CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 20 – The two-year unbroken string of Chevrolet wins in Stock Car Road Racing came to an end Sunday afternoon at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, as a Ford driven by John Goodson came home first in the opening round of the 2004 Stock Car Road Racing Championship. The Prototech Ford came across the line 20 seconds ahead of the Chevrolet of Bob Davis. Coming home third was Steve Graham in another Ford. Fourth was Chris Liesfeld in a Chevrolet. At Lowe’s, the Stock Car Road Racing Championship LMSC cars shared the race with other GT and Stock Cars of the SCCA, and it made for fascinating racing. Limited to 400 rear-wheel horsepower, the LMSC cars came in at a distinct disadvantage on the long oval which makes up a large portion of the road course at Lowe’s. Leaving the infield road course, the unlimited horsepower stock cars and GT cars could open up as much as 20 car lengths on the LMSC cars, only to give it back under braking and in the infield. Despite spotting the GTA and GT-1 cars more than 250 horsepower, LMSC cars started on the overall outside pole and in fourth place, and ran second and fourth overall for the first half of the race. Eventually, as tires went away, horsepower took over and the LMSC-leading Prototech Ford came to the line fourth overall, with Bob Davis finishing in sixth in the 20-car field. The next stop for the series is the Independence Day weekend Stock Car Shootout at BeaveRun, at the BeaveRun Motorsports Complex north of Pittsburgh. Defending race champion Kenny Liesfeld looks to rebound from a frustrating weekend at Lowe’s, which saw the Fields Racing Chevrolet lose an engine in qualifying and fail to start the race.

RESULTS: Charlotte Lowe's Motor Speedway
POS.	NO.		NAME	LAPS
1	96		John Goodson	16
2	19		Bob Davis	16
3	71		Steven Graham	15
4	95		Chris Liesfeld	13
5	92		Kenny Liesfeld	DNS

BEAVER FALLS, Pa., July 4 – It was almost a case of “last man standing.” After 52 minutes of almost nonstop action, a yellow-flag rain delay and four caution flags, the Stock Car Shootout at BeaveRun went to the Prototech Ford team of John Goodson, at least partly because they were involved in the fewest incidents. The Chevrolet of Bob Davis came across the line second, 16 seconds behind, followed by Bill Braton and Steve Dunn, also in Chevrolet Monte Carlos. Though threatening weather kept the crowd small, those who came saw a slam-bang affair from the moment pole-sitter Kenny Liesfeld brought the field to the green flag. By the end of the first lap, Bob Davis had made his way to the front, and the two Chevys of Liesfeld and Davis began to separate themselves from the pack. It didn’t last long. As the two leaders battled for the lead in almost every corner, the Ford began to close. Then after 13 laps of close racing, Liesfeld got a run on Davis headed down the BeaveRun back straight. As Liesfeld closed on Davis, Davis appeared to move over to block, and the two cars tangled. As the Goodson Ford slipped by into the lead, Liesfeld’s Monte Carlo was too badly damaged to continue, but the Davis Chevy took up the chase. A caution bunched the field, and after the restart, Davis regained the lead, only to spin off as a rain shower brought out another caution. For the remainder of the race, Goodson and Davis swapped the front position, never more than a few lengths apart. Finally, with less than 15 minutes left, as Goodson led, Davis dived under the Ford headed into turn one. The two raced side-by-side through the first turn, then got together in turn two. The cars touched twice, Davis coming out in the lead by inches. But in the very next turn, a second gear right-hander, Davis spun off track, and the Ford drove by, going on for the win. By race end, attrition had narrowed the field to only four running cars at the finish. Bill Braton, in his first series start in two years, soldiered home third on the lead lap. And newcomer Steve Dunn, in his first ever LMSC start, in a car he had just bought, finished in the money. An obviously elated Dunn said after the race: “This car is going to be my wife’s worst nightmare. I’ll definitely be back!” Next stop for the series is Road Atlanta July 24-25. RESULTS: BeaveRun POS. NO.   NAME LAPS TOTAL DIFF. BEST LAP 1 96   John Goodson 42 51:38.3   01:01.3 2 19   Bob Davis 42 51:55.0 16.717 01:01.1 3 10   Bill Bratton 42 52:12.2 33.832 01:03.0 4  7   Steve Dunn 40 52:04.9 2 laps 01:07.1 5 71   Steven Graham 21 32:35.1 21 laps 01:03.8 6 95   Chris Liesfeld 19 23:26.6 23 laps 01:03.0 7 92   Kenny Liesfeld 13 14:33.4 29 laps 01:01.6

After running second at Lowe's and BeaveRun, Bob Davis broke into the win column at Road Atlanta. Gainesville, GA, July 25 – Before November of 2002, Bob Davis had never turned a wheel in a road racing stock car. Sunday, he became a winner in one, taking the third round of the 2004 Stock Car Road Racing Championship at Road Atlanta and vaulting himself into a share of the season points lead. The win was the first career victory for Davis and saw the Chevrolet Monte Carlo of Fariss Racing back in victory lane for the first time in more than a year. The Ford of Steve Graham came home second. Running with the SCCA, the LMSC cars shared the track with GT-1 cars, stock cars of other types (GTA and ex-Winston Cup cars) and other SCCA GT classes. Davis qualified in the second LMSC spot, behind class pole-sitter John Goodson in the Prototech Ford Taurus. There was one car, an ex-Winston Cup Taurus, between Davis and Goodson on the starting grid. Marshall McCleod, in a Pontiac Grand Prix, qualified in the third LMSC position, with Steve Graham’s Ford in fourth. When the green flag fell, Davis got the jump on the Winston Cup car and charged up the hill out of turn one glued to Goodson’s back bumper. The two cars raced closely for the first lap, but as the race began to unfold, the Ford was able to slowly pull away to a several-second advantage. It didn’t stay that way The Road Atlanta event saw the return of Marshall McCleod to the series after missing the first two races with a back injury. With seven laps remaining, a stock car not running in the LMSC class caught fire and spun to a stop at start-finish, bringing out a full-course caution. As the cars circulated behind the pace car, the LMSC lead car of Goodson suddenly rolled to a stop, out of power. The Ford’s engine had expired. When the green flag flew with five to go, Davis drove his Monte Carlo to his first LMSC victory. Steve Graham came home second, the beneficiary of Marshall McCleod’s misfortune, a broken drive line. The win enabled Davis to close the gap in the points chase and moved him into a tie with Goodson for the lead. Steve Graham held on to third in the points, followed by Chris Liesfeld, Bill Bratton and Steve Dunn. Next stop for the series is Carolina Motorsports Park, August 14-15.

2003 Season Champion J.P. Morgan returned for his first race of 2004. Same result: he won. DANVILLE, VA Sept. 5 – Stock car road racing 2003-04 champion J.P. Morgan returned to the series this weekend for the VIR Stock Car Spectacular, and drove his 2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo to the win in convincing style. Morgan came across the line 42 seconds ahead of the 2004 Ford Taurus of John Goodson. Peyton Sellers of Danville, the 2003 Rookie of the Year at nearby South Boston Speedway, came home third in a Monte Carlo. If Morgan’s drive to the win looked like smooth sailing, the race behind him was anything but. At the outset, Morgan and outside pole-sitter Goodson quickly opened up a sizable margin on the field, with Morgan gradually pulling away from Goodson. They were aided when Sellers and Bob Davis, the third and fourth qualifiers, tangled on the first lap, dropping Davis to fourth and Sellers all the way back to eighth. Kenny Liesfeld took up the chase for second in his Monte Carlo and appeared to close slowly on Goodson. Then, on lap six, Goodson tried to outbrake himself in turn three and ran off track, narrowly avoiding ending the day in the wall. By the time he got back on, he was in sixth place. Liesfeld only got to enjoy second place for two laps before he felt a tire going down. The pit stop to replace it saw Liesfeld fall all the way to ninth place. Now second spot went to 2002-03 series champion Chris Mitchum, who had started sixth in his Monte Carlo. But one lap later, second place changed hands for the fourth time in five laps. Peyton Sellers, seemingly out of it, now worked his way back into second place, but again, it only lasted a lap. Now, on lap 11, Chris Mitchum came back to second, followed by Bob Davis and John Goodson, who had worked his way back and was closing fast. Out front, J.P. Morgan continued to cruise, oblivious to the battle raging behind him. At the beginning of lap 12, Davis dove under Mitchum going into turn one to take second. But then two turns later, Mitchum tried to take it back. They came together, and the two Monte Carlos went off. Suddenly, the top three were right back where they started, and that’s how it stayed to the finish. Fourth place wasn’t settled until lap 20, when local favorite Al Zimmerman gave up the spot, retiring with a problem. Kenny Liesfeld, after clawing his way back from the cut tire, came home fourth. Chris Liesfeld, Kenny’s brother, crossed the line fifth after playing it smart and staying out of trouble all race long. As dominant as J.P. Morgan’s Chevrolet was, their race wasn’t entirely without incident. The J&R Racing Monte Carlo ran the latter part of the race with a broken rear shock mount, but still managed to come home cleanly. After taking the win, Morgan said: “I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. Fifty minutes is a lot of work on a demanding track like this, but I love VIR and can’t wait to come back.” The Prototech Ford’s second-place finish broke a tie between John Goodson and Bob Davis for the championship points lead, leaving Goodson leading with Davis in second, 130 points back. Steve Graham, Chris Liesfeld and Marshall McLeod follow in third through fifth. Next stop for the series is Summit Point, Virginia, October 9-10. RESULTS: VIR: Stock Car Spectacular POS START NO. MAKE DRIVER HOMETOWN LAPS STATUS 1 1 11 Monte Carlo J.P. Morgan Ether, NC 24 Running 2 2 96 Taurus John Goodson Tallahassee, FL 24 Running 3 3 83 Monte Carlo Peyton Sellers Danville, VA 24 Running 4 6 92 Monte Carlo Kenny Liesfeld Richmond, VA 24 Running 5 9 95 Monte Carlo Chris Liesfeld Richmond, VA 24 Running 6 7 17 Gran Prix Marshall McLeod Raleigh, NC 23 Running 7 11 31 GranPrix Ron Read Fairfax, VA 21 Running 8 12 71 Taurus Steven Graham Salisbury, NC 23 Running 9 DNS 51 Monte Carlo Julie Allen Danville, VA 22 Running 10 8 06 Monte Carlo Al Zimmerman South Boston, VA 20 Mechanical 11 4 19 Monte Carlo Bob Davis Thaxton, VA 20 Mechanical 12 5 6 Monte Carlo Chris Mitchum Reston, VA 16 Mechanical 13 13 7 Monte Carlo Stephen Dunn Hanover, PA 13 Mechanical DNF 10 22 Monte Carlo Don Fariss Lynchburg, VA 2 Mechanical

At Summit Point, John Goodson notched his third series win after overheating put Kenny Liesfeld out. Summit Point, W.V., Oct. 10 – If Kenny Liesfeld didn’t have bad luck in 2004, he wouldn’t have any luck at all. After bettering the track record for SCCA/SPO class in qualifying, Liesfeld saw overheating erase a comfortable lead, and points leader John Goodson drove home for the win. Running with the SCCA at the ninth stop of their Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series, the LMSC cars fell into the SPO catch-all class for cars from other sanctioning bodies. The SPO class, while fast, isn’t supposed to have anything for the SCCA’s Trans-Am style GT-1 cars. But nobody bothered to tell Kenny Liesfeld that. Almost 40 cars took to the tight two-mile Summit Point track for qualifying, and when the smoke cleared, Liesfeld’s Monte Carlo had blistered the course almost three-quarters of a second under the existing SPO record, and found himself starting third overall, less than a second behind the pole-sitting GT-1 car. Two spots back in fifth was Goodson’s Ford Taurus, followed close behind by Chris Liesfeld and Bob Davis, both in Chevrolets. Thirty-seven cars in eight classes took the green flag. Goodson caught Kenny Liesfeld and hounded him through the infield on the first several laps. But as the heavy traffic came into play, Liesfeld began to open up a lead. At the same time, Kenny’s brother Chris began closing on Goodson, and Bob Davis was closing on him. Ron Read’s Pontiac Grand Prix came to grief on the very first lap, as a Camaro lost control in front of him and took off his right front suspension, ending what had already been a tough weekend for the Australian. Over the next several laps, the gap between the four cars accordioned as they fought to get through the heavy traffic of slower classes. At one point, the second, third and fourth place cars were nose to tail. At mid-race, Bob Davis got by Chris Liesfeld for third as the two cars touched entering turn five. Liesfeld pulled off a great save to avoid spinning, then later got back by Davis to regain second. Both later agreed the contact was incidental. About the same time Goodson managed to open a small gap for second, the terrible luck that has dogged Kenny Liesfeld all year struck again. Following two slower cars into the braking zone at the end of the front straight, Liesfeld committed to go by on the inside of both. One of the backmarkers, apparently not seeing the Chevrolet coming down on them like a freight train, pulled out to pass, forcing the already-committed Liesfeld into the grass to get by without collecting him. Liesfeld’s front grille scooped up the grass like a vacuum, blocking off the radiator. From that point on, it was a matter of time. Two laps later, the Monte Carlo was forced to the pits with overheating, and Goodson inherited the lead. Though the gap to second would vary with traffic, that’s how it stayed to the end. In a field that started six GT-1 cars and six LMSC stock cars, LMSC cars came home third through fifth overall to take three of the top five spots. Steve Graham survived two spins to finish fourth in LMSC, 10th overall, while Kenny Liesfeld’s DNF found him fifth in LMSC. Goodson expanded his series points lead slightly on Bob Davis. Steve Graham held position at third and fourth with Liesfeld closing somewhat, and Kenny Liesfeld moved past Marshall McCleod into fifth. The next stop for the series is the American Road Race of Champions at Road Atlanta November 5-7.   RESULTS: Summit Point   POS START NO. MAKE DRIVER HOMETOWN LAPS STATUS   1 2 96 Ford Taurus John Goodson Tallahassee, FL 16 Running   2 3 5 Monte Carlo Chris Liesfeld Richmond, VA 16 Running   3 4 19 Monte Carlo Bob Davis Thaxton, VA 16 Running   4 6 71 Ford Taurus Steve Graham Salisbury, NC 15 Running   5 1 82 Monte Carlo Kenny Liesfeld Montpelier, VA 12 Running   DNF DNS 9 Monte Carlo Stephen Dunn Hanover, PA 0 Mechanical   DNF 5 31 Grand Prix Ron Read Fairfax, VA 0 Crash