Season 1, Round 1: Daytona

Ryan Smith(Writer, Voice Commentator for the GAMRA): "Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Inaugural event for the Grand American Motor Racing Association(GAMRA)! 31 Drivers, 24 spots, 13 races, but there can only be one Champion at the end of the season! And it all starts here, at the Daytona International Speedway! The teams and drivers are excited to get this season started, but before the cars get on track, let's go through some of the important points and the race schedule for this Inaugural Round!”

Things to Know Coming into Daytona:
1. Daytona will be the only race this season that will be running Duel races to decide the qualifying order, as well as which of the Go-or-Go Home cars will make the show.
2. Speaking of the Go-or-Go Home(GOGH) cars, there are 11 of them that will be fighting to grab one of just 4 spots to make the 24-car field. 5 GOGH cars will be in the 1st Duel, and 6 GOGH cars will be in the 2nd Duel.  The Top 2 in each Duel will make the race. The drivers who are not guaranteed to make Daytona will have a (NLI-Not Locked In) next to their name.
3. As mentioned before, the Duels will decide the qualifying order for Daytona. Duel 1 will decide the Bottom Lane for the start, and Duel 2 will decide the Top Lane.

Expected Schedule for the Round of Daytona (Subject to Change, Races with Video Coverage: --Y--):
1. Test Race for the “Guaranteed” Drivers (First 20 cars that Signed up) --Y--
2. Test Race for the “Go-or-Go Home” Drivers(11 cars) --Y--
3. Free Practice(all cars allowed to practice) --N--, WILL HAVE RESULTS
4. “Random Drawing” to determine the Lineup for the GAMRA Duels @Daytona
5. GAMRA Duels @Daytona (50 Miles, 20 Laps Each Duel) --Y--
6. Happy Hour/Final Practice --TBA--
7. Round 1 @Daytona (125 Miles, 50 Laps) --Y--

Note: Expect there to be plenty of Notes/Storylines to be done going into this round, as I do not know exactly when I will be able to run the Duels/Race. But in any case, it's time to get excited, the start of the GAMRA is almost here!

Halden: How I found about this brand new league, I will never remember, but I am so excited to try it out with a randomized team!

Halden: Suspiciously similar to 'The Draft.'

Tsonisaka: I try best. (Note: She barely speaks any English).

The first Test Sessions for these GAMRA cars is green, with the guaranteed and non-guaranteed drivers running in separate sessions. These Test seasons aren't so much to see who has the fastest car, as much as it is for these teams to learn about these cars and how they work together on the track.

I wonder if we will see any wrecks...

Halden: I did fairly well in the testing session. This car is showing me some promise!

Tsonisaka: I crash hard.. hard in wall. No good.

3 Things to Know: Daytona
1. With the start of a new season comes the challenge of figuring out where teams stand going into the season, and even more so when it is a brand new series. Everyone is starting with a blank slate, and it is up to the teams to figure out their expectations and where their cars are as we head into the season. Now, Daytona is what many consider to be an equalizer, but there will still be teams that are gonna show their speed here.

2. The weather here at Daytona has been surprisingly cool, and is expected to stay that way throughout Speedweeks. Temperatures aren't expected to get past the mid-60's, and combined with cloud cover could play a big role into how these races will run, since lower temps+ a cooler track= Higher Speeds.

3. Top or Bottom? That could be the deciding factor into who wins here at Daytona. While the inside is technically considered the preferred groove here, being on the high side has proven very effective, especially when there are a group of faster cars running the Top groove. It will be very interesting to see which groove will end up being the winning one as the race comes to an end.

Stu: "Glad we got to start on the pole in our test session, but not the way we wanted to start our weekend with that wreck, gonna work to beat out the damage on the old girl. Luckily that Hardee's sponsorship was enough to buy us a couple more cars, so we have two more cars to work with."

"Free" Practice(All drivers can Join)- 60 Minutes
1: #8 L DuBois 46.336
2: #24 Z Fitzwater Sr. 46.337
3: #61 A Vincent 46.529
4: #83 B Haxley III 46.544
5: #29 B Jones 46.556
6: #3 J Arndt 46.572
7: #17 R Rehall 46.626
8: #58 M Nutt (NLI) 46.636
9: #1 M Duncan 46.669
10: 78 M McGee (NLI) 46.720
11: #13 H Halden 46.740
12: #009 J Christchurch (NLI) 46.838
13#: 41 D Anderson 46.878
14: #900 T Thaber (NLI) 46.902
15: #21 H Allen 46.910
16: #10 A Rowe (NLI) 46.915
17: #157 S Tsonisaka (NLI) 46.919
18: #2 D Louison 46.946
19: #48 T Griffin Jr 46.974
20: #08 K Collins (NLI) 46.974
21: #59 S Engrits (NLI) 47.047
22: #33 P Jackson 47.082
23: #71 A Benyacko 47.116
24: #79 D Bunnell (NLI) 47.186
25: #88 E Monaco (NLI) 47.197
26: #95 M Anderson 47.225
27: #53 J Bunnell (NLI) 47.253
28: #81 A Baranauskas 47.317
29: #40 B Stephens 47.386
30: #7 S Thaber 47.415
31: #42 T Sako 47.462

Single-Car "Mock Qualifying" Runs- 2 Laps
1: #3 J Arndt 49.875
2: #1 M Duncan 49.910
3: #24 Z Fitzwater Sr. 50.136
4: #71 A Benyacko 50.166
5: #29 B Jones 50.195
6: #48 T Griffin Jr 50.251
7: #2 D Louison 50.260
8: #21 H Allen 50.400
9: #13 H Halden 50.404
10: #95 M Anderson 50.509
11: #8 L DuBois 50.529
12: #17 R Rehall 50.577
13: #83 B Haxley III 50.603
14: #33 P Jackson 50.619
15: #81 A Baranauskas 50.630
16: #61 A Vincent 50.655
17: #78 M McGee (NLI) 50.875
18: #08 K Collins (NLI) 50.977
19: #88 E Monaco (NLI) 50.987
20: #40 B Stephens 51.021
21: #10 A Rowe (NLI) 51.085
22: #42 T Sako 51.136
23: #900 T Thaber (NLI) 51.155
24: #009 J Christchurch (NLI) 51.161
25: #79 D Bunnell (NLI) 51.198
26: #58 M Nutt (NLI) 52.266
27: #59 S Engrits (NLI) 52.386
28: #157 S Tsonisaka (NLI) 52.495
29: #53 J Bunnell (NLI) 52.571
30: #41 D Anderson 52.603
31: #7 S Thaber 52.628

Note: (NLI) next to driver name means "Not Locked In".

Halden: "Practice time was an absolute blast! I cannot wait until qualifying and the race. From the two sessions I did, my times clocked me in at 9th and 11th grid place, so it is promising for me. This car is fast! All I am hoping for now is a good qualification, and a great race. See you there!"

Tsonisaka: "I no...do good. I must....good!"

Hannah: "15th in practice, 8th in the mock qual runs. solid results overall, for me this weekend its about trying to learn these cars, and survive the chaos that Daytona can be."

Stu: "20th in the practice and 18th in qualifying runs. We're in a great place to get this car in the show, probably some more work we can do, but we're in a good place."

McGee: "10th in practice, 17th in Mock Qualifying runs, doing pretty good overall compared to the other NLI cars. Hopefully we can get this #78 cat in the show!"

Stephens: "29th and 20th, I'm just happy to be locked in the race, hopefully we will have a solid run."

David Moonlight(Moonlight Racing Owner): "Pretty good speed overall in both sessions, with LeBois topping tbe chart in practice and Arndt in the Mock Qualifying runs, we feel pretty confident about our team here at Daytona."

Top 5 Overall in both Practice and Quali WOW. I amazed

Here is the Starting Lineup for the Duels at Daytona!

Duel 1 Starting Lineup:


Duel 2 Starting Lineup

The GAMRA Duels @Daytona is green!

Jon almost made it in, Deb held everyone up. Jon just wishes the race was 5 laps shorter.

Hannah: "YES What a great way to start the weekend! Huge thanks to my team giving me a rocket ship today. I am ready for the main event."

Stu: "Damn. we were so close, we just weren't able to get to the bottom "

Halden: "My car was pretty strong today. I came from last on the grid up to fight with the #21, and then was shuffled back. There were not enough laps for me to slink back to the front, unfortunately. 7th is good enough for me!"

Halden: "It feels great to be here in a fast car for the inaugural race of GAMRA. I am so excited to see how we do this first season!."

Tsonisaka: "I no qualify, car is slow."

And Round 1 of the GAMRA Waffle House Grand National Series at Daytona is GREEN!

Starting off the Season on the right note YAYYYY

Halden: "Wow, racing out there was an absolute blast, y'all! I had a fairly strong car and led some laps. My car came to life towards the last five laps, but a choice for me to go high instead of low got me stuck behind the #21 and I fell from third to eighth."

Halden: "That...was a so awesome. I have to say that again...Inaugural season at Daytona. Who would have thought? I can already tell from the tidbits in practice, duels and the actual race that my car is a quick mover and is quite strong. Since this is the first race, I won't judge too hard yet. Hopefully my car will live up to the standards that Daytona gave me; I'll have a chance at a championship if so. Super pumped for this season, people!"

Arndt: Our car is a tank. We rode the wall and fell all the way back, but I knew I couldn't quit. We clawed our way up and raced the 24/48 for the win. Had an interesting 4-wide situation with Fitzwater earlier in the race, but it's a good thing the two of us are smart enough not to try anything that would risk us the race. We came home Top 5, but we can't end there. We must show that our speed tonight was not a one-time thing.

Knight: We were strong today. Ran up front basically all day and it all paid off. A bit nerve-racking Seeing your two drivers 4 wide or running side-by-side for the lead, but that didn't matter. I was a bit worried when Fitzwater ran the wall for a bit, but he also clawed his way up and lapped traffic saved us. Came so close to a 1-2 finish, but we can't complain getting 1st and 3rd. I thank Zachary for the team's 1st victory and a great way to start off our team. We're winning this championship.

Tom Jr: "Man, we almost had the race and a 1-2 finish. But, 3rd is a respectable finish to come out of the gate with especially at Daytona. That's awesome for Fitz though. Have to see if he'll let join in the post race fun, lol."

day500champ1 wrote:Tom Jr: "Man, we almost had the race and a 1-2 finish.  But, 3rd is a respectable finish to come out of the gate with especially at Daytona.  That's awesome for Fitz though.  Have to see if he'll let join in the post race fun, lol."

Come right on in to Victory Lane Mate