This past weekend marked the completion of the Ohio Muscle Car Challenge, which was actually located inside the Pennsylvania borders. Beautiful rolling, luscious green hills surround the area, and tucked away on a hillside lies the Pittsburgh International Speedway.
The action started on Friday night when competitors rolled into the quiet town of Beaver Falls and went for a cruise. They stopped at local attractions, but were all anxious to hit the track.
Bright and early Saturday morning drivers met at the track. They first had to pass tech inspection, learn how to operate on the track, and get their transponders ready. With the clerical out of the way, it was time to hit the pavement. Cars were competing in two different categories: ABS and non-ABS.
By 9AM the first group hit the track, ready to show everybody what they brought. Lap times were slow as the drivers worked out their nerves, learned the apex turns and when to brake. On this day, all the cars were broken down into four different groups, depending on experience and lap times. Everybody slowly got faster, and towards the end of the day people were flying like Ricky Bobby out on the track. One car we couldn’t take our eyes off was one of our very own forum members, Aaron Oberle in his beautiful 1965 Chevelle. This car sounded amazing and was solid as can be, flying around the track with ease.
With day one in the books, everybody headed to bed anticipating the autocross the next morning. We woke up early Sunday morning only to be disappointed. A quick look outside the hotel window showed rain and a wet parking lot. This didn’t scare anybody away though, and they headed to the track.
After a brief delay due to the rain, it let up and the racing commenced. At first the goal was to simply make it around the track without spinning out. Once the track started to dry up, each run would drop in time by up to two seconds. This made the racing incredibly fun to watch, as everybody was rooting on to see who could claim the lowest time. With the different groups, each car ended up running roughly 15 different times.
At 1:00PM on Sunday, the racing was finished and it was time to hand out trophies. In the ABS class Bryan Johnson rocked the field in his 2013 Camaro. Combining his autocross and road course time, he ended up with a 01:36.469 time. The non-ABS class winner was Larry Woo in his ’68 Camaro with a combined time of 1:38.500. Since Bryan Johnson beat Larry Woo, he was crowned overall winner and took home the big trophy.
Everybody that competed had a great time. The competition was fierce on the track, but all the drivers were laughing and sharing tips in-between races in a great display of friendship. We hope to be back next year! Check out the full gallery of pictures.
RESULTS
65_LS1_T56 - Aaron says
Guys, this is an awesome event! It is very affordable and you get tons of track time at a very nice venue. Anybody in the mid-west region has to come check it out! I’ll go every year that it happens.