That last lap pass gave Dodge an extra two points in the manufacturers’ championship standings, since the second place position earned them five more points than they would have gotten if Archer finished third.
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Another guy that made a phenomenal pass stick was Bob Woodhouse in his No. 13 Woodhouse Auto Family/Kicker/Dodge Viper. He won the B&M Oil Coolers Coolest Move of the Race award for his three-wide pass on Lawson Aschenbach and Lou Gigliotti late in the race.
“It started out like nothing. We were in turn seven, and coming out of there it was Lou [Gigliotti] and Lawson [Aschenbach] and I,” an animated Woodhouse explained after the race. “When we came out of the turn they were wrestling each other coming down the straightaway. I got to the inside and they said, ‘Nah, we’re not leaving room for you, Woodhouse’ and I’m thinking ‘ok.’ I went over to the left on the inside of them and I thought ‘hey, we’ll just see if I can still stop this thing if I bury it [into the corner] a little bit.’ So I ran it in beside Lou [Gigliotti] and I think I caught him off guard a little bit, but I pulled it off and kept on going.”
It was a highlight-reel worthy pass, one that was much-talked about in the taping of the Speed Channel broadcast that will air later next month.
Woodhouse was the second highest finishing Dodge, taking the checkered flag in the fourth position after starting 10th. He posted his eighth top-10 of the season and his fourth top-five of the year. His only finish outside the top-10 is an 11th.
Mike McCann and Rob Foster both posted top-10 finishes, coming home in the ninth and 10th positions respectively, giving Dodge Motorsports four drivers with finishes in the top-10. Brett Pearson in the No. 77 Ventex Corp/Pearson Motorsports Dodge Viper finished 13th. Raleigh, N.C., native Kenny Hawkins posted an 18th place finish, while Jim McCann Jr. in the No. 83 McCann Plastics/K&N Filters/Dodge Viper came home 19th, and Ritch Marziale was 21st in his No. 56 All Cut Concrete Cutting/Dodge Viper Competition Coupe.
TOURING CAR CLASS
Dan Aweida (shown) stole the show for Dodge at Road Atlanta in the SCCA Speed World Challenge Touring Car series, as the highest qualifying and highest finishing Dodge SRT4 driver in the field. Aweida started ninth and finished ninth, running as high as seventh during the race, and posted his first-career top-10 finish. He was the highest finishing rookie in the race, and received the Piloti Rookie of the Race Award for his drive. The Boulder, Colorado, native was happy to take the checkered flag, since he’s had bad luck keep him from the finish in his previous starts this season.
“I’m very happy. I’ve been having some tough luck in other races so, I’m just excited today to finish the race, to qualify in the top-10, to run with my headlights on and finish in the same position [I started in],” Aweida said after the race. “One of my goals since the beginning of the season was to run with my headlights on. Today, I finally got to do that. [I was the] top rookie of the race, the top Dodge of the race and so it’s a pretty good day.”
SCCA rules specify that the top-10 cars race with their headlights on so that when they start lapping cars, those lapped cars will recognize that they’re racing with the leaders. The rule is for visibility and awareness, but for Aweida today it was symbolic of the best run of his career.
Hal Brown didn’t get to run with his headlights on, but he did win the B&M Holeshot Award after picking up six positions at the start of the race. The Virgina native was unable to take the checkered flag in his No. 35 RFC Associates/Dodge Motorsports/Dodge SRT4 because of an issue with a cooler hose, but he was glad to be able to take something with him from the race.
“The car was great but it only ran for a lap-and-a-half. An inner cooler hose came off,” said Brown after the race. “We passed a bunch of cars at the beginning. If we would have been able to stay out there I think we could have gotten into the top-10. We’re disappointed but I think we’re going to be good for the last race at Laguna Seca. ”
Brown finished in the 29th position.
Brian Smith, driver of the No. 13 Woodhouse Auto Family/Kicker/Dodge SRT4, started in the day in the 10th position. He had moved into the ninth position after just two laps, and ran as high as eighth during the race, showing the strength of Dodge’s SRT4. He finished in the 11th position.
Robb Holland, who qualified 12th in his No. 67 Fila/3R Racing Dodge SRT4, had to start the race at the rear of the field because of a tire change in qualifying. He flat spotted two of his tires during the session, so the tire change was necessary. But his Dodge SRT4 was fast. He started in the 31st position and began passing cars immediately. He drove all the way up to the 17th position by the third lap of the race. He passed four more cars and found himself in the 13th position on lap seven, having been steadily moving through the field since the drop of the green flag.
An incident with the No. 18 car of Freddy Baker shortly thereafter left Holland spinning in turn six and pushed him back to the 18th position. He would pick up three more positions to post a 15th place finish before the checkered flag fell.
Speed Channel will air SCCA competition from Road Atlanta on Saturday, October 14, at 3 p.m.
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