Watkins Glen, July 14-15th, 2007. Mark Carpenter - National SCCA Race. Team GGS Racing participated in its second SCCA National race of the 2007 season on Sunday, July 15th. Coming into the weekend, the crew was hard at work preparing the GGS Racing Acura Integra to compete in the F-Production class. A new engine was installed and tuned the week prior to the race, among other work to the Acura. The weekend for Team GGS Racing started on Friday, for a test and tune session at the historic Watkins Glen track. The day’s sessions went successfully with no issues, and the FP Acura driven by Team GGS Racing driver Mark Carpenter showed excellent speed. The next on track sessions were Saturday for qualifying for the 60th Annual Glen National. The first session went smoothly for Team GGS Racing, as the #38 Acura Integra finished the session in first position in F-Production, and third overall. Carpenter picked up a faster lap time in the second qualifying session, only to be topped by former National Champion Harold Flescher by eight tenths of a second for pole position in FP. The final starting position was second in FP and fourth overall. Sunday’s race started with a gloomy dark cloud moving towards the track as the cars rolled off of pit lane. All cars on the grid were expecting a dry race, therefore had slick tires and dry setups. The skies opened up as the field took the green flag, with the rain increasing on the south end of the 3.4 mile track. In the wet conditions, the drivers struggled for grip with the front-wheel drive Team GGS Racing Acura moving right to the front. Carpenter moved to first overall halfway through lap one, and held that advantage heading into the second lap. The conditions continued to get worse, and the field ran into a flooding downpour that opened up over the south end of the track. Carpenter in the GGS Racing Acura was the first to hit it as he headed into the right hand turn 7. The car hydro-planed and slid off the track, brushing the tire wall. As he sat and restarted the car, the top five drivers slid into this barrier beside him. Carpenter was able to get running again with minimal body damage. The race went under a yellow flag shortly after the incident for four laps, in the meantime the rain let up and parts of the track began to dry. The FP Acura sat 6th overall and second in FP during the yellow flag period. On the restart, Carpenter was able to jump to 3rd overall and 1st in FP on the first lap. As the track began to dry, Carpenter was able to get into a rhythm and click off faster lap times. The Team GGS Racing Acura Integra would go on to finish first in FP and third overall! This would end up being the second National victory for Team GGS Racing in the 2007 season, and our third victory overall.