Here's my shot at the odds for winning OVERALL OTC Championship for the top eight contenders.

1. Flamemobile 3-1 at winning overall championship. Car seems dialed in good. Weight is down, power strong, car sticks good. Has been known to break, however, 90 minute shakedown of car at Buttonwillow was most excellent on May 9th. These guys are the team to beat.

2. Mumford/BP - 4-1 Very Strong Viper entry. Got too cocky, trying to win on street tires for overall championship. Big mistake if the Flamemobile doesn't break. Will probably take T-1, but lose overall Championship to Flamemobile.

3. Dearing/Wasserman 6-1 Rumored to be a another strong Viper entry. However, they don't know the tracks all that well, thus may have to hammer car longer to get good laptimes.

4. Mello's 944 Turbo - 6-1 Knows all the tracks. Drives like a psycho. Has a bunch of slicks. Contender if Turbo holds up. Ran 1:29.1 after just a few laps at Big Willow in last shakedown. Co-driver known for suspension expertise.

5. Bragg-Smith. 6-1 Definitely fast on his home track. Can he make it to all tracks without breaking? The other strong Vette team (Irby/Eckhaus/Winters) couldn't even make it out of the starting gate using TWO Vettes without getting ass kick by Raceaflais

7. Lindsey/Flaherty 7-1 - Sounds like lots of last minute shakedown problems also, otherwise a strong contender.

8. Roden/Manor/Bettin 8-1 - Started with World Challenge racecar purchased from Lou G. Was fighting Raceaflais until last minute, didn't get through shakedown. Doesn't know West Coast tracks.

Getting prepped to do battle at the OTC

The top 8 actual finishers turned out to be:

1.  Ondrack/Salter - 914-6
Congrats to the Ondrack/Salter team.  I didn't know too much about them, so I never had them handicapped to be the OTC King.  No one paid attention to them until they won the Streets of Willow, and then everyone started worrying that they got their turbocharged 914-6 dialed in.  I believe they are a Canadian team, so they didn't even have the luxury of being familiar with the tracks!  Drew Salter is from Arizona, and he built and maintains the Porsche 914-6.  Drew also runs an automotive shop in Phoenix.

The Kings of the OTC! From Canaduh (And Salter from Arizona)
(photo by Head-On  Photos)

2.  Mumford/Provost - Dodge Viper ACR
Mumford/Provost almost pulled off an epic feat of winning the overall championship on street tires.  Mumford complained that if we would have run the big ALMS course at Vegas instead of the just the small infield section, he could have used his Viper ACR to take down the 914-6. 

Provost is the guy who looks like he should be in the Backstreet Boys
(photo by Head-On  Photos)

3.  Bragg-Smith - Corvette Z06.
Rupert did a good job with his Z06.  We beat him on his own track (so did Mumford/Provost), but he got us on the last day and beat us by 10 points for a place on the podium.

A podium finish by Rupert.  Looks kinda sinister!
(photo by Head-On  Photos)

4.  Hayashi/Messley - Acura NSX
If we didn't have mechanical problems, we would have scored a lot more points at Thunderhill and Vegas, and woulda had a shot at Overall King.  We almost backed up my prediction prior to the start of the OTC.

The OCB(Original Cheating Bastard) and Erik
(photo by Head-On  Photos)

5.  Sheehan/Holdener - Subaru WRX
Sheehan/Holdener did a great job in their WRX. 

Shouldn't these guys be driving in the mud and snow instead of on road courses??
(photo by Head-On  Photos)

6.  Hardee/Allen - Acura NSX
Hardee/Allen take 6th, putting two NSXs in the top 6 overall!  

Trailer wiped out.  Suburban totaled.  Who cares, they got 6th overall!
(photo by Head-On  Photos)
 

7.  Kahangi/Beck - BMW M3
Kahangi/Beck on Street Tires take 7th overall, meaning that they are awesome drivers. 

7th Overall on Street tires!  Let's see you beat them on the track!
(photo by Head-On  Photos)

8.  Lindsey/Flaherty - Ford Mustang
Lindsey/Flaherty take 8th overall, despite blowing an engine on day 6, and scoring no points at all on Day 7 in Vegas!  Note that they also won 4 of the 6 days that they ran in. 

Ryan and JWL take 8th, despite no points in Vegas!
(Picture also has Zen Five in it, minus Alan Chavis)
(photo by Head-On  Photos)


A.KA.  A.C.
(photo by Head-On  Photos)

The complete overall results are here.

Wayne was in the hunt until his head gasket went at Thunderhill.   Terry Chen and Charles Buzzetti were top five until their Lotus Elise blew up.

So ends the First Annual Open Track Challenge.  It was an epic adventure.   Next year the quest for the Overall Championship will be a lot tougher.  Mumford/Provost know they can't win on street tires, so they will switch to race tires.  Which means their laptimes will be 2-4 seconds faster.  Which means all of us in the top 8 need to get faster. 

It seems that the key to winning the event is having a car that can withstand 7 days of constant pounding.  You must be experienced, fast drivers.   Your engine needs to be strong, but not so powerful that it breaks.  You need to be resourceful, and able to fix and overcome problems that arise during the event.  You need to be able to function with little or no sleep.

Everyone that was at the event said they will be back next year and are getting another friend to enter a car, so I am pretty sure it will sellout.  You got 10 months left until OTC 2003, so start prepping your car, your team, and your driving skills to see if you can beat the Ondrack/Salter team (or become the king of your division) and become the OTC King!