Re: Way to stir things up Paul!
World Challenge – Mumford the Spoiler in GT
Written by: Peter Brock
Monterey, Calif. – 9/8/2003
Rookie Paul Mumford and his stylish Viper coupe staged a big upset at Laguna, humbling the vaunted PTG BMWs and Champion Audis (Peter Brock photo).
With only three races left in this year’s SCCA SPEED World Challenge Series for GT cars, you’d think the points race for the Driver’s and Manufacturer’s Championship should start to look pretty clear. The top pros like Hans Stuck, Boris Said, Bill Auberlen and Randy Pobst, driving the factory backed PTG BMWs and Champion Audi team racers should already have a lock on the season, right?
Perhaps…but nothing is ever certain in this white-hot professional series for production-based GTs. Last year, before the entry of the factory teams, the title chase would have gone down to the last race among a few top privateers, like 3R Racing’s Phil McClure, who got a good run on this season’s points race by winning at Sebring and Mosport in his three-year-old Corvette, or Mike Fitzgerald, who also drives for the Colorado-based 3R Racing team, but in a Porsche 911 Cup racer. McClure’s early victories had helped put him in second place against the pros in this year’s title chase, but two major events at Elkhart Lake a couple of weeks ago drastically changed the whole complexion of the series.
Almost unnoticed in Wisconsin, when they rolled into the GT paddock, was the arrival of three new Viper Competition Coupes. Starting this late in the season the unproven Snakes should have had little effect on the series, but the SCCA’s techies gave the Dodge GTs a favorable legal weight to encourage the newcomers, so they were pretty quick right out of the box. But since all three cars were being driven by series newcomers, they weren’t given much of a chance by the experienced racers in the series. Secondly, a spectacular multi-car crash mid-race took out McClure’s Corvette and both of the brand-new McCann Racing Vipers as well as Hans Stuck, in one of the front-running PTG BMWs. With the race being red-flagged, McClure being sent to the hospital for observation and Auberlen taking his third win of the season under yellow, a nobody took much notice of the quiet rookie who had started 23rd on the grid and clawed his way through the pack to place third at the checker.
Paul Mumford had towed his Viper out from California on the cheap with a pick-up truck, sharing the long drive with his tuner, Erik Messley. Compared to the McCann Brothers, with their twin, sparkling vermillion Vipers and matching 40’ tractor-trailer Mumford and Messley, in jeans and T-shirts, looked exactly like rookies they were; almost invisible among the rows of sponsored, pro-racing veterans, with their big-rigs and uniformed crews.
The two California track-day enthusiasts hadn’t had much time to prepare their big, maroon V10 engined coupe, but Mumford was confident that Messley’s skills would make their trip worthwhile. The two had spent the previous season applying some of Messley’s chassis magic to Mumford’s daily driver, a regular production Viper coupe that had gained a fair rep on the street and club circuits in Southern California.
Mumford was no stranger to competition, having been a motorcycle road racer for several seasons, but the decision to try their hand in the SCCA’s professional GT series was a major step up for both.
On Thursday’s early practice at Laguna Seca Mumford’s name cryptically appeared near the top of the first day’s time charts with a time of 1:34.3, just 0.8sec under Fitzgerald’s Porsche, who led the 26-car list. By Friday’s final practice session before qualifying Mumford, still on his used tires from Elkhart, was down to a 1:33.9 and still holding the day’s third-fastest time behind a still determined Fitzgerald, who now only had a 0.4sec cushion and PTG protégé Bryce Miller in a BMW M3. About this time several team managers and racers began asking, “Who is this guy?
During all of this early struggle for the front row times, not one of Tom Milner’s, works-backed PTG BMW M3s or Dave Maraj’s Champion Audi Quattros had come to the fore. Bill Auberlen, Boris Said, Hans Stuck and Justin Marks, the hired guns for the PTG racers, were all evidently being held in check by the wily German team manager, perhaps because of the extra 150lbs of “competition adjustment” that had been recently imposed on every M3 in the series! The SCCA’s burdensome penalty ballast had been imposed immediately after Elkhart because of the Virginia posse’s apparent ********** of the series since Lime Rock. When asked specifically if it was the extra weight that was keeping his BMWs off the top of the charts, Milner replied with a terse, “No comment!”
Mitch Wright of the SCCA admitted that his tech committee might have been “a bit slow” in applying the extra weight to keep the BMWs in check, but he felt that it was certainly justified in light of all the entire team’s dominant show at Sears Point several weeks earlier.
A sidelight to the whole weight penalty story on the BMWs was Bryce Miller, a hot young newcomer to the series who was scorching the track with a PTG-prepped “privateer” M3. Miller’s M3 evidently was equipped with an older style BMW engine, which supposedly wasn’t capable of the power being delivered by the latest series engines used in the “official” PTG works racers, and according to Tom Milner shouldn’t have been given the extra 150-lb penalty imposed on the later-model engined M3s.
Miller had raised a few eyebrows of his own when his practice times were just a couple of tenths slower than Fitzgerald’s, who by now had become the odds-maker’s favorite for Sunday’s GT race. McClure’s Corvette was absent from the proceedings as he hadn’t yet received medical clearance to drive again, the result of the concussion he’d received at Elkhart Lake.
By the time qualifying had ended on Saturday morning Fitzgerald and Miller’s names had been wiped off the time sheets by Randy Pobst and Michael Galati in the Champion Audi Quattros, who had been sand-bagging during practice, perhaps waiting to see what Milner’s team was going to do. When it was obvious Milner’s team wasn’t going to step up, Pobst nailed down the pole position with a sizzling 1:32.6, shading Fitzgerald (now back in fourth) by 0.7 second. But what really had the GT paddock talking was Mumford; the California rookie was still in third place on the time sheets and a small but curious crowd had gathered around his pick-up truck and trailer as he rolled in off the circuit after holding off several of the top names in the series. Mumford and his Viper were suddenly the buzz of the weekend!
For many of the fans on the oak-dotted hillsides around Laguna Seca the race of the weekend was not to be the featured 2 hour and 45 minute ALMS enduro, but the two “supporting” SCCA Pro races in the World Challenge. The parking lots were filled with Touring Cars and GTs just like those that would be seen on the track later in the day, and the partisan owners of those cars were revving up to support “their” guys in “their” cars.
Randy Pobst and his Audi dominated qualifying, but may have underestimated rookie Mumford in the race (Peter Brock photo).
With Pobst and Galati finally on the front row for the start of a GT race most expected the twin, four-wheel-drive Audis to streak to a commanding lead by Turn Two and they were right….. But by Lap 2 Mumford had already out-braked Galati in 11 and immediately set his sights on Pobst, who now had a substantial lead of more than 50 yards. Mumford’s speed around the rolling 2.2-mile circuit was almost identical to Pobst’s, but the big Viper gained on the Audi going down the Corkscrew and then sailed past going deep into Turn Two on the third lap to take the lead!
Back in the field, Auberlen, who had started eighth, was making waves of his own, arcing past five cars to hold a distant (12sec) third behind Mumford and Pobst in spite of more than 200 pounds of extra weight in his car.
Just past the halfway point the race went yellow; the result of a minor crash that would require a couple of laps of clean-up. It was a fortuitous and at the same time damaging time for Mumford, who had by now thoroughly defeated a very determined Pobst.
“I was running out of brakes and knew I’d never make to the end at the pace we were running,” said Mumford after the race. “The yellow saved me. I never touched the brakes the whole time we were under yellow and somehow they came back.”
Pobst, too, was having brake problems and realized that he had to put Mumford between himself and Auberlen on the restart if he was to have any chance of winning the race. When the race went green Mumford and Pobst were side by side at full throttle down in the Andretti 180.
“I knew that this turn would be the race,” said Mumford, and he stayed in it until Pobst braked; “by then we were both in so deep it’s a wonder that I made it through.”
Pobst had gambled on the rookie’s inexperience and lost—the Audi went deep into the gravel as Mumford’s Viper powered out of the turn to again hold the lead. Only now Mumford had Auberlen in his mirrors! The race series’ leader was pretty sure he could pressure Mumford into an error, but the Viper driver stayed cool and just out of Auberlen’s range all the way to the checker.
“I was hoping he’d make a mistake," said Auberlen but he was solid the whole way….he drove a fine race.”
Pobst was able recover from his agricultural excursion (“Lucky I had the Quattro’s 4WD drive to get me out of the gravel!”) making his way back up to finish third.
Auberlen’s amazing second place (65lbs of “Rewards” ballast plus the 150lbs of “competition adjustment”) was a strong testament to the BMW driver, who is having one of his greatest seasons. Auberlen cinched both the driver’s and manufacturer’s SCCA’s Touring Car championships on Saturday in the Turner Motorsports BMW and, with the points gained at Laguna, now leads the GT series by 20 points.
Auberlen will have another 30 lbs added for the next race in the series at Road Atlanta on Oct. 15th. Mumford will have 40 lbs of “Rewards” ballast added, which will make his Viper the second-heaviest car in the series (behind the Audi).
“I didn’t think I’d be able to afford the trip to Road Atlanta,” admitted Mumford, “but with the prize money from this race I think we might just make it.”
. Mumford and his sidekick Messeley pull into the WCGT pits Wed. pulling a trailer with a pick-up to his pit across from the BMW factory pit with its 3 semis 5 cars 20 pit workers, 8 tables with kraft services, and unloads his single CC, you could almost hear the snickers. After a day of practice on Thursday PMUM jumps in his Piper Saratoga and flies down to Corona to pick up myself and John (SSpeed Racer) Dearing and fly us back to Monterey (what service). On Friday the official practice sessions start and PMUM has the 3rd fastest time. On Sat. the qualifying starts, Messeley the lone pitman was assisted by a bunch of us Mumford Groupies (at least 16 at the time) never underestimate the power of passion. Paul goes out and runs the 3rd fastest qualifying lap ON HIS FIRST LAP, now seeing as you need to run the same tires in the race as qualifying Paul came in early. Audis 1,2 and Paul 3rd. Sat. night was the banquet, the room was split by Vipers & Vettes with the Vette's being represnted by driver Tony Gaples (who crashed Sun.) and us by PMUM, I did a little speech and introduced the drivers first Tony ( clap, clap) then Paul the room erupted, it took over a minute to settle them down, now there's enthusiasm. Sunday comes and The Mumford Groupie section has grown to 25+ petty much all Viper drivers that know Paul, our thanks to New Century Financial for allowing all of us "over the top" Groupies into their corporate VIP tent right on the track to watch the race, it was great free food, beer, wine and mixed drinks to "loosen" us up. Right next to us was the AUDI tent, separated only by a waist high bar we eyeballed each other, with some comments being passed. The race starts and us and the Audi tent go nuts, 1st lap PMUM passes the first Audi of Galati and sets his sights on the 1st place Audi of Pobst, in lap 3 at turn 11 Paul pasts him, boy the Audi tent got quiet, we were absolutely insane, yelling, screaming, jumping around it was bliss. Paul ran a good hard fought race, no cheap yellow or red flag kinda races, an honest win. Just to show his appreciation of our support on his cool down lap he stopped on the track in front of us (and the Audi tent) and did a burnout 
