NOPI National Auto-X Tournament number 1 is in the can and what a great
time we had! 91 drivers came from all over the southeast, midwest and
even some Yankees came from Massachusetts and New York down to play at
Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia on September 18-19.
NOPI puts on a huge show with literally thousands of show cars, jump cars
and stereo sound off cars inside the Atlanta Motor Speedway track.
Meanwhile, SCCA autocrossers get to entertain the 45,000 or so folks
making their way into the show by running an event in the parking lot
right next to the main gate. What was at stake for the drivers was the
chance to win $350 and a set of Toyo tires (street) for winning one of 5
brackets or $150 for second place in each ot the 5 brackets. Then there
was a big finale bracket that pitted the top 8 drivers (from each of the
brackets)against each other to determine who the new NOPI National Auto-X
Tournament OVERALL champion and win a set of Konig "Caffiene" wheels.
The first NOPI National Auto-X Tournament OVERALL champ is none other
than Carter Thompson driving a Toyota MR-2 Turbo in the A-Stock class.
Thompson hails from Tennessee and is a national level competitor in
SCCA's Pro Solo as well as other national level events. He had to stave
off a huge challenge from Heath McMillan's C-Street Prepared Honda Civic
to get the championship. McMillan, who lives in the Atlanta area was
fresh from his first National Championship win in CSP in Topeka the week
before NOPI Nationals.
But there were 5 Brackets everyone had to claw their way through to get
to the big finale.
Bracket 1 was made up of ST, HS, ES and GS. Atlanta Region's Tom Simon
had figured out a way to handicap cars in a head-to-head competition by
using mathematically calculated setbacks for the faster classes. All he
has to do is measure the length of the course, plug it into his
spreadsheet and out pops the setbacks between any class.
Bracket 1 had 23 drivers to run through the double elimination rounds. It
soon became clear that 5 drivers were emerging to dominate. Mike King and
Alan Stratton in Stratton's GS Talon, Mark and Wendi Allen in their ST
Acura Integra GSR, and Matt Grainger in the unique Pontiac Grand Am. King
and Allen waltzed through the winners bracket until they faced each
other. King squeeked out a win to send Allen to the loser's bracket.
Meanwhile Stratton lost his first round and had to fight his way back
through the loser's bracket. Grainger made it halfway through the winners
side before getting sent to the loser's side by Allen. Stratton and
Grainger faced off with Stratton getting the nod. Then Stratton had to
face Mark Allen but couldn't hold off the hard charging ST car.
Allen then had the uphill battle of beating King twice to win the bracket
(it's double elimination, you know). Allen won the first round but King
held him off on the second round to take Bracket 1.
Bracket 2 was made up of DS, CS, BS, and DSP. Once again 5 big name
drivers were doing their thing trying to claw their way into the top
spot. Rick Cone (BS Miata) and Bob Monday (DS Neon) were wading through
opposite sides of the winner's bracket. Eric Esch (BS Miata) lost his
first round and got sent to the many battles on the loser's side.
Jonathan Roberts (CS MR-2), who had sent Esch to the loser's bracket in
the first place had to face Esch again on the loser's side and won again
leaving him to find out who he would face from the Cone/Monday battle on
the winner's side. Monday won so Cone had to face the blazing Jonathon
Roberts. Roberts took the win and advanced to the Bracket 2 championship
round against Monday again. But Monday took the win to take the Bracket 2
prize.
Bracket 3 had classes STR, STU, AS, SS, and ESP. Carter Thompson (AS
MR2T) beat Joan Clark (SS Corvette) in the second round to send Clark to
the loser's side then faced his father, Jim, who conceded the round so
faced Steve Waters (SS Corvette ZR-1). He beat Waters to go to the final
round. Meanwhile Mark Sipe (AS BMW Z3 Coupe) lost his first round and
fought his way through the loser's side to finally lose to Waters who
went into the final. Smith in an STU Neon from New York had been sent to
the loser's side by Waters and beat Joan Clark to take on Mark Sipe who
prevailed. In the Bracket 3 Final Carter Thompson used all his turbo
power to keep Steve Water's quick ZR-1 Corvette at bay.
Bracket 4 had the fewest classes with ASP, BSP and CSP. Phil Currin (BSP
Corvette) is always a threat whenever he puts his ground pounding 1968
Corvette on a course. Today was no exception as he made it to the final
but lost in a controversial call. Heath McMillan (CSP CRX) and Lee Kent
(ASP Porsche 911) carved their way to the top of the winner's side with
McMillan winning, sending Kent to the loser's side to face "Fast" Phil
Currin. Currin had coned on his first competition round and had to make
his way all the way through the loser's side (6 matches). Currin showed
his vast experience and put Kent on the trailer and headed back to face
McMillan in the final. Currin won the first round by a tight margin. The
two cars changed lanes and Currin appeared to win the second round.
However, a late call from the course credited Currin with a cone to hand
McMillan the win. McMillan admited to hitting the cone to show his
sportsmanship but the call from the course stood.
Bracket 5 pitted all the Prepared and Mod cars together. However only DP,
EP, BP, AP, FM, EM and CM made the show. Two formula cars of Don Ahrens
(CM FF) and Clint McMahan (FM F500) were slicing their way through the
winner's side while Bill Coffey (AP Datsun 240Z) and Mark Brenchley (BP
Nissan 300 Turbo) were carving up the loser's side. McMahan faced Ahrens
to see who would advance to the Bracket 5 Final. Ahrens won and sent
McMillan to the loser's side. Meanwhile Coffey and Brenchley faced off
and had such a close race they had to rerun it. The second time Coffey
narrowly won and faced McMahan. McMahan was on a tear and dispatched
Coffey to get into the final. McMahan had to beat Ahrens twice and did
just that to take the Bracket 5 Championship.
It was now almost 7 PM and the sun was setting but the Overall Bracket to
determine the overall winner still had to be run. All the first place
drivers were automatically in the Finale. Three of the five second place
drivers would be there. The officials held a drawing and Don Ahrens (CM)
drew into the Overall. The other 4 drivers had a runnoff to see who would
be in the finale. Phil Currin (BSP) and Jonathan Roberts (CS) both made
it to the finale sending Mark Allen (ST) and Steve Waters (SS) to their
trailers.
Phil Currin won his first 2 matches over King and Monday but got sent to
the loser's side by Carter Thompson. Heath McMillan (CSP) prevailed over
Don Ahrens (CM) when Ahrens got confused about where his finish line was
located. The setbacks were so huge between mod and stock or street
prepared cars that the officials had to set them up on course instead of
in the staging area. Ahrens had a setback of 330 feet! Meanwhile McMillan
(FM) lost his opening round to Thompson, drew a bye on his second round
when Ahrens retired and hit the Monday (DS) meatgrinder in his third
round when he had to overcome a 400 foot setback and lost.
McMillan dispatched King then Monday to face Phil Currin again for a
deja-vu run to get into the final. This time McMIllan won when Currin
clearly coned and panted into the Overall Bracket final with Carter
Thompson. McMillan took the first round as Thompson took the conservative
route just in case McMillan coned out. The last match was real close with
McMillan getting a little crossed up in the first slalom which probably
spelled the difference as Thompson took the win by about 5 feet.
Meanwhile AMS security was trying to get the event off the lot as
darkness was taking over just before 8 PM.
Ben Thatcher
Apex Benefit Services & Motorsports
Stockbridge, GA
Phone 770.474.1402
FAX 770.474.0938
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