The One Lap of America 1999

As it exists today, the One Lap of America is patterned after the famous and grueling Tour de France FIA competition reported in Second Strike Volume 2, Number 2. (Not the bicycle race, the car race.)

The competitors completed a 4,200 mile lap of the United States in seven days. Each day, they competed in one or more timed trials at a track facility along the way, then drove to the next track. Altogether, there were a total of fourteen timed events, twelve speed trails and two drag race events.

It is truly becoming a world class event requiring power, handling, braking, reliability, and economy of operation from the cars and skill and stamina from the drivers.

The Course

MapOneLap.jpg (25597 bytes)

The Schedule

The seven tracks are shown in bold and the two checkpoints are shown in italics.

Day

Michigan Time

Local Time

Number of Events

Location And Event

Point to Point Distance

Allotted Time

Average Speed

Overall Distance

Sunday

4:00 PM

4:00 PM

  Ann Arbor        

May 16

5:00 PM

5:00 PM

1

Michigan International

39.1

1:00

39.1

39.1

 

5:30 PM

5:30 PM

  Start Event  

0:30

 

39.1

 

8:30 PM

8:30 PM

  Finish Event  

3:00

 

40.0

Monday

5:30 AM

4:30 AM

  Holm's Radiator

531.1

9:00

59.0

570.2

May 17

6:00 AM

5:00 AM

  Depart  

0:30

 

570.2

 

10:30 AM

9:30 AM

2

Heartland Park

266.2

4:30

59.2

836.3

 

11:00 AM

10:00 AM

  Start Events  

0:30

 

836.3

 

6:00 PM

5:00 PM

  Finish Events  

7:00

 

836.3

Tuesday

9:00 AM

7:00 AM

2

Pikes Peak

547.6

15:00

36.5

1,383.9

May 18

9:30 AM

7:30 AM

  Start Events  

0:30

 

1,383.9

 

4:30 PM

2:30 PM

  Finish Events  

7:00

 

1,383.9

Wednesday

9:00 AM

8:00 AM

2

Texas World Speedway

862.8

16:30

52.3

2,246.7

May 19

9:30 AM

8:30 AM

  Start Events  

0:30

 

2,246.7

 

4:30 PM

3:30 PM

  Finish Events  

7:00

 

2,246.7

Thursday

9:00 AM

8:00 AM

3

Memphis

593.2

16:30

36.0

2,840.0

May 20

9:30 AM

8:30 AM

  Start Events  

0:30

 

2,840.0

 

4:30 PM

3:30 PM

  Finish Events  

7:00

 

2,840.0

Friday

8:00 AM

8:00 AM

2

Road Atlanta

452.3

15:30

29.2

3,292.3

May 21

8:30 AM

8:30 AM

  Start Events  

0:30

 

3,292.3

 

8:30 AM

8:30 AM

  Lunch  

0:00

 

3,292.3

 

3:30 PM

3:30 PM

  Finish Events  

7:00

 

3,292.3

 

5:15 PM

5:15 PM

  Piedmont S.C.

94.2

1:45

53.8

3,386.4

 

6:15 PM

6:15 PM

  Depart  

0:00

 

3,386.4

Saturday

8:00 AM

8:00 AM

2

Waterford

737.6

14:45

50.0

4,124.0

May 22

8:30 AM

8:30 AM

  Start Events  

0:30

 

4,124.0

 

3:30 PM

3:30 PM

  Finish Events  

7:00

 

4,124.0

 

5:00 PM

5:00 PM

  Ann Arbor

56.1

1:30

37.4

4,180.1

 The One Lap started in Ann Arbor on Sunday, May 16th and finished up six days later in Ann Arbor on Saturday, May 22nd.

Look closely at the schedule. The contestants finished an event, then immediately got back in their cars for a long drive to the next event. No lollygaging! The Allotted Time is all the time from one venue to the next and includes driving, eating, sleeping, fuel stops, pit stops, and maintenance. If the average speed shown is over 50 mph, there isn’t too much time for anything but driving.

Points are awarded for track events only so power, handling, and braking are important. But if you aren’t there when your class is running, you can’t run and you don’t get any points. So in addition to being competitive on the track, the car must be reliable, drivable, and reasonably conservative of fuel and other resources. The One Lap favors balanced performance.

Weather forced a change in schedule. One event at Heartland was cancelled and one was added at Memphis to make up for it.

The Rules for Drivers

The Rules for Cars

Points

For overall points, the One Lap uses a NASCAR type points system. The best time at an event gets 510 points (number of competitors times 5). Second place gets 505, third 500, and so on until the last place that gets 5 points. But you have to start and finish the event to get the points.

The overall positions are determined by the sum of the points earned in all events.

Class points work the same way. The best time in class gets 5 points times the number of entries in the class, second get 5 fewer points and so on to last in class gets 5 points. If there are 10 entries in the class, then first place in an event is worth 50 class points.

The class position is determined by the sum of the class points for all events.

Classes

Current Model Classes (1990-99):

SSGT1 Sports/GT cars over $30,000
SSGT2 Sports/GT cars under $30,000
MidPri Sed Mid priced sedans and wagons $12,000 to $30,000
Econo Car Economy cars under $15,000
Luxury Sed Luxury sedans and wagons over $30,000
S U V Sport utility vehicles and pickups in all price ranges

SVRA Classes

Vint Amer All SVRA eligible American sports cars, 1963-75 models.
Vint For All SVRA eligible foreign sports cars, 1963-75 models.

There is also a claiming class where any vehicle can be entered provided the entrant agrees to sell the car to any other entrant for $1,000 at the end of the event.

Click on "Competitors" to continue...

Home

History

One Lap 1999

Competitors

Michigan

Heartland

Pikes Peak

Texas

Memphis

Atlanta

Waterford

Final Results