By Sandy Magrath

Rounds 7 & 8 of the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear – Southwest were held at Texas Motor Speedway on May 1-2. The event was the Sunburn Grand Prix Double National sanctioned by SCCA.

For Saturdays race, Darryl Wills qualified on the pole with Davis Parr in 2nd and Russ Hillenburg in 3rd. On Lap 2, Hillenburg took the 2nd place position and held it strong. However on Lap 14 of the 20 Lap race, Hillenburg spun and 6 FM's got by. There was a lot of tight racing amongst Kirk Miller, Phil Miller, David Vanhooser, and George Jackson. Wills won the race with Parr in 2nd and Stuart Rettie in 3rd. Of the “tight racing pack”, Phil Miller prevailed and finished in 4th.

For Sundays race, the Top 3 Qualifiers were a repeat. Sam Ryan, visiting us from White Haven. PA, qualified 4th. Thanks to Sam for joining and participating in our Southwest Series. Sunday's race started out with a Full Course Yellow at Turn 1 of Lap 1. Unfortunately, David Vanhooser was involved in the incident with a CSR and could not finish the race. The incident subsequently brought out the Black Flag and all participants sat on the grid for many minutes. When they finally took the track, there were only 9 minutes remaining in the race. After 1 Lap following the restart, an FE spun out and several cars got entangled including Russ Hillenburg. The checkered flag was then thrown due to inadequate time to clear the track. Wills won with Parr in 2nd and R. David Jones in 3rd.

The Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear – Southwest will hold its next event at Texas World Speedway on May 29-30 which is an SCCA Regional/National. Race/Qualifying Results and Point Standings for TMS can be found on our Results & Points page.