Overall, the event went off with few problems. A huge storm blew through the area on Friday, but cleared in time for the cruise. Cars in the Time Trial group ran hard Saturday morning in an effort to get into the Top 15 for a run-off in the afternoon. Our '68 Camaro project, Bad Penny, was at the event and driving duties were shared between Steven Rupp and David Pozzi. David turned in a great qualifying lap, but the street pads couldn't take the abuse of us doing back-to-back sessions and the cooked brakes resulted in progressively slower lap times. Next time we'll take the time to swap to track pads capable of handling the higher temps.

Steve Chryssos, the event's Technical Director, summed it up well when he stated, "I think we were all universally blown away by the extraordinary show that was organized and run by Motor State Distributing. Sure, there were a few minor 'inaugural' hiccups, but looking back, the Motor State guys' efforts exceeded everyone's expectations. The result was truly a great hot rod event. No amount of pictures, words, or videos can effectively convey that message. Those who weren't there will never appreciate that fact. Those of us who were there might take it for granted, but when you think about how hard these cars were pushed and how well they performed, the Motor State Challenge should really be labeled as a milestone event."

Plans are already underway for next year and the team is looking at ways to allow for more cars. All we know is that we're hooked and are already looking forward to the 2010 event. After all, it seems that the only cure for what ails us is more seat time.