2001 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

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 five different venues. The season kicks off in April at the Virginia International Raceway. Next on the calendar is the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, which runs with the Grand-Am series. In early August, the teams travel to Road America for round three. Then it is back to Mid-Ohio, where drivers compete in a support event for CART. The penultimate weekend is conducted at Watkins Glen International. The season ends mid-September at Daytona International Speedway.

In the Eastern division, there are three classes.

Sports 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 Racers that competed 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.

Round two of the American City Racing League was held the first weekend in June at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Drivers would compete in a twenty-lap event around the thirteen-turn 2.258-mile road course.

Last year’s American City Racing League event at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was a doubleheader with local driver and 1999 SCCA Sports 2000 National Champion, John Fergus, earning a victory in the second race. Round two would be Fergus’ first start of the season in the familiar No. 01 Carbir CS98. He qualified on the pole, recorded the fastest race lap and led laps one through twenty for the win.

Finishing 6.437-seconds behind John Fergus was Sports 2000 class competitor Dustin Hodges. The young driver had three Runoffs starts and qualified on the pole in 1999 for the Formula Vee category and in Formula Continental during the 2000 event. In round two of the 2001 American City Racing League, Hodges drove the No. 9 Team St. Louis Carbir CS98 that Michael Johnson used to win the season’s first race.

Another driver that wasn’t entered in round one at Virginia International Raceway was Classic Sports 2000 competitor Brad Lehmann. Lehmann was a member of Team Columbus and drove the No. 18 Swift DB-2 with backing from the Champion Dealer Group. He qualified fifteenth overall and first in class, ahead of the race one category winner Jeff Wayland. Lehmann would earn the victory finishing tenth overall.

The Sports 1600 category was well subscribed in 2000, but this year’s season opened at Virginia International Raceway with just two entries from Team Boston – Bill Haney and John Faulkner. Haney claimed the class victory in race one, driving the No. 80 World Sports Racer. The same drivers appeared at Mid-Ohio. Faulkner failed to start and Haney finished thirteen overall, capturing another class win.

Eric Langbein was a member of Team Washington DC and drove the No. 33 NYGMATECH sponsored Lola in the Sports 2000 category. At the opening round of the 2001 season, he finished seventh overall and in his division. Langbein was third fastest after the two qualifying sessions at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He would maintain his position during the race and capture the final spot on the class podium.

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CITY / CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	1	S2	John Fergus	Columbus / Carbir CS98	20	-
2	2	S2	Dustin Hodges	St. Louis / Carbir CS98	20	-
3	3	S2	Eric Langbein	Washington DC / Lola	20	-
4	6	S2	John Burke	New York / Carbir CS98	20	-
5	7	S2	Bob Leibert	Columbus / Carbir CS00	20	-
6	9	S2	Jeff Clinton	St Louis / Lola T87/90	20	-
7	10	S2	David Chesrown II	Chicago / Pratt Miller	20	-
8	5	S2	AJ Smith	Philadelphia / Pratt Miller	20	-
9	12	S2	Jerry Green	Philadelphia / Pratt Miller	20	-
10	15	CS2	Brad Lehmann	Columbus / Swift DB-2	19	-
11	16	S2	Matt Nardo	Chicago / Lola T87/90	19	-
12	17	CS2	Jeff Wayland	New York / Swift DB-2	19	-
13	13	S16	Bill Haney	Boston / SVC	19	-
14	14	S2	Franz Fleischli	Chicago / Lola T89/90	19	-
15	19	S2	Jim Stengel	Philadelphia / Pratt Miller	19	-
16	8	S2	David Dullum	Washington / Lola T88/90	13	-
17	11	S2	Vic Kicera	Boston / Lola T91/90	12	-
18	4	S2	Duke Johnson	St Louis / Carbir CS01	12	-
-	18	S16	John Faulkner	Boston / SVC	-	Did Not Start
-	-	S2	Dan Dubrovich	New York / Doran	-	Did Not Start
-	-	S2	David Downey	Columbus / Lola T90/90	-	Did Not Start

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