Hittin’ the Road (Course) – Goodguys CPP AutoCross Series Recap from the 16th BASF Nashville Nationals
Every course in the Goodguys CPP AutoCross series has its own feel and personality, but racers got much more diverse experience – and an opportunity to open up their cars and trucks on longer stretches – this past weekend during the 2022 BASF Nashville Nationals presented by Blueprint Engines. The all-new track took advantage of a portion of Nashville Superspeedway’s road course and even a small section of the main oval, which spread out the layout. More than 75 competitors came out to give it a go, making for some intense weekend competition and an action-packed Team Witt Music City Mayhem Shootout.
Josh Leisinger had the right tune in the Speedtech Performance PRO-X class, where he topped the seven-car field with a 41.891-second best run in his Summit Racing-sponsored ’64 Corvette. Josh’s brother Jared placed second with a 42.767, followed by Robby Unser in the Team Speedway ’67 Camaro (43.586) and Roger Burman in the Summit-sponsored ’70 Blazer (45.886). The first shootout round on Saturday saw Josh Leisinger topping Burman, and Jared racing past Unser, setting up an all-Leisinger final round. Josh kept on his winning pace, running a 42.582 to top Jared’s 43.192 and claim the double win.
In the Summit Racing PRO class, Brian Finch climbed in his ’73 Camaro and ran a fast time of 43.681 to claim the class win, followed by Bob Bertelsen in his “Green Mamba” Corvette (44.373), Ron Scott Jr. in his ’63 Corvette (44.674), and Karen Leisinger in the Summit Racing-sponsored ’70 Camaro (45.788). Finch beat Leisinger and Bertelsen raced past Scott in round one, leading to a Camaro-versus-Corvette final round. Chalk one up for the Camaro this time, as Finch clicked off a 44.107-second run, which was enough to top Bertelsen’s 44.593 and allow Finch to take home the double win.
Another second-gen Camaro – Chris Wheatcraft’s ’73 – found the top spot in the Forgeline Street Machine class, claiming the win with a 44.156-second fast time. He was followed by joined in the Music City Mayhem shootout by Bill Graves Sr. (’66 Corvette), Tom Farrington (’66 Chevelle), and Jerry Stuteville (’78 Malibu). Wheatcraft beat Stuteville and Farrington beat Graves in round one, and then Wheatcraft was able to pull off the shootout win to go home with a double victory for the weekend.
Rob MacGregor is no stranger to winning the LMC Truck class in Bill Holt’s ’86 Chevy C10, and did so again at this event with a fast run of 45.098-seconds. He was joined in the shootout by Brian Finch – who was racing his ’70 C10 in addition to his Camaro in the PRO class – who ran a 45.264, JB Granger (45.485), and James Sadler (’78 C10 – 47.316). MacGregor and Finch found their way to the final round, where Finch clinched the win running a 44.858 to MacGregor’s 53.706.
In the Gearstar Sports Car class, Tim Molzen captured the first-place spot by running a 44.090 in his ’97 Corvette. He was joined in the shootout by the ’94 Corvette of Ryan Mathews, the ’96 Nissan 240SX of Randall Farless, and Brian Johns racing a ’95 Mazda Miata. Johns and Mathews met in the final round, where the 45.141 of Johns in his Miata was enough to claim the shootout win from Mathews, who ran a 47.083.
Clint Montgomery added his name to list of AutoCross winners by driving his ’73 Corvette to the FiTech Challenger class win with a best lap of 48.619. The track format was changed on Sunday so the times were not a direct comparison to Friday and Saturday’s racers. With that, Chris Wheatcraft jumped in his 2008 Corvette to claim both the class and shootout victories in Tremec All American Sunday action. He beat Mark Golovin’s 2001 Camaro in the final shootout round, 41.441 to 42.486.
Nashville AutoCross Photo Extra!
Photos by Terry Lysak
