Rich Wesorick
Enthusiast
Competition in the SCCA’s Southwest Division resumed this weekend in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Ft. Worth’s Bobby Archer drove his now-familiar black No. 32 ViperSpeed Viper to victory in the T1 class on Sunday, April 21st. The race was held on the runways of Cabaniss Field, which is an old Naval Air Station. With the track having no banking to speak of and one long straightaway accounting for nearly 40% of its total length, Archer and the other T1 drivers knew the track was going to be ******* brakes.
Although Archer had never driven there before, he was able to figure out the fast line pretty quickly and had the fastest practice lap of any cars there, including the GT-1 cars. During the qualifying session, Archer ran a 37.9, which was a track record for T1. Matt Whittaker, who is the current Southwest Division points leader in T1, qualified second in his Corvette Z06 with a time of 39.2. These qualifying times placed Archer and Whittaker in the second row (positions 3 and 4, respectively) behind two GT-1 cars for Sunday’s race.
Conditions on Sunday for the race were excellent, with sunny skies and temperatures in the low-80’s. Archer got a good start to the race, but Whittaker stayed right behind him early on. Around five laps into the race, the gap between Archer and Whittaker began to grow as Archer pressed hard to distance himself. He thought he might need some cushion in case he was slowed down by traffic as this was a multi-class race. Instead, the margin grew as the race went on and Archer took the checkered flag with a 10-second lead over Whittaker. The victory was Bobby’s second win in three T1 races this year. Since it was Whittaker had who took the victory in their last race against each other at Texas World Speedway (TWS) after Archer blew a tire, this convincing win at Corpus Christi provided a measure of redemption. Even with the win, Archer trails Whittaker in points in their Division and, hence, is looking forward to a few more head-to-head races with Whittaker.
Next up for Archer though will be a few ViperDays club races in the Viper Racing League, starting with two races at Mid-Ohio on April 26 and 27, and then two more races at the new Mid-America Motorplex in Omaha, NE on May 18 and 19. Archer will resume SCCA T1 competition in the Southwest Division on May 25-26 at TWS. Archer also plans to compete in both the SCCA June Sprints at Road America and the newly-announced SCCA Grand Prix of Texas at Texas Motor Speedway in July. For more information on Bobby Archer and ViperSpeed Racing, go to www.viperspeed.com or www.bobbyarchermotorsports.com
Although Archer had never driven there before, he was able to figure out the fast line pretty quickly and had the fastest practice lap of any cars there, including the GT-1 cars. During the qualifying session, Archer ran a 37.9, which was a track record for T1. Matt Whittaker, who is the current Southwest Division points leader in T1, qualified second in his Corvette Z06 with a time of 39.2. These qualifying times placed Archer and Whittaker in the second row (positions 3 and 4, respectively) behind two GT-1 cars for Sunday’s race.
Conditions on Sunday for the race were excellent, with sunny skies and temperatures in the low-80’s. Archer got a good start to the race, but Whittaker stayed right behind him early on. Around five laps into the race, the gap between Archer and Whittaker began to grow as Archer pressed hard to distance himself. He thought he might need some cushion in case he was slowed down by traffic as this was a multi-class race. Instead, the margin grew as the race went on and Archer took the checkered flag with a 10-second lead over Whittaker. The victory was Bobby’s second win in three T1 races this year. Since it was Whittaker had who took the victory in their last race against each other at Texas World Speedway (TWS) after Archer blew a tire, this convincing win at Corpus Christi provided a measure of redemption. Even with the win, Archer trails Whittaker in points in their Division and, hence, is looking forward to a few more head-to-head races with Whittaker.
Next up for Archer though will be a few ViperDays club races in the Viper Racing League, starting with two races at Mid-Ohio on April 26 and 27, and then two more races at the new Mid-America Motorplex in Omaha, NE on May 18 and 19. Archer will resume SCCA T1 competition in the Southwest Division on May 25-26 at TWS. Archer also plans to compete in both the SCCA June Sprints at Road America and the newly-announced SCCA Grand Prix of Texas at Texas Motor Speedway in July. For more information on Bobby Archer and ViperSpeed Racing, go to www.viperspeed.com or www.bobbyarchermotorsports.com
