The Pits by Steve Ratchett
The 9th season of ISF competition starts on March 6th with the 12 annual Rapids Invitational. As the ISF comes close to celebrating it’s first decade, the competition is set to be even more competitive as rookies and veterans battle in familiar cars on familiar tracks. It is that familiarity that should be the basis of the closeness of the ISF competition.
Will it be title number six for Shea in GTP? GTP should once again be a close race to see who can topple the Minolta machine of John Shea. I firmly believe that the king of GTP will win title number 6, however there will be two challengers who will make it tough and even steal the title away. The first is Everet Kamikawa. He won 4 GTP races and it was only a difference in speed on the fast tracks at the end of the year where he lost the title to Shea. Testing has shown that he has clawed some more speed out of his steeds, whether it is enough to keep up with Shea’s new horses is another matter. Mark Walczak is the third contender for the crown. Romping his way to the Champ Car title after winning the LMP and F1 titles in 2007, Walczak is free of the bonds of the Great Big Pictures team and now has full backing from Red Bull. Switching from the open cockpit World Sports Car body style back to closed cockpit GTP might be something to get used to and could hamper his efforts, however he will have the benefit of having his own testing facility so that problem should be negated soon into the season. The biggest hurdle for him to win the title is he has to win his first GTP race first. Jim Iverson should also provide a solid challenge for the title and is my dark horse to win. The only variable is that the Grey Fox’s schedule might keep him from more events that he intends and that could hurt him in the standings. Mike Fitzlaff will also challenge for race wins. Fast and dominate in the first half of events, he just has to finish the second half.
I believe this will be a breakout year for Fitzlaff as the reigning GT champion he should have the confidence to raise his game. Larry Rotter had an off year in 2007 compared to his championship of 2006, however the batteries seem to be recharging after several years of domination in Champ Car and ISF competition and the winners circle should welcome him back with open arms. Rotter also seemed to be caught out a little technically by Shea and Kamikawa in 2007. That should be corrected this year. The GTP competition should also be more intense with the additions of rookies Mike Lack and Nick Bartolone for a full season. The ex-rc racers are excited to start the season. Lack will be flying the Castrol Jaguar colors and teamed with 2007 ISF rookie of the year John Wiedemann in the Silk Cut Jaguar. Lack has plenty of speed, and the understated Wiedemann has the racecraft to make some noise or at least make it tough on the others. Bartolone should also be fast as his win in the 2.4 hour endurance event showed, however what team he will be driving for is still up in the air at the moment. Dan Margetta has had two of the best looking cars (Playboy and Crown Royale) the last two years, however no wins to show for it. Will that change in 2008? Lets hope so as a Margetta win would be enjoyed by the paddock, except for maybe his rival Dean Strom. Strom was frustrated with the car prep of the Great big Pictures team and cut back to a part-time schedule. He has proven fast and the split of the GBP team may help him as the team will only be preparing two cars rather than three. Chad Sorce, Andy Spehert and Amy Butler are also expected to enter a few races in 2008 but nothing is confirmed as of press time.
The Williams Team of Mark Walczak and Jim Iverson is no more... The F1 division is at least as popular, if not more so than the GTP division, with the ISF fans and drivers alike. The championship picture here is wide open. Mark Walczak is back with Williams to defend his championship, however his teammate will not as Jim Iverson has struck out on his own and formed his own team, of which name and colors haven’t been announced, however expect Iverson to carry on the tradition of Brabham, McLaren, and Gurney and race and win in his own car. Walczak will find it tougher to repeat in this field than other champions as the field is deep with winners. Walczak usually has a very fast car, however with the mixture of tracks in the ISF the combination of good runs on the twisty circuits and wins on the fast circuits will take him to championship two. Larry Rotter is my pick to win the F1 title this year. Rotter won 5 races in 2007 but came up short in his title quest again. Sooner or later Rotter will stop being a bridesmaid and win this division so why not this year? John Shea will again lead a two car effort for Ferrari and should get back to his winning ways, although both he and his teammate Everet Kamikawa have had their struggles in the past two years. Kamikawa has actually won more races than Shea in that time, however the consistent finishes in last place hurt him. Kamikawa claims to be more focused this year. If so that will make this division even more fun to watch. As the disastrous switch to Renault last year, Mike Fitzlaff and Dan Margetta are both firmly in the Jordan camp. Fitzlaff will rival Walczak for fastest car at any circuit and he will close out races in winners circle.
Margetta has quietly won several F1 races over the last three years. If he runs a full schedule he should do well in the championship. Dean Strom is a driver that potentially could win a race this year. There are several circuits that he does well at, especially the Deckertring and Franklinland. It is not knows if he will be driving cars prepped by Iverson or Walczak, however the split of the Williams team should help as once again it will bring his equipment to more importance within the team. An interesting team to watch will be the Jaguar team of Mike Lack and John Wiedemann. This is the division they have the most experience in and they were able to power the Toro Roso team to several good finishes. The question is whether they can hit the set up consistently enough to win some heat races and poles. Nick Bartolone is a wild card in that people know he is fast, however he hasn’t announced what team he will be driving for at this time and with only three races under his belt he could learn really fast or become acquainted with the walls at the tracks in several instances.
Corvette will once again be the big player in GT Even more of a cloudy championship picture is the GT class. Defending champion Mike Fitzlaff will again have fast cars and there is no doubt he will be in contention to repeat. Repeating is what Everet Kamikawa has in mind as he feels he got screwed from winning his sixth championship. With the potential retirement of the Tyco GT chassis looming in the future, Ferrari will want to go out with a bang. Red Bull has also stepped up their program with a full year sponsorship of Mark Walczak’s Ferrari F40 and they will be disappointed if he doesn’t win his share of races, although there is little chance of that. The factory Corvette program with john Shea and Jim Iverson was supposed to dominate the division in 2007. That didn’t happen. Shea claims to have found the problem to his troubles after a post season test, will it be enough to beat the others is another matter. Will Iverson running his own team be a distraction from being a part of GM’s factory team where he doesn’t have control? Dan Margetta will be back in an Opus Racing Corvette and should have the speed to win. Larry Rotter will likely be back in the Toyota camp after being with them over the last several years. They made strides in 2007 and the task will be to see if they can step it up for 2008. Other drivers have yet to announce their programs as of this writing.
The runaway LMP champion should repeat in 2008 LMP made a splash in 2007 as a division that was racey and fun, once people accepted the fact that Mark Walczak’s Accura would blitz the field, ala Peugot in the European LeMans series. Iverson’s Dome-Judd and Larry Rotter’s Totyota LMP should challenge for the lead and wins. Strom’s Audi might make a splash here and there. KIA and Tamiya are due to be back. Beyond that there are rumors that Everet Kamikawa will actually paint his car.
The season is close at hand! Lets race!
Steve "The Wrench" Ratchett
