Factory Fives Make History at Re-opened Thompson Speedway

[Mad Dog]

The nation’s oldest road racing course re-opened last weekend, and Factory Fives dominated the field! The event was a NASA Pro Racing road race event which drew four Factory Fives - three Challenge Cars and a GTM Supercar. This weekend (June 28-29), Thompson Speedway will be holding its official grand opening showcasing vintage road race cars from the ’50s, ’60s, and 70′s BUT last weekend was the official first road race, and Factory Five drivers drew first blood.


Factory Five Racing Challenge Series National Champion John George drove the wheels off of his black #48 Challenge Car to win the highly loaded ST2 class AND the overall win for all classes! John’s in-car video shows a vicious battle against a seriously fast ST2 Corvette, but John manages to pass in traffic and take the checkered flag.


John George was the 2012 Factory Five Challenge Series National Champion.


John’s in-car video from Sunday’s race is super fun to watch and his driving is really impressive. John’s driving and his Factory Five Challenge Car would absolutely DESTROY any vintage original Cobra.


GTM builder and racer John Kabacinski made it on the Super Unlimited podium with a third place in his GTM. John’s GTM build has been meticulously documented on here, and John frequently answers questions and helps other GTM owners.


Factory Five customer Pat McMahon also made it to the ST2 podium with a strong 3rd place finish.


Pat McMahon leads Factory Five engineer Jim Schenck (blue Challenge Car) with John Kabacinski charging up from behind in his black GTM.


The weather was perfect, and the pits were warm and dry without rain for a change.

[Mad Dog]

Jim’s umbrella was for sun only!


John preps his black Challenge Car before the race with Factory Five engineer Jim Schenck.


Jim has campaigned his blue #52 Challenge Car for almost 10 years! He is definitely due for a paint job, but thankful it wasn’t before this weekend because the new track surface contained a huge number of small asphalt “marbles”.



Above and below: Johnny Kab makes short work of a 911 Carrera in his Factory Five GTM.





Above and below: John earned 3rd place in NASA’s very competitive Super Unlimited (SU) class. John has also worked with Factory Five at the SEMA Show, and has a strong motorcycle road racing background.



The last races at the old Thompson Speedway road course in the ’70s may have seen Cobras and Corvettes. To see modern day versions of these cars battling out on the new track is a special thing. Congratulations to the Factory Five customers and to Jim for their exceptional driving.

Special thanks to Shawn Doucette and Johnny Kab for the great photos. Huge congratulations to John George for a great race win.

[David Hodgkins]

GREAT write-up Dave! Wow, that in-car footage was exciting!

Way to go George, you really shut-em-down.

[Mark Dougherty]

Congrats Guys
FFR was well represented.

John in his challenge car ( with mom, Dad, and Gram )

Jim in his challenge car ( with Bridget, and Ben Baby Jim )

Pat in his Challenge car with his dad in his Austin Healy 3000 ford 347 powered

Chris Allan was there running his spec E30. Chris has a FFR Coupe but is using the BMW for this year to learn how to race legally.

Eric Jacobs ( former FFR roadster/ challenge car owner and former FFR employee ) stopped in to say hi since this track is in his neighborhood
and he brought along his new Fiancee. Congrats to both of them.

John with the GTM congrats on a great finish It was awesome to meet you call me anytime if you want to talk more tuning.

Also a FFR coupe running hard on Sat. Sorry your name is alluding me at the moment but it sure looked great.

Then Brendan my son was there to transport, and turn wrenches on the winning cobra, and Allan spec E30 who won on sat and 2nd on sunday . Oh yeah Wanda and myself also went up for Friday and Sat. but we had to leave for work on sunday.
My son Matty decided to go another way and attend the LCS show in Ohio. we missed him but he was crewing for the ohio cobra club selling tickets for CF.

So in the end it was an awesome turn out with perfect weather.
Congrats again to all the racers and thanks for a great show.

Later
Mark D