American Iron gave fans not only one of the best up-front battles of any American-made racecar, but one of the best battles for the lead, period. Corey Weber in his Agent 47-sponsored 1969 Mustang battled nose to tail with Ryan Walton’s 2014 K&N-sponsored ‘stang. The two were running lap times within a half second of each other and trading paint.
Walton scored pole position followed by Weber and Robert Ames in third. When the green flag dropped, it was game on! Walton led the race till the halfway point, when Weber got by him in Turn 6.
“It was going well. I was in the lead,” Walton said. “I think we touched a little bit going up the hill in the first start, but there are no marks. I missed a shift going toward the Carousel and that’s when he got by me. I stuck with him and we kind of fought through traffic together, but it wasn’t meant to be, I guess.”
From that point on, Walton hounded Weber, looking for opportunities, but not finding any. Farther back, Robert Ames, who had started from third was holding his own despite carrying a lot more weight than he was normally accustomed to.
“It was a tough weekend here. The dyno wasn’t accurate at all compared to our dyno at home, and I live at altitude,” said Ames, who held on to finish third. “I redynoed here and I had to add 300 pounds. It was just overworking everything in the car, the suspension, the tires, the brakes. With 3,810 pounds compared to 3,250, it just couldn’t do it. We’ll work on the car and come back lighter and meaner and come back for more.”
Up front, Weber held off Walton for the win.
“Oh, man, it was pretty exciting. It was a classic Ryan versus Corey battle with a little bit more dough on the table,” Weber said after the race. “But it was a great time. I passed him right at the middle of the race and he was on my ass the rest of the time. He didn’t give me any breaks. I was having a hard time getting the power down and so was he.”
