Way Captures North American MINI Cooper Championship Crown

Camden, SC: Waylen Hunsucker driving the Way Motor Works/M7 Tuning MINI Cooper S captured the first championship crown of the newly formed North American MINI Cooper Championship (NAMCC) at Carolina Motorsports Park on September 23-24. In capturing the championship, Hunsucker will travel all-expenses-paid to England’s Donnington Park on October 21st to compete as the U.S. entry in the highly competitive U.K MINI Challenge Series. Similarly, the U.K. champion is expected to come to the USA to compete in the first race of the 2007 North American MINI Cooper Championship early next year. Racers in the UK championship are eligible to compete in the NAMCC. Their right-hand drive MINIs will bring an element of international flair to the newly hatched NAMCC.
With the NAMCC championship all but sewn up, several competitors chose to keep their MINIs in the garage rather than undertake the long tow to South Carolina. Despite the slim field of entries, those that showed were able to present an enjoyable race as SCCA 2005 National Showroom Stock Champion Pete Taylor, who serves as the Director of Race Series for the NAMCC, took a break from defending his national crown to compete in the NAMCC. Taylor, driving a stock MCS finished a close 2nd to Hunsucker, who with sportsmanlike character, had eased up in the closing laps to give his lesser-powered competitor a chance to catch up. Rookie Matt Jensen finished 3rd in his Dreyer & Reinbold/M7 Tuning MCS rounding out the field. In Sunday’s 2nd race of the weekend, after discussions with the competitors, series administrators elected to run a “handicapped” race with Taylor being provided a head start over the higher horsepowered racers. Taylor was just nipped at the finish line by Hunsucker providing an exciting finale to the east coast NAMCC.
Phil Wicks, the series organizer, has announced that the 2007 NAMCC will be split into two divisions, an east coast and a west coast division, to enable local MINI racers an opportunity to race their cars closer to home and score important series championship points. As the calendar of 2007 events is drawn up, Wicks anticipates having a series “run-off” between east coast and west coast competitors at a central locale to determine the series championship.
“We have heard from a number of racers who wanted us to create two divisions,” said Wicks. “I think the 2007 series will encourage a number of MINI racers to compete in the NAMCC. The chance to race against other MINIs is clearly a desirable element and we look forward to welcoming more MINI racers next year. It is a fun, affordable race series. There are a number of exciting new developments underway and I think the 2007 season will be a break-out year for the NAMCC.”
Interest in the NAMCC is already achieving significant results. MavTV cable network has agreed to televise the entire 2007 series bringing the excitement of MINI racing to race fans across the country.
The final race of the 2006 NAMCC will be held at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in Buttonwillow, CA on October 30th followed by a charity fund-raising event, including a non-championship race for MINIs and “counterfeit” MINIs (non-MINI) on behalf of the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation on November 11.
For additional information on the NAMCC visit the website at www.minidriving.com.
-end-
22 Comments
I met the man and the MINI in St. Louis when he came though with MTTS. Very nice guy. His MINI is names Mouse btw.
Yay, Way!!! And he’s the man for mods, too. WayMotorWorks.com
Good going Way!
Aaron Cornaby
head motorer: <a href="http://www.outmotoring.com" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.outmotoring.com</a>
MINI Cooper Accessories
Great job, Way!
Congratulations!!!
Congratulations!
Can’t wait to see a North American MINI challenge down here at our very own Miami-Homestead International Speedway.
Way to go Waylen!
Congrats Waylen. The series could not have had a more deserving first champion. Waylen embodies all that is great about the MINI community. Thanks also to Phil for getting this series up and running. Let’s hope next years series will build on the successes of this years series.
Congratulations Waylen! We have been rootin for you all year. Great achievement. Good Luck on the race in England.
This is <strong>W A Y </strong> cool!
Sorry, couldn’t resist that one. 🙂
Congratulations Waylen!!!
Congrats Way! Now go give those UK MINIs what for! 🙂
Hey, now I can say I’ve had a bona-fide Champion wrench on my car!
Just for the record, it’s [Way Motor Works](<a href="http://waymotorworks.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">http://waymotorworks.com/</a>), not “Way Motorsports”. 😉
Waylen is the MAN!!!
Way installed my M7 pulley . . . I’m feeling pretty validated at the moment. 🙂 Congrats
Congratulations from all the team at Dreyer & Reinbold MINI.
Hey Waylen,
Congratulations ! ! ! on you Victory. Good Luck in the UK; bring home the GOLD!!!
Batman
M7 equipped Cooper
Congrats Waylen….
Actually, I’m really stoked b/c Mouse was formerly our Mini. Waylen was kind enough to buy the car off of us after I had an unfortunate mishap (rolled it after going off the track at Laguna Seca in turn 9…ouch!!!) at a track event last December and it was totalled out by my insurance company. It was a painful loss, but the Mini is one stout car, I walked away w/o any injuries except a sore back the next day (no roll cage, just a Schroth harness setup, glad I had it). The car had always pulled strongly and was a great drive from the start. I was very bummed that I “killed” my Mini, but glad that it got a second life as a champion race car. Good Stuff!!!
Great job Waylen. I hope to see you out at ButtonWillow! Stick on a pulley and lets go racing!
-Brian
“BRAVO” Waylen
regards,
Charles
Congrats!
Waylen is an awesome person. He was my instructor during the driving event at AMVIV III. I also watched him race there. Loved the Pure Silver/Lime combo
Just want to say thanks to everyone. I’ve had a blast racing and to win it all is icing on the cake.
Thanks