P R E S S R E L E A S E
October 19-20, 2002
Buttonwillow Raceway - Buttonwillow, CA. Near perfect weather greeted drivers of the Vintage Sedan Racers Group for their sixth round of the Magnaflow Vintage 2.5 Challenge at Buttonwillow Raceway. Located in the rural farmlands of the lower San Jocquin valley of Southern California, this long, challenging venue provided a weekend that will be remembered for the extremely close racing action.
For those that have not been to this track, it is a long (about 3.1 miles), narrow track with a number of fun, challenging turns and a few places with significant elevation changes. With names like “Magic Mountain”, “Bus Stop” and “Cotton Corners” to describe the more demanding sections, this track has something for everyone’s taste. With the long dry season and the newly added “sand traps” around the track, there were dust plums aplenty as quite a few drivers found quite a bit of dust during the early runs on the surface leading to a few "off-road" adventures.
The track hosted an "open" practice day on Friday and many 2.5 drivers were able to get in a full day of practice. By late Friday afternoon the drama of the weekends racing was already beginning to take shape. Points leader Jeff Hecox had posted fast times in practice but was sidelined into early evening hours with a broken rocker arm. However before the sun had set the car was repaired and ready for Saturday morning’s first session. Kevin McKee and Mickey Cohen had also posted near identical fast times and with the knowledge that the ever present front runners of Steve Link, Alan Ward and C.J. Bonura would be on hand Saturday, it was shaping up to a great show.
McKee was bent on making up for his mechanical failure at Laguna Seca just a few weeks before that caused him his first DNF of the series. In the qualifying practice he posted a fast time of 2:11.6 to lead the pack to the checkered flag which earned him the pole for the qualifying race later that day. Hecox’s BMW suffered another mechanical failure in the early warm-up which would put him out for the weekend, or so everyone thought. Steve Link, Mickey Cohen and Jim McAdory in Datusn 510's along with the Alfa's of Bob Wass, Ted Kattchee and Al Bourdet and the BMW of Marissia Clay all had good qualifying times which placed them among the top ten for the qualifying race on Saturday. Bonura's Cortina suffered a minor mechanical problem and was unable to qualify so he planned to make a charge from the back of the grid along with Les Cannaday driving his somewhat rare Datsun 1200. Hecox’s BMW was unable to be repaired so the points leader was sidelined for the Saturday qualifier.
At the start of the qualifying race the entire field headed into the first turn at the drop of the green. Throughout cars were two wide headed into the infamous turn 2, a tight uphill 180-degree right hander. Two wide in this turn is tough but the 2.5 drivers were going to go 3 wide on the first lap.
During the course of the qualifier there were a few off-track excursions with no damage other than to a drivers pride. With dust clouds lingering near the track, McKee continued his winning ways by taking the checkered to win the qualifying race. Close on him were Link, Cohen, Ward, and Bonura.
In a show of great sportsmanship and the spirit of the 2.5 Challenge, C.J. Bonura stepped forward and offered Hecox the use of his now repaired Ford/Lotus Cortina for Sunday’s final race. Hecox would have to make a run from the back and learn to drive a English-Ford product quickly.
Racers were greeted to a beautiful day on Sunday, perfect racing weather. After a warm-up sessions the drivers were looking forward to what promised to be another tight 2.5 race. Early in the final race, the Cortina being driven by Hecox suddenly stopped running and he pulled off the track with an electrical failure; he was done for the weekend. McKee had taken the lead and was opening it up with each lap as the next closest cars were mixed up in a tight battle for second place. Mickey Cohen, driving only his third 2.5 Challenge, had affixed his 510 to that of Steve Link who was holding second to McKee. There was especially heavy dicing between Link and Cohen for the entire race. Both cars seemed closely matched as did the skill of the drivers. At the midpoint Link began to experience transmission problems but he held his position meaning it would take a slight miscue on Link’s part for Cohen to get by. One of the more exciting points in the race occurred in the back section known as the “Talladega turn” where Cohen was trying every possible line to try to find a way around Link. As Cohen moved from left to right in one of the fastest areas of the track, he lost the handle and began a slow but spectacular spin off the pavement and into the dirt. He recovered nicely but was now a few seconds behind Link. Driving like a man possessed and with the last lap getting closer, he was able to pull up on Link again but was not able to make a pass before the checkered flag fell despite the fact that Link's transmission was almost gone.
Just back of this action was Alan Ward who found himself at the receiving end of the dirt thrown up on the track by Cohen’s spin. When Alan hit the dirt the resulting loss of traction sent him flying into the dirt as well and when he came to a rest his maroon turned brown Alfa looked to buried in the soft dirt, and it was. It would take a tow truck to get him out. Alan’s bad luck was just what Bob Wass needed to get by. Wass was one of the more consistent drivers of the weekend and deserved his fourth place finish.
A little further back in the pack, Al Bourdet, Marissa Clay and Jim McAdory had a close battle for 6th that lasted almost half the race. In one lap they exchanged positions no less than four times before McAdory dropped out with ignition problems. Marissa posted another top 10 finish with a solid 6th place effort.
With only one race left, the race for the Championship is as tight as ever. Last year’s champion, Kevin McKee, holds a narrow 2 point lead over Jeff Hecox setting up what should be one of the best races of the year at Phoenix in late November. Wass and Cohen are also locked in a battle for “Rookie of the Year” honors.
The popular vintage race series was developed by the Vintage Sedan Racers Group (VSRG) of Vista, CA. Complete information on the VSRG and the Magnaflow Vintage 2.5 Challenge can be found at VSRG’s web site located at www.bsedan.com.
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