Just a couple of months prior to this weekend I was invited to attended the final segment of the USA Scholarhship shootout, which was a great experience. Just being there with kids who've been racing formula cars all season, and here I am posting competitive times on what was esentially a go kart track. It was reassuring to know that I was at a competitive pace with the least experience. I didn't get to go to England, which was a little dissapointing, but life goes on!

Anyway, this past weekend at Watkins Glen, I had something to prove. Right from the first practice session I was determined to do what i know I'm capable of. No mistakes, no off tracks, spins. Just a perfect weekend in very challenging conditions. A damp first practice just getting a feel for the circuit on slicks, second practice under heavy rain and windy conditions, then finally learning the limits of the car and track in the dry during qualifying. It just couldn't have gone better. Unfortunately sundays two victories were overshadowed by the death of an amazing person, Dan Wheldon which we learned later in the day at the series awards banquet.

Dan was a true racer who absolutely lived for the limit and couldn't be happier doing what he did for a living. An amazing person on and off the track. RIP Dan Wheldon!

From www.f1600series.com;
Watkins Glen, NY – Wyatt Gooden remained perfect in F1600 competition, taking his fourth win of 2011 in just four starts, and his second win of the day at Watkins Glen for Quantum Racing Services in a Van Diemen/Honda. The bigger story however, was the inaugural Championship, which went to Bill Valet, who finished third in a nail-biting slip-streaming battle among a number of cars, including closest points rival Tim Kautz, who had to settle for sixth place in the season finale.

“That race … I can’t believe it,” said Valet, driving a Swift/Ford. “It’s the closest to on the edge I’ve ever been. We were going all out, wheels on the grass, wheels interlocked, it was Formula F racing the way it should be. I had to drive way aggressively and keep as many cars as I could behind me.”

Wyatt Gooden commented: “That was another good one. I have the track down 100 percent now and really tried to push myself. Chris (Keller) pressured me on the start but after the restart I pulled a gap and the pressure was off.”

An early race full course caution flew for Chris Keller, who got turned around in the bus-stop chicane and needed to be retrieved. Keller started second.

Ryan Leach finished second for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing in the Spectrum/Honda for the third straight race. Jim Goughary came home fourth, with Jeremy Grenier close behind ahead of Kautz, Art Foster, Colin Thompson, Forrest Hull and Steve Oseth.

In the final standings, Valet and Kautz are one and two, followed by Jim Goughary, Art Foster, Colin Thompson, Wyatt Gooden, Caitlin Johnston, Forrest Hull, John Robinson and Steve Oseth.

Kautz, driving the No. 88 Piper/Ford, added: "You can't win them all, that's the way it goes. I did not have the power to run up front, we didn't have the motor to play this weekend."

The race for the SOS Children’s Villages Cup went to Valet, who amassed the most points over four races at Watkins Glen.

The season-long CellMark Paper Hard Charger Award was clinched by Ed Callo, who improved 30 places throughout the season.

Colin Thompson won the end-of-season Alegra Motorsports F2000 Championship Series test award, which goes to the highest placing driver in the final standings under the age of 21. Thompson’s best finish of the year came at Lime Rock Park, where he notched his first career podium in the No. 5 Swift/Honda.

The inaugural season of F1600 competition saw four different race winners, engine equality with both Honda and Ford powerplants, and 50 different drivers scoring Championship points over the 10 race tour.

Race 2 Results:

Pos	No.	Name	Laps	Total Tm	Diff	Gap	Avg. Speed	Best Tm	Best Spd
1	17	Wyatt Gooden	12	25:43.447	-	-	94.324	1:58.376	102.487
2	16	Ryan Leach	12	25:52.071	+8.624	+8.624	93.800	1:59.028	101.926
3	83	Bill Valet	12	25:53.054	+9.607	+0.983	93.740	1:58.857	102.072
4	7	Jimmi Googlioni	12	25:53.490	+10.043	+0.436	93.714	1:59.149	101.822
5	12	Jeremy Grenier	12	25:54.152	+10.705	+0.662	93.674	1:58.901	102.034
6	88	Tim Kautz	12	25:54.161	+10.714	+0.009	93.674	1:59.046	101.910
7	24	Art Foster	12	25:57.461	+14.014	+3.300	93.475	1:59.508	101.516
8	5	Colin Thompson	12	25:57.641	+14.194	+0.180	93.464	1:59.337	101.662
9	71	Forrest Hull	12	26:15.269	+31.822	+17.628	92.419	2:00.546	100.642
10	72	Steve Oseth	12	26:15.406	+31.959	+0.137	92.410	2:01.235	100.070
11	6	John Grooms	12	26:19.256	+35.809	+3.850	92.185	2:01.904	99.521
12	11	Doug Stout	12	26:19.901	+36.454	+0.645	92.148	2:01.487	99.863
13	4	Bob Detrick	12	26:23.752	+40.305	+3.851	91.923	2:01.818	99.591
14	69	Erik Shepard	12	26:23.832	+40.385	+0.080	91.919	2:01.606	99.765
15	13	Greg Rice	12	26:33.292	+49.845	+9.460	91.373	2:03.494	98.240
16	68	Caitlin Johnston	12	26:35.422	+51.975	+2.130	91.251	2:01.824	99.586
17	18	Dan Pyanowski	12	26:52.560	+1:09.113	+17.138	90.281	2:04.586	97.379
18	86	Kevin Brumbaugh	12	27:01.400	+1:17.953	+8.840	89.789	2:06.653	95.789
19	15	Jim Oseth	12	27:01.547	+1:18.100	+0.147	89.781	2:03.845	97.961
20	44	Ed Callo	12	27:05.038	+1:21.591	+3.491	89.588	2:06.672	95.775
21	31	Chris Keller	11	27:30.262	1 Lap	1 Lap	80.867	1:59.623	101.419
DNS	8	Jacob Carpenter	0	-.---	-	-	-	-.---	-
DNS	36	Steve Roux	0	-.---	-	-	-	-.---	-
DNS	64	David Clubine	0	-.---	-	-	-	-.---	-
DNS	2	Mike Scanlan	0	-.---	-	-	-	-.---

Race 1 Results

Pos	No.	Name	Laps	Total Tm	Diff	Gap	Avg. Speed	Best Tm	Best Spd
1	17	Wyatt Gooden	7	14:13.387	-	-	99.514	1:59.361	101.641
2	16	Ryan Leach	7	14:13.466	+0.079	+0.079	99.505	1:59.903	101.182
3	83	Bill Valet	7	14:13.948	+0.561	+0.482	99.449	1:59.686	101.365
4	12	Jeremy Grenier	7	14:14.279	+0.892	+0.331	99.410	1:59.798	101.270
5	31	Chris Keller	7	14:14.586	+1.199	+0.307	99.374	1:59.459	101.558
6	7	Jimmi Googlioni	7	14:15.313	+1.926	+0.727	99.290	1:59.781	101.285
7	88	Tim Kautz	7	14:16.182	+2.795	+0.869	99.189	1:59.901	101.183
8	24	Art Foster	7	14:29.552	+16.165	+13.370	97.664	2:01.560	99.803
9	5	Colin Thompson	7	14:29.787	+16.400	+0.235	97.638	2:01.516	99.839
10	71	Forrest Hull	7	14:29.811	+16.424	+0.024	97.635	2:01.582	99.785
11	68	Caitlin Johnston	7	14:30.320	+16.933	+0.509	97.578	2:01.799	99.607
12	72	Steve Oseth	7	14:36.958	+23.571	+6.638	96.839	2:03.094	98.559
13	6	John Grooms	7	14:37.539	+24.152	+0.581	96.775	2:03.508	98.228
14	4	Bob Detrick	7	14:47.927	+34.540	+10.388	95.643	2:05.026	97.036
15	11	Doug Stout	7	14:47.990	+34.603	+0.063	95.636	2:05.083	96.992
16	69	Erik Shepard	7	14:48.082	+34.695	+0.092	95.626	2:04.696	97.293
17	15	Jim Oseth	7	14:55.319	+41.932	+7.237	94.853	2:05.627	96.572
18	13	Greg Rice	7	15:11.765	+58.378	+16.446	93.142	2:07.133	95.428
19	86	Kevin Brumbaugh	7	15:25.791	+1:12.404	+14.026	91.731	2:08.923	94.103
20	44	Ed Callo	7	15:30.652	+1:17.265	+4.861	91.252	2:09.726	93.520
21	2	Mike Scanlan	5	10:36.407	2 Laps	2 Laps	95.316	2:04.806	97.207
DNF	18	Dan Pyanowski	2	4:34.898	5 Laps	3 Laps	88.265	2:13.130	91.129
DNF	8	Jacob Carpenter	0	2.306	7 Laps	2 Laps	-	-.---	-
DNS	64	David Clubine	0	-.---	-	-	-	-.---	-
DNS	3	Joe Colasacco	0	-.---	-	-	-	-.---	-
DNS	36	Steve Roux	0	-.---	-	-	-	-.---	-

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Lexington, OH (July 3, 2011) – Wrapping up a sensational professional open-wheel racing debut, former karting and online iRacing.com star Wyatt Gooden came out on top of a race-long duel with young Australian Mitch Martin to win his second SCCA F1600 Formula F Championship series race of the weekend Saturday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. 



The victory gave the 22-year-old from suburban Cleveland a sweep of both Formula F races this weekend at Mid-Ohio, the first time this has been accomplished in the brief, six-race history of the series.

Driving for Quantum Racing Services with support from Chris Miles’ Starting Grid, Inc. and iRacing.com, Gooden started from the outside of the front row, in second, as he and pole qualifier Martin quickly broke away from the rest of the 25-car starting field.  For the next 15 laps, the pair traded the lead a total of five times before a late-race caution on Lap 16 brought the race to an early conclusion from the scheduled 18-lap distance.

“The Van Dieman Honda was great today, and it was a fun race with Mitch [Martin],” Gooden said at the finish.  “We had a real battle, but we both raced clean and respected each other, which made it even more enjoyable.  I can’t believe we pulled off two wins in our first weekend of Formula F racing.  This is such a strong series, and the racing was everything I hoped it would be.  Thanks to the guys at Quantum, Chris Miles and iRacing.com.  None of this would be possible without them.”

“Throughout the weekend, Wyatt did everything we expected of him – and more,” said Miles, who formed Starting Grid organization to assist the advancement of minorities with their prospective motorsports careers.  “I’m not sure how we could have even dreamed of anything better for his debut in Formula F, and with Starting Grid.  He demonstrated his potential as a future star of the sport.  I have to thank American Honda, as their support provided a critical boost to Starting Grid, and to i.Racing for their continued commitment to helping Wyatt with his career ambitions.”

Starting out in karts at age 10, Gooden soon graduated to the national WKA karting circuit.  He discovered the growing world of online racing in 2004 and then got his first big break while taking part in the iRacing Jetta TDi Series.  Gooden bested 1,163 competitors to win the online championship and earn a full season of real world competition in the TDi Cup for 2010.  Two race victories and a pair of podium saw Gooden finish third overall and was named series Rookie of the Year – all in his first year of car racing.



Quantum Racing Services is headed by veteran Wendell Miller, with more than 35 years in the sport and success at all levels from club racing to IndyCars.  In 2010, the team took rookie F2000 Championship Series driver Dan Erickson to two race wins, three second-place finishes and three poles in six races.  “It was a pleasure to work with Wyatt this weekend.  He learned and progressed every time we put him out on the track,” Miller said.  “It’s exactly what you hope to see in a young driver.”

Starting Grid, Inc., founded by New Albany, Indiana native Chris Miles, works to diversify the motorsports industry by developing and implementing motorsports programs that have crossover appeal and capitalize on the growing interest in the sport from minority demographics.  A former professional racer and instructor, Miles became the first African-American to host a national racing magazine show, “Inside CART”, on both Fox Sports Net and ESPN2.  He also is an award-winning producer of “Black History Month” vignettes for SPEED Channel.

iRacing.com is the world’s premier online race simulation service. Founded in 2004 by Dave Kaemmer (co-founder of the Papyrus Group) and John Henry (principle owner of the Boston Red Sox and co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing), iRacing features more than two dozen precisely-modeled race cars including the IndyCar Dallara, NASCAR Sprint Cup Chevrolet Impala and Williams-Toyota FW 31, along with laser-scanned versions of nearly fifty of the world’s foremost race tracks. In addition to more than 30 series of its own, Racing administers and co-sanctions professional online racing series with NASCAR, GRAND-AM and IndyCar.  This summer will see the highly-anticipated release of iRacing 2.0 with its revolutionary new tire model, McLaren Electronics Atlas Express telemetry system, night racing at selected tracks and a variety of developments designed to enhance private league racing. 
 
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For more information, contact:
Dan Layton    314-614-9763
  [email protected]   Read More