During this event, the Atlanta Region hosted a Double SafeRacer SCCA National Racing Series event, a Pro-IT race and an ECR at Road Atlanta. Drivers converged on the 2.54 mile world famous circuit to make the best of our warm Southern Spring weather.
Result and Grids are posted - click that link to view them. Our track photographer, Clark McInnis. has posted a Photo Gallery and the weekend's racing on his website - you can view and purchase images by clicking that link.
The 3-day weekend event was a long and challenging season opener for over 200 drivers who came to Road Atlanta from a dozen distant States spanning the Southeast, Southwest, Midwest and Northeast. Many ran Thursday's open test day to tune the racing car and brush the rust and cobwebs from the "racing nut behind the wheel".
Friday's Qualifying opened the event weekend and warm weather help set some great provisional times for Saturday's and Sunday's races. Saturday dawned to some "liquid sunshine" as the Chamber of Commerce calls it, so final Qualifying sessions were not ideal. Drivers in the early race groups listened closely as their rain tires whispered where they could find the best grip on the track. Sunday morning found us back in the sunshine and warm temperatures helped final Qualfying and Race sessions meet driver's expectations.
From driver reports it was a very successful weekend - the majority of the participants went home satisfied and are planning to return to Road Atlanta to race with us. Our Performance Driving Experience (PDX) had over 40 drivers on track - many of them new to the sport. This allows drivers to test their skills in street cars with coaching from experienced instructors during Sunday's quiet hours.
There were more spectators than usual at an early season event - no official ticket counts yet but it appeared from the “eyeball test” that spectator counts were up from last year. All of those folks were not short-changed by the action on the track. Drivers brought their "A Game" and multiple track records were set.
For the race staff, maybe the planets were misaligned or perhaps the racing gods felt they needed to be tested. We had a plethora of “opportunities” to display their various skills. Besides the rain sessions, there were multiple incidents where tire walls had to be repaired. At other times, some drivers had challenges like their car stalling on the pace lap or as they entered the track - blocking it and pit road at times.
Those unusual situations plus multiple clean-ups after incidents kept everyone busy to keep it running smoothly for the participants. Our Competition Director, Butch Kummer, summed it up pretty well in his race report to the Atlanta Region team, "I'm proud of the event y’all put on this past weekend and I appreciate you letting me be a part of the team".
