OctoberFast at VIR was a crossover event between the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast region, and Outlaw Vintage Racing was there for the first time. The OVR Class was a huge hit at VIR, with several Mid-Atlantic drivers now looking to get the class started in the their region for 2014.
On Saturday morning, six cars were set to run in Vintage: five from the Southeast and John DeFord from the Mid-Atlantic region. His Subaru-powered Porsche 914 was a perfect fit for Outlaw Vintage.
For the race, the V1 cars were spread out due to rain during qualifying. Matt Isbell was up front while Joe Freda, John DeFord and Fred Crawford were scattered throughout the field. With no V1 cars nearby, Isbell battled with Joe Moholland in his SU Corvette for the overall win in Thunder. With mere hundredths of a second between them, Isbell drove one of his best races ever to take the overall win.
Due to rain, Dan Long and Gordon Slingerland gridded at the rear to fight out V2. At the start, Long dove inside at Turn 1 but Slingerland was able retake the lead down the back straight. Into Hog Pen, Long closed back up for a race down the front straight, again out-braking Slingerland into Turn 1. The next lap, Slingerland retook the lead and ran midtrack into Turn 1 to take away the inside line, causing Long to brake late, and attempt a pass on the outside on the damp track.
Side by side around turns 1 and 2, Long took the lead out of Turn 3. By then a DP car had caught them entering the esses. Slingerland got pushed off line as Long got farther away. Once the DP car cleared, Slingerland drove flat out up the esses, bouncing off the curbing all the way to close up as Long exited Oak Tree and retook the V2 lead once again down the long back straight.
Having a weight advantage, Long closed up at every braking zone. On the last lap as the rain fell, Slingerland went off track at Oak Tree, but kept his foot down, and got back on track, keeping an out-of-class car between them. Slingerland had to hold a tight line to keep from being pushed out of position in turns 16 and 17. As they split down the front, they went across the line full throttle in the rain with Slingerland taking the win in V2.
In the video, Gordon Slingerland put together a montage of the close Outlaw Vintage 2 racing action from the OctoberFast event at VIRginia International Raceway last fall.
