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2001 was the eighth season for the Sports Car Club of America’s Pro Spec Racer championship.
The car used in the series was the very popular Spec Racer Ford. This affordable, low maintenance,
purpose-built vehicle is a popular category at Sports Car Club of America club racing events and
attracts large fields with close racing. The Pro Spec Racer championship receives support from Yokohama Tires and the Ford Motor Company.
In addition, there is tape-delay coverage of three events on the Speedvision television network.
The 2001 season consists of eleven race weekends. Each contest is approximately fifty-miles in length. The year opens in April at Phoenix International Raceway. Teams travel north of the border for round two at Mosport International Raceway. During the first weekend of June, the series visits the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as a support event for the Grand-Am series. Next on the calendar is a trip to the west coast for a race at Sears Point Raceway. Following the event in California, teams stop at Chicago Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International. Pro Spec Racer competitors head to Virginia International Raceway in early August and compete at the Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport a week later. Round nine, a month after Cincinnati, is held at Daytona International Speedway. The penultimate event is in mid-October at Lime Rock Park. The year ends at the San Diego Grand Prix. The Spec Racer Ford is a single-seat, open-cockpit tube-frame chassis sports racer manufactured by SCCA Enterprises in Colorado. The cars are identical and powered by a sealed four-cylinder, SOHC, 1.9-liter Ford engine with a five-speed transmission. This combination produces 105-horsepower and a top speed of 135-mph. The suspension uses a rocker arm design (front and rear) with coil-over shocks on each corner and adjustable front and rear sway-bars. Round two of the 2001 Pro Spec Racer series was held at Mosport International Raceway. Competitors would race for twenty laps around the ten-turn 2.459-mile road course.
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Twenty-one competitors head into Mosport International Raceway’s corner one for round two of the 2001 Pro Spec Racer series. Leading the field is the pole-sitter, Warren Stilwell, in the No. 28 Stilwell Racing Spec Racer. Beside Stilwell is the other front row starter, Keith Scharf, driving the No. 82 Tech Hyper-V sponsored Spec Racer. Behind the leaders are the Spec Racers of Steve Ott and James Goughary, Jr. |
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Last season’s Pro Spec Racer titleholder and seven-time SCCA National Spec Racer Ford champion, Warren Stilwell, got off to a slow start this year. In the opening round at Phoenix, Stilwell qualified twelfth fastest and finished seventh. At Mosport International Raceway, he was back on form. Stilwell started on the pole but lost the lead to Keith Scharf. He moved into first with eight laps to go and grabbed the win. |
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Steve Ott’s season started with contact in round one at Phoenix International Raceway, but he redeemed himself at Mosport. Ott, driving the No. 48 LaRue Motorsports prepared Spec Racer, qualified third fastest. However, a poor start dropped him down the race order. He fought his way to the front and a last-lap pass on Chris Funk resulted in a runner-up result as well as his first series podium finish. |
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Capturing the final position on the rostrum at Mosport was Chris Funk. He started fourth at round one and crossed the finish line in thirteenth place. Like Warren Stilwell and Steve Ott, Funk hoped to change his luck at Mosport and he succeeded. Funk qualified fifth fastest and passed James Goughary, Jr. and Ott to run second for much of the contest. A late race move by Ott resulted in his third-place finish. |
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Keith Scharf finished second at Mosport International Raceway last season and during the race, it appeared that he would rectify that outcome in 2001. Scharf qualified on the outside of the front row but moved past the pole-sitter, Warren Stilwell, on the opening lap. However, Stilwell passed the driver of the No. 82 Tech Hyper-V Spec Racer for good on the twelfth circuit. The loss of fourth gear would drop Scharf to a sixth-place result. |
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James Goughary, Jr. delivered an outstanding performance in round one at Phoenix International Raceway. Goughary qualified eleventh fastest and led three laps before finishing in the runner-up spot. Mosport was an excellent opportunity for him to take the points lead as the race one winner, Barney Moen, wasn’t entered. Goughary started and finished fourth, leaving him one point behind Warren Stilwell. |
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| FINISH | START | DRIVER | SPONSOR / CAR | LAPS | RETIREMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Warren Stilwell | Stilwell Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 2 | 3 | Steve Ott | LaRue Motorsports / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 3 | 5 | Chris Funk | Pearl Street Brewery / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 4 | 4 | Jim Goughary Jr. | DUCKSMART.COM / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 5 | 6 | Steve Rehkemper | Rehkemper Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 6 | 2 | Keith Scharf | Hunt Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 7 | 11 | Johnny Meriggi | Great Expectations / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 8 | 10 | Seainn Hendricsen | H-Square Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 9 | 9 | Kelly Toombs | Toombs Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 10 | 13 | Herb Sweeney | HT Sweeney & Sons / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 11 | 17 | Richard Doty | Early Alert / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 12 | 18 | R.B. Thompson | Robinson Motorsports / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 13 | 12 | Charlie Shears | W/S Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 14 | 16 | George Ashburn | Medical Building Specialists / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 15 | 19 | Nikki LaRue | LaRue Motorsports / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 16 | 21 | Peyton Fletus | KC Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 19 | - |
| 17 | 20 | Doug Garrison | Garrison Motorsports / Spec Racer Ford | 19 | - |
| 18 | 8 | Neil Tibor | Tibor Marketing & Development / Spec Racer Ford | 15 | Mechanical |
| 19 | 14 | Bruce Myers | Seacoast Area Physiatry / Spec Racer Ford | 3 | Suspension |
| 20 | 7 | John Black | Ascent Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 1 | Contact |
| 21 | 15 | Jim Marinangel | Wisconsin Color Press / Spec Racer Ford | 0 | Contact |
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