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We’re on the home stretch of the 2011 Continental Tire Grand Am Series, and Ford’s BOSS 302R has been making a name for itself against rivals both foreign and domestic. Going into this past weekend’s race at Laguna Seca Mazda Raceway, there were actually two BOSS 302R’s in the top three. Jack Roush and co-driver Billy Johnson sat in second place in the No. 61 BOSS 30R, while Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster in the No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports 302R were just seven points behind in third place. Were, being the operative word.
The weekend did not go well for any Ford-badged BOSS Mustangs, the Mustang News reports, as a flat tire and a nasty crash almost certainly ended the BOSS’ chances of a championship run in 2011.
Roush and Johnson came into the Laguna Seca race 15 points behind leaders Paul Lana and Bill Auberlen, and they had high hopes for winning the race, which likely would have put them in 1st place overall. But a flat tire caused Roush to drag his car’s rear-left rotor around most of the 2.23 mile track, putting him a lap behind the competition and dashing his hopes for a podium finish.
That left it up to Foster and Maxwell in the Multimatic Mustang, the latter of which was behind the wheel during a late race caution. Maxwell was in seventh place, behind the No. 68 Boss 302R owned by Leo Capaldi, who had previously arranged with the Multimatic team to cede their position, still giving Ford a shot at a podium finish.
Capaldi’s driver, Mikel Gimble, apparently didn’t get the memo though, and ended up putting both his own car and the Multimatic Mustang into the wall, ending any hopes of taking home the 2011 championship for the BOSS 302R. To add salt to the wound, the Stevenson Automotive Chevy Camaro driven by Matt Bell and John Edwards finished first in the GS class.
There are still two races left, and you never know what might happen. We don’t expect that either Mustang team is ready to throw in the towel yet…but they do have their work cut out for them.
