Super Touring 1 is where monstrous V8’s thunder down the straightaways, echoing off the K walls and grandstands. This is the class that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
Don McMillion started on pole in ST1 in his Corvette. He was tied in points with Brian Goldburg in his Panoz, but because McMillion logged a quicker lap time, he started on pole, with 2015 American Iron Champion Terry Mathis in third in his new C6 Corvette.
At the green flag, which didn’t fly till the full ST field had turned onto the front straight, the ST1 driver David Greenman
got an offset bump from behind, which spun him into the inside wall and scattered his car and various pieces across the front straight.
That left the field to circle the track under caution for nearly 20 minutes while crews cleaned up the wreckage. Then, after about 12 minutes, the track went to full-course caution again for all but one lap, which was a green, white checkers — and that last lap was manic. There were more collisions on the way to checkers, and the best Mathis could muster was third place.
“It was a great day. The first- and second-place cars, we didn’t have anything for them,” Mathis said afterward. “They’re running on racing slicks and we’re on street tires. So, we’re kind of out-dollared badly, but we had a good race. I really enjoyed it.”
That left Goldburg and McMillon to slug it out for the win, no easy feat in a race with so few green laps. In the end, Goldburg settled for second.
“I got a great restart. There was a wreck down in the Esses that I didn’t want to get into and Don took advantage of it,” Goldburg said. “He got around me on the last lap. I didn’t even look to see if he was coming. So, excellent race. I love the track. NASA’s awesome. My crew did a great job. I’m happy.”
McMillon took home first, proving once again that it’s better to be out front.
“It was a wreck fest, it looked like, but we got through it,” McMillon said. “It was a lot of fun. We had a pretty good race. I let Brian get under me during a confusing situation, and then I was able to get it back when we restarted, so it was great race. I appreciate NASA putting it on.”
