2000 Watkins Glen International

The American City Racing League (ACRL) was founded in 1988 for race cars that compete in the Sports Car Club of America’s Sports 2000 category. In a unique format, teams of two to five vehicles represent different cities. During a race weekend, a team's score is the sum of the team's three leading drivers' points, one of which must be a Sports 2000. Competitors compete for both individual and team awards.

The ACRL began as a West Coast series and made its East Coast debut in 1999 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

This year’s Eastern division schedule consists of six races at four different venues. The season kicks-off in May at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Next on the calendar is the ACRL’s only doubleheader, which takes place at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in conjunction with the Grand-Am series. In early July, the teams travel to Road America for round four. The penultimate event sees the series return to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for a weekend with CART. The finale is conducted at Watkins Glen International.

In the Eastern division, there are three classes.

Sport 2000 (S2) – The cars competing in Sports 2000 are open-cockpit, mid-engine sports racing vehicles, typically utilizing an aluminum monocoque chassis, composite bodywork and four-speed racing transmission. Chassis’ are manufactured by Carbir, Swift, Lola, Doran, Mallock, Van Dieman and Shrike. The cars in this category are powered by a Ford four-cylinder, 2-liter, single-overhead camshaft motor. The Sports 2000s have a minimum weight of 1,310-pounds with the driver and a top speed of approximately 150-mph.
Classic Sports 2000 (CS2) – These vehicles in this group are constructed to the same chassis specifications and rules as the Sports 2000 category. They also use the same engine, but this class is for cars built before 1985.
Sports 1600 (S16) – The Sports 1600 is for the World Sports Racer’s that used to compete in an IMSA support series. The Sports 1600 are powered by a four-cylinder 1.6-liter, double-overhead camshaft motor, used in the Toyota MR2 and is tuned to produce 150-horsepower. The cars also use the MR2 transaxle and approximately thirty-percent of the suspension components, including the brakes.

All competitors race on Hoosier tires and use 101 Octane racing fuel.

The season finale for the 2000 American City Racing League championship was held at Watkins Glen International. Competitors were scheduled to race around the eleven-turn 3.337-mile road course for fourteen-laps. However, the race ended after thirty-minutes due to an accident late in the contest.

John Fergus won the ACRL Eastern Division Sports 2000 championship with a dominant performance in the finale at Watkins Glen International. Fergus qualified his No. 00 Team Columbus Carbir CS98 on the pole with a new lap record. Early in the contest, he was challenged by A.J. Smith, but when Smith faltered, it was ‘clear sailing’ for Fergus, who won by a margin of 1.817-seconds.

Trailing John Fergus to the finish line was his Team Columbus teammate, Craig Chima. Chima drove the No. 98 Lola T91/90 with backing from Red Line Oil. In the qualifying session, he recorded the third-fastest time. During the race, Chima chased the leaders, Fergus and A.J. Smith. When Smith crashed, he inherited second place. He was unable to challenge Fergus and finished in the runner-up position.

Sports 1600 competitor John Faulkner drove the No. 44 SVC as part of the four-member Team Boston squad. Faulkner qualified fifteenth fastest, which gave him the class pole. In his best race of the season, Faulkner would lead his category flag-to-flag and win by a margin of 8.031-seconds. He also recorded a race lap 1.188-seconds quicker than his qualifying time.

In the previous round, at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, there were a season-high five entries in the Classic Sports 2000 category. Quite a contest to the single car that participated at the Mid-Ohio doubleheader. At Watkins Glen International, there was a pair of Swift DB2 driven newcomer, Jeff Wayland and series regular, Jack Banha. Wayland driving the No. 15 Team New York Swift dominated this group.

Team New York driver Dan Dubrovich piloted the No. 16 Doran. To date, Dubrovich’s best result was a fourth-place in round three at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Since that event, the team struggled for a good finish, but they were on form at Watkins Glen International. Dubrovich started in the fourth position and moved up a spot when A.J. Smith retired. He battled with Craig Chima and finished third.

Sports 1600 competitor Adam Burrows had five poles and victories in five starts, entering the final round of the 2000 American City Racing League. Unfortunately, the Team Boston driver would be no match for his teammate, John Faulkner, this weekend and his record would come to an end. Burrows would finish second at Watkins Glen International but capture the class championship.

In round four at Road America, A.J. Smith qualified sixth fastest but beat the pole-sitter, John Fergus, by a margin of just 0.081-seconds. At Watkins Glen International, Smith was gridded on the outside of the front row for the fourteen lap contest. Early in the race, he hit the guardrail on the exit of the ‘boot.’ Smith pitted and repairs were made to the No. 92 Pratt-Miller, but he retired on lap-10 – finishing nineteenth.

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CITY / CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	1	S2	John Fergus	Columbus / Carbir CS98	12	-
2	3	S2	Craig Chima	Columbus / Lola T91/90	12	-
3	4	S2	Dan Dubrovich	New York / Doran	12	-
4	6	S2	John Burke	New York / Carbir CS98	12	-
5	9	S2	Gerry Green	Philadelphia / Pratt-Miller	12	-
6	5	S2	Jeff Clinton	St. Louis / Lola T87/90	12	-
7	7	S2	Martin Ryba	Chicago / Lola T90	12	-
8	11	S2	Joe Blacker	Washington DC / Lola T89/90	12	-
9	10	S2	Bob Liebert	Columbus / Miller RM-2	12	-
10	15	S16	John Faulkner	Boston / SVC	12	-
11	17	S16	Adam Burrows	Boston / SVC	12	-
12	14	S2	Darryl Shoff	Philadelphia / Swift DB5	12	-
13	12	CS2	Jeff Wayland	New York / Swift DB2	12	-
14	19	S16	Darius Grala	Boston / SVC	12	-
15	13	CS2	Jack Banha	Philadelphia / Swift DB2	12	-
16	16	S16	Bill Haney	Boston / SVC	12	-
17	18	S2	David Shaver	Washington DC / Swift DB5	11	Accident
18	8	S2	Duke Johnson	St. Louis / Carbir CS98	10	Mechanical
19	2	S2	A.J. Smith	Philadelphia / Pratt-Miller	10	Mechanical
20	20	S2	Albert Ruiz	Miami / Pratt-Miller	10	Mechanical

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