Summer is the prime season for Scion owners to enjoy time behind the wheel, and it's no different for team members of Scion Racing. Since spring, Scion Racing's various squads have been busy racking up victories, setting records, and making history on tracks across the America. Thanks to their efforts, Scion's participation in motorsports - activities that include the newer disciplines of drifting and time attack, as well as traditional drag and road racing - is broader than ever.
DRIFTING
In the tuner motorsport du jour, Scion is represented in the premiere North American series, Formula Drift, by the two-pronged assault of Kenshiro Gushi and his RS*R tC and two-time national champion Tanner Foust and the Papadakis/Rockstar tC.
With a new car, every run on the track matters, and at Round 2: Road Atlanta in May the RS*R Scion Racing team made the most of their opportunities and advanced to the Great 8. This gave the team some momentum heading into June's The Gauntlet at Wall Speedway, Round 3, and Gushi capitalized. He came out of the gate fast against first-round opponent Gary Lang.
In the Top 16 round, it was Ross Petty and his Team Falken Nissan. On the first run, Gushi swung his RWD-converted Scion tC on a high line and came in hot, but Petty had issues and limped to the sideline. There is a five minute go-or-no show rule in FD, and Petty was the latter. It was a free pass to the Elite 8 for our Gushi.
Gushi lined up with Taka Aono and the two had quite a battle. Gushi did well leading, but Aono I his Toyota AE86 Corolla hung tough. On Aono's lead pass, he came in too fast on entry and had to make a correction, which was all Gushi and his RS*R/Scion Racing tC needed to advance to the Final 4, a first for the RS*R team.
Gushi's Final 4 foe was the red-hot Darren McNamara and his Falken Saturn. Gushi had the lead on the first run and kicked out some great angles, but D-Mac was parked off the Scion's door handle. In the second run, Gushi was not able to stay as close, so D-Mac advanced to the finals where he would eventually emerge as the event winner.
However, Gushi was not done with Wall. Making it to the Final 4 earned the team entry into the third-place race against Tyler McQuarrie, the other racer vying for that last step on the podium.
Gushi led the first run and carried good speed into the first turn. McQuarrie hung close but went off in the figure-8 section of the course. When it came time for McQuarrie to lead, he pulled away but lacked the angle and speed to impress the judges, who called for a one-more-time tiebreaker.
In the extra frames, Gushi again lead off, and while going high and fast McQuarrie was knocking on his door. When McQuarrie took the lead he was able to maintain a solid pace and line, which meant Gushi was fourth overall - no podium this time. Still, it was the RS*R squad's best and most-promising result to date.
Things were decidedly more disappointing for Foust and the Papadakis/Rockstar crew. In very uncharacteristic fashion, Foust failed to qualify after he spun out in his V8-powered tC on both attempts. The team believes it has found the issue with the car, though, and will be addressing it before Round 4: Las Vegas Motor Speedway in July.
ROAD RACING
Dan Gardner and the Jackson Dawson Scion Racing team had a mad scramble to get their tC in order for another big race in late April after a strong come-from-behind sprint contest victory at Willow Springs the previous weekend. The team pulled it together in three days and still made the 500-mile trip north of Sacramento to Thunderhill Raceway Park for the second Western Endurance Racing Championship (WERC) race of the season.
On Saturday, co-driver Scott Webb entered NASA's Time Trial category for some additional track time, and not only won the TTC class but did so with a time that set a new lap record for the class. Webb then later qualified the car on the WERC pole with an equally quick 2:05.00 lap time.
Gardner took the first stint and at the flash of the green pulled off another good start. A couple of laps into the race, World Challenge and Grand-Am driver Jim Daniels and his E1 Mazda hounded Gardner, who eventually let him by.
About halfway through his stint, Gardner began to suffer from some heat exhaustion, finding it difficult to breathe. He took a lap to focus on breathing, regained his head, and then began to get into a rhythm. The Mazda had a 12-second lead at that point, but shortly would begin to have issues that would slow its pace. Gardner made the pass a few laps later.
At just over the hour mark, the car's main fuel pump bobbled and Gardner activated the two supplemental pumps. The team counted out five more laps and then brought the car in just under halfway into the race. The Scion was serviced and drivers were swapped.
Webb immediately began rattling off consistent laps. The team knew they'd have to perform at least one more fuel stop, but it was uncertain whether they'd have to change a left front tire.
As the car bobbled an hour or so later, Webb hit the secondary pumps and then came in four laps later. The team quickly checked the front tires, ready to swap one or the other once the fueling was completed. Fortunately, the long-lasting Nitto NT-01 tires were up to the task and had plenty left to give.
In the closing stages of the race, Webb really stepped up the pace, hammering out a blistering-fast 2:04.9. The question now was whether the team could make it without another fuel stop - it was going to be close. With about 15 minutes left, the main pump starved. Webb hit the supplemental pumps and then was advised to back it off a notch, as the team didn't want to risk having to make another stop for fuel.
After a total of 79 laps, the Scion would see the checkered flag and cross the finish line first In class with less than a gallon of fuel left in the tank. The victory meant back-to-back WERC endurance wins for the Scion team in the E1 class and the tC also managed to finish an impressive sixth overall, having zero mechanical issues to speak of.
The team will be on the WERC trail on October 25 at Infineon Raceway but will be running a number of NASA Performance Touring sprint races in the meantime.
TIME ATTACK
WORLD Racing brought its "Bi-Winged-Banshee" Scion tC to the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Illinois, to put a spanking on the competition at the June 20-21 Redline: Time Attack!, the third round of the 2009 championship.
With sport compact racing pilot Chris Rado at the controls, the Scion Racing/WORLD Racing tC maximized its substantial mechanical grip and 713whp to crush the front-wheel drive track record. The tC's dominating victory continued the team's winning streak as the 2009 season enters its cream-filled center. But it took more than a lead foot, as scattered thunderstorms mixed with Midwest humidity throughout the weekend made controlling the highly-strung Scion a challenge.
Amazingly this was WORLD's first appearance at the Autobahn Country Club. Chris used his time and practice sessions wisely, feeling out the track and learning all its nuances before unleashing the Scion tC take-no-prisoners style.
It all came together on the second lap of the final session, where Chris and the Scion tC recorded a 1:30.717 to capture Unlimited-FWD gold and a new track record in the process.
The record-breakers next stop on the Redline: Time Attack! trail will be at the Nashville Superspeedway on July 25 and 26 in Nashville, Tennessee, for Round 4.
DRAG RACING
At Round 3 of the 2009 Battle of the Imports sport compact drag racing championship, held June 27 at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, eyes were on Texas' native son Kenny Tran out of Garland, who got off to a rocky start in his Jotech Scion tC. Struggling with a faulty intercooler coupler, Tran landed in the number-seven qualifying spot out of an eight-car Pro-Import class field.
From qualifying on, however, Tran found his stride, advancing easily through eliminations. Local Tony Palo, from Rowlett, was outperformed by Tran's 8.361 at 171.51 in the first pair, and then in the semi Tran put away number-three Nelson Diaz with an 8.353 at 173.27 - Tran's best of the day - to his opponent's 10.757 at 135.55. In the final, Tran faced Philip Wight from Fort Worth and dispatched him easily with an 8.534 at 170.84 to Wight's 10.691 at 142.18, winning the class in dominating style.
Battle of the Imports shifts back to the west for Round 4 at Sacramento Raceway, where action takes place on August 9.