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Ridetech Secures DriveAutoXtreme Event Wins

 

Over Memorial Day Weekend, many folks spent time at the lake or on the trails. But many gearheads out there instead opted to compete on track in their pro-touring spec muscle cars at various events. One such event was the DriveAutoXtreme event at NCM Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. A couple of #ridetechequipped competitors participated and ultimately brought home some hardware in each of their respective classes.

For those unfamiliar with these types of autocross events, a quick rundown of the format is in order. The two-day event recognizes a daily class winner for the lowest lap time for each class. This means the track is run in one configuration on day one and is usually reversed for day two. Based on each competitor’s combined average from each of their fastest runs on each course, the top eight fastest participants qualify for the Shootout Challenge on the final day to determine a Class Shootout winner. 

Josh Gladish is a 14 year Ridetech team member and currently occupies a position in sales. Tony Garrett is a civilian employee dedicated to the U.S. Navy. Both gentleman are die-hard car enthusiasts and talented drivers and we were lucky to catch up with both competitors post-race to learn more about their cars and to capture their weekend reflections.

Josh represented his company well by piloting his 1969 Pontiac Firebird to secure the second fastest GRV class time on Saturday, and the fastest time on Sunday. He also dominated the GRV Shootout with a Sunday afternoon win! The GRV class represents drivers of Grassroots Vintage cars 1985 or older, with no ABS or traction control. Other key GRV class limitations limit front tire size to 275 mm, and vehicle weight must fall within 95% of factory curb weight.  

Another Ridetech equipped driver, Tony Garrett of Bedford, Indiana, competed in the GTV class in his 1976 C3 Corvette, named “Nemesis”. He secured a second place GTV finish on Saturday and finished first on the Sunday AM course. This qualified him for the GTV shootout round in which he ultimately finished third. GTV is a class dedicated to Grand Touring Vintage cars up to1989 with a 3,200-pound minimum weight. Tony recently upgraded to our triple adjustable TQ coil-overs and has been dialing the car in with the additional knobs which allow him to both tune high and low speed on the compression side and low speed rebound to his preference based on the track, weather, and other factors.

In his spare time, you can expect to find Tony campaigning “Nemesis” in various autocross and pro-touring events. Tony frequents DriveAutoXtreme events and commented he especially enjoys the “tough competition the series offers. Regarding the NCM event specifically, “these courses were “faster” setups than the previous two events, which was great to see.”

In regard to Gladish’s first outing at a DriveAutoXtreme event: “It was the most fun I’ve had in quite some time. The event was very well organized, and I met one of the best groups of people I’ve ever been around. The atmosphere was great despite all the rain. There were a bunch of people who all have similar interests hanging out in a parking lot together, so it was hard to complain.

Regarding his event performance: “The car did way better than I expected, to be honest. As expected, the rain made it more of a challenge for everyone. There were dry times, but I know everyone was doing their best to stay in the dry lines as much as possible. We were all on our toes the whole weekend!”

Before Josh’s next competitive event, he plans on updating his catch can situation as he noticed it’s current configuration unfortunately led to it prematurely filling up based on how it’s routed. He would also like to upgrade his tires to a more competitive 200 TW tire that is potentially wider. The MOMENTUM subframe allows up to a 275 mm front tire, which is allowed in his class. Shifting to a square (matching width at all four corners) setup on the car will provide neutral and improved handling. 

 

As for Tony, he is glad to report that Nemesis requires nothing other than a bath from the weekend of wet racing. He actually has quite a few events planned in the coming weeks, and is fingers crossed that the wash and few shock adjustments based on the change of location are all that he’ll need to focus on. 

It’s great to see Ridetech equipped vehicles out there winning at events, and in general being out and about getting driven and putting smiles on faces. We look forward to updating our readers on how these cars fare at future events. 

Hopefully these types of blog updates are motivating enough in and of themselves for you to get out into the garage and get your project up and running. If yours is currently drivable, we encourage you to get it out to the next event you can, and better yet, make sure you encourage your friends to do the same with theirs. 

We’ll catch you on the next one #ridetechnation! 

EBurnett

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