THE FINALE AT THE INDY RUNOFFS

F600 CHALLENGE SERIES FINALE AT THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY RUNOFFS

With close to a thousand race cars and almost as many trailers of all sizes the infield was packed like a “can of sardines” – this iconic bucket list track has never seen anything of this huge scale. Many had to park outside the track and take a shuttle in. Heavy traffic (as well as golf carts, motorcycles, bicycles, motorized skateboards . . . you name it) was controlled by track marshals at every intersection. Not including test days, the whole event took seven full days of qualifying and racing . . . can you say “run-ons”. There were 38 entries from all over the country so it was very crowded on the track for each session and no one got more than one or two clean laps for qualifying. After four qualifying sessions, Clint McMahan took the pole with a 1:43.136 followed closely by Barry Luterek with a 1:43.588 and Calvin Stewart in third with a 1:44.795; 4th was Aaron Ellis, 5th was Sven deVries, 6th was Hunter Brayton, 7th was Eric McRee, 8th was newcomer Joe Palmer, 9th was John Pickle, 10th was Zach Morvik, 11th was Carl Maier and 12th was Jeff Delong.

For the National Championship race, there was a surprise when Clint McMahan spun off during the pace lap and slotted back in at 7th place and had to work his way back up to the front by getting back to 2nd place by the first turn behind Barry Luterek, the leader. By the 2nd lap, Clint had gotten by Barry and set sail off into the distance, setting the fastest time of the race at a 1:42.860. Behind these two, Calvin Stewart, Aaron Ellis and soon Sven DeVries (from 5th place) were in a multi lap battle until the 11th lap when Calvin lost his motor which he had run for 3 years and Aaron dropped back after pushing halfway off at the exit of turn 12 about mid race and then his fuel pressure was dropping in two left hand turns with 5 laps to go. This left Sven to gain on Barry and catch Barry, who was getting loose in the corners, about the 12th lap, Sven started pressuring Barry almost everywhere until Barry, on the 14th lap, overshot Turn #1, crossed over the grass, and spun out, stalling the motor. Due to the fast action of the track crew in moving Barry out of the way, Clint was not faced with a full course yellow which would have bunched up the field. Clint ensured that he stayed ahead of the charging Sven to win the national championship. Clint and Sven finished 1st and 2nd with Aaron Ellis 3rd, Hunter Brayton 4th, Joe Palmer 5th, Jeff Delong 6th, Barry Luterek 7th, Calvin Stewart 8th, John Pickle 9th, Zach Morvik 10th, Carl Maier 11th and Eric McRee 12th. Note that Clint was penalized for breaking the rule that if you spin out on the pace lap that you are to re-join at the back of the pack. He was given a 10 second penalty and a three race suspension. Since his lead at the finish was 11.1 seconds, his finish was not changed. Also note that Sven was running a borrowed car that had not been run outside of Michigan and that Sven had only two race weekends (see his videos on our website) in it before the Runoffs. See his exciting onboard race video here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oByN6HM3nxU Thank you, Sven, for these excellent race videos.

Additional race coverage from SCCA is here –
https://www.scca.com/articles/2008224-mcmahan-makes-good-at-2017-runoffs-in-formula-500

The link to the SCCA online video of this race will be announced shortly.

The race points are as follows:

1. Clint McMahan 24
2. Sven deVries 22
3. Aaron Ellis 20
4. Hunter Brayton 18
5. Joe Palmer 16
6. Jeff Delong 14
7. Barry Luterek 12
8. Calvin Stewart 11
9. John Pickle 10
10. Zach Morvik 9
11. Carl Maier 8
12. Eric McRee 7

Clint’s win breaks the tie in the series points as follows:

1. Clint McMahan 114
2. Sven deVries 112
3. Jeff Delong 72
4. Zach Morvik 61
5. Aaron Ellis 58
6. Carl Maier 57
7. Calvin Stewart 38
8. Barry Luterek 34
9. Hunter Brayton 30
10. Eric McRee 21
11. Mo Makki 18
12. Joe Palmer 16
13. John Pickle 10

Mechanic of the Year is Tom Tarleton who works with Mo Makki and Sven DeVries
Hard Luck Award goes to Carl Maier.

We are very thankful for our valued sponsors who have made this series possible:

• Metalloid Corporation of Sturgis, Michigan (www.metalloidcorp.com )
• Shrieve Chemical Products of Houston, Texas ( www.shrieve.com )
• Hoosier Racing Tire ( www.hoosiertire.com )
• Honda Performance Development (www.hpd.honda.com/racing-line)
• Solo Performance Specialties (SPS) (www.soloperformance.com)
• Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies (www.PegasusAutoRacing.com)
• Speed Partz (www.speedpartz.com )
• Hawk Performance ( www.hawkperformance.com )
• Winding Road Racing (www.WindingRoadRacing.com )
• Discovery Parts ( www.discoveryparts.com )
• Bottoms Up Chop Shop (www.bottomsupchopshop.com )

The Formula 600 Challenge series was developed to help promote an affordable open wheel formula car series to showcase talent without large financial race budgets. There are no paid staffers and one hundred percent of all sponsorship monies and product goes directly to the drivers in our series mostly as a tow fund payment for each race. The Formula 600 open wheel cars use a 600cc motorcycle engine and a 6-speed sequential transmission revving up to 15,000 rpm with speeds in excess of 140 mph. The sound of this drive train is likened to a F1 car.

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