Ah, San Antonio; home of world class Tex-Mex cuisine, the famous Riverwalk, and of course, "The Alamo." On November 10 and 11, 2001 the IDRC put on a show attendees will also never forget-and the hot racing action brought more tears to our eyes than spicy bean burritos ever did. Series points were accumulated, records were shattered, and a car even caught fire.
Street Class
Looking to increase his IDRC points lead, John Shepherd made the trek to Texas from his home in Ohio, but if there was anybody that had a say about who was going to win in "ole San Antone" it was Ari Yallon of RX7.com fame. Driving his Eagle Talon AWD, Shepherd was hot on his game as he made his way through the field. In the semis, Shepherd laid down the law, blasting a personal record time on radials-a 9.898 at 147 mph, putting the pressure on Yallon.
Yallon took down a Supra in the first round, but a semi-final match against Djuric's Supra put Ari and his RX-7 to the test. As the tree turned green, the cars left as one and stayed with each other for the entire quarter mile. As Ari himself put it, " I saw Djuric's Supra beside me the whole way; I wasn't sure who won." As it turns out, Yallon finished just a few thousandths ahead of Djuric, setting the stage for the final round between the number one and number two IDRC points leaders.
This was the match the crowd was waiting for: Yallon had been beaten by Shepherd in Bandimere, Colo., which catapulted Shepherd into first place. If Yallon could turn the tables on Shepherd, it would just heighten the tension for the IDRC finals. When the tree fell, Yallon was first out of the hole and charging, but Shepherd was close behind. What was supposed to be Yallon's insurance turned out to be his demise: While getting ready for the event, Yallon made the decision to replace the transmission with a new one thinking his old "slop box" had seen its time. If you are familiar with how a new transmission feels you would know what went wrong. Toward the top end of the track, Yallon mis-shifted and it was all over. Shepherd walked by and took the win, sealing his IDRC points championship.
All Motor
What has sometimes been a rather barren class with few competitors was the most popular and most competitive class in San Antonio with the top eight qualifiers all within 0.8 seconds of each other. And cars ranged from "old school" air-cooled VW power using carburetors to fuel-injected, high-revving four-bangers like that of Scott Mohler's Neon-two different schools of thought with one simple goal in mind. Scott Kelley, driving his air-cooled VW was out to show the crowd that it doesn't take the latest "do-dad" to post a fast number. In fact, Scott had one goal, which he achieved in the semi-final round. Scott was able to successfully launch the car into the 10s and put himself into the final round. Not bad for a car that is older than most readers of Turbo magazine.
Also looking to make it to the final was Scott Mohler driving the CNNP Racing Dodge Neon. But to do that he would have to beat Cotorres Gee in the semi-final round. Cotorres has been very successful this season, attending most IDRC events and proving that it doesn't take all the money in the world to be competitive in the All Motor Class. Having heated the tires in the burnout box, both competitors slowly crept into the staging beams. When the light turned green, both cars left at the same time, but it came down to power and Mohler was the one that had it. Hoping the Neon might break, Gee and the Hocus Pocus Honda held in 'til the very end, but Scott Mohler would be the one to face Scott Kelly's VW in the final round.
The final round turned out to be old school vs. new; VW vs. Dodge; air-cooled vs. water-cooled, carb vs. injector, Scott vs. Scott, inline four vs. Boxer four-you get the idea; it was a showdown at high noon. There was anticipation amongst the crowd, but what might have been a very close race was over just as it had begun. When the light turned green, both competitors dumped their clutches at the same time, but Kelley just barely got past the 60-foot marker. His engine let loose and Kelley smartly turned the car towards the wall so as to not get oil on the track. Mohler finished in 11.063 sec at 122 mph, clinching the IDRC All Motor win.