Past champ Lisa Gutermuth keeps a close watch on Board member Bruce Monnin as he passes her.	Defending champ Matt Evinger (right) made good on his promise to return to defend his title, but his heart wasn't in it ... playing in only one heat whereas Danny Lewis not only played in all three heats, he was also the first to enter. Persistence pays off.

Three preliminary heats were held again with a total of 17 5- or 6-player preliminary games played. Tables were randomly assigned six players, with five players being the fallback position when numbers did not provide even six-player multiples. Six races were run again for each game. Stats from these t7 games were:
  Minimum score for win: 30
  Maximum score for win: 44
  Average score for win: 35.82
  Minimum score for second place: 27
  Maximum score for second place: 36
  Average score for second place: 30.29
  Twice, we had to resort to a tie breaker to decide who won.

In two of the 5-player games, the bank car (aka non-player car) won the race.

The winner of the Geico "Don't call us, we'll call you" Award for most cars lost to spin-out, blown engine or crash" prize goes to Tom McCorry, who had a total of six cars knocked out, with two races where he lost both cars.

From these17 games, only half of the winners and runner-ups appeared for the semi-finals. This put us one short of the perfect field of18 so we regretably had to dismiss the two lowest scoring alternates to reduce the field to15 players, giving us three tables of five racers each with first two gadvancing to the Final. The scores for the six qualifiers were:
  Katie McCorry  - 41 points
  Ed Bielcik  - 33 points
  Brandon Bernard  - 31 points
  John Speck  - 30 points
  Danny Lewis  - 30 points
  Chris LeFevre - 30 points

This qualified Katie and Brandon for the Final for the second straight year. There has never been a repeat champion in the event and with defending champ Matt Evinger failing to advance, that would remain true in 2007. So, back-to-back laurels is nothing to sneeze at.

Katie took the points lead by winning Race 1, with Danny finishing in second and John Speck taking third and fourth place. Two cars were knocked out; Chris blew an engine and Katie spun out in her second car.

Brandon scored big in race #2 with a first and third, with Ed taking 2nd and 4th. The first crash card was played as the last card by Chris. This knocked out cars from John and Danny's team. A third car was lost to spin out on Katie's team. The score after two races was: Brandon 16, Katie 12, Ed 10, John 8, Danny 6, Chris 0.

The third race was spared any crash. Two cars were knocked out with Ed's team losing one to a blown engine and Katie one to a spin out. This looked to be a trend for Katie as she has lost three cars to spin out in as many races. Her father, contemplating the issuance of a dreaded learner's permit in the near future, looked grim. Danny had a first place finish, with Katie's remaining car taking second, Chris finally got on the scoreboard with a third while John had to settle for fourth and sixth. The score was now: Katie 18, Brandon and Danny with16, Ed and John with12, and Chris 4.

Ed lost the only car in race 4 to a spin out. Danny, enjoying great success from his booster seat, finished first again, with John getting second, Brandon third, and Ed fourth. The score was now: Danny 26, Katie 21, Brandon 20, John 18, Ed 15, and trailing the pack, Chris with 4. It was still anyone's game for all but Chris as the leaders remained closely grouped behind the diminutive Lewis.

Chaos reigned in race 5 with four cars taken out. Chris and Katie lost cars to a crash, while Ed blew an engine and John spun out. This enabled Danny to add to his lead with a first first and fourth. Brandon took second and sixth, with Chris in third place. Danny jumped to a commanding point total of 39 with his third straight won race. Brandon had 27, Katie 23, John 18, Ed 15, and Chris 8 with but one race to go.

Ed mounted a serious charge to claim second overall with a first and second in the final race. Although Danny did lose a car with a blown engine, his overall lead was insurmountable and his remaining car took fourth place for good measure. Katie kept her trend going by losing a fourth car to spin out and adjourned to study her driver's manual. The tally at the end was Danny 42, Ed 31, Brandon 28, Katie 23, John 20, and GM Chris bringing up the rear with 12. The crash card was only played twice in the game; as the last card played in the second race and in the final card round of the fifth race. 

But, we had made history with Danny Lewis becoming the youngest winner, at age 10, to take a shield in a century event. Congratulations to Danny who now taces the prospect of being a hasbeen at the ripe old age of 11. But that's a problem for another day. For now rejoice in the need to push your dad's plaques off the mantle to make room for the family's newest Centurion.

And thanks to Ron Wuerth, who stuck around for the Final to answer any questions raised while the GM participated in the Final.

GMT has reprinted Formula Motor Racing and had them available for sale in the dealers room which should help renew interest in this event for some time to come.