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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 three of the 2001 Pro Spec Series was conducted at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as a support event for the Grand American Road Racing Association. Competitors would race for twenty-two laps around the thirteen-turn 2.258-mile road course.
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A healthy field of twenty-eight starters enter the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course’s ‘Esses’ for lap-1 of round three for the 2001 Pro Spec Racer series. Out front is the pole-sitter, Keith Scharf, in the No. 82 Tech Hyper-V Spec Racer. Immediately behind Scharf is the No. 29 Spec Racer of the third-place starter, James Goughary, Jr. and beside him, Steve Ott, who qualified fourth and finished second in the previous round. |
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Mr. Mid-Ohio, Warren Stilwell, whose record includes seven consecutive SCCA National Spec Racer Ford championships at the track, qualified an uncharacteristic fifth fastest. The points leader and last year’s titleholder avoided the first lap incident. On the restart, Stilwell passed a number of cars. He was by the leader and pole-sitter, Keith Scharf, by the tenth circuit. Despite a last-lap charge by Scharf, Stilwell was victorious. |
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Keith Scharf started round two at Mosport International Raceway on the outside of the front row and led eleven laps before finishing sixth. The series stop at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course would be an opportunity for Scharf to redeem himself. It began by qualifying on the pole for race three. Scharf could not hold off a challenge from the points leader, Warren Stilwell, and finished second by a margin of 0.252-seconds. |
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James Goughary, Jr. delivered another consistent performance in the No. 29 Ducksmart.com sponsored Spec Racer. Goughary was third fastest during the qualifying session and had an excellent start which saw him pass the second place starter, Kevin Grant. He was unable to defend against Warren Stilwell and dropped to the third spot, which is where he finished. Goughary now trailed Stilwell by seven markers. |
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Another driver with many laps of experience at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and always a threat for the victory is John Black. Black finished third in the Spec Racer Ford category at the 1999 and 2000 SCCA National championships. He was gridded in the eighth spot at the start of the twenty-two-lap contest. Black qualified ahead of the first turn incident and moved up the race order to finish in the fourth position. |
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In his last outing at Mosport International Raceway, Chris Funk finished third and collected his twelfth Pro Spec Racer podium result. At the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, he was seventh fastest after the times from the two qualifying sessions were combined. Driving the No. 0 Pearl Street Brewery Spec Racer, Funk was passed by John Black but got by Keith Grant, Steve Ott and Neil Tibor to finish in the fifth spot. |
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| FINISH | START | DRIVER | SPONSOR / CAR | LAPS | RETIREMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Warren Stilwell | Stilwell Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 2 | 1 | Keith Scharf | Tech Hyper-V / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 3 | 3 | Jim Goughary Jr. | DUCKSMART.COM / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 4 | 8 | John Black | Ascent Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 5 | 7 | Chris Funk | Pearl Street Brewery / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 6 | 10 | Chris Dyson | Dyson Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 7 | 13 | Johnny Meriggi | Great Expectations / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 8 | 2 | Keith Grant | Grant Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 9 | 6 | Neil Tibor | Tibor Marketing & Development / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 10 | 20 | Trevor Hopwood | Motion Dynamics / Spec Racer Ford | 20 | - |
| 11 | 15 | Terry Clyburn | Eagle Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 12 | 18 | Jeff Tillman | Team Duke Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 13 | 25 | Brent Waltz | Waltz Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 14 | 16 | Andy Bentinck-Smith | - / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 15 | 17 | Amy Ruman | Cenweld Corp / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 16 | 23 | Ralph Mayfield | PRM Autosports / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 17 | 27 | Robey Clark | KC Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 18 | 22 | Doug Farrar | Farrar Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 19 | 4 | Steve Ott | LaRue Motorsports / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 20 | 24 | Nikki LaRue | LaRue Motorsports / Spec Racer Ford | 22 | - |
| 21 | 21 | John Bowden | Rehkemper Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 21 | Mechanical |
| 22 | 26 | Herb Sweeney | HT Sweeney & Sons / Spec Racer Ford | 7 | Suspension |
| 23 | 19 | Rudolph Krueger | Western Wear Tool Special / Spec Racer Ford | 4 | Mechanical |
| 24 | 14 | Bob Chapman | Chapman FD / Spec Racer Ford | 1 | Mechanical |
| 25 | 11 | Shawn Morrison | Motion Dynamics / Spec Racer Ford | 1 | Mechanical |
| 26 | 9 | Seainn Hendricsen | H-Square Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 1 | Suspension |
| 27 | 12 | Steve Rehkemper | Rehkemper Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 0 | Accident |
| 28 | 28 | Charlie Shears | W/S Racing / Spec Racer Ford | 0 | Accident |
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