2nd Grundy Insurance Great American Nationals AutoCross Recap
The Goodguys CPP AutoCross Series had its first competition in a month this past weekend as we made a swing to the Northeast for the 2nd Grundy Collector Car Insurance Great American Nationals in York, Pennsylvania. This was Goodguys’ second time at the historic York Expo Center, a scenic facility with a great space for a tight and technical AutoCross track. Though rain on Friday morning and Sunday shortened the weekend a little, the racers made the most of their time on the track, giving their cars and trucks full workouts by making a lot of runs, while also putting on a great show for the crowd. The action culminated with the hard-fought Steel Shootout presented by Speedway Motors on Saturday afternoon.
With no PRO-X cars making the trip to the event, the PRO class led the weekend, comprised of a second-, third-, and fourth-generation Corvette, plus a ’71 Chevelle. Ron Scott Jr. was the driver to beat in his pearl white ’63 ’Vette. He sealed up the PRO class win with a best run of 30.267 seconds but had Bob Bertelsen’s “Green Mamba” ’68 ’Vette hot on his heels with a best time of 30.636. JB Boyer placed third in the class with a 31.559 in his ’87 Corvette, while Jason Zapol finished fourth with a best of 33.984 in his ’71 Chevelle. The PRO portion of the Steel Shootout saw Scott defeating Zapol and Bertelsen besting Boyer in the first round, leading to a Corvette battle in the final round. Both Scott and Bertelsen ran high-31-second times in the first round, but Bertelsen’s cone penalties – resulting in an adjusted 35.571 final-round run – allowed Scott to claim the double-up win with a 32.014-second lap.
The Forgeline Street Machine class welcomed the most competitors, with Goodguys regular Bill Graves Sr. leading the pack in his ’66 Corvette. Graves has made it to nearly every Goodguys CPP AutoCross Series competition this season and his 30.226-second best run gave him a commanding first-place finish in the class – second-place finisher Mike Goodman was more than a second and a half behind with a 31.940 in his ’81 Camaro. The top four consisted of Richard Giesey and his ’71 Camaro (32.192) and Angela Payne in her ’87 Monte Carlo (32.522).
The Street Machine portion of the Steel Shootout saw Graves’ 32.292 allowing him to advance past Payne’s 35.135 (with a cone penalty) in the first round, and Giesey running a 33.039 to narrowly beat Goodman’s 33.180-second run. Graves had the advantage going into the final and stayed focused, running a 30.979 to Giesey’s 33.811 to capture the double-up win.
The LMC Truck class was led by Craig Dolan, whose stitch-worked and patina’d ’54 Chevy pickup topped the field with a best run of 36.050 seconds, followed by David Kress in his ’72 Chevy El Camino (38.912) and Jacob Krone Jr. in a ’48 Studebaker (40.893).
In the FiTech Challenger class, Chris Shallcross made the most of his six runs in his ’70 Camaro, clocking in with a best of 37.749 seconds, which was enough for the class win. Hard-charging Sam Matchett got in a lot of runs on Friday and Saturday, resulting in a second-place best time of 39.360 seconds, while Mark Crowin placed third with a best run of 39.436 in his ’72 Cuda.
The combined LMC Truck and FiTech Challenger portion of the Steel Shootout saw Shallcross opting out and both Kress and Crowin registering DNFs for the first round, which led to Dolan and Matchett meeting up in the final round – a battle of the weathered warriors. Matchett slowed from his best class runs, stopping the clocks with a 40.745-second run, which allowed Dolan to claim the win with a 37.736.
Unfortunately, persistent rains from Tropical Storm Henri washed out the Wilwood All American Sunday class action on Sunday and led to wrapping up the event early. We’re grateful for all the racers who came out to participate on Friday and Saturday and look forward to bringing more Goodguys CPP AutoCross competition to the Northeast U.S. next year!
Photos by Damon Lee & Todd Ryden
