2002 Year in Review
I guess it is time to write my opinion of the first full season of our American Iron program, as regards our involvement and success in it. I apologize for not posting something sooner; we have been beset with several problems this year that really took me away from what I should be doing. A good deal of this was due to an employee theft problem that went on for some time and really rocked us financially. It wasn't the best sales year anyway, and if the economy was not bad enough, the infidelity from a trusted employee was emotionally draining as well. It is hard to work week in and week out, side by side with someone that is ripping you off while you try to get the evidence together so the police will run with it, then wait while they build a case, then wait for the DA, and the Judge, all the while having to smile at the guy. It was one of the hardest things I have been through. I want to publicly thank my employees that are still here for their loyalty and dedication throughout these problems; it has affected them greatly as well.
The culprit went to jail, and hopefully it is past us and we can go on. But if you purchased any Griggs Racing or Koni parts on any web auctions this year, or at any swap meets etc, there is a high probability you bought our stolen parts.
This problem precluded my reporting on the September event at Willow Springs, for which I apologize. Congratulations should go to Ernesto Roco for his long-over-due win on Saturday driving his 98 GR40 Cobra. I would also like to congratulate Ryan Flaherty for his win on Sunday, except I believe that the three faster cars running in front of him were given a very bad deal with a flagging situation in Turn 9 which in my opinion gave Ryan the win and created a major safety issue. I (and others) considered this a very poorly run and officiated event. NASA responded to the complaints and assured us that the problems won't happen again. Subsequent events were run quite well.
The Buttonwillow event brought back GR40 Team driver Guy Cunningham to the AI winner's circle with a very narrow finish ahead of Vageli Karas on both Saturday and Sunday. They put on quite a show, and it was a lot of fun to watch; their fastest laps were identical and the margin of victory was in thousandths. There were plenty of thrills and competitive racing down through the field, and listening to the crowd on the tower during the event really reinforced in me the belief that American Iron racing should grow to be a very popular spectator series.
Whether you are racing against 42 other top drivers and or just a few, winning a main event takes a lot of effort. I have heard all kinds of rumors about why our performance in the series was so overwhelming. While it is true our #40 AIX car sponsored by Hoosier/Koni/TFS/AFR/Dynotuning.com is so far out front that nobody pays any attention to it other than to say we used a hired gun, mega horsepower, and cubic dollars. To me this is humorous at best. What made #40 run were effort, experience, dedication, and teamwork. Yes, Ross Murray is a very talented driver, but anyone that witnessed Ross Murray's loss of the right front Toyo on the second lap in turn 9 at Thunder Hill, his limping into the pits, the pit stop, and his subsequent run back though the field to take the win should know. That wasn't easy. It took a chassis design that would do it, and it took a lot of preparation and tuning on the part of the crew to give Ross the tools to do it. This required a crew dedicated to getting all the work done, not just a quick pit stop. JP Novelli, who is no longer with us, was a great help early in the year. Richard Romeo (Cosmo), our right hand, and of course, the experience of Grant Ingram and Dodge Reidy here in the shop along with the reliable Dan Clark, our intrepid fabricator all contributed to a successful year. John and I work hard at keeping it all together, and Eric Petersen works hard at keeping the customers happy.
I am proud of the team here at Griggs Racing, and we make our products the same way we race… to win. We do not compromise performance or quality for a sale, and perhaps if we did, we would make a lot more money. But we make the best we can make with what we got, and we still race exactly what we sell. So for those of you that may think that we run special prototype, one-off or modified parts on our team cars that won the AI and AIX championships this year, think again.
There were also many rumors about the power we generate; I would like to put them to rest. The #40 car dyno-jet tested at 391 RWHP, and 361 RW Ft-lbs. It is a 306, R block with Sonny Bryant crank, scat rods and Ross pistons. It ran a Victor Junior and AFR heads (we won't disclose which ones, or how they were put together). When I designed the cam to the flow and port efficiency numbers as measured on our flow bench, the resultant torque curve was wonderful. The engine pulls hard from 4100 to our rev limit of 7400, and peak power is 7000. The compression ratio is proprietary, but from the torque you can tell it isn't astronomical. The combination of bottom end parts is simply for reliability, which it surely is, since it stayed together all year through 22 race events, winning all of them even with the occasional driver error zing to above 9000 RPM. This reliability is how we race cost effectively and has everything to do with the machining, tolerances, balance, cam grind and quality valve train parts. The parts selected must be adequate to the task, but without the essential massaging, they are just parts. If anybody wants a motor like this we would be happy to supply it. It takes about 16 grand to build it complete as a long block with intake manifold. It is a proven trouble free package that wins, and lasts and lasts. I am not afraid of running it another season or two without changes or overhaul, although a winter overhaul is still a good policy.
Car #40 Drivers: Ross Murray, Bruce Griggs
2002 American Iron Extreme Series:
- Out of 16 races, 15 Poles, 16 wins
- American Iron Extreme Championship
- 3 races, 3 Poles, 3 Wins,
- New SCCA Course Record Infineon Raceway
The only other exception is the Koni rear GR40-3012 DA aluminum coil-overs. We set them on the Dyno before installation and then used their quick adjustability to a distinct advantage. After a decade of exclusive use and testing of competitors products, I cannot say enough about the adjustability, durability, and quality of Koni products, both for race and for street. They integrate into our systems perfectly allowing us to quickly tune to track conditions and this undoubtedly prevented us from losing the pole a few times. On the street they allow for a perfect ride/harshness relationship while maintaining the best possible performance. If there was a better product we would use it. All the other high-end adjustable units would have required disassembly and reassembly to make the kinds of changes we needed in minutes.
When the AIX rules changed in April de-regulating tire brands, our driver of the 40 AIX car, Ross Murray being the 1998 A Sedan National champion, could have brought any tire maker to the team for support. But, I chose Hoosier, even though we pay for them, as we have never found a better tire for its consistency, durability, and speed. It also is a great tuning aid in how it responds to small pressure changes.
I cannot say enough about our Griggs/Sierra World Challenge Brake System for consistency and stopping power. We ran all year without a single brake problem, other than when we tried to get too much out of used pads, wearing them down too far. Other than that the Hawk pads performed perfectly all year.
We ran Trick Racing Gasoline in both cars this year, which was an advantage also. Our testing showed us a significant gain over the other available fuels. Years ago I ran Trick when I was oval racing Chevrolets and I thought I would try it again this year. It worked well, and besides the on track results, analyzing the combustion chamber flame patterns in some of the engines we have done this year proved this was the right choice. Aeromotive Fuel Systems and Holley delivered flawlessly the required fuel on demand all year as well.
Dynotuning.com in Rohnert Park was very helpful, saving us the cost of buying a Dynojet, as there is no other in the area. Also, they know what they are doing there. So does Redline Oil, which kept all the parts rubbing each other in a friendly way.
Ross and the #40 had the AIX Championship sewn up when Mike Arnheiter decided to not run the last weekend and took his Camaro apart to try to get more speed out of it for next year. So, I drove the last weekend's events here at Infineon. (Special thanks to our AIX competitor John Lindsey who loaned us two Hoosiers as we ran out of inventory on Saturday.)
Running in wet conditions, I made a mistake on Saturday with the setup making the car very, very loose. It was fun though, as I had a ferocious dual with Vageli Karas in his AI car. I hadn't driven since August, and I made quite a few mistakes, but it was a lot of fun running bumper to bumper with Vageli. I finally got around him and then threw it away in Turn 7 by over cooking it. I made up for it the next day, walking away from the entire field as Ross had done each race all year. That was boring compared to Saturday's run with Vageli which was the most fun I have had driving in years. Adding to it was the thrill of seeing Vageli's family, his mother and father, watch him race for the first time, and see him win! Anyone that knows Vageli knows he works very hard to be able to race, and is quite diligent in his resource management. His family has not supported him in the past so seeing his parents who are not race fans beaming with pride in their son was magnificent. I identify with Vageli, as I did not come from a wealthy or racing family either, and all my past successes were hard earned as well. Watching him grow as a competitor and mature as a gentleman has been very rewarding.
The same can be said of our teammate Guy Cunningham. Guy started the weekend on the last set of some really worn out tires, so he drove steadily and conservatively finishing second in class and third overall each day, clinching the hotly contested championship.
Car #42 Driver: Guy Cunningham
2002 American Iron Series:
- 16 Races, 10 poles, 8 wins
- American Iron Championship
- 3 races, Three 2nd place finishes to #40
It was very difficult for Guy to win any race, especially after building Vageli his motor, which was designed specifically by me for AI rules. Guy's was a warmed over open-track motor. He had to run every lap of every race as though it was his last. In spite of this, Guy won more poles and races than any other AI competitor. We hope to remedy this torque situation for 2003 if enough support can be found. We are getting a late start, so if you want to help, let us know, we are actively seeking sponsorship.
AI is very competitive and getting more so. Griggs Racing is considering running two or more cars in AI in the future, and would like to find qualified funded drivers for additional ones. If you are interested in an arrive-and-drive program in championship contending AI Mustangs, let me know. We are also really looking forward to a National tour, where all participants can have a chance to find out who really is the king of AI and AIX.
The 2003 AI/X east and west schedules look great and we will publish our projected schedule of events as soon as we firm it up. We would like to invite everyone to come out and witness one of the better shows in American road racing today. There may be more expensive fields of cars but none more exciting. Every single race in 2002 was filled with drama. 2003 looks to be an even better show, so I hope we see you at the track.
Thanks for your interest and support,
Bruce Griggs, and the Griggs Racing Team
Koni
Trick Flow
Dynotuning.com
Scat
Hawk Brake
Hoosier
Redline
Air Flow Research
Driveline Service Of Concord
Dan Press/Sierra
Thank You!