Donnie Moore wins at CCMS

[NeilTPS]

Donnie Moore wins mid-season TPS Race at CCMS

 

By: Neil Upchurch, Texas Pro Sedans – Race Director

 

Corpus Christi, Texas - (July 9, 2005)

 

Donnie Moore of Hutto, Texas started 1st and finished 1st in the Texas Pro Sedans race at C.C. Motor Speedway. The Texas Pro Sedans series contested their 6th TPS race of the 2005 season at C.C. Motor Speedway. The event signaled the half way point of the 30th consecutive racing season of the TPS organization. The event was highlighted by a large entry list with 17 cars signing in at CCMS.

 

Qualifying Time Trials saw the TPS Qualifying record broken by Donnie Moore. He turned a 15.370. Moore’s best time trial lap bested Lalo Leal’s TPS/CCMS track record by .190 seconds. Three other TPS drivers also broke the former record. They were Bill LaBarge, Tom Johnson and Sergio Hexsel.

 

The Texas Pro Sedans four cylinder stock cars played to a good grandstand crowd. Of 17 entries at the track, three were unable to race after having taken time trial laps. They were unable to take the green flag and compete in the 25 lap TPS Feature Race and were withdrawn. #07 Mike O’Conner’s Ford Taurus discovered an engine malfunction, #24 was a back-up car brought in by Lalo Leal due to engine failure of his regular #26 ride. #24 posted a slow time trial lap and Leal withdrew it. The #2 Mustang had the 5th fastest time trial lap, but lost it’s qualifying time when the driver Jack Dishman left impound before inspection was done by TPS officials. Dishman stated that his car was not competitive.

 

Moore and Hexsel and LaBarge dueled with their fast four cylinder stock cars for the entire 25 lap race. The race was slowed five times by yellow caution periods.

 

A total of only three Texas Pro Sedan drivers completed the race on the lead lap. Recording 25 laps were #20 Sergio Hexsel who was the race runner-up in his VW Scirocco. He trailed Moore by only 1.50 seconds at the checkered flag. Placing 3rd right behind Hexsel was #27 Bill LaBarge in his BMW.

 

Three post race technical protest were filed by Jesse Sandoval Jr, Lalo Leal and Mike O’Conner against the first three cars driven by Donnie Moore, Sergio Hexsel and Bill LaBarge alleging engine displacement to weight ratio infractions. All engines were torn down. Bore and stroke measurements of all three cars did not support the alleged infractions. Protest fees were awarded to the protested car owners and no post race penalties resulted.

 

The TPS Championship mid-season Points standings lists Donnie Moore with a seven point lead over Sergio Hexsel with six races remaining on the 2005 Texas Pro Sedans twelve race schedule. The TPS “Rookie of the Year” half-way points leader is Tom Johnson of Kingsland, Texas in his VW Rabbit.

 

The third and final Texas Pro Sedans race at C.C Motor Speedway during the 2005 season will be held on Saturday night, August 13th.

 

The next TPS race will be contested at Thunder Hill Raceway in Kyle, Texas on Saturday night, July 30th.

 

Finish Car # r Driver/Hometown Car Type/Engine CC Best Lap Laps

1 70 Donnie Moore/ Hutto, TX VW Scirocco/1710 15.370 25

2 20 Sergio Hexsel/San Antonio, TX VW Rabbit/2042 15.520 25

3 27 Bill Labarge/Bryan, TX BMW/2085 15.470 25

4 19 r Lloyd Hart/San Antonio Honda CRX/1834/4Valve 17.340 24

5 30 r Chip Harmon/Portland, TX Ford Pinto/2338 17.660 24

6 28 r Lisa Avalos/Corpus Christi, TX Ford Pinto/2030 17.420 24

7 15 r Tom Johnson/Kingsland, TX VW Rabbit/1825 15.500 23

8 29 Rico Guiterrez/Corpus Christi, TX Ford Mustang/2338 17.970 22

9 3 r Jesse Sandoval Jr/Corpus Christi,TX Ford Pinto/2300 18.310 22

10 72 Candi Hogan/Cedar Park, TX Datsun 510/1800 18.270 21

11 48 Mike Knotts/Universal City, TX VW Scirocco/1825 16.120 9

12 O1 r Eddie Orr/Weatherford, TX Ford T Bird/2030 16.060 8

13 71 Bruce Mabrito/San Antonio, TX VW Scirocco/1648 17.510 8

14 22 r Harry Osburn Jr/San Antonio, TX Ford Mustang/2338 20.320 6

15 O7 r Mike O'Connor/Weatherford, TX Ford Taurus/2030 16.290 0

16 24 Lalo Leal/Corpus Christi, TX Ford Mustang/2338 17.080 0

17 2 Jack Dishman/Devine, TX Ford Mustang/2338 time/dq 0

[cRt racing]

well hello again people . its steven again ok neal well several cars broke the old record at cc speedway . dont you think its about time to take some of the restriction off the fords . its kinda plain as day that now some of your front wheel drives are finally getting things figured out . so now lets keep it even . and take some restrictions off the rear wheel drive before you start losing some of your cars . neal i know it is a hard job keeping all the different cars even .but have you ever driven a rear wheel drive a cc left side weight helps a lot if you dont want them to take the restrictor plate off . then lets change the weight rules . you have 2300 lbs cars with little left side weight racing against 1500 lbs cars with tons of left side weight sure the real wheel drive have more motor but thats why you have the restrictors. come on neal help us out here

 

crt racing steven

[poorboy]

Would reduced restristions on the fords benefit the BMW also,it is a rear wheel drive?

[Crazyhorse]

Would reduced restristions on the fords benefit the BMW also,it is a rear wheel drive?

ummmmm that's got bite.....check 1 excuse of the board crt.....cure the whole issue Neil- no more rear wheel drive cars...

how much was that protest worth????? maybe you could of put it in the car youre driving instead of the car that just beat you....

[top_shelf_12]

I think that was more of a statement than anything else, but I agree. I would have rather spent that money improving my own ride (especially if I had engine malfunctions). But I wouldn't want to have to make the rules for any class.

[slysnake]

...its kinda plain as day that now some of your front wheel drives are finally getting things figured out ...

so now that they are figuring how to beat the rear wheels, it's time to change the rules??

 

I don't get it....

[mustang21]

Thats why you get out of the mini stock class. Are you will have to keep puting up with this deal over and over agine ... the rear wheel cars dont have a chance .. you got to spend alot of money if you want to keep up with the frount wheel drive AND I NOW THAT because i have have done it

[NickHolt]

Seems to me the TPS cars are about even. Check out the record for the entire season, not just the last race.

 

I monitor the TPS cars with a stop watch and the watch says that the cars are as even as they have been in years.

 

Yes, the front wheel drive cars have put in tons of work over the past couple of seasons and are finally able to maximize their potential under the existing rules. A year or so ago, they were crying that they didn't stand a chance against the rear wheel drive Fords and the BMW.

 

Quite honestly, I think Neil has done a wonderful job keeping the playing field level as the various makes of cars gain/loose advantages when compared to the rest.

 

If you really look at the rules closely, an air-cooled VW has ALL the TPS rules in their favor. The first guy who puts a killer bug together is going to be hard to beat.

 

Nick Holt

[1-Crew]

How about a little perspective here.. The TPS runs three races at CC, one at San Antonio and seven at Thunder Hill. That's 27% of the races held at a track where handling is more important than horsepower, 9% at what is mostly a horsepower track and the remaining 64% at a track where handling and horsepower are close in order of importance.

 

Lalo had the track record and was not able to defend that mark due to mechanical problems, so the record was broken by three FWD and one RWD cars, all of which are "cream of the crop" for the class. The remaining RWD car in the top 5, a real top shelf car, couldn't beat the time Lalo set in a stock frame Mustang yet complains about the FWD cars?

 

The remaining tracks still have established records from last year, have had time trials this year with no new record set and the existing record is with a RWD car.

 

In the first CC race of the season Lalo was second. At the SA race, 4 of the top 5 finishers was RWD, 2 of them Fords. If you look at the top 10, you get 5 Fords - 50% of the top 10.

 

There have been no less than 2 Fords in the top 5 at each of the THR races, 4 of the top 5 were Fords in the first THR race of this season.

 

Now, tell me again why the Fords need a break??

[24fan]

I would just like to add my .02 here

 

The VW's may be working hard , but the Ford guy's who

work hard spend alot of money. This is why the # 6 car

is not running and is for sale. Tony spent alot of money

last year which put him in a financial bind and chased

LaBarge all the time. No matter how close you say the

rules are the series is becoming expensive and out of

control.I think Neil should go back to 55% left and take the plate off and let these guys race or as commented before, maybe TPS should be front wheel drive only.

Perhaps someone should promote a rear wheel drive series so the Ford guys can run the way the should be allowed to run.

 

just my 2 cents

[BigDish2]

Just needs to be reminded when Lalo #26 broke the record last year. The car was in R&D for TPS and ran NO restrictor plate and not sure on 56/58% left side with brand new tires. If my memory serves me right. So an unrestricted Ford Esslinger Car Timed at 15.56 which would have been fast enough for fourth this past race .2 of a second behind #70 new track record posted this weekend.

I can remember a time when an official wanted to slow all esslinger cars down .2 tenths of a second and went to an absurd 34X34mm restrictor plate and cost the esslinger cars 4 motors in a week #1,#2,#6,#26. Anyways R&D was done last year and should hopefully be looked at and referred to here in the near future.

 

Bryce

TPS #1

[Crewcheif21,73]

Alls i can say is. ITS NOT NASCAR TAKE THE PLATE OFF. I think that is the dumbest thing to have on a ministock race car. Sounds to me like the front wheels get what run anuthing they want but rear wheels get pissed on. Dont seem to fair

[Rookie49]

I haven't seen a TPS Race for 2 years, but from the sound of it, it seems that they are fairly competitive now. When I saw several in 2003 I didn't see a race, I saw three mustangs lapping the field and fighting it out so that one of them was always going back after a rubbing induced spin and then he would start all over smoking everybody. Then there was a l'il Beemer that was giving em hell in the turns and gettin smoked on the straights, he wasn't getting lapped but he was getting run off and left. Then there was a little yellow scirocco that seemed to lead the rest of the pack. From the scirocco back it was a race. From the Mustangs forward it was just 2-3 cars driving around in circles. Boring.

[shadykid414]

how many championships have fords won? neal y dont u try and let ford run diffrent setups at diffrent tracks. like a corpus be able to run with out the plate and run as much left side weight as they can and in san antonio put them on the plate but still allow them the left side weight they want and thr let them run with out the plate but limit their left side weight.so they can be competitive with the fwd

[Crazyhorse]

bill lebarge and donnie moore- want a ford to win a championship? put one of them in a ford....experience is kicking your wallets a$$ , and your looking for excuses...look for rly27's post in announcements and press releases.

[NickHolt]

... someone should promote a rear wheel drive series so the Ford guys can run the way the should be allowed to run.

There is such a series. It's called the Pro Four Series and it runs on the west coast.

 

If you think TPS is expensive, you'll have sticker shock when you look around for a competitive Pro Four ride.

 

Nick Holt

[97car]

Besides experience,also preparation means a lot.Yes me of all people know that things happen at the track too. But you should not have to constantly work on the car if it was prepared ahead of time and not the night before or day of the race. Getting to the track early enough helps too in case you do have problems.

[1-Crew]

Starting from the begining, VW, Mustang, Pinto, VW, VW, VW. That's the race winners for all the TPS races so far. While there does appear to be a VW dominance, the Fords are well represented and there isn't a single BMW win there at all. Given mechanical difficulties of the Fords there could have easily been at least two more Ford wins in there.

 

"before you finish first, first you have to finish". The restrictor didn't cause the problems this year.. BTW, when the 34X34 plate was put into the rules the Esslinger/Ford combo was over .5 seconds/lap faster than the best of the rest, almost a full second at SAS - not .2..

The first year of the ford dominance, only "domestic" cars were allowed the 500 Holley, everyone else ran 32/36. The second year, they allowed 38/38 on all but domestic cars.

 

In every race Randy Lee finished, he dominated. the only reason Ford didn't have back to back championships was the number of races Randy didn't start or didn't finish in the last year he ran.

[racespirit]

What I saw Saturday night at the CC Speedway was a sad situation to the TPS Drivers. After following the series for many years, I have never seen resentment rear such an ugly head!

 

Why did No. 2 car (A Mustang) break impund and load his car? He was not competitive, he claimed? Not true. Many times I have seen a car start in the rear that raced forward to win or come in in the top 5. Was it the heat that questioned his ability on the track? Or maybe his driving ability with the drivers that did their homework? Of course he has every right to load his car, but then he was disqualified.

 

Then the protest. This was proven to be unfound in thel top 3 cars and rumors have it that No. 2 put up the $ to protest ALL top 3 finishers! This is a shame that 3 additional drivers became puppets and followed the lead to continue the protest of the top 3 Drivers,which all 3 tore down their engines after the race to prove they were legal. Are these the type of members that really want to race with TPS?

 

Are these the type of members that TPS wants in their series?

 

If you don't like racing with TPS, why don't you leave and go race with another series? It seems fairly simple. Why make undue hardships on other drivers that want to race with you on the track?

 

TPS is still a very afforadable and professional series and if you want to have fun and race it is a great series.

[BigDish2]

[rumors have it that No. 2 put up the $ to protest ALL top 3 finishers! This is a shame that 3 additional drivers became puppets and followed the lead to continue the protest of the top 3 Drivers/QUOTE]

 

Here we go rumors. My dad did not put up ALL the money for the protest and to call other 3 drivers puppets that signed off on the protest is pretty bold statement. The drivers you are calling puppets are actually very good people just like everybody else in this series. Also calling fellow drivers in the TPS series puppets is not cool and it is actually disrepectful in my opinion but hey everybody has there own opinion, I guess we know yours. I’m sure they like to hear that about themselves.

 

Anyways I have no problem that other cars being faster for having done their homework or saving and then spending some money on faster or better handling parts. That's what is fun about racing is learning and trying different combo's. But the reason restrictor plates and weight infraction were put on the fords is because Randy, Leroy, and other esslinger powered cars did there homework too a couple of years ago and built cars in compliance to the TPS rules. They were considered to fast and all the other cars in the series were considered maxed out in potential according to a current TPS official. That was the explanation told to me.

 

So in the last three years fords we've received probably 5 different rules changes directed at slowing fords down and currently have a car at 53% leftside w/ 38/38mm or 40/40mm restrictor plate under Holley 500 carb depending on the head competing against other cars in the class running 58% LS and a unrestricted Holley 500. Just in my opinion a 58% LS will out handle the 53% car and a unrestricted Holley 500 will out accelerate a 38 or 40mm restricted Holley 500. Remember when our car was built is was legal for us to run more LS weight and unrestricted Holley.

 

Also during this time when other cars were considered max out in potential (obviously other cars were not max out in potential) if so how has cars gone faster, considering an official said we have to slow you guys"esslingers cars" down because the other cars are maxed in potential. During this time only RWD cars were allowed a Holley 500 so now you have all car eligible to run it but ford esslinger cars run restricted. I personally would not be proud to finish ahead of fellow racer knowing they spent there time and money on R&D for new equipment and better handing only to watch it be restricted. So hopefully they do not restricted #70 or #20 for doing there R&D this year. Just stay with the rules the cars were built by and the drivers/teams with the best R&D should be running up front.

 

Some cars should not be running open Holley's against restricted Holley carbs and everybody should run they same 58%LS weight and maybe 56% for tube chassis cars. NOT Ex. Car (A) 53%Leftside 38mm restrictor plate 500 carb, Car ( 56% LS 40mm restrictor plate 500 carb, and Car © 58% LS unrestricted 500 carb. Just looking at those combo's who's chances look best? How would you feel after you researched the best car combo of a set of rules and built a car in compliance with them only to be restricted because of your efforts.

 

Also in Sat's race there were only 3 cars on the lead lap and a restricted Ford esslinger car that was also lapped.

 

Bryce

TPS#1

[cRt racing]

ok if i hear things right not taken anything away from the fords but when the fords won didnt the vw's have problems . all i know is what i hear cause i dont go to the races right now . ive been invited to drive a ford on aug 13 at cc speedway but like i told them why drive a car that i have no chance of winning the race . and the cars are not even right now see its what ive been saying all along no restrictors and even the left side weight rules dont punish the fords cause others wasnt working on their cars to make them faster

crt racing

[NickHolt]

It is very understandable that the Esslinger head-equipped Ford teams would like to receive a performance enhancement under the TPS rules.

 

I feel the need to clarify several points since their campaign has "gone public."

 

1) Several of the front-running FWD cars were indeed maxed out in 2004 and were not competitive with the Esslinger head-equipped Fords. TPS granted them the right to use the same 500 CFM Holley that the Fords had been using all along (and can still use if they so choose). TPS does not require the use of a restrictor plate in any TPS car that does not use aftermarket heads. The restrictor plate is only required on those cars that run aftermarket heads, such as the Esslinger heads currently popular in the Ford contingent.

 

2) The gap between the FWD cars and the RWD Fords equipped with Esslinger heads was over a second (not .2 seconds) before the restrictor plates were mandated. Keep in mind that no restrictor plate is required if aftermarket heads are not utilized, just like the rest (except air-cooled VW's, of course) of the TPS cars.

 

3) TPS is constantly attempting to keep the playing field level (with or without pressure from teams running the various makes and models). Neil and I have talked extensively about running an R&D project for CCMS that would relax the restrictor plate rules for the Esslinger-equipped cars long before this past weekend's TPS event.

 

4) TPS makes rules adjustments based on lap times, not actual finishing positions. Several of the Ford teams have experienced mechanical woes over the past few races so the results do not tell the whole story here. At several events this season the Esslinger-equipped cars were the fastest cars during practice or during the races.

 

5) As far as TPS policy is concerned, we favor no type of car over another. To do so would be totally self-defeating. Our goal is to constantly monitor the performance of all makes and models to keep the racing as competitive as possible. I honestly think we have done a good job in meeting that goal and will continue to make adjustments (either through R&D projects or rules changes) as needed.

 

Nick Holt

[cRt racing]

well i know it isnt a easy job . but like everyone is saying when lalo turned his fast time he was under R&D now you have three cars beat his fast time . so why keep punishing the fords . i know neal called him and they are talking another R&D but by time you guys do all of this he will be out of the championship race anyway . so see after lalo posted his fast time you guys then slowed him down but putting a restrictor plate on him and changing the weight rules . so now its in your hands i mean lets see if your as fast letting him keep up as you are slowing him down steven

crt racing

[Rookie49]

Why don't you just buy a VW or a Beemer if the ford is so non competitive and costs so much to make equal.

[REBELRACER]

it seems like every few years a certain car dominates the show........first i remember was ricci ware jr, a few years back it was mikey cullen at sas totally dominating in his vw sirocco, then it was the little crx, then the mustangs.......i dont race with the series but as a fan watching the series for many years i think neil has done a good job keeping the cars pretty even..............i mean for all the different makes and models of cars to all run competetive together takes some serious work............keep up the good work neil