Williamson & Gore Motorsports Team back for ‘more’ in 2011

Courtesy of Jamie Clerf

The champions of the 2010 West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Association (WCOPMA), the Williamson & Gore Motorsports Team and their mean-looking,satin black ’53 Studebaker is indeed back for ‘more’ in 2011. ‘More’ racing as they have committed to again running the six race WCOPMA schedule and, if the first two races of the season are any indication, ‘more’ competition, as it appears the rest of the class have stepped up their respective programs this year.

The team saw considerable success in 2010 appearing in the finals of all 5 races they attended (3 wins, 2 runner-ups) and recorded track records from Sacramento (where they achieved a class record 5.90) to Boise to Denver.

This year sees the team return with a slightly different personnel line-up and some enhancements to the mechanical side of things. What hasn’t changed, however, is the man behind the wheel of the potent 6 second machine – Bret Williamson, a talented race car fabricator and accomplished Top Alcohol Funny Car / ADRL driver, will again bring his natural driving skills and mechanical expertise to the team.

Bret’s dad, Don Williamson, an extremely accomplished drag racer and tuner, will also be on hand to support the team. Bret, Don, and car-owner Rich Gore have pledged to work harder and longer to defend their title and, judging by the looks of the competition this year, they are going to need to live up to that pledge.

“The goal for this year is to not only work hard, but to continue our approach from last year which was to get the car down the track and make good straight and clean runs from A to B,” said car-owner Rich Gore. Driver Bret Williamson agrees with this approach and said, “The Pro Mod cars can be a real beast to handle and making a clean run can get you the win-light more times than not,” he said, alluding to the wild and wooly nature of the short-wheel base Pro Mod cars which can often suffer from mechanical breakage or out of shape and crooked runs in their attempt to navigate the quarter-mile.

The team’s first event of 2011 was the famous Fox Hunt at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho (June 24-25) where despite limited  off-season testing they were able to nail down a solid #5 qualifying position in the 8 car-qualified field with a 6.34 second et @ 222 mph. Unfortunately for the team an air line connector broke in the first round of competition preventing Williamson from shifting into 3rd gear and handed the win to eventual event winner Lee Smith in the first round. Despite the loss, the team felt that with a little fine-tuning their performance would quickly rebound to 2010 levels.

The next race was a scant one week later at the Night of Fire (July 1-2) in Medford, Oregon and the promised ‘fine-tuning’ paid off. In a performance reminiscent of their dominant 2010 campaign, the Williamson & Gore Motorsports Team qualified #1 in the field with a track record (6.188 second et @ 229.94 mph) and carried a performance advantage of .04 over their next qualifier (Rod Burbage 6.221 second et) into eliminations.

After two round wins, including an even quicker track record (6.155 second et @ 231.56 mph) in the first round and one of the aforementioned ‘wild and wooly’ passes that saw Williamson on and off the gas to narrowly defeat a charging Marc Meadors (7.30 @ 149.70 to 7.848 @ 193) in the semi-finals, it was time to face-off with #2 qualifier Burbage who had rolled through eliminations with two solid low 6.20 passes.

Burbage had lane choice and put Williamson in the less than desirable left-lane which had given competitors trouble all day. Williamson gave it his best, but struggled with traction in the troublesome lane and lost to another solid (6.26 seconds) pass by Burbage. Still with a runner-up finish, the Williamson & Gore Motorsports Team was able to jump back into the championship points chase and again demonstrate their powerful performance with a #1 qualifying effort and track record.

While they have yet to visit the winners circle this year, the team feels the car is showing steady improvement and are confident heading into their next race at Infineon Raceway in the wine-country of Sonoma, CA (July 22-24). From there the team heads again to Boise, Idaho to defend their title at the 40th anniversary of the prestigious Nightfire Nationals f(August 11-14) followed by an appearance at the Super Chevy Show in Denver (August 19-21) and a return trip to Medford, Oregon (September 9-11) to close the season. The team would like to thank their 2011 Marketing partners for their support, including Candlewood Suites and Holiday Inn Express.