Finger Lakes Region SCCA Forums

A.M.E.C. will be holding a "high" speed autocross on the pavement of Albany Saratoga Speedway 4/10ths mile oval on November 7th. This is not your usual parking lot deal with tight gates and twisty corners. This is for people who like to open it up and carry some speed through the pylon gates as they traverse the recently uncovered asphalt in Malta.

When: Saturday November 7th 2009 (rain date November 8th) Registration opens at 8 AM. First car off at 10 AM.

Where: Malta, NY - on Albany Saratoga Speedway's Paved oval!

Why: Because AMEC used to put on some of the most well attended fastest autocrosses around at Albany Saratoga Speedway. This was from the late 60’s until about 1976 when they covered the track with clay. “Back in the day” AMEC would pull 80 entrants to an autocross when other clubs running in parking lots were getting 30 mostly because of the venue. The course will be simple and fast, yet challenging. You will get 2 laps per run with a few gates here and there and a slalom on one straight away. A minimum of 3 runs per car and more if we can fit them in. We'll run right until dusk.

To give you an idea of the course, take a look at a pic from one of our events in the late 1960's:



Scoring: Will be with an electronic scoring system.

Cost: $40 per driver. Spectator admission is free.

What to bring: any car that is safe to drive, street car, or race car, a helmet built in the last 15 years. Once again, spectator admission is free so bring your family and have fun watching from the grandstands. The track will have food for sale and bathrooms.

Prizes: Yup we will have trophies, this is a fun event. There are no year-end points battles so you can come for fun and will get a trophy if you do well in your class.

Classes: There will be a minimal number of classes for ease of registration and classing:

1. Stock Up to 2.5 liters
2. Stock Over 2.5 liters
3. Prepared Up to 2.5 liters
4. Prepared Over 2.5 liters
5. Modified Up to 2.5 liters
6. Modified Over 2.5 liters
7. Open Class - Open wheel and home built race cars.

STOCK- Street driven with no modifications. Air filter and intake, cat back exhaust or coffee can muffler allowed.
PREPARED- Street driven with modifications to the engine and or suspension.
MODIFIED - All other street type vehicles. Anything with DOT "R" compound tires. ALL turbo cars.
OPEN - Open wheel and home built race cars.

Pre-register: If you would like to attend please let us know, this is an expensive day of fun for our club and we need a certain number of participants to break even. To let us know if you will be coming send an E mail to Dave Burnham at racing48 [at) nycap.rr (dot] com or call him at 518 875 6956.

It's getting pretty obvious that we will need to cap entries to 70 drivers and go for a quality show over a quantity one. Giving everyone plenty of track time has always been our goal so we will set the cap to 70.

We're at 54 drivers right now. So if you're thinking about it, better speak up.

Stock Up to 2.5
#1 Richard Vedder - 2000 Ford ZX2 S/R - SU
#7 Mike Kamm - 1993 Nissan Sentra SE-R - SU
#31 Eric Prescott - 1999 Ford ZX2 - SU
#17 Greg Cuda - 1999 Mazda Miata Sport - SU
#11 Susan Cuda - 1999 Mazda Miata Sport - SU
#86 Josh Teresco - 1986 Saab 900 - SU
#44 Ron Brown - 2001 Ford Focus ZX3 - SU
#24 Ernie Yue - Ford Focus - SU
#8 Rick Hill - Mazda RX7 - SU
#96 Bryon Seyfried - Datsun 240Z - SU
#186 Jordan Pagano - 1986 Saab 900 - SU
#03 Michael Waterhouse - 2005 Ford Focus ZX3 - SU

Stock Over 2.5
#71 Michal SOV Sowka - 1998 BMW M3 - SO
#317 Dan and Rich Dobbins - 1964 Studebaker GT Hawk - SO
#6 Jeff Lehner - 2007 Mustang GT - SO
#41 John Croasdaile - 1988 Pontiac Fiero Formula - SO
#141 Denise Croasdaile - 1988 Pontiac Fiero Formula - SO
#47 Marc Boerma - 2005 Mustang GT or 1965 Mustang V8 - SO

Prepared Up to 2.5
#28 Mark Knibbs -2000 Ford ZX2 PU
#26 Ron Carl - 1995 Saturn SC2 - PU
#627 Jeff Morgan - 1992 Nissan 240SX - PU
#490 Adam Schwartz - 1998 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS - PU
#77 Phil LePore - 1993 Nissan NX2000 - PU
#4 Ivan Hinkle - Dodge Neon - PU
#53 Tom Baird - 1997 Neon ACR - PU

Prepared Over 2.5
#5 Theodore Goneos- 1980 Porsche 911 SC - PO
#56 Tim Cotrofeld - 1971 Monte Carlo - PO

Modified Up to 2.5
#48 Dave Burnham - 1984 Maserati Biturbo - MU
#29 Darryl Carl - 2009 Saab turbo - MU
#56 Will Schambach - 1990 Mazda Miata turbo - MU
#3 Phil Shoemaker - 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution - MU
# Miguel Teixeira - 2008 Subaru STi - MU
# Eric Rothaupt - 1995 Saab 9000 - MU
#31 Neil Hinds - 2001 Saab 9.3 - MU
#59 Dave Peters - 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 [turbocharged] - MU
#280 Jim Bauman - 1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 - MU
#09 Chris Rizzon - 1986 SAAB MU
# Jon Skalwold - 2007 Mini Cooper S - MU
# Noah Brownsey - 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution - MU
#23 Josh Hess - 1996 Acura Integra - MU
# Paul Havranek - 1991 Saab 900 turbo - MU
#42 Mark Van Dee Carr - 1970 Triumph Spitfire - MU
# Jonathan Bartlett - 1995 VW TDI Cabrio - MU
# Dennis Gatto - 2009 Mini Cooper - MU
# Bruce Richards - 2009 Saab turbo - MU
#07 Scott Chizek - 2004 Dodge SRT-4 Turbo - MU
#65 Darius Lauciskis - 94 Legacy SS - MU
57 Shannon Kelsey - 1997 Mitsubishi Mirage - MU

Modified Over 2.5
# Jeff Henderson - 1985 Mercedes 300TD Station Wagon - MO

Unclassified
#42 Paul Dudley - Mazda Miata
# Albert Weinert - Ford GT -
# Chris Travis - Ford GT -
# Bruce's Dentist? [lol] - Porsche

A.M.E.C. has done it once again. They pulled off another high quality and
highly unique motorsports event today at Albany Saratoga Speedway.

Before I go into the cars and drivers of this illustrious event, first on the priority list is the give the people who made it all happen a very hearty thank you! Unlike most autocross events, the participants in this one did not have to work....at all. The event was theirs to relax and enjoy. Our excellent and loyal club members made it all happen, and they did a terrific job. I did not get photos all of the workers, but here is a sampling of a few.


Club Treasurer [of 20+ years] Mike Glock handled the very busy position of race starter and timing equipment handler all day. And as usual, Mike also arranged for all of the event trophies.


Richard Vedder, your course Marshal. Richard was one of the crew there all day on Friday helping set up the course and organizing the event logistics.



Bruce Carlton was recording the results all day on the large scoreboards supplied by the Lyons' family.


Butch and Josh Bulson officiated penalties in turn 3, and resetting pylons throughout the event. Matt and Ray Galusha, as well as George Lyons and Ken Marshal worked all other corners.


Stan Waddle gave up his spot in the driver's roster to work the event instead! He assisted Bruce Carlton in scoring.


Ken Marshal worked the start/finish line all day long, along with his daughter as company.


Darryl Carl, lead a team of tech inspectors in the morning, did some announcing, and handed out the trophies after the event.


Ed Lyons, Darryl Carl, and Dave Burnham. Dave deserves the credit for being the guy with the vision of bringing back the A.M.E.C. Autocross events at Albany Saratoga. This guy is where it all started folks.

Well done everyone!


We couldn't have gotten a better day weather-wise. Crystal clear skies and temps around 50 degrees.


The teams get their cars ready and tech inspected in the morning.


Poughkeepsie Sports Car Club standouts, Mark Van de Carr, Joe Austin, and Dennis Gatto mounting the race rubber on the Spitfire.


A drawing of the course, which included two laps for each run. The slalom was used only on the second lap and whether you entered it on the left or right was optional. The first lap was straight through. Giddyup!


A pic from the grandstands. When's the last time you had a grand stand to sit in at an autocross?


Bryon Seyfried's original 240Z in the staging area.


Joe Austin driving Mark Van de Carr's highly modified Triumph Spitfire, powered by a 4AGE Twin Cam Toyota powerplant.


Check out this bit of nostalgia! Driven all the way up from Long Island, this is Rich Dobbins driving his father's '64 Studebaker GT Hawk. Four barrels and high compression, gotta love it!


SL racer Phil LePore in his '93 Nissan NX2000 at the starting line.


Eric Roscoe in his turbocharged ice racing buggy heading to the start line. He finished assembling an entire new engine only hours before!


Registrar, and the man responsible for bringing back this event after 41 years, Dave Burnham in his turbocharged '84 Maserati Biturbo.


One of the Saabs from the New Salem Garage stables setting some super quick times.


Hard braking on the back straight.


Ed Tucker in his Porsche 928S.


Fastest time of the day went to Will Schambach in his 1990 turbocharged Flyin' Miata.


The engine in Will's car.


A.M.E.C. President John Subik, Dave Burnham, and Darryl Carl getting the trophies ready to hand out.


Dave Burnham announces the awards.


Ready to go to the Malta Diner. Mark Van de Carr's Spitfire does more than just haul the mail!