$2018 Challenge Trivia - Did you know?

To date there have been 18 GRM $20XX Challenges including the first $1500 Challenge held in 1999. 

1.  Did you know?

In those 18 events there have been 881 entries.

That’s a lot of 8’s and 1’s

2. Did you know?

Dynamic scoring was first used in 2005 and has been used 13 times.

wheels777 said:

To date there have been 18 GRM $20XX Challenges including the first $1500 Challenge held in 1999. 

Did they skip a year? I count 19, if you're including the $1500 Challenge in 1999. 

RealMiniParker said:

wheels777 said:

To date there have been 18 GRM $20XX Challenges including the first $1500 Challenge held in 1999. 

Did they skip a year? I count 19, if you're including the $1500 Challenge in 1999. 

Yes.  There was no event in 2000.

Wasn't there 2 events 1 year?  A west coast challenge?  The fiero was the only participant who showed up.

wheels777 said:

RealMiniParker said:

wheels777 said:

To date there have been 18 GRM $20XX Challenges including the first $1500 Challenge held in 1999. 

Did they skip a year? I count 19, if you're including the $1500 Challenge in 1999. 

Yes.  There was no event in 2000.

Why?

conspiracy

In reply to TheRX7Project :

Y2K broke everything.

TheRX7Project said:

wheels777 said:

RealMiniParker said:

wheels777 said:

To date there have been 18 GRM $20XX Challenges including the first $1500 Challenge held in 1999. 

Did they skip a year? I count 19, if you're including the $1500 Challenge in 1999. 

Yes.  There was no event in 2000.

Why?

I don't know.  I did not get involved until 2003, and attended the first time in 2004.

3.  Did you know?

6 out of 18 Challenge Winners did not win a single segment of the  event.  Ed Malle's $2014 overall win included a 2nd place Concour, 2nd place Auto-X and 2nd place Drag finishes.

Q: Why no 2000 event?

A: As I understand it and a general paraphrasing...

The $1,500 event in 1999 was done as just a magazine article.  Tim said to the staff, "racing doesn't have to be expensive. Lets prove it..."  He gave to them each $1,500 budget to bring a car.  I remember Tim himself brought a Mustang SVO.  The event was opened to readers also in the hopes to have a few more cars there.  

The article was a hit.  The chatter about the event continued on.  More readers wanted another chance to get in on the action and there was a desire to "do it again."  By the time everything got swinging into place to do another and to allow for some lead time for cars to be found and built, the "next event" would fall into 2001.  It was also at this time that the budget was moved to $2001.  

In your first Post I said to Myself.....I thought 2018 was the 20th Show, I know I heard that at the dinner party , Didn't say anything thinking it would be Sorted out, But now I don't know what day it is.

In reply to John Welsh :

So 19 then, Good then.

Count the West coast Show and it is 20 Show's.

So if the Fiero was the ONLY car to Show Up .........Did It WIN !

GTXVette said:

In your first Post I said to Myself.....I thought 2018 was the 20th Show, I know I heard that at the dinner party , Didn't say anything thinking it would be Sorted out, But now I don't know what day it is.

I believe JG said 20th anniversary, not 20th event.  I remember the reaction being consistent, but forgot the wording.  Regardless, the 20th and 25th annual or event counts will herald the test of time accolades.   I look forward to congratulating Tim and the staff for meeting the challenge to stand the test of time. 

I have personally started to call folks from past events to raise awareness of the numbers.

GTXVette said:

In reply to John Welsh :

So 19 then, Good then.

Count the West coast Show and it is 20 Show's.

So if the Fiero was the ONLY car to Show Up .........Did It WIN !

Yea.  Then went on to the east coast challenge later in the year and had some issues.  Finished mid pack iirc.

In reply to wheels777 :

Ok, I remember reading about the first $1500 Challenge, but didn't realize 2000 was skipped.

In reply to wheels777 :

Yes I see How I made that Mistake, good of you to start rallying the Troops.

I remember wheels777's first post being something like "I'm just coming down to win the drags and learn about the other events".  In those days IIRC Erik Lawson owned the drags with a SBC 280z in the 11's, and I couldn't imagine anyone beating that for $2k.  When Andy fired the Nova in the pits, I think the Earth stopped spinning for just a fraction of a second.  I remember thinking, "oh E36 M3, there's a racecar here!"

AngryCorvair said:

I remember wheels777's first post being something like "I'm just coming down to win the drags and learn about the other events".  In those days IIRC Erik Lawson owned the drags with a SBC 280z in the 11's, and I couldn't imagine anyone beating that for $2k.  When Andy fired the Nova in the pits, I think the Earth stopped spinning for just a fraction of a second.  I remember thinking, "oh E36 M3, there's a racecar here!"

The fanboy in me still remembers reading about that old nova, completely gobsmacked that someone could put those times down. I never imagined it would get faster, but it was what got me here. 

4.  Did you know?

The smallest margin of victory in the Auto-X was 0.050 seconds.  3 times FTD was set with less than a 0.100 second margin.

Mndsm said:

AngryCorvair said:

I remember wheels777's first post being something like "I'm just coming down to win the drags and learn about the other events".  In those days IIRC Erik Lawson owned the drags with a SBC 280z in the 11's, and I couldn't imagine anyone beating that for $2k.  When Andy fired the Nova in the pits, I think the Earth stopped spinning for just a fraction of a second.  I remember thinking, "oh E36 M3, there's a racecar here!"

The fanboy in me still remembers reading about that old nova, completely gobsmacked that someone could put those times down. I never imagined it would get faster, but it was what got me here. 

It has been flattering and strange to have heard how many folks were drawn to GRM and to the Challenge because of that 'Ol Nova.  More people ask me about that car than all our other cars.  If todays rules were around in 2005 it would have been utterly crazy.  Weeks before the 2004 Challenge we had to remove the NOS system to keep it under budget.  I was faced with a lighten the load or make more power dilemma.  Since the event was held in April we were testing on crappy tracks with zero traction.  So, I never got a good NOS hit, but was running 10.48 in Maryland.  Funny story, during that same test sessions, a snow squall hit the top end of the track as I came thru the traps at 125+.  The snow flakes looked like basketballs.   Had the snow not hit we were going to spray and see what it would do.  We were running the car 2-3 times a week tuning it and it forced us to make the decision to go light and remove the juice.  Good thing, as it turned out the track in Gainesville was slick and we had to launch soft. 

5.  Did you know?

That the Auto-X FTD was over 1 second only 2 times at the Challenge.  Ironically, both times a college team schooled the field by gapping everyone by 1.323 in 2015 (Texas A&M) and 1.275 (GT Wreck Racing).  The other 16 events were decided by a margin between 0.050 and 0.820 seconds.

Love these jewels of Challenge history! Keep 'em coming!

I am impressed that most of the GRM staffers who took part in the original $1500 challenge are still working there after two decades. Tim brought the SVO, JG prepared an Omni GLH, David ran a Honda Civic Si. They got things rolling, and the readers took it from there.

2017 autocross had a tie for 2nd (my Miata and Ed Malle's Mustang). While a tie is relatively rare in autocross, having a tie with both cars driven by the same guy is really, really rare ! Mr. McCrispin in both.