Sacramento, Ca – The Don Carter Motorsports team, with Bret Williamson driving the ’53 Studebaker, wrapped up the 2010 West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Associations (WCOPMA) points championship with their win last weekend at Bandimere Speedway during the Super Chevy Show event, an event the WCOPMA was booked in to headline for Bandimere Speedway.
Going into the Denver event, all that was needed for the team was for Williamson to qualify anywhere in the 8-car field and the championship was theirs…but like the team has done all season long they were set to run hard and not take it “easy” with a main goal to make it to yet another final round and win another event this 2010 season.
During testing on Friday it was relevant that they had brought their “A-game”. Most other teams serviced their cars during the week between Boise and Denver (as the events were back to back) and were making multiple testing passes during Friday’s test session. It was a different story for the Don Carter Motorsports team; they spent all day Friday servicing the engine and car working till the last minute and made it to the starting line with just 5 minutes left during testing. The Studebaker was the last car down the track and made a half track pass that clocked a 4.06 1/8th-mile time, that was .03 seconds better than anyone else’s time to the half track mark and out the back door would’ve been a low 6.20 pass. They were ready for qualifying on Saturday.
On the first qualifying session Saturday afternoon Bret blasted to the number 1 spot with a 6.21. That pass lasted in the top spot through the second session but things got interesting on the third and final session under the lights. Jay Diedrich was in the second qualifying spot with a 6.23 and ran right before Bret in the third session where he would lay down a 6.21 and take the top spot by just a couple thousandths of a second.
Bret later said he saw Jay bump him down to the second spot, and honestly didn’t think he could run a number to take it back…but he was wrong. The previous track ET record was a 6.48 and it was reset multiple times during testing and qualifying by multiple drivers, but no one expected to see a ‘teen pass in the 8,000-10,000 feet of corrected air. That is just what Bret did under the lights when he ran an unheard of 6.13 to take the number one qualifying spot back for Jay and for good! It would be the third time Bret lead the qualifying in the five WCOPMA events ran this 2010 season.
In the first round Bret would face Dan Myers. Dan was off the line first and lead to half track but Bret started to pull away on the back half and got the round win with a 6.17 over Dan’s 6.54. In the second round Bret would face Randy Kay with his ’63 Corvette. Like the bracket car the Studebaker has been all year Bret laid down a 6.18 to take the win over Kay who ran a blower banging 6.63. The final round Bret would be faced with Pro Mod legend John Scialpi. Scialpi got the jump off the line and, just like Dan Myers, lead to half track but then Bret had the big screw-blown power with his Miner Brothers engine and started to pull away on the back half taking the event win with a 6.20 to Scialpi’s early lifting 6.52.
While talking to the team in the pits after the event they said that in the combined 13 passes in Boise and Denver the last 2 weekends they never ran a pass slower than 6.23. Combine that great feat with the fact they have been in every final round while running with the WCOPMA this 2010 season with 3 wins and 2 runner-ups and it’s safe to say the team deserves the championship this year! The hard work and dedication from the entire team is shown with the cars performance on the track.
Don Carter wants to thank, first and foremost, the crew chief Jeff Butler for his great tuning all season long. Jeff, along with Bret Williamson, are the main factors that make the Studebaker run as good as it has all year. But it wouldn’t be possible without a great crew behind them consisted of Don Williamson, Mike Dickerson, Mike Dickerson Jr., Don Beam, Rich Gore and Mark Hanel.
The Don Carter Motorsports team would like to thank their sponsors for their support this 2010 season:
Network Office Systems - www.NorCalCopiers.com
Simpson Race Products - www.SimpsonRaceProducts.com
Marsh’s Carpet - www.MarshsCarpet.com
Don Beam Automotive
Honest Engine - www.HonestEngineOnline.com
