Mark Smyka and Eli Ezrow Pilot CRC cars to Cleveland Dominance!

With over 500 entries, the U.S. Indoor Champs in Cleveland, OH is the largest road race in the world. Connecticut’s Mark Smyka came to Cleveland with hopes to win the elusive crown in 1/12th Stock. Mark had been close to a victory over the last few years. In years past, great qualifying efforts were nullified by poor results in the A main. This year was different! Mark came to the 2004 Indoor Champs armed with CRC’s new T-Fource, Team Red Edition.

Mark was solid in every round of qualifying. Small problems with lap traffic and some small bobbles kept Mark from the T.Q. spot. After 4 rounds, Mark had his awesome CRC T-Fource in 3rd qualifying position.

Mark used all the top quality Team Red T-Fource standard parts; CRC red damper tubes, large “D” diff hub, axle and CRC’s stock left hub. Mark also used the CRC dual red lowered pods and red VCS shock. Some new option parts on Smyka’s winning T-Fource were the new machined Aluminum 5 degree red caster blocks, machined Delrin upper A-arm and machined steering block. These new pieces are in stock now and will add to the accuracy and action on the front suspension.

In the main, Mark went on to run a super fast, super clean final. He forced his competition into mistakes as they had to push to stay ahead of the charging T-Fource. Mark stayed clean, ran quick laps and didn’t make any mistakes while those around him fell back.

His CRC T-Fource Team Red car looked super-smooth yet had incredible corner speed. A winning combination at the biggest road race in the World, The 2004 U.S. Indoor Champs in Cleveland, Ohio.

Eli Ezrow Captures Cleveland in a CRC T-Fource!

For 5 straight years, Frank Calandra Jr. and his CRC Carpet Knife has had a virtual stranglehold on the Master’s Class. Since his first year in Masters in 1999, Frank has been able to bring the title back to CRC Headquarters in Rome, NY. A number of fast drivers have had a good chance to put an end to the streak. CRC team driver’s Bob van Wagner, Eli Ezrow, Junior Norton and Skip Starkey as well as arch rivals Chuck Lonergan and Tom Esposito. This year, CRC T-Fource drivers Terry Rott and Jim Piersol joined this group with ideas of starting their own winning streak.

Early in qualifying, the “3 stooges” of the Master’s class, Ezrow, Calandra and Lonergan resumed their ongoing battle to see which driver would win this week. A month before the Champs, Eli won the warm-up race known as the Halloween Classic. Earlier in March, Lonergan won the Nationals. And Calandra won the Champs the year before in ’03. As the later rounds played out, other CRC drivers Junior Norton, Skip Starkey and Terry Rott in their T-Fource cars would make their presence known.

At the end of qualify, Ezrow, Rott and Calandra were mere tenths apart with Eli taking the T.Q. position. In the main, Eli took off like a shot, blasting from his T.Q. position and never looking back. Calandra, Rott and Lonergan battled hard for second only letting Eli get away more. Eli drove perfect to take his first U.S. Indoor Champs victory. Former U.S. Indoor Champ Skip Starkey hung in tough and pulled out a late second place position with his CRC T-Fource car. Great to see Skip in contention for a victory.

In the end, 7 out of 10 cars in the main were CRC machines, including first and second. Eli ran his T-Fource in a very stock condition. He used the CRC Uni-tune suspension with the side springs and the damper tubes, NO tweak screws. Eli felt the car was much easier to drive and smooth in the turns. There are many t-bar cars out there, but only the T-Fource has the side springs and dual damper tubes that make up CRC’s Uni-tune suspension. Eli’s result in the Masters class was the fastest 1/12th stock run on main day. Eli represented the old guys in awesome fashion armed with his CRC T-Fource.