Bodle shows off flexibility of TA3, production racing, at Road America

July 3, 2013

Bodle shows off flexibility of TA3, production racing, at Road America

 As spectators watched the 34-car Trans Am field take to the track at Road America for Round Five of the 2013 Trans Am Championship, they doubtlessly saw the #16 Caribbean Food Delights Ford Mustang race by.

 
Its appearance was much like any other professional race car—engine roaring, sponsor’s logo emblazed across its hood, bright lime green accents and a bold, off-set green stripe down the top; a beautiful, powerful racecar in every sense.  But, unknown to the spectators was that the #16 had just barely made it to the race on time, having undergone repairs—at a Ford dealer. 
 
The weekend began with enthusiasm for Trans Am rookie Bodle.  A recent addition to pro racing, Bodle finally made the leap into Trans Am earlier this year, attracted to Trans Am by the history and affordability of the Series and the TA3 Class—Trans Am’s production-based class, in which Bodle races in the America Muscle group.  Being a newcomer to circuit, Bodle had never raced at Road America before. 
 
“It’s just one of those tracks.” Bodle said.  “I keep calling the Trans Am Series’ schedule a bucket list of tracks.  And while I’m not sure how I’d rank them all so far, Road America is up there.” 
 
As would any other driver, Bodle was eager to get plenty of time in during the practice session and planned on learning the legendary course lap-by-lap throughout practice and qualifying.  Then, only two laps into the session, the rear end broke on his FR500 Ford Mustang—placing Bodle in a bind with the race coming up the next day. 
 
“To say I’m racing on a budget is an understatement.”  Bodle said.  “My crew isn’t huge, it’s usually a collection of friends and contacts from the region around whatever track we happen to be at.   So we didn’t really have the tools or the parts to fix everything up.  We went around the paddock asking for a hand, but most of these teams are in other classes—they don’t have production parts or work with production-based cars.”
 
So Bodle did what most of the spectators would do if their own production car broke down—he took it to the local Ford Dealer. 
 
“We loaded up the hauler and dropped the car off at Eric Von Schledorn Ford in Random Lake, Wisconsin.” Bodle said. “Gary van Treeck, who heads up the service department, said they were more than capable of fixing the car and brought us right into the service bay, they just needed the parts.  Unsurprisingly, the service department doesn’t keep Ford Racing parts in stock.” 
 
With the car securely in a service bay, Bodle’s crew chief Bruce Cameron, of Full Tilt Boogie Racing, made a call to Marv Zuidema at C&M Performance to find the parts needed to get the #16 back up to speed.  Bodle then headed south of Milwaukee to Hubertus, WI to purchase the necessary parts—with only hours remaining before pre-gridding began for the 100-mile race at Road America.  After a couple of hours on the highway and in traffic, Bodle returned to Eric Von Schledorn Ford; and the service department got to work. 
 
After another hour had passed, the #16 Caribbean Food Delights Ford Mustang was back in its hauler with only an hour until grid.  But with one hurdle cleared, another was upcoming.  Bodle was faced with having to learn Road America in the midst of a race—on the fly and surrounded by 33 other cars. 
 
“Trying to learn a new track is always an experience.”  Bodle said.  “But to do it in the middle of a race is something else.  I wasn’t going to try and push anything too hard or do anything impatient off the bat—I just tried to stay out of the way of the faster classes and to drive smart.”
 
Bodle did just that.  Biding his time and slowly, but surely, getting a feel for the 4-plus mile course at Road America.   Then, with an assist from a series of full course cautions, Bodle and the #16 car found themselves back in the TA3 contention, vying for a podium placement. 
 
“We were also fortunate to go under yellow twice, letting me catch up to the rest of the field.” Bodle said.  “On the last restart I was right behind the defending TA3 Champion, Chuck Cassaro, and I had enough laps down to give a shot at racing for the win.”
 
Bodle started to run his fastest laps of the race and had a touch of fortune when the #37 JOMAC Bodies and Cranes/Deb’s Peppers Ford Mustang of front runner Rich Jones dropped out after making contact with the #60 Ryan Companies US Inc. Porsche GT-3 Cup 997 of Tim Gray. 
 
As the #16 Caribbean Food Delights Ford Mustang passed the checkered flag, it completed one of the most unlikely journeys; going from the track, to the Ford Dealer, to the race and, finally, ending on the podium in second place for TA3’s American Muscle group. 
 
“Considering all we went through over the course of that weekend, I’m thrilled with the way it turned out.” Bodle said.  “We really only had two laps on course before the race: a warm up lap and a break down lap.  So between a major break down and learning the track on the fly, you can’t argue with the result.” 
 
Bodle’s trip to the service department and success story will be carried over to Round 6 of the Trans Am Series at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug 17, 2013, where he will not only be participating in the race, but will be making an appearance at Ford of Mansfield, this time from a promotional standpoint and not in a service bay.
 
“I think this is a great story,” Bodle said.  “It’s a story that should be encouraging for drivers who want to participate in production racing on a budget and how  a break down isn’t the end of the world for a race weekend.   I had an entire Ford service department as my pit crew and that’s one of the perks of production racing help is never that far away.”  
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