2022 Ariens Art on Wheels Saturday Group 4 Formula Ford Sprint Race

The VSCDA Ariens Art on Wheels Saturday Group 4 Formula Ford Sprint Race at Road America from September 17th, 2022. The race was black flagged after a lap and a half after a spin in the Kink resulted in 5 disabled cars that had to be cleared from the track. I got a pretty good start and was with the 6 front running Formula Fords. After the first lap we'd put some distance between ourselves and the rest of the field. I lost touch a bit coming out of Turn 14 at the end of the first lap but by Turn 8 I had caught up to the pack. As we came out of the carousel the cars ahead of me were flirting with 3-wide approaching the Kink. As Daniel Burkett in the black/orange 1969 Chinook Mark IX backed off I did as well as it just looks like too many cars together. Chris Arrogante in the blue/white 1979 Crossle 35F had the draft from Jesse Jurgenson and was just pulling ahead of Wally Butler in the blue 1982 Lola T640 as they approach the turn in for the Kink, but Chris stayed wide of the apex because Wally didn't back off. Now Chris is in the marbles and as Wally chops in front of him exiting the turn Chris has to lift and the car comes around. At least that's how it looks to me, watch the replays at the end of the video and see what you think. I hadn't backed off much but it turned out to be enough for me to avoid Chris but then as I tried to come back on the track (a reaction to seeing the wall dead ahead) I spun myself. You can see Tom Stephani in the Black 1978 Crossle 35F who was right behind me masterfully drive through the grass and avoid me and the wall. We were lucky boys that day. A few others weren't so lucky - you can see from the rear view camera that Chris comes to a stop on the right hand side of the track, almost clear of the racing line. The first group of cars behind us make it through fine, but then another car comes through cautiously (I'm assuming the yellows were waving by then) and a car behind him comes through much faster, spins into the slower car and launches over it. Now there's three disabled cars and that starts a chain reaction of carnage. Chris's Crossle eventually gets tagged by a car that was at least 8 or 9 cars behind me. There's no video of the Sunday race as my Lola died exiting Turn 5 on the first lap (I'm guessing electrical but I haven't checked it out yet). As the last race weekend of my season it was a bit of a bummer, but overall it was a pretty successful year so I can't really complain. See you in 2023! Chapters 00:00 Formation/Race Start 04:51 Exiting the carousel Lap 2/Kink Spin 05:32 Front Camera Slow Motion Replay 06:10 Rear View Camera Replay