Club Racing at Its Best

The second race of the revised 2020 schedule is next weekend at Grattan Raceway. This annual VSCDA event has been held for 34 years and has been on the Monoposto schedule for most of them. The event setting is a very challenging track northeast of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The track features blind corners, off camber corners, tight bowl corners (many of these features combined in the same corner!) and the straights that connect them. See the above Google satellite image. It's truly a driver's track and, particularly for our Classic run group cars, a real blast to drive. The coronavirus willing you can expect many FVs, FFs and FB cars to be there.

The Vintage Grand Prix au Grattan XXXIV, which usually has a lot of family friendly aspects and is self-described as VSCDA's Summer Party, is being conducted with a very detailed set of instructions to prevent Covid-19 transmission so fishing and social gatherings and other usual event activities are circumscribed. If you are going, please make sure you review the detailed Covid-19 Track Procedures posted on VSCDA's website. Consistent with the VSCDA guidance there will be no Monoposto party.

As the previous Monoposto event at Road America demonstrated, even with all of the arrangements to make this event possible in the time of the coronavirus, the actual racing should be enjoyable and a welcome change.

I hope everyone has a great time!

Travis Engen,

President, Monoposto Racing

Finally, Our Season Opener!

Monoposto's season opener begins in two weeks at Road America. Technically this event was the fifth on our 2020 calendar but is now number one as the pandemic cancelled the first four events. One can only hope that the currently rising disease rates across the U. S. will get under control and that the five events that follow starting in August will happen as scheduled.

Wisconsin is in the mid-range of Covid-19 activity, rising slowly over the last three weeks. Road America has hosted several events since re-opening and will be the site of a dual Indy Car race event next weekend so by the time we get there they will have had the opportunity to fine tune their Covid-19 protocols. Needless to say, the guidance is wear a facemask, stay socially distant and wash your hands frequently.

The WeatherTech International Challenge schedule looks very much like it has in past years, with multiple races for each category of cars as well as the race car parade and concours. As I'm writing this the fields look good with 32 Classic entries, 19 F70 entries (including 12 F5000 cars) and 7 Indy Lights entries that will compete in three separate run groups. The car count is down from last year when the formula Ford's alone numbered nearly 200. However, I'm sure the racing will be great even though most drivers will be experiencing their first race weekend since last year.

In these pandemic times there will be no Monoposto party but trophies for last year's champions will be on hand for appropriate socially distant presentations.

Travel and stay well! I hope to see you at the track.

Travis Engen,

President, Monoposto Racing

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Bob Dylan's classic song title really captures the state of the world around us. In this time of the pandemic with all the changes in our daily lives I thought it would be helpful if I wrote to you about Monoposto's activities. Judging from the cessation of professional racing and changing plans for it to restart it looks like 2020 may be the year that didn't happen.

As a generalization, race car drivers are optimists. None of us enters a racecourse expecting bad things to happen. We all believe that our lap times will improve and that our position in the race will improve as we compete more effectively than those around us. Unfortunately, this optimism does not translate into changing the facts of the pandemic. We are left to follow the decisions of others.

So far this year three Monoposto events have been cancelled. The weekend for one has passed (HSR's The Mitty) and two have not (HMSA/HSR events at Barber Motorsports Park and Mont Tremblant). It's likely that more events will be affected in the months ahead.

We have considered this and made the decision that rather than continue to chase changes in the racing calendar with our championship schedule we will simply accept what the racing gods give us. The only exception to this is a decision to add the WeatherTech International Challenge at Road America to the Indy Lights championship schedule. You will see the event cancellations and the Indy Lights change on our website (link here). As the season progresses future cancellations or event date changes will be reflected on Monoposto.com but because everything is so fluid, we will not be adding more events to compensate for cancellations. The structure for our championships will be modified for 2020 so that they will be based on a racers best six race results (typically 3 events) so that the pressure to get out there and compete is eased.

The next events on our schedule are SVRA Indianapolis and the VARAC Vintage Grand Prix, both on the same weekend about six weeks from now. Let's hope that travel restrictions (including the US/Canada border closing) ease and the events proceed on schedule.

The 2019 Championship trophies have been produced. In a normal year these would be presented to the champions at events as the year progresses and we will try to do that as well this year. Because of the social distancing standards, we will not have Monoposto parties at events and will try to make presentations of the trophies in a responsible way. Should the schedule or participation make it impossible to hand out trophies they will be shipped to recipients.

I hope those of us who are staying at home get to work on our cars so they are even more ready when racing resumes. Stay Well!

Travis Engen,

President, Monoposto Racing