of us will be there for the Friday test day as well.

As of today the entire CSR field consists of Sportsracer Challenge cars for the High Plains race. That means the Sportsracer Challenge cars will be eligible for the full Mazda and Hoosier contingency awards. The winners will be running for a total of $1,000 from Mazda and 4 tires from Bruce and the guys at Hoosier. In addition Mazda will also be paying down through 3rd place with their contingency program. Both of their programs are listed under the contingencies link on the SCCA Club Racing webpage.

In addition to some cool swag from Sportsracer Challenge, Neil Roberts of Think Fast Engineering http://thinkfastengineering.com/has donated copies of his book
Think Fast – The Racer’s Why-To Guide to Winning for our Hospitality raffle.


Jay Messenger
Sportsracer Challenge
806-946-7252

Sportsracer Challenge special invitation to all SRF drivers at High Plains this weekend.

If you are an SRF competitor we would like to issue you a special invitation to look up one of the Sportsracer Challenge drivers or team owners this weekend at High Plains. You are welcome to come sit in a car, talk to crew chiefs, take pictures, steal food, or just hang out.......................

Unless you go by some silly name like Racer X then there will be some special rules!

Look for any of these folks and they will point you our way:

Chris Funk
Mark Funk
Keith Scharf
Chris Doyle
Mike Davies
Eric Skirmants,
and myself (806-946-7252 cell)

Hope to see you there.

Jay Messenger
Sportsracer Challenge

Three days of high 90 degree weather and intense racing was the norm at the inaugural Sportsracer Challenge race held with the Super Tour event at High Plains Raceway this past weekend. Since I am the organizer, reporter, tow truck driver and a racer who didn't get home until a few hours ago, this report will be short with more to come later.

Here is a quick summary and some pics. Three drivers with lot's of racing history (long list of pro drives, 24 hours of Daytona, etc) but new to the car (myself), the track (Chris Funk) or both in the case of ex-pro driver Keith Scharf who hadn't driven any racecar since the SRF reunion event - I think he kicked tail then also!

The stewards were great and allowed us to have our own split start each day. Saturday we started at the back of the wings and things and behind the separate split start for the Sports 2000 group.

Our split start Sunday was behind the wings and things but ahead of the Sports 2000 group.

The result both days was some wild racing.

They are on Mylaps as of a few hours ago.

Race one:
1 Keith Scharf (by about 1 foot at the finish line!)
2 Jay Messenger
3 Chris Funk

Race two:
1 Keith Scharf
2 Chris Funk
3 Jay Messenger

We found out early after Saturday qualifying that this was going to be wild - all three cars qualified within 2/10s of each other - see positions 13-15 on the overall grid:

Final results Saturday - the total race time for Keith and myself - less than 1/10 of a second at the line - that's close after 30 minutes!

And the lap times kept speeding up every session all weekend as we each tried to one-up the other.

And for Sunday - still nose to tail after 30 minutes on this one also.

We had an agreement that everyone ran one set of spec Hooseir spec tires for the whole weekend - no fresh set on Sunday - all tires had 6 heat cycles on them after the Sunday race - the tires were amazing - particularly in light of the repeated abuse they received.

The result - grins from ear to ear and lot's of kudos from racers, spectators and event organizers. Enough so that plans are underway for our second event later in the summer - more to come!





Sponsor thanks:
Hoosier
Mazda
KC Racing
Thinkfastbook.com

Other thanks:
Rocky Mountain Division SCCA volunteers
SCCA Marketing department
Chris Doyle - Surface Exploration
Ron Doyle
Costa Dunias
Announcer Kurt Hansen
Photographer Rupert Barrington

On track photos coming in a day or two.

Jay Messenger
Sportsracer Challenge

Here is a link to some great photos from the Inaugural Sportsracer Challenge Race last weekend at High Plains Raceway:

http://s1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc386/muleshoeracer/Sportsracer%20Challenge%20High%20Plains%20Raceway/