2000 RESULTS PAGE - CLICK HERE
NTI Racing Schedule
Here's an index to the various 1999 race season stories on this very long web page...
My 1st Solo II Times
My 1st Solo I Times
Memorial Weekend Races
Rose Cup Race
My 2nd Solo II Times
Missed Shift At Mission
John and I Duke It Out At PIR
Rain Again At SIR
Points Lead Up In Smoke At PIR
The Big Race a.k.a. Mission Miseries
John and I Do SIR One Last Time In '99
My 3rd Solo II Times
My 2nd Solo I Times
Date: 04/11/99 After Phase VIII Mods. Hot and sunny was the order of the day. A bunch of us F-buds took in the happenings at Kent. Only one other E-Mod car in my class. So decided to see how I could compare to some of the other hot shoes out and about that day while I got 2nd by default against the old yet unbeatable Taco Time RX7. Some results... Curt Ormiston in a 911 - ASP class 59.122, 59.449, 60.753 - 59.122 best Val Korrey in a 911 - ASP class unknown, unknown, 60.740 - 60.740 best Collin Watson in a 911 RSA - ASP class 61.739, 63.263, 63.840 (+2) - 61.739 best Chris Ruggles in a 911 - ASP class 62.935, 61.909, 66.507 (+4) - 61.909 best Mark McCooly in a Taco Time RX7 - EM class 72.059 (+12), 62.283 (+2), 65.500 (+8) - 62.283 best Note: In the ladies EML class one of them drove this car to a 60+ time... Randy Wells in a 911s - ASP class 63.508, 62.965, 62.369 - 62.369 best Steve Sampson in a Z28 - ESP class 64.946, 65.639 (+2), 63.244 - 63.244 best Carlo Sparacio in a Cobra - ESP class 63.344, 74.427 (+10), 64.864 - 63.344 best Peter Wong in a Viper - ASP class 65.647, 73.964 (+2 & loop), 64.852 - 64.852 best Chuck Jessup in a Z28 - EM class 73.584 (+8), 70.743 (+6), 65.983 - 65.983 best Craig Ranta in a 911 - ASP class 67.170, 66.712, 66.097 - 66.097 best Jeff Winchell in a Cobra - ESP class 70.999 (+2), 76.598 (loop), 72.243 (+6) - 70.999 best
Date: 04/17/99 After Phase VIII Mods. Got off to a slow start at Bremerton this season. The old engine simply would not stay cool and was blowing oil. So even though I made it through the first day of racing that was it for that engine and the supercharger (which I would sell to help cover the cost of a new crate engine). As it turns out, once I got home and swapped engines, there was a tight main bearing, up-side-down head gaskets and you name it, from the last rebuild that had haunted me this whole time!! ITS Results (Sat only) Carlo Sparacio Mustang Cobra 63.951 Steve Sampson Z28 Camaro 1LE 64.138 Jeff Winchell Mustang Cobra 65.289 Chuck Jessup Z28 Camaro 65.969
Date: 05/29/99 and 05/30/99
After Phase VIII Mods + LT1 #2.
Well, all my hard work paid off at Spokane Raceway Park
this weekend. The new LT1 was in. The Powerdyne supercharger
was out. The results were mixed. Definitely not enough
horse power for my liking. But the engine was running OK.
Top speed was about 130mph on the Spokane main straight.
Top oil temp reading was off the scale in the 320F+ range.
Coolant was running too hot also. The rear end pinion seal
started leaking badly. And my darn shift lever came loose
during my race on day two, causing me to miss many shifts
while my positraction cooked my low rear end fluid. So day
two's race was a real nightmare.
On day one, however, I ran a fun practice session and began
to learn the track layout, having never been there before.
It is a GREAT track to race on. Lots of twists, turns,
dips, blind rises around corners, you name it. A CHALLENGE!
Posted 4th out of 10 senior drivers in Group #1 qualifying.
But dropped back to 5th by the end of the second session.
The number one and two drivers, in Porsche 944s, were way
better than the rest of the pack. And it seemed there was
only one other SPO car to deal with and I was kicking his
butt with my lap in the second day's race, if the car ran at
all.
In the mean time I ran a Novice race in the afternoon on
day one. Started in the 3rd grid spot, second row. There
were 16 cars that showed for the race. The green flag
dropped and a Porsche 911 and I came from the second row into
the lead spots with me in 1st going into turns 1 and 2.
The 911 finally gave up the ghost after a couple laps while
a couple quicker race prep'd BMWs tried to challenge me
in the back corners. But the LT1 was pulling them down the
straight and the brakes were giving me the edge I needed.
I kept vigil on my mirrors and guages and ran 5th and 6th down
the straight on every 4th lap or so to allow the engine to
cool down. I would give up some of my lead each time only
to stretch it back out again on a couple hotter laps.
Ended up lapping 10 of the 16 cars by end of race which
was also a good way to keep the BMW cars at bay.
It was a very fun 1st place after a long, HOT, 25 minute race!
Next day I was given 1st in SPO as well even though the car
did not hold up well enough to compete with most of the very
fast Group #1 senior cars. It too was a VERY FUN RACE even
though I got lapped by the #1 and #2 cars in that group!!
Summary of lap times and final race finish positions for the
second race day...
Group #1
Note: If 2nd qualifying time was not better only 1st time
was posted. Best race lap time is listed third for
each car. The car order is by qualifying time.
However, final results show finish position.
CAR# TIME CLASS MAKE FINAL RACE FINISH
---- ---- ----- ----------- -------------------
732 1:43.16 BP Porsche 944 1st BP & 1st O'all
1:42.32
798 1:45.98 BP Porsche 944 2nd BP & 2nd O'all
1:44.19
1:45.35
21 1:50.89 EP Datsun 240Z 1st EP & 4th O'all
1:46.94
1:48.25
335 1:48.04 SPU BMW 320I 1st SPU & 3rd O'all
(slower)
1:47.53
310 * 1:50.17 SPO Chev Z28 1st SPO & 9th O'all
1:49.25
1:49.85
60 1:50.40 DP Datsun 240Z 1st DP & 8th O'all
1:50.22
1:49.78
66 1:50.83 CP Chev Z28 1st CP & 5th O'all
(slower)
1:48.75
182 1:58:35 SPO Mazda RX7 DNS
1:51.00
DNS
5 1:53.69 SPU GOLF GTI 2nd SPU & 7th O'all
1:53.21
1:50.08
382 (none) SPM Datsun 510 1st SPM & 6th O'all
1:54.30
1:49.46
ME = *
Date: 06/12/99
After Phase VIII Mods + LT1 #2.
Well, with a ton of help from folks like Ellis Groo, Jim Hodel
and Tim Kohlmeyer I was able to get the car prep'd and onto
the track at PIR while running in a 52 car grid in the Group G
race, formally known as the Festival Trophy race this Sat.
Had difficult practice and qualifying sessions. So landed out
in the 13th row, 25th spot, for the race. I did my normal great
start, passing half a dozen cars going into the Chicane and
after a couple laps had moved up to the 14th spot. About
half way into the 30 minute race I had moved up near the top
10 spots with another ITE class Porsche 944T and a 911 in
hot pursuit. I was running 3rd with the other two ITE cars
holding down the 1st and 2nd place slots, perhaps half a lap
up on us.
Unfortunately, my two front Kumhos gave up the ghost once they
began to get hot and my engine was heating up to about 280F
as well. Then, while coming in hot on the Chicane, I found
myself with no stopping grip and had to avoid tagging a slower
car by taking the apex on the entry way too far to the right.
Hit the rumble bumps, upset the suspension and went sliding
sideways into the left hand curb and got hung up. Many cars
passed me as I tried to get back on course.
A few laps later a full course yellow gave me time to sort out
my temps and cool the tires some. Then the race was on again.
However, even after regaining back to the 16th spot I was still
two slots behind the 911 and six behind the 944.
It was a fun race and I managed to put in a faster best lap time
than the 3rd and 4th place cars. But 5th, in ITE, was all I could
manage with a 16th place over all.
Group G
Note: Qualifying time is listed first and then the best race lap
time is listed second for each car. The car order is by
finish position. Only the top 20 cars are listed (of 52).
CAR# TIME CLASS MAKE QUAL FINISHED
---- -------- ----- ------------ ---- --------
32 1:27.988 ITE Porsche 944T 1st 1st + 0
1:28.137
44 1:30.187 ITE Porsche 944T 4th 2nd + 2
1:30.005
33 1:32.008 CP1 Ford Mustang 10th 3rd + 7
1:30.839
17 1:29.864 CP1 Porsche 911 2nd 4th - 2
1:29.003
14 1:31.335 CP1 Chev Camaro 6th 5th - 1
1:31.136
75 1:30.461 GTB B-Grand Tbrd 5th 6th + 1
1:31.168
51 1:31.640 ITS Datsun 240Z 8th 7th + 1
1:31.346
25 1:32.059 ITS BMW 325IS 11th 8th + 3
1:31.796
72 1:32.264 ITS Datsun 240Z 13th 9th + 4
1:31.280
7 1:34.598 ITE Porsche 944T 24th 10th +14
1:32.780
3 1:32.132 GTB B-Grand Chev 12th 11th + 1
1:31.979
57 1:33.002 RX7 Mazda RX7 14th 12th + 2
1:34.163
62 1:33.484 CP2 Datsun 240Z 17th 13th + 4
1:31.290
40 1:33.871 ITE Porsche 911 22nd 14th + 8
1:33.144
41 1:33.568 RX7 Mazda RX7 18th 15th + 3
1:31.235
31 * 1:34.720 ITE Chev Z28 25th 16th + 9
1:32.589
74 1:34.450 RX7 Mazda RX7 23rd 17th + 6
1:31.435
03 1:31.887 ITS BMW 325 9th 18th - 9
1:32.094
27 1:33.779 CP2 Nissan Sentr 20th 19th + 1
1:28.669
94 1:34.853 GTB B-Grand Tbrd 26th 20th + 6
1:31.816
ME = *
Date: 06/20/99 After Phase VIII Mods + LT1 #2. More fun for the F-buds down at Kent this Sunday. Had to run against the Taco Time RX7 again. Was ahead after two stinking runs but 'ol Mark drove the RX7 to victory over me again. I will note the times of cars more my speed to compare to. Results are without any notes concerning penalty points though (of which there were many on this hard to find course)... Mark McCooly in a Taco Time RX7 - EM class 68.580, 72.987, 59.003 - 59.003 best Carlo Sparacio in a Cobra - ESP class 76.423, 72.639, 63.106 - 63.106 best Chuck Jessup in a Z28 - EM class 112.266, 66.467, 65.040 - 65.040 best Peter Wong in a Viper - ASP class 75.188, 66.109, 65.599 - 65.599 best Jeff Winchell in a Cobra - ESP class 68.846, 67.211, 97.741 - 67.211 best Steve Sampson in a Z28 - ESP class 71.282, 78.875, 69.076 - 69.076 best Harry Buttemiller in a Talon - ESP class 70.776, 78.545, 66.375 - 66.375 best Greg Hinkel in a BMW 540i - ESP class 71.658, 88.946, 69.571 - 69.571 best Tom Shriver in a Cobra - ESP class 85.452, 71.484, 69.684 - 69.684 best Dan Carchano in a Mercedes 269 - ESP class 84.008, 71.689, 71.439 - 71.439 best
Date: 07/18/99 After Phase VIII Mods + LT1 #2. This was another one of those weekends from HELL. I got to Mission Raceway Sat morning July 17th, went in to register and about 10 mesquitos follow me into the registration office. The registrar asks me, "Did you bring your repellent?" I say, "Repellent? What for?" She says, "You'll find out soon enough." Get back in the truck and go try to find a paddock spot and there ain't any. In fact, this weekend they broke the record for entries. Had 23 cars in Group 1 vs the normal 10-12 up there. 5 or 6 SPO cars vs 2 last trip up. So I end up way out west in the grass jungle, get out of the truck and can't breath without inhaling a few dozen of these voracious bugs with long needle noses trying to see which one can bleed me dry first. It was GOD AWFUL!! I was already late due to being totally ram sacked at the border crossing and now this. Climbed back in the truck with about 78 of the critters, after getting about two dozen bites, and headed to the mall for OFF!!! Shit, I had to swat them off my face while trying to drive and darn near had an accident right in the paddock!! Got 1/2 a can of OFF on me and dove back under the car to set up the air dam extension. They'd hover about 1" away making passes at me but this chit really works... thank god! So I barely make the practice session and putz around trying to get in the groove, getting passed by anything moving. The new BFGs hooked up real well, after a lap or two, but the Hoosiers out back were trying to convince me that they wanted to be up front where the action is. Took them about 5 laps to get sticky enough to stay put back there where they belonged. So this was going to be a real interesting weekend and I wasn't going to be doing any of my normal crazy a$$ hot starts for sure. Did the after noon qualifier and when I got the time sheet, as I left the track to go meet a friend for dinner, I was floored that I had actually shaved a couple seconds off my best time from last year. And I really hadn't tried all that hard, figuring I would go harder the next session on Sun morning. That is until I got back to my camp in the jungle and noticed my left rear Hoosier was beginning to cord just a smig on one edge. SHIT! And I did not pack any spares this time as they looked like they had lots of rubber when I left. So I was running late again after I jacked up the car to pull the tire off and the damn jack fell over in the soft dirt and got pined under the car. What a PAIN! Luckily I had another spare jack and finally got the car off the ground and the tire in the truck. As it turned out I just added a couple extra lbs in the tire and it made it through the race Sun after noon. Well sorta. I decided to try just 8 or 10 laps in the Sunday morning qualifier vs. wearing the bad tire out any more than I had to. Raul suggested I should pull my T-stat and see if that would help keep the car cooler. Problem is when you pull the T-stat the rubber seal goes with it. I took the seal off the T-stat and tried it that way but it still oozed a bit of coolant that way. So then I get out my hack saw and my old 180F T-stat and gut it so I have just the metal rim to put the seal around so when I tighten the housing bolts it will seal up water tight. BINGO! I'm done in the nick of time and out on the track to test the temps with this latest mod and an 18lb radiator cap. But, guess what. Don't f-ing matter. The car still runs hot as ever. So at least I know that the cap pressure and the T-Stat don't really effect why it runs hot. Time for a cooling system re-engineering job I guess. Grab my times after lunch and 1.045 more seconds trimmed. I was always hoping to break the 1 minute mark at Mission and here I was now running a 58.758 sec qualifier lap on a weak, over heating, crate LT1. So I'm thinking maybe I'm not such a butt head driver after all. Maybe? Now, if I just had a race engine I'd actually be kicking some tail up there across the boarder. As it is I'm gridded 9th out of 23, right behind Eric "DOC" Galmut in his black WS6 Firebird with a 58.499 sec qualify time. He's set up to kick some serious butt like always... and not running hot at all. So I know he will walk away from me before it is over. Next thing I know we're doing a pace lap and before we even make turn 1 one of the cars begins smoking and drops out. Now the slot ahead of me is freaking empty. What should I do? Fill it? Then for some reason they don't go to green and show yellow instead. And another car drops out and now two slots in front of me are empty. But the rest of the cars up and left don't fill it. So I begin to realize. This is cherry. I should be able to make a run at the start with a wide open slot ahead of me. But, that don't happen and all these cars ahead of me are 56 sec lap timers and now I know why. They are FAST! Even though I get a run at it they all walk away and, to top it off, a couple cars behind me are piloted by crazy MoSuckers too. By the time I make turn 6 one of these jerks has already squeezed me off my line in both 3 and 5 and damn near T-bones me. Then he cuts me off in 6, forces me over the curb and I damn near take out the turn station concrete wall as I accidentally hit the horn with my hand when it bounces off the wheel in the rough. A$$ HOLE!! In a white 3rd gen no less! He manages to nearly kill two more cars up front as a green Stang beats me down the straight. I tuck in behind him and begin late braking every other corner to harass this guy. Turns out we start lapping slower traffic and are a good match for like 20 minutes. The leader finally laps us too. Then somehow the Stang actually gets by the white 3rd gen and the 3rd gen goes nuts trying everything to get him back but can't. One time it was the Stang being nudged by the 3rd gen being god damn nearly rear ended by me when they both about lost it in turn 5 again. I decided to drop back a car length and watch and wait and see who would screw up first. I ran a pretty darn good race, hit my shifts perfect and worked the car and tires for all they were worth and watched the show ahead of me.... UNTIL I started noticing they both were getting sloppy finally. Not crazy. But sloppy. Like I should talk. The KING of sloppy right? I was actually able to exit 7 onto the main straight for some reason and had a tad extra poop when I hit 5800 in second, I'd grab 3rd and pull them both a tad more. Yet my coolant and oil were both in the boil zones. I began to think it was now or never as there can't be more than four or five laps left in the race, within the race, we had going on here between the three of us. Then I see the start finish guys hold out a white board with black letters I can't quite read just as I began to take a run out of 7 on these two jokers. But god damn if this time I don't miss my 2-3 shift and hit 5th and back I drop again. Man was I pissed. I was actually over taking these two nut cases and I lost the momentum! So I realed them in real tight the rest of that lap and decided that IF we were on last lap I had one last chance to get two extra places and it was now or never. Once again we come out of 7 hot and once again I have the pull. This time though so does the white 3rd gen. He musta knew I was going to take my shot and decided to go all out himself. The green Stang is set up wide right out of 7, the 3rd gen slides up his left qtr panel. I take his draft and gaining I go out to his left too. If this be the finish this be a three way photo f-ing finish!! I hit red line. And try to grab 3rd and BAMMMMMM! I hit 1st and that was all she wrote. Something down under my car went off like the 4th of July and they took off into the sunset without me.... and no f-ing checkered flag either!!! F@#%!! I coasted down the straight, could not get a gear anywhere to be found. Coasted around the corner and finally got it into 5th and it just rattles up a storm so back to neutral and off into the grass with a floppy clutch peddle like mush on the floor board. Turns out the rest of the pack only did two more laps and it was all over... without me and several other cars who had bitten it that race. I just prey to god it's my clutch and not the engine or tranny that has been fragged. Stuck the car on the trailer with a little help from my friends and came home in sweet defeat again. Oh well. That's racing as they say.
Date: 08/22/99
After Phase VIII Mods + LT1 #2.
First off let me tell you that John's F-ing Camaro ROCKS! That darn road
rocket pilot, like Carlo said, kicked my behind in qualifying. Now mind
you. My fastest lap EVER at PIR was back during the Rose Cup races....
1:34.720 Qualified
1:32.589 Fastest Race Lap
So John and I get out on track and like the sportsman he is, he deferred
to me and asks to follow me when we go out. I had cut a respectable 1:33
qualify lap on Sat while he opens up a can off woop a$$ during his Novice
race and got in a good 60 minutes of seat time that day. I timed him
on one of his race laps in the 1:32 area. So I knew he was gonna be
kick butt fast during our Sunday qualify run.
Next thing I know we are doing some fast laps and he's coming up in my
mirror and going right on by down the main straight... just like Sampson
did to me at SIR earlier this summer. Dang engine of mine ain't for
squat w/o the supercharger.
So, I got to stay in his wake turbulance for the next 10 minutes. By end
of session I was picking up some tricks and had hauled him back in by
cutting my teeth and tires on every corner out there.
So we go and pick up our qualify results and I'll be god damn!!
John qualified 4th with a 1:31.55
I qualified 5th with a 1:31.83
There were 10 f-ing cars in this run group with sub 1:33 qualify
times. It was going to be one hell of a race folks!!! Frank
McKinnon, who runs a well known red Mustang Cobra (?), took the
3rd slot with a 1:31.50... only .05 faster than John. Folks,
I did not think either of us were even in the same class with
this McKinnin car! And here we were both on the same page with
him. Between you all and me. I was a VERY happy camper!
Fast forward....
Next thing I know I'm sitting in my car on grid meditating and
trying to get some advice from Jimmy Cricket who took a ride on
my car earlier in the day. How the heck can I ever hope to beat
this new comer in the fast black Z28? How the heck did either of us
qualify ahead of the likes of Joe Hermes or Terry Ward, a couple
of other well known Senior drivers sitting behind us in the 7th and
9th spots in their C Prod Camaros???? This was a dream for sure.
So off we go for our pace lap. They split the cars as you go out.
Right, Left, Right, John Left, Me Right (awesome stroke of luck!),
Left, ..., etc. I have a quick yellow and green 240Z rice burner
driven by Ron Tanner on my left and the loudest damn Mustang
you ever heard with McKinnon up ahead of me. John is in his left
flank between him and the wall as we brake for the Chicane.
We scrub tires, test brakes and eventually get set up for 7, 8
and 9. I drop into 2nd for the drag race and the Viper pace
car waits to the bitter end and jumps off. I rev and run right
up McKinnon's a$$ but he's held back by the pole sitter. God damn it!
Go man!! The green drops but I had to back out a bit. Next thing I
know McKinnon bolts ahead and this maroon Z28 slides up on my right
side. I'm in the middle and the 240Z is along the wall on the left.
Three cars abreast going into the Chicane is crazy! John looks like
he's staying up with McKinnon but he'll be aced out on the first right
hander as McKinnon will have the line. I had to give the line to the
Camaro on my right also. And the darn Z was on my left which would
give him an advantage on the second turn of the Chicane to the left.
Next thing I know, and I still can't figure exactly how exactly, I
watch John drop back to my left as I really f-ing late broke the
right hander into the Chicane. This almost caused me to f-ing end up
wrecking though, as the 240Z darted in front of me and jab'ed his
brakes to make the second left hander. When he did I SLAMMED mine and
bumped him with my nose. I waited for a bump from behind from John
or someone and yanked the wheel left and floored it. Somehow the
240Z went wide and I had managed to get by him with the maroon Z28
in front of me. We came out on the straight and headed for the
back 40, after burners on.
Checked for boggies in my mirrors and saw a white and blue 3rd gen
in my shaddow with a black Z28 darting around him like a fly on shit.
Went into turns 1 and 2, around 3 and headed for 4 literally in the
maroon Camaro's jet wash. As we headed into the back straight I just
could not pull him. We went deadly hot into 7. I darn near lost it
right there as we rolled over the left hand curbing. Down into 3rd
and set up for 9 right. The white 3rd gen and black night are still
back there and off we go.
I was glad I had started with 7/8ths tank, minus my woofer and my passenger
seat. Maybe I could hold these guys off for a lap or two? But I knew
it was only a matter of time before John would down that 3rd gen... or
at least I figured as much. If I knew John he'd pace everyone a few laps,
like he did me during qualifying, and then lock, load, and nuke us. My
only hope was to get past this god darn maroon Z28 ASAP. Problem is he
was VERY F-ING GOOD and just as fast on the straights. He knew how to
block and he knew the 3rd gen was 2nd in his class. It was CP, SPO (me),
CP, SPO (John) running in 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th. And we were all matched
up pretty darn even. Four f-ing camaros folks!
After a few laps of this chit I began to notice that the Z28 ahead was
beginning to get weak in the corners. Hot brakes I figured. Time to
make my move. We came out of 3 and I floored it right up to the red line
in 3rd going past 4. Just like Tom Cruise I took a deep breath and finally
he hit his brakes as he set up on the left edge to make the right hander.
I waited, waited, slid along his right side and dropped anchor HARD!!!
Only one other f-buddy of mine, Ellis, knows this trick first hand... right
Ellis???
I got along side so he could not make the apex. I held on for dear life
and let my right tires actually run along the yellow FIA curbing bumps
and held my breath as we took the turn side by side. I just prayed this
dude was a good Senior driver and would not tap my door and send me packing
into the pasture over the rumble curb. And he didn't. I floored it and
the Torsen came to life and off I went. But I was not yet all the way by
him, no more than half a car length. That was enough though, as I faded
to the left apex of turn 5B very carefully. He then HAD to ease back on
the throttle or be at fault for contact. That's all she wrote. I got by
in one piece and shifted into 4th, after burners on again. 5.7K and grabbed
5th in the torque curve and he could not get past me down the back straight.
TWO CARS between us now. A f-ing hairy #7 left and through #9 in a drift
and managed to come out onto the straight hot as a bat out of hell. Checked
my guages and every thing was already cooking as well. Mirrors and... WHERE
THE H IS JOHN? Is he hiding in my blind spot somehow? All I see is the
white 3rd gen and the maroon Z28???
I later found out John's ABS went south and he cooked his right front trying
to pass the 3rd gen in the chicane. After I saw he was gone it messed me
up in the head. It was hard to keep that white 3rd gen back there and wonder
where John had gone for the next 20 minutes. BTW - The white 3rd gen driver
was no fool. He had stuck to me like glue and somehow managed to take my
passing line and aced out the maroon Z28 right in my wake. It was a very
slick move on his part. So I knew this dude was going to be after my a$$
for the whole race if possible.
Eventually though I had managed to put some road between us. I even got
far enough out that I could finally do 2, 3 and 4 in 4th gear (vs 3rd) and
cool my jets (i.e. coolant) for once. But then he had realed me back in as
a result. So the race was on all over again.
Before it was over I finally managed to miss a down shift coming hot
into 8 and ended up trying 8 in neutral and could not get the darn shifter
to go into 3rd for 9. So I off'd for 2nd and did not rev high enough and
ended up locking the darn back tires as I entered 9. SHIT! The a$$ end
come out. I tried like hell to gather it back in but it was no use. So,
as they say, BOTH FEET IN as the tail catches dirt and grass. All I could
think was "Don't hit the darn tire wall... please!!" I came to a stop
pointing back a$$ wards and watched the 3rd gen, the maroon Z28 and a few
other cars scoot by me. To be safe I looped around to my right and merged
with enough speed to get on between traffic.
The rest of the race was simply a matter of learning to drive all over
again and passing back a couple of the cars while lapping cars and being
lapped by only the race leader... And to top it off I goofed up after
getting back up to 7th over all, only to miss a shift again going into 9
and lost my spot to the car behind me. Landed in 8th over all as a result.
But all was not lost.
Bottom line was I still took home the 1st place spot, in SPO, for TEAM
NW F-BODY, if you can believe that. In fact, of the 6 SPO starters only
3 of us finished. And I had lapped the second place car and passed the
3rd place car no less than 3 times! Geeez what a race... and a mess.
Group 1
Note: Qualifying time is listed as fastest lap times are hard to come
by at these ICSCC races. The car order is by finish position.
Only the top 12 cars are listed (of 28).
CAR# Q TIME CLASS MAKE QUAL FINISHED
---- -------- ----- ------------ ---- --------
715 1:24.63 SPM Mazda RX7 1st 1st + 0
21 1:31.89 EP Datsun 240Z 6th 2nd + 4 (car I thumped)
33 1:31.05 BP Ford Mustang 3rd 3rd + 0
36 1:32.75 CP Chev Camaro 9th 4th + 5
85 1:33.37 CP Chev Camaro 13th 5th + 8
721 1:32.53 CP Chev Camaro 7th 6th + 1
27 1:33.92 DP PL Barracuda 16th 7th + 9
310 * 1:31.83 SPO Chev Z28 5th 8th - 3
192 1:33.19 SPM Datsun 510 11th 9th + 2
25 1:32.76 SPM BMW 325 10th 10th + 0
62 1:33.36 EP Datsun 240Z 12th 11th + 1
8 1:32.55 DP Ford Mustang 8th 12th - 4
01 1:29.85 SPU Mazda RX7 2nd DNF
398 JK 1:31.55 SPO Chev Z28 4th DNF
ME = *
Date: 08/29/99
After Phase VIII Mods + LT1 #2.
Well Carlo had a lot more fun than I did. I got back to the track
Sunday morning only to find out that it was NOT going to stop
raining for the qualify session per the prior day's weather reports.
This was bad for two reasons. (1) I had not gone full out during the
Sat qualifier and was slotted 13th over all up to this point. So now
there was no way to progress as I had originally thought. (2) I hate
driving in the rain at SIR for obvious reasons.
So I sucked it up, swapped to the SZ50s and actually ended up
on track a couple minutes after our session began. There were
only a hand full of cars who even went out. I assume they all
figured they had better times already, so why risk it. I figured
that if I was going to race with about 30+ nuts in the rain I'd
rather I knew what the track was going to be like and how well
the tires would work under full emergency conditions. By the end
of session I had nearly lost it four or five times. Mostly on the
main straight anywhere a puddle could be found... which was
damn near everywhere. Not cool hauling a$$ at 90 or 100 mph
only to have your tail slip sideways while one of the rears starts
to spin free.
But, over all I was pretty happy with the SZ50s and had sorted out
the safest route around the track and where to, and where not to, get
on the throttle hard. I banked this practice and sorta started hoping
the rain would stick around. Just might give me the edge I would need
to ace out the other SPO drivers who had qualified ahead of me but
had not bothered to plan for rain.
It drizzled right up until the start. About 1 minute before it slowly
began to stop. Just a slight sprinkle as we went on track for the pace
lap. Very few of the cars went with their rains. But I decided the
SZ50s where my ace if the rain restarted and I would just make due if
not. Hind sight is always 20/20. As it turned out the rain quit for good
and the track was wet for only about the first 5 or 6 laps of the race.
But, the SZs did give me enough of an edge off the start to actually
allow me to pass a good 4 or 5 cars by the end of the first lap. A
a few more for good measure the next few laps.
By the time the track dried though I had already been tagged in 3b by
a guy in a damn Mazda and the cars with race tires began to repass
me here and there as they could real me in in the 3a/3b S corners
and a bit more in turn 8. They really did not have much advantage
anywhere else except maybe in the turn 2 sweeper. I actually managed
to pass some cars there myself though. So that was a toss up.
Now, about passing in turn 3a or 3b. Early in the race, when it was
still wet, this Mazda would manage to close from quite a ways back.
I'd usually stretch my lead down the main straight some and then early
brake turn 2. Take the sweeper (almost slid up and off there a couple
times BTW) and come out hot down into 3a, brake early, play it safe,
and follow the normal line... stay high left, down into the 3a apex, out
to the left, stab the gas, drift right, brake wide right, turn in and hit
the 3b apex and come out as hard as wet pavement would allow without
losing traction and sliding off. The Mazda would usually gain some as
I entered 3a. Then he'd following me in my mirrors, first my right
mirror then across to my left as I turned down into 3b.
On our second pass I saw him move into my left rear qtr panel and the
door began to shut through 3b. He backed off. So I stayed on my line
vs risking a wide apex and sliding off track. I figured after two passes
through, following and watching my line, that he knew exactly what I
would do and that he would not try passing me there again. I know
I sure would not trying passing anyone in those corners on a dry track
let alone a wet one. Not unless I knew for sure I could get way
inside and where the other person could see me for sure and avoid hitting
me. I sure would not just poke my nose in someone's blind spot
and not have room to get it back out. Boy was I wrong.
On the next pass he grows these big balls for brains I guess. Same thing
as last time only this time I lose sight of him altogether. Next thing I
know I'm turning my apex in 3b and I catch this white front bumper
out of my peripheral vision to my left just as I hit the apex going to
my left. "DAMN!!!" THUMP!! The sucker t-boned me in my left rear
quarter panel area and literally knocked me about a car width to my right.
I had to fight to retain control and stay on track as he scoots on by and
takes off ahead. I grab 3rd and give chase to make sure I get his number.
#41. Then I decide I'll just wait and see how long it takes before he
really messes up. But it turns out he gets 3rd place over all and 1st in
SPU class; Kevin Shreve.
Rothwell tells me later that this guy is a real good driver. Well, all
I know is he cost me some minor body damage to the panel area between
the wheel well and door opening on my left side and, what is even WORSE,
is that he really screwed up my left rear OZ wheel which was a perfectly
good street wheel with my street SZ50 on it up until then; that wheel
costs about $320 new!!
Now to make matters worse, Rothwell and I are standing at my paddock
after the race chatting about the day's adventures and up come the race
steward and the assistant steward who I had already complained to about
my encounter once I came off track right after the race.
Seems the Steward had already talked to the other driver and had a copy
of the corner worker's report and was thinking that it was my fault for
not giving away the line and allowing this SOB to pass me on the inside.
The other driver had told them that I went high and wide to the right
and then turned in as he went under me and cut him off. So, according
to the steward the accident could have been avoided had I simply taken a
wider line and left the inside open for this goof ball.
Well, I got just a tad upset... to say the least! First some goof ball
jumps in front of me down at SIR, tells the steward he had a 40' leading
going into the chicane and I hit him from behind, when in fact he simply
cut me off entering the chicane and thus reduced my safe distance from
the car ahead of me to zero and then slams on his brakes to avoid
hitting the car I was following. So it's all I can do to cram on my
brakes and just bump that guy. Now another senior driver is trying to
dive under me on a wet track in the worst corner on the track, as the
door is closing, and hits me and again I'm the bad driver!!
Anyway, we had some words. I told the steward that I think these senior
drivers balls are way to big for their own good and that the last thing
I want to do is keep banging my car into these brave soles. So he could
take it or leave it. And I explained that, in my opinion, any driver
who is obviously behind another driver who's strapped in a car so
tight he can't turn and look around, with a window net and a helmet on
to block his view, if he still wants to try and pass as the door is
closing has got to be nuts. It just plain is not very smart driving
when there are many other better and safer places to make a pass.
Especially after following someone and seeing where their line
is a couple times before!
Anyway, I guess somewhere along the line I've learned a couple
things from this school of hard knocks.
(1) When you got some hot shot behind you in a tight a$$ turn stay in
his way so he won't try to t-bone you... even if it means taking the
corner all wrong and losing some exit speed, etc.
(2) Don't expect the other drivers to figure anything out on their own,
like how long the door will be open and that you might not know their
going to pull some crazy a$$ passing trick they learned by trial and
error years ago.
(3) Never, ever, expect another driver to admit they may have screwed up
and made a bad judgment call somewhere along the line. These senior
drivers know that a good story will go farther to keep their record
clean than safe driving will ever do.
(4) If you're going to race plan to suck it up when you get tagged.
Because, when it comes down to it, this is not a good way to keep
your car in perfect condition at all. Things are going to get bent
and scraped. You can bank on it.
After all that though. GUESS WHAT?!
I took second place in SPO and should be either the 1st or 2nd place points
leader in SPO. The prior leader I've been trying all season to catch up
with only managed to get 1 lap in before somehow not finishing.
The first place car was another RX7 from Canada who started and finished
on the pole and was cutting good 1:34 laps to my 1:44s on my SZ50s. I
had qualified with a mere 1:42.5 and had hoped to get into the 1:41 range
Sunday morning until Mother Nature made other plans. But I knew second
was about all I could expect and, as it turned out, that's what I managed
to get. At least I ran a faster best lap than the 3rd place Mustang who
had cut a fastest lap of 1:44.9 on race tires.
Group 1
Note: Qualifying time is listed first and fastest lap times are second.
The car order is by finish position. Only the top 10 cars are
listed (of 26).
CAR# Q TIME CLASS MAKE QUAL FINISHED
---- -------- ----- ------------ ---- --------
715 1:34.424 SPO Mazda RX7 2nd 1st + 1
1:34.321
754 1:37.152 SPM Porsche 911 4th 2nd + 2
1:39.511
41 1:42.090 SPU Mazda RX7 12th 3rd + 9
1:42.378
01 1:36.809 SPU Mazda RX7 3rd 4th - 1
1:42.641
77 1:41.670 SPU Datsun 510 11th 5th + 6
1:40.738
192 1:41.312 SPM Datsun 510 9th 6th + 3
1:40.749
772 1:43.415 SPM Porsche 911 15th 7th + 8
1:42.836
66 1:43.485 CP Chev Camaro 16th 8th + 8
1:39.660
310 * 1:42.558 SPO Chev Z28 13th 9th + 4
1:44.450
341 1:43.581 SPM Mazda RX7 17th 10th + 7
1:45.377
ME = *
Date: 09/13/99 After Phase VIII Mods + LT1 #2. John and I had high hopes of finishing a race together for once this season. Well would you believe I lost a wheel (5 broken lugs no less) on lap 13 of the Sept 13th race this weekend. I had experienced a few runability problems during the Sat qualifier and had another run in with the race steward to top off my day. But by Sunday morning I was back on the horse and managed to get a half way decent qualify time a couple rows behind John. We were out classed and out gunned by a couple new cars (a fully prep'd GT1 level Camaro #738 and a very high dollar high power Corvette #1 no less). Here's the numbers for the first 12 cars in the group (myself starting in 12th). CAR# Q TIME CLASS MAKE ---- -------- ----- ------------ 715 1:14.97 SPM Mazda RX7 738 1:15.58 SPO Chev Camaro 1 1:16.07 SPO Corvette 717 1:20.30 SPU Mazda R100 33 1:21.28 BP Ford Mustang 66 1:21.62 CP Chev Camaro 398 # 1:21.66 SPO Chev Camaro 59 1:22.01 SPO Datsun 240Z 27 1:22.39 DP Ply Baracuda 34 1:22.48 DP Ply Baracuda 62 1:22.65 EP Datsun 240Z 310 * 1:22.67 SPO Chev Camaro Once the green flag dropped John (#) and I (*) soon became the F-bodies to beat. Here's the original LONG STORY I wrote to cover the weekend's events... POINTS LEAD UP IN SMOKE A.K.A. LONGEST STORY EVER WRITTEN BY SLOWRIDER Well this time around John finally got the upper hand by crossing the finish line pretty much in one piece (small problems which he outlined before not withstanding) without me. My adventures started out way back on the weekend of Sat Aug 28th when the ICSCC race steward and I had a couple meetings concerning my alleged "aggressive driving" and having bumped into that yellow and green 240Z #62 driven by Tanner the last time I was down at PIR and then getting tagged by that Mazda on top of it that weekend at SIR. So I got home totally pissed over the whole thing and had so many other items to address that I never even looked at the car the rest of that week. Instead I got ready for my end of summer, and much needed, vacation and we left town Fri after work on Sep 3rd. We took in Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and Craters of the Moon over the next 6 days. My plan was to return home Thur, unpack, swap from the SZ50 rains back to the race tires after replacing my front pads which were pretty worn, check a few other items, replace the oil, etc. and then load the car and race equipment. That would have been easy in the spare day I had set aside. Instead I made the mistake of opening my mail only to find that the darn race steward had fined me $100 and was slapping a two race probation on me for "avoidable contact in turn 3B with car #41 at the SIR race..." Rather than waste time on the car I began researching my appeal per the rule book which implied that I was already late paying my fine (they only allow 48 hours to pay it) and I would not be allowed to race until, and unless, my fine was all paid up and/or I launched an appeal. Problem was darn near 100% of the racing officials I needed to contact were already out of town as well or just plain not answering their phones. I did manage to get hold of one guy via email who directed me to the appeals process part of the rules and then I spent all my spare time researching and formulating my appeal and finding out that it would cost me a $40 non-refundable fee to submit it. So even if my appeal is honored I will still be out the $40 which really sucks big time. But screw them. If they want to play games and stick me with a false claim over the SIR contact they are at least going to have to work the process through in order to get it from me. Finally, at around noon on Friday I got hold of the race steward and he said if I brought my appeal to the track at PIR along with the fee and the fine then I could go ahead and race this weekend. So that's what I did. Now, mind you, John says I was doddling in the paddock. But he forgets all the chit and bases I had to cover between 7:30am Sat morning and 9:00am when our first practice session started. Luckily he helped me a bunch by swapping out my brake pads after I pulled the tires. At least we had gotten a lot of the work done and set up shop Fri evening before it got dark. So all I had to deal with was paper work and tech and chit during the 1.5 hrs we had before practice. On top of that I did not want to get too excited about racing when I had all this other chit playing around in the back of my mind and working against me. So I was kinda taking a "go slow and don't mess up anything else" kind of attitude. Another reason I wanted to do this race was because it was also the weekend for the Doernbecher Dash where they raise money for disabled kids by giving spectator rides and such. More on that part later... I decided to use the practice session more as a test and tune thing and decided all I really wanted to do was find the line again and set up the tires if they needed to be tweaked. And break in the new front pads. By the end of the practice session I determined that everything seemed pretty much AOK and I was actually starting to enjoy the ride and all. Before I had gone out on track I decided to check out the theory that maybe my air box set up was not feeding me enough O2 to get top power. I pulled the intake before the MAF and ended up running that cool morning session with a wide open MAF and screen only. I had only one concern and that was that all I managed to get out of the car down the LONG straight was maybe 125mph by the time I had to brake for turn 1. Like always I just don't have the poop I really should be getting. And like always John tells me he was hitting more like the 130+mph mark. This seemed like a losing situation for me right out of the gate. But at least he wasn't hitting 140mph or something I could not deal with or make up for with my superior driving skills. Or should I say slightly superior driving skills. ;-) Actually I was happy that he was only reporting a 5mph advantage as I was suspecting it would be a lot worse than that based on how easily he had passed me the last time we had done PIR with the chicane to help slow him down. Without the chicane I figured it was going to be next to impossible to keep up with him if his car was running any amount better than mine at all. So, next I hooked the intake back up to the air box which I planned to leave like that through the noon hour rides and the afternoon qualify session. I stuck the passenger seat in and eventually headed out to give some people rides. I even talked Jim into taking a few laps with me so he could tell me what he thought of my driving at speed. We decided he'd hop in after I warmed up the rubber on a prior rider. And we found out it was OK to pass. But I decided I would not risk anyone yapping about me being too dangerous with a passenger and would only pass another car IF I was given a signal to go ahead by the other drivers. My first passenger was a LARGE female who climbed in and as we headed out informed me that she wanted me to go, "Just as fast as you would if you were really racing." I explained that the tires would not be up to the task when they were cold but I would do some fairly fast laps for her. She said no problem as she had purchased not 2 but 6 laps. So by lap 4 we had some wide open road ahead of us and I started running about 95% for her. When we got in and putzed into the hot pit she just starts yelling out of her helmet, "Man I have got to learn how to race these cars. I'm telling my father we're definitely buying me that race car now!!" I go, "Great. I'm glad you had fun and we have another satisfied customer." And she hops out and Jim hops in. Jim and I managed a few decent laps including one where I managed to break just a tad too late going into turn 1 at just about 120mph. But the car had started to miss and sometimes would bog down at around 5000 rpms. So my mind was now wondering and I was having to upshift way too soon in the power band as I checked my fuel pump switch which was already on. DAMN!!! Now what the heck was going on? So next thing I know I over shoot my brake point a bit and we're booking a bit of a drift and counter steering around that corner for the thrill of it. So Jim and I managed 6 laps with at least one sloppy one thrown in for good measure. After Jim came a fellow named Dan who was a crew chief for a Rabbit driver. He requested some hot laps too. I explained I was getting fuel starved and by then was hoping it was my problem as I had realized that my fuel tank was on empty and maybe running on fumes. "Hope we don't need a tow truck to get done here my man?" I told him. He laughed and we took off. At one point this dude in a Blue Barracude passed us down the straight and then broke early going into turn 1. So to play it safer I came up behind and simply slipped over to the right and held back about two car lengths maybe, rather than go right on by him. Then we followed him out around the back forty and watched him take off down the back straight and take his passenger off the exit ramp. Then a lap later we came up on a red Rabbit during the turn 1 brake point and this guy points me buy to his right. So I got off the brakes and took the turn to his right and sputzed around 1, 2a and 2b ahead of them really just running on fumes and all. It was our last lap so I was ready to go in and bag it anyways. But we come off track and the grid marshal comes over to me as Dan began to get out and says, "You can't take any more passengers because we got some folks saying you were making unsafe passes and scaring people out there..." What the F@#!K is that all about? Dan and I both explained I never passed unless I was signaled to pass and I even held up on one Datsun while the driver was looking at his passenger rather than the road and all. No matter. About an hour later here comes the race steward and he's on my case again, like I figured, and he tells me everybody short of god wants me suspended right then and there. Luckily I kept my cool and Jim vouched for me by explaining I had not been crazy at all with his ride. I also explained that we could go talk to Dan if he wanted as he would tell the same story. F-ing spies now! I could not believe it!! And according to the steward one of the a-holes was the dude in the Blue Cuda who claimed I was playing in his mirrors and scaring his passenger or some f-ing thing. More on the Mr senior driver Blue Barracuda (B.B. brain) later. This stuff all ties in, so just keep on reading. Trust me... But my real problem at this point was how poorly the car was running. Was it just out of gas or was something else up? Well I did not have much time until the first qualify session and the Steward decided to give me one LAST chance to redeem myself by making a deal with me. If I made ZERO mistakes the rest of the weekend then fine. But if I just did one little goof up I was history he said. I said he would not have to worry. I promised I would not touch another car and I'd even try my best to keep them from hitting me. And if I did screw up I'd voluntarily check out for the rest of the season. We shook on it and I went and chased down a bunch of gas for the car. Well to say the least my qualify session S-T-U-N-K!! I left the air box on and the car simply would not f-ing run right. It was choking out like my rev limiter was set to 4800 rpms, 5000 sometimes, maybe 5400 if I eased in on the throttle vs pushing it down hard. Totally messed up my air intake experiment as I was lucky to make 110 by the end of the straight with all the darn early upshifts I had to work with. It just added more and more to my frustration for the weekend. All this money invested and all this crap! John, Jim and I got to analyzing it and I wondered if maybe it could be my fuel filter? John's time was in the 1:22s which I thought was totally f-ing awesome! My time was like 4th slowest in the group down around 1:26+ or some damn thing. I mean jeeeeez. Went and shagged down a fuel filter and stuck it on and went home totally rung out. Wanted to get drunk but also wanted to spend some quality time with John and Mary, which as it turned out we sorta did as we hooked back up for dinner at around 7:30pm. Then I went back home, downed a brandy and crashed and burned after thoughts of how to get back on the horse spun around in my brain until 1:00am. Heck, now I was not only stressed out but I was going to have to race on maybe 6 hours sleep. Oh well. That's life in the fast lane in guess. RACE DAY One more chance to qualify. BUT I have to go easy and NOT screw up. This was going to be good. I wondered if the fuel filter would cooperate? And what about the intake situation. I was still guessing but decided that the MAF screen had picked up too much K-rap when it was wide open so that was out. But 125mph still seemed better than 110 too. I decided to try a shop rag as an air filter and stuck it on one of my short intake tubes with a good hose clamp. Then I went to grid with John like he wanted. He was going to following me and push my a$$ around the track and make me get with the program no matter what I guess. I was glad he was in my corner. That's for sure. That's exactly why I wanted him on the TEAM and that's why I wish some of you others would get on the TEAM too. I wish he'd join up "officially" too. Anyways... We go on track and right off the bat I realize the car is sick as a dog still. It just would not go. Sh&%$@!! I could not get 90 mph out of it now. What in the FFFFF! We go down the back straight and I wave John by knowing this was wasting his time. He'd have to push me with his car at this rate. I pulled off and drive straight back to the paddock, popped the hood and saw the problemo. My rag air filter idea backfired on me as it had sucked the loose ends over the intake and choked off any air supply that way. Unscrewed the damn hose clamp and tossed the rag in the bin and strapped back in with maybe 5 minutes of qualify time left to go. I could hear John's Borla screaming down the straight hot in the after burners of the SPO Vette that was running out there. I get back to the hot pit and they send me out. 1st, 2nd, red line, 3rd, red line, 4th red line, 5th red line it was ALIVE and back to health again. Warm the tires a couple laps. The clock is ticking. Time to rock and roll. Out of 9 and after burners on. There's the Auburn Chev just about 1/4 mile ahead. Hummmm. Maybe I can real that mother in. Varoooom. 120, 125, 127 pop the chute and he's only about 2b ahead of me. Let's book. And after him I go. A couple laps later and a long late and trail brake into turn 1 and it's dirt track city time and I make it by him in a four wheel drift into turn 1. Holy shit bat man. DON'T F-ING LOSE YOUR LICENSE NOW!!!!!! I counter steered and wobbled and feathered the throttle and counter steered and wobbled and feathered and hit the steering arm stop a couple times and it just kept sliding and slipping all the way around turns 1, 2a and into 2b before I finally managed to gather it back in coming out of 2b. I could not f-ing believe it! I was past him and straight again and still on the darn track. My heart was in my throat but momma what a ride that was. I was rocking and rolling big time but decided this was not the best way to get a fast lap under my belt. So I calmed down and decided to drive heads up for the next two laps and not let the dog in the Auburn Chev past me again. I was hitting high 125s+ the next couple laps and was feeling pretty good when the checker flag came out. Now, if only the steward did not come and rag on me for drifting the back forty I would maybe have a reasonable qualify time in there someplace? Got into the paddock and decided maybe I should check the tires and see if they should be swapped before the race, etc. Nothing else to do besides that and find an air filter of some kind. I decided the open MAF was going to be my best bet this after noon. And I would pass on risking giving anymore Doernbecher rides too. So now what? I find out my left rear tire is totally wasted. Two giant corded spots. Gee - Wonder how that happened? Luckily, I brought along my one remaining 315/35 Hoosier. The other tires looked OK so far. So I went and found myself a Formula 1 air filter which is nothing more than this rubber foam stuff formed into a booty that can be held over the intake with this coil spring inside to keep it from collapsing under WOT. Told Andy at Armadillo that for $8.95 it works for me. Better than sucking in half the county through my open MAF anyways. Now that I think about it I'm still afraid to open the hood after what happens later in the race though. Hope that filter worked for me? Next get the tire swapped and then go get breakfast. In the mean time John catches up to me and gets all over my case because I told him how the car ran like shit but he doesn't believe me any more because somehow I managed to pull out about 4.5 seconds from my original qualify times and make it up only two rows back in the starting grid. Well what the heck, John. Don't you think a Top Gun like myself can squeeze a decent load out of a sick puppy?? ;-) "RACERS - START YOUR ENGINES!!!" Now mind you I was supposed to be two rows behind John. Piece of cake I'm thinking he's thinking. This is why you have to have TEAM mates guys. Gets the blood boiling right along with the oil and the exhaust fumes. But turns out Mr B.B. comes late to the party and so does one of the other cars from row five. So as we go on track and start forming rows I begin to realize that once again John is ONLY one row up on me. This time he's on my right and I'm by the wall. That's fine by me though as I figure all the cars ahead of me will probably pull away and the last thing I wants to do is crash during the first lap or so anyways. I'll just leave that shit bag Tanner in the #62 yellow and green 240Z (that I bumped during the last PIR race) in the dust... who's in the same row as me again as it turns out... and see if I can stay close to the Auburn Chev and John ahead of me and the white Barracude (W.B.) in front of me too. They should all make pretty good pace setters for me if I can just keep up with them and finish the race. BTW - The other SPO points leaders, as it turns out, were by now out of the hunt. The Mazda blew his turbo and croked his engine during qualifying. No worries there. And the Mustang was a no show. So if I just plain gave John a good race, and finished, my reward would be a good 15+ points lead for sure in SPO class. The car was on line and I was already a happy camper as the green flag dropped..... And away we went. Like john said before. Things sorted out with the yellow Auburn Chev just ahead of John in his black magic Z28. Then the white Cuda and little 'ol Slowrider watching John work from two spots back. [I'm gona paste in part of John's story here for review of the bigger picture and then add what I saw out of my wind shield to complete the scene] John says... "Not much passing occurs and I fall in right on the Auburn Chev's bumper. I see old Chucky not far behind in my mirrors just aching to eat up my poor innocent black Z. Fortunately there was a DP Barracuda between us to keep the red paint off my back bumper." ;-) "Patience for me meant that I waited until the 2nd lap before trying to pass the Auburn Chev Z28 under braking into turn 1. :-) I pulled the pass off cleanly but had a bit too much speed through 1 for cold tires and had to work to keep the car going the direction I wanted. The Auburn Chev didn't like that and was hot on my tail. I settled down and took a decent line through turns 3 and 4, still a bit on the hot side though. Now I'm starting to get a bit of space and I'm coming onto the back straight (in 3rd). I figure I'll lose him for sure going through turns 7, 8, and 9. So as I come out of turn 5 for the back straight with the Auburn Chev not far behind, I shift to 4th, wait, damn missed 4th, WTF?!!! Try to get it into 4th again, can't, Auburn Chev passes me, try again, red Z hot on my tail, try again, hit 2ND!!!! F*CK! Loud bang, and car quits. Race cars are all over me zinging to my left while I coast along. What the hell do I do, I'm a sitting duck..." Well after John hopped by the Auburn Z28 I had to also make my move. No way with my speed could I take him in turn 1 on simi-warm rubber though I did real him in real close as we made the apex. Worked the throttle w/o any brakes all the way through 3 and came out sticky and hot. Tires felt reliable so time to do my famous turn 4 late brake and pass on the right in 3rd gear just like I pulled off on the maroon Z28 in the prior PIR race. This is my idea of slice it and dice it racing folks! I came out after burners red hot and actually started catching up to the yellow Z28 in the process. Next thing I know I come around the back bend with the white Cuda trying like mad to get back around on my left stabilizer but even though he has the power I had the inside line and maybe some draft from the yellow Auburn Chev not far ahead of me. Then all of a sudden the Auburn Chev moves left with a jolt. I wonder what the F that's all about??!! And that's when I see this black rear end. For a split second I thought maybe the Auburn Chev was just doing a step out and passing John back like what the Cuda was trying to do on my tail at the time. But NO F-ING WAY!!! John was stalled out and running WAY TOO SLOW!! And I was about to eat his a$$ end for lunch BIG TIME!! In under 1/2 a second I was right on top of him and had no choice but to swing left like RIGHT NOW!!! Wooooooosh! This black streak flys by me as my heart damn near stops and I see the white cuda now breathing my after burners in my mirror as I grab 5th gear and see 105 on my speedometer. "SHIT John!!!" I'm thinking, "You have no idea how close we just came to fragging both our cars into never never land!" Not to mention me having to give up my spurs to that darn race steward. But I regrouped and took 7, 8 and 9 even though I could not get my down shift into 3rd again after all the excitement. As a result the white Cuda made an easy pass by me out of 9. Darn, after all that effort now I'd have to get past him all over again. But why bother now? John is long gone I'm thinking. The other SPO 240Z will be no problem. So what the heck. I'll just play with these other two guys and follow them around to pace myself until we get closer to the end of the race. Besides, it's a long race, I'm being watched and the Auburn Chev qualified just as fast as John. So he and the faster, but less agile, white Cuda should be a good enough test of my metal I figure. And for the next several laps that's how it plays out. The Cuda chases the yellow Chev and the red Chev chases down the Cuda and we all battle the twisties lap after lap. Each time they would pull me pretty hard down the straight and stretch their leads back out by maybe a 50-60 yards and each time I'd late brake turn 1, nail all the corners, fight some push in turns 3 and 4 and have them gathered back in and dart around in their mirrors through 7, 8 and 9 only to have them stretch out again on me down the main straight. I was starting to feel like a sweaty, old yo-yo. Out and back. Out and back. It was major league fun!!! Now mind you, I have no idea what happened to John and a couple of the really fast cars have already lapped us once by now. Then, as I was hoping, they started getting edgy. The white Cuda every now and then would burn his rubber off trying to brake even with the Auburn Chev and bingo the Aubrun Chev blew his brake point going into turn 1 and off he goes into the wild green yonder. And here I am white Cuda. Yep that's me in your mirrors buddy. ;-) This was only the first of two adventures the Auburn Chev made off road, as John chased him down and off again later in the race. Probably made it all the more easier for John to catch him having gone barn yarding this first time already. But what's this here? Now comes Mr B.B. brain catching us both down the main straight like a bat outa hell. Man he's got torque or something? Next lap he has realed us in and gets by me as we make turn 1. His tail lights go on and I go right on back by him on the right. Just to let the f---er know what Baer Brakes are made for. ;-) But he swaps places again on the next lap coming under the foot bridge and I decide what the heck. Just finish the race and try to keep the fish boys close enough to repass if one should make a mistake. Well the white Cuda would not allow B.B. past him. He stepped up his pace, I guess because they were in the same D-Production class, and he had enough power down the straight to hold off B.B. a few laps. But I knew W.B. was running real hot rubber and figured it was only a matter of time. My rubber was getting pretty pushy in 3 and 4 also. So theirs' had to be cooking too. Next thing I know the show is on. W.B.'s rubber won't hold the line in 3 left and B.B. wants by so bad he can taste it. I'm about 2 car lengths back watching the whole thing on CNN. Then B.B. dives in left. Slides a bit. Hits his brakes or something. Fish tails. Counters right. Slams W.B.'s left rear quarter panels real hard and they both start sliding side ways through the rest of 3. W.B. goes off in the grass and B.B. goes out to the left with all four smoking as I go flying right between them both, grab second and kick on the after burners as I come out of 4 and head for 5. B.B. is back on track behind me and we head for 7 and 8. I decide screw it. I'm gona beat him if it's the last thing I do! But as I exit 9 and literally fly down the straight and make about 128 terminal velocity old B.B. is no where in the hunt. Do another lap and he's falling back. Maybe he mashed his radiator and knew it was time to back off? What ever. Now there's nobody to play games with and I been running damn hard all this time so maybe I better just back off and let things cool a lap or so and cruise on in for a second place victory in the bag. Still wondering if John was OK or what? So I decide to take turns 1, 2a and the rest in 4th this lap which will keep the power low and just do 90% out back. But now it gets real interesting in a heart beat. I cruise out of 2b and swing over to the left to set up for entry into 3. And wooomp! My left front nose just drops out from under me like I had made a hard landing on a carrier deck or something?! No steering at all it seems like. What's that? I see something bounce out the left side of my car. Holy shit!! It's my left front tire and wheel!!! And now off the corner I go. Both feet in I grip the wheel and let it run on up the grassy bank towards the turn 3 worker station and the wall. Not much choice really. There's my tire again bounces up over the darn wall. Then over the chain link fence like this giant size yo-yo. Then somehow it bounces really high over the fence and one of the turn worker's 4x4s. Over the wall down around the corner of turn 3 and out off into the grass pasture out there until it finally goes about 80 yards and hits the tire wall before going over that and into the slew. When we got it back it had a really nice slice in the side wall. Hummmm? In the mean time the car finally comes to rest exactly where I wanted it, about 4 feet from the wall and way off the track in a real safe place. Time to shut down and eject I figure. Ignition off. Fuel pump wines real loud. Pump off. Oil cooler fan off. Straps off. Window net off. Door open. I bail. By now with good reason, as I smell a lot of smoke coming from under the car. The darn dry grass is now on fire. SHIT!! I reach back in and undo the fire bottle and we both hop over the wall. I yell FIRE and a couple turn workers come to the rescue. They grab the one and only large silver water fire bottle and start squirting under the front of the car. By now, I assume, John has already gone by me along with my points lead and everything else. I don't know which is worse. My points lead going up in smoke? My front end taking a hit? Or my car burning on the BBQ? Then they say they think they got it out. But no way. It begins to smoke again and then WOOOOSH! Flames start flying out from under the rear of the car and the wheel wells. Holy SHIT!! Is the tank going to blow on me now just to make my day?? They ran out of water and scramble around. I hand them my little 1 pounder exstinguisher and say, "Use this man!!" But he can't figure out how to make it work. Another guy then tosses a cooler and water jug of water all around the car. And finally they manage to locate another extinguisher and start spraying the white stuff everywhere. As it turns out they save the car... sorta. But what had happened is the grass fire had managed to burn through the two plastic fuel lines, and the relief valve, just as they come out of the tank. Luckily the fuel pumps had been shut down so the only fuel was what was under pressure and still in the lines. When the lines blew that fuel blew out and WHOOSH. John and I had seen this exact same thing happen when I had changed my filter the night before. It was hot and I unscrewed the filter and next thing I know gas is everywhere! This is not a cool situation for a race car let me tell you! Time for a recall I say. So anyways, we get the car towed in. John takes 2nd like a real pro. And I have more wounds than a dog in a fight with a porcupine... again. You're typical PIR race day I guess. Spent the next few hours swapping out my left front hub for my spare so we can mount a spare tire and push the wasted car on the trailer and haul it back home. Got two weeks to make it right again. All help is welcome. BTW. Thanks for all your help and support and trying like hell to kick my butt back into shape this weekend JOHN. I do dearly appreciate it man. Tell Mary and Jaren thanks for all their help too! I WILL BE BACK!
Date: 09/26/99 After Phase VIII Mods + LT1 #2. MISERIES is the only word I could think up to describe the chain of events that went down this weekend at Mission, which has not be kind to me all three trips up there this year. Hummmm. The trip up was in the rain and that was fun at places trying to stop a Gross Combined Weight of around 8K. And I got a late start after my f-ing cut off switch would not work. John had come by, just before I left, to give me a diff to take to Ross and wished me luck for the weekend. Then we forgot to make sure he left with his pan hard rod. Ooops. So I get to Mission late and crash. Get up early, hit the registration shack, off load, go through tech where they take maybe 30 minutes checking every F-ing detail of my car as the tech steward hates me and will not give up unless he can find something to complain about. He had heard about my flying wheel at PIR (probably via the race steward). Never even figured out my cut off switch was not even hooked up. I had forgotten to hook it up in all my rush. So he decided I should have a spare key in my rear hatch lock just in case they need to rescue me. Then he let me go. I went back and set up camp and tried to get the cut off switch working. NO WAY. So said to hell with it and took it back out of the loop. Other than that I figured, after having driven my car around town to get gas the day before, that everything else was in ship shape order. Even the front end alignment seemed OK. NOT. I get out on track and head for turn one at about 90mph to heat up tires and brakes. Hit the brakes and feel a shaking. A few more turns and braking and more shaking. Damn. What's this? The whole car shakes. As I get up to speed and come into turn one at 110mph it shakes so damn hard I can't tell what the heck is the source. Front or rear? Worst warp rotor/rotors I've ever had! And a few times some rear wheel hop. So instead of braking at the 3 marker at turn one I'm breaking at the 10 marker (of which there's only 5). The back end shook so bad I was sure it was a rear rotor. But I was not 100% positive. The whole car would shutter so bad who could tell? I had had 3 of my 4 rotors turned already and the left front was supposed to be balanced. Maybe the right front? The back tires were everywhere too. So I dropped a lb of air out in hopes of getting better balance and less over steer during qualifying. I quit early and decided to swap the rear rotors to try and isolate what was up. Process of elimination was my thought. Turns out I had two sets of spare rear rotors with me when I thought all I had was one old set of badly worn rears. So I used the set that was still pretty decent. Who gave me these? Hummm. Then I tried to fix the cut off switch again. But no go again. So I finally do the after noon qualifier with hopes the rear rotors would be fixed. No go again. Shakes like hell just like before. Best I could cut was a 1:00.318 lap time. I had qualified at 58.758 sec my last trip to Mission. So that lap time SUCKED WIND! And to top it off my old Kumhos would not heat up and stick under weak braking. The rears still sucked and now the fronts were starting to push, after some hot laps, in turns 1 and 3 and sometimes in turn 5. See map... Mission Raceway Map Another problem I had was electrical. After about 5 laps the car just DIED. Went totally dead. Tried the key and no juice. Tried on and off a couple times and finally the juice came back. And it lit. On with the show. Then I got the oil level low light. Then the dash indicators started flickering on and off. Check engine, low coolant, etc. Xmas at Mission. This sucked! Then it started running right and all lights out. Normal dash board again. So what next? More laps I guess. Just shakey brakey corners is all. Luckily, Ross showed up as I came off track. Was I glad to see him! There was work to be done. And what I needed was a good crew chief. He got his overalls on and was ready to WORK. What a bud. We talked it over. Replacing the front rotors was doable but it took time. So we pulled them and decided to see if we could find a shop to check them and see if they needed to be turned or not. I wanted to get them fixed if possible vs. using my old worn out front rotors. I was pretty sure the rear rotors were OK by now. I was not sure if the rear pads were hosed or not though. As my old pads got ruined by the fire issue I had just installed brand new rear pads and never had time to bed them in. So there was a chance that they were now cooked and MAYBE they were not grabbing the rear rotors correctly thus causing the shaking. But it could be the left front rotor was out of balance too. Or the right front was warped? I just could not tell for sure by driving at race speeds like I had, as the shaking was so massive. It was a Sat and we only had about an hour left in the work day. So we found a shop and had the front rotors checked. The man said they were as true as he could get them already. Hummm. Could it be the rear pads then? We even had the front tire balance checked right at closing time at a tire shop. One was out of balance by several ounces. The guy shaved off a bunch of melted rubber by hand a re-balanced both front tire for free!! That was service I could live with. We broke for dinner and went back and took the car out on the freeway for test drives. Still shaking. Put a set of old pads in the back. Still shaking. Time to try new front rotors. Last straw. Ross was right. Shaking all gone. 9:30pm Sat night working under my truck headlights and FINALLY I'm a happy camper and can go to bed and get some rest. NOT. My ESP was working over time and I could not sleep as I still could not get all the problems out of my mind. Got maybe 3-4 hrs of sleep finally. After breakfast I felt sick to my stomach, I guess from all the stress having finally caught up with me from the past two weeks from hell. I was just gonna have to buckle down and try to relax and do the best I could do. Morning qualifier, it was trying to sprinkle. Lots of clouds. The other SPO car(s) that were there had qualified much faster than me the day before already. DOC Galmut in the WS6 was real fast with a 57:629. BTW - He is indead setting his car up to run in the SCCA World Challenge... I think he said. We chatted about this program and I may check it out myself. Need to get hold of the rules. He says his car is already fast enough so I wonder if maybe John or I could do this too? Anyway... Terry Ward who runs a white Camaro in CProd cut a 58:045. (He's the one I wanted to beat for once. Our cars are pretty much even usually. He's a really tough driver to pass. And Mission is his home track.) I was two secs back from them. For some reason Doug Bayley, who usually runs a good 10mph faster down the straight than me in his hot SPO Stang did not even run his car on Sat. But he was at the track. Found out later he was running on BFG KDs, as his tire man ordered him the wrong tires. So maybe I had a chance to beat him for once in my life. But he's one hell of a driver and in the past always pulled me hard down the straight. So even on KDs he was going to be tough to beat. If I could get and stay ahead of Doug he could be my cushion car to give me more points on Peterson IF he showed for the race. I could get 2nd behind DOC maybe and with luck Peterson would take 4th. That would earn me 4 points on Peterson. Another BTW. Got the official points from the steward as of this race. Peterson #109 Mustang had 88 Me #310 had 83 (only 5 pts back) Klokkevold #182 RX7 Turbo had 80 (out of action now) DOC #97 WS6 Fbird had 50 And so far Glen Peterson and his #109 Stang had not showed up Sat. That was the best news going as I would not really have to race all out, just finish, and the points lead for the season was all mine. Unless he showed up on Sunday. WHICH HE DID. Darn! So back to plan A. Time to qualify. Peterson was running on GoodYear GS-CS racing slicks. This told me he was not planning to go down without a fight. But, as it turns out, I was still faster on these wasted Kumhos I ran on. After a LOT of laps they finally heated up enough to stick front and rear. The brakes were working and I was able to pull out a few fast laps on my current tire pressures. Guess it was as good as it was going to get. After 10 minutes I decided to call it good and save what was left of the rubber for the race. Four of us SPO cars had now qualified. But to top it off DOC's WS6 had a bad pressure relief valve in his oil pump. So he told me he would not be racing after all. So now it was going to be up to me to race solo for the F-body side of the house. Although there were still a few other CProd Camaros to dance with in the race group too. Final grid results for SPO sorted out like this... SPO DOC Galmut WS6 Firebird 0:57.629 Row 3 CP Terry Ward Camaro 0:57:745 Row 3 SPO Chuck Jessup Z28 0:58.252 Row 4 (vs 58.758 sec my last time at Mission) SPO Doug Bayley Mustang 0:58.299 Row 4 (talk about a knatt's hair slower) SPO Glen Peterson Mustang 0:58.448 Row 5 PACE LAP I get left lane right behind DOC who showed up on grid for the race after all. Left lane is were to be at Mission as the first turn is left. I noticed that my car pulled even with DOC during qualifier. So maybe I had some HP I needed? So my plan for the start was simple. Stay on the left and on DOC's tail and let him pull me right on around turn 1. All the cars to our right would be stuck with a wide line through turns 1 and 2 and I should be in good shape, maybe even get Terry Ward by turns 3+. I wondered if DOC's valve would heat up and stick again forcing him out mid-race? My ESP was saying YES. My main mission was to get ahead of #109, Peterson, and stay ahead. Should not be hard to do having gridded a row up on him and Bayley. We'll see. Green drops and I shadow DOC per plan through 1, 2, 3 etc. Two laps and Bayley is like a fly in my mirrors. And Terry Ward is his normal risky self darting in and out of my apexes trying like hell to get by me too. Just hope they don't hit me! I can let Ward by but not Bayley. He knows the KDs will eventually heat up and get greasy so he has to use his HP to try to get by me early in the race. But I have good speed this time for once. And I'm actually managing to hold Ward, Bayley and Peterson off while staying with DOC to pace myself. It's a good working plan. After a few laps the tires are starting to stick. DOC is managing to stretch his lead and the other guys are going all out too. I figure laps 4-8 will be critical and he who over heats his tires first will lose out. There's also a few other CProduction cars back there. A white Camaro #43 who qualified 0:59.127 and a green Stang #164 who qualified 1:00.052 and another white Camaro #127 who would like to catch Ward, I am guessing. Turns out they are all fast as well. LAP 4 Get LOW TRACTION light going into turn 1!? Lots of rear wheel hop! SHIT!! As I come out a light comes on. NO ABS. At first my mind is confused and heading for turn 3 I almost lose it. Bayley gets by as I recover. Brakes lock up entering 4. I slide way wide of the apex. Ward gets by. DAMN!! Now I see Peterson up my backside too. I try like hell to figure this shit out. Takes me several more turns thinking my rear end may be low on fluid thus losing traction??? Finally I realize. NO ABS not LOW TRACTION. At least it's not my posi. It's my brakes. My brain is too tired to be racing today. Come out of 7, miss 3rd and hit 5th. Peterson goes by. Shit. He had power down the straight on top of everything else. I had him by the balls and now the table is turned. So here I am in 4th place in SPO in under a lap. This really SUCKS WIND! But to make matters worse I am locking up and sliding into turns 1 and 3 and its hard to bake smooth for the other corners w/o the ABS. So the tires want to step out at every opportunity now. I can't drive the car the way I want to. So I back out and brake early and try to figure out a whole new race track. Then the green Stang darts by me and the #127 white camaro follows in his wake. Screw me! I can't even hold off these guys??? Time to learn how to drive CHUCK! Bayley is long gone. I can still see Peterson who is stretching the lead on me. And now two cars between us. After a couple laps I figure this chit out and real in #127. I take a risk in turn 5 and get by him finally. Pretty slippery going though. In fact every darn turn is like on ice. Tires are taking a real beating this way. I brake for turn 1 at 5+, rather than 3+, and they still want to skid on me. Maybe 6 times I end up taking the hair pin in power slides during the race. Over shoot it a few times too. But I'm learning. Be patient and WORK the corners and just have to be extra smooth on the brakes. #127 wants by me again. But I manage to ward him off. And #164 in the green Stang wants me between them as well. So for two wasted laps he will not let me by down the straight by blocking left on me. I end up having to slide up along his right side going into turn 1. The second time, by going wider, I finally manage to come out fast enough and hard enough that I tuck in behind, draft him and get along his left going into 3. He gives up and I go wide into 4 again, but finally got past him. DOC's car craps out and Bayley and Ward and Peterson and I go on by him. I'm in 3rd in SPO now. Bayley is out there somewhere in the lead. Peterson I can see now and then. Now the problem is that #109 is 1/2 the straight ahead of me. I sorta have the new brakes figured out and all I know is the tires are cooking and won't stick so I have a lot of hard work ahead of me. BUT after about 5 laps I have reeled in #109 and I'm on his rear bumper again. And the car is over heated in every conceivable way! It's lap 14 now. Exactly half way through the race. I worked my F-ing a$$ off and reeled him in. Peterson is an old fart. You learn the drivers by racing with them. He does not want me by. And he has not run as hard as I have to catch him. I try to pass down the straight but he pulls me. That's not good. He has the HP. And I don't have the tires or brakes I came to the race with. That just leaves pure driving skill in my corner... so I think. We carve some turns and I real him back in again. We head for turn 5 and I'm gonna rag on him till he screws up. BUT it doesn't work like that. HE BRAKES HARD on me!!! God damn it man!!! My tires lock up and I turn in behind him. MAJOR UNBELIEVABLE PUSH! I can't make the corner. I'm heading for the right had trees and tire wall. SHIT!! Back on the brakes and turn right. There is a drag race return road, thank god, right by the tire wall there. I get slowed down and do a pushing right hand U turn and head back for the track after a 360 loop out. By the time I get around 7 and on the straight, Peterson is long gone. I see him heading into turn 1 down there. Good news is one of the lead cars is all that got by me. The other CP cars have been left in the dust while I had reeled in #109. So, at least I'll have no traffic to work again to catch Peterson. BUT will I have time???? The off road 360 was lap 15, a 1:09.27 lap. A good 10 secs off Peterson's pace. 1/6 of a lap to make up. Melted tires. NOT GOOD! I put in 16 more laps sliding through every F-ing corner one way or the other. And I actually real the mother in one more time. He steps up his pace on lap 29. I cut my best lap of the race AND the weekend with a 0:58.27 on melted tires. I have been hearing a grinding noise form my right front for the past 4 or 5 laps now. I'm worried about losing my wheel and hitting a concrete wall on top of everything else. But I push on. What the heck. If I don't get by him the odds of even needing to race next week at SIR are zippo anyways, as he will have the points lead in the bag if he finishes out ahead of me here and just shows up at SIR. LAP 30 I am maybe 25 yards back coming out of 7. We streak for the start finish and they have already put out the 5 minutes to go 4 laps ago. I figure the race is darn near over. Out came the Last Lap sign. Peterson pulls me some. I brake HARD at the 4 marker and real him in tight even though I power slide the corner. He does too. Smoke everywhere!! Two SPO cars sliding around the hair pin, tails wagging, nose to tail. Pretty hairy stuff. Who will get 2nd and who will get 3rd? I can not get by him or get traction. In fact all I can do is keep from hitting him and losing my license. Smoke and turn 4. Smoke and turn 5. Slide through 6 and 7. FLOOR IT!! Gather him in. Shift to 3rd. It WORKS! About 100 yards to the finish line. It... doesn't... work. He has the juice after grabbing his next gear. He takes the checker for 2nd about 3 car lengths out on me. Game over. No F-ing F-ing Horse Power. DAMN I NEED MORE HP. Oh well. Now get this. I cool down and come off track and now I have smoke coming up through the center console. I'm on fire AGAIN!! Burning leaves from lap 15 or burning wires or who knows what? Hobble to the paddock and hand my neighbors, with a cool MG racer in the next paddock, my fire bottle and I get out and shut down the car. Fire goes away finally and all is well.... sorta. That was a hot race I guess. But is the day all over. NOOOOO! I'm taking off my race suit and up comes some a$$ hole from the track. He starts getting on my case. He says, "So you're the driver of car 310 eh?" "Yah why?" "I was told that you were doing cookies in the parking lot last night and racing your car around here..." What the heck is this shit!?? He says, "I woulda ran you out of here, if I woulda known you were the one from last night, before you ever got to race around here again..." And he starts to walk off. I catch up with him, "Hey man. Don't you start passing shit around here about me doing any god damn cookies in any parking lot unless you got your damn facts straight! I've had it with you guys laying shit on me that I never did!! You got that straight? Nobody did any cookies or anything else in my car last night. We were out here trying to get my brakes fixed. And we went for a few test drives out on the freeway and back. We went out the gate, onto the freeway and came back. My pipes are loud. And that's it. You got it!?" He walks off. My friend Gary, who came to watch me race, and I packed the gear and left at 6pm. BTW - The MG crew was in my corner during the race. They offered to crew for me from the pits and they took all my lap times. A real bunch of good old boys. So here's my laps times for once. You can tell from the times when I had traffic to pass and that all in all, except for a couple times, I ran a pretty consistent race. Lap Times (per crew stop watch) ---------------------------------------------------------- 1 (no time recorded for me) 2 1:03.50 (Cold tires and traffic still) 3 1:00.21 (Picking up the pace) 4 1:00.21 (Again? Humm) 5 1:00.91 (Traction problems?) 6 1:02.02 (Everything going south, me being passed?) 7 0:59.92 (I'm learning the brake points now) 8 0:59.50 9 0:59.64 10 0:59.00 11 0:59.64 12 0:58.53 (second best lap) 13 0:59.24 14 0:59.81 (caught up with #109) 15 1:09.27 (360 off track in turn 5) 16 1:00.15 (let tires cool and get on horse) 17 0:59.61 18 0:59.30 19 0:59.18 20 0:59.12 (WORKING HARD AGAIN) 21 0:59.72 (tires hot again) 22 1:00.15 (Let a lead car lap me) 23 0:59.76 (#109 in my sights now) 24 1:00.57 (second SPM lead car goes us both) 25 0:59.72 26 0:59.63 (5 min warning) 27 0:59.08 (realing him in again) 28 0:58.79 29 0:58.27 (I can breath his fumes now and get fastest lap) 30 0:59.23 (I'm on his bumper now but tires are gone - LL) 31 0:58.72 (last gasp does not work) Offical Results For Group #1 Cls Name Car FastTime Laps ------------------- -------------- -------- ---- SPM Jack Zarowny Mazda RX7 0:54.773 33 SPU Dan Viskari Mazda R10 0:56.236 33 SPM Gary Koehn Datsun 510 0:57.303 32 SPO Doug Bayley Ford Mustang 0:57.431 32 CP Terry Ward Chev Camaro 0:58.536 31 SPO Glen Peterson Ford Mustang 0:59.268 31 SPO Chuck Jessup Chev Z28 0:58.254 31 CP Duncan Anderson Chev Camaro 0:59.151 31 CP Mark Rovner Chev Camaro 0:59.710 31 SPU Scott Adare BMW 318is 0:59.744 30 SPU Andy Leonard Mazda RX7 1:01.032 30 CP Craig Johnson Ford Mustang 1:00.130 29 SPM Manfred Duske Datsun 240Z 0:57.126 23 SPO DOC Galmut WS6 Firebird 0:58.649 8 THE END
Date: 10/03/99
After Phase VIII Mods + LT1 #2.
Most of this story was written up in John's own words. I'll just add a few
things extra from my driver's seat. To set the stage, you will recall that
I could not quite beat Peterson up in Mission the prior weekend. He came
in 2nd and I was right behind him in 3rd. So going into this race the points
break down stacked up about like this in the Super Production Over 3.0L (SPO)
class...
Peterson #109 Mustang had 110
Chuck Jessup #310 had 103 (now 7 pts back)
Klokkevold #182 RX7 Turbo had 80 (back in action after all)
DOC #97 WS6 Fbird had 53
So to retain 2nd place over Klokkevold's VERY fast RX7 Turbo I would have
to at least finish. Actually, just a start would net me 106 points for
the season. A 1st place finish for Klokkevold would net him a max of 105.
So, I pretty much had 2nd place sewed up. Gaining 7 points on Peterson
was another matter though... a real, real long shot. If he started, but
did not finish, he'd wrap up the season with 113. As there were at least
two starters with cars MUCH faster than John's and mine it looked like
just coming in 3rd would be the order of the day. That would give me 123.
That was my objective. With five starters the worst Peterson could do,
IF he finished the race, would be to wrap up the season with 18 more points
for a grand total of 128... five points out of my reach with a 3rd place
finish. A very hard to get 2nd place finish would give me 2 more points;
125. Still 3 points shy. A 1st place finish would give me 128 for a
possible tie IF Peterson came in 5th out of the 5 car SPO pack. So my
only hope to take the points title was if Peterson either did not show or
did not finish (110 or 113 points).
Here's the break down of the top 17 racers on grid and their qualify
times, not counting Mike Rocket's GT1 Camaro time of 1:22.791 which earned
him a new SIR lap record (but only before he blew a lifter generating a
no show for the race).
Car#/Driver Class/Car Make Qualify OA Finish
-------------------- ------------------- -------- ---------
1 Skip Nichols SPO Corvette 1:30.436 1
794 Tim Brown SPM Ford Probe 1:31.712 23 DNF
715 Jack Zarowny SPM Mazda RX7 1:33.999 ** DNF
717 Dan Viskari SPU Mazda R100 1:34.088 26 DNF
378 Jason Koehm SPM Dodge Colt 1:35.424 22
758 Kirk Shroyer BP Porsche 911 1:36.947 3
31 Larry Sandham SPM Mini-Vauxhall 1:37.524 ** DNF
163 Jules Moritz SPU Mazda RX7 1:38.179 6
36 Terry Ward CP Chev Camaro 1:38.617 5
310 Chuck Jessup SPO Chev Z28 1:39.777 8
10 Gary Koehn SPM Datsun 510 1:40.170 7
398 John Kelchen SPO Chev Z28 1:40.584 9
41 Ken Shreve SPU Mazda RX7 1:40.864 12
52 Manfred Duske SPM Datsun 240Z? 1:40.888 4
109 Glen Peterson SPO Ford Mustang 1:41.622 11
394 Scott Twomey SPU Toyota MR2 1:41.677 10
182 Joe Klokkevold SPO Mazda RX7 Turbo DNQ 2 (started 34th)
JOHN'S STORY
First off, what a perfect weekend for racing. Beautiful 70 degree sunny days
make for awesome race conditions. I showed up at SIR early Fri afternoon to
reserve a good paddock spot and got all set up. Mike Rockett and his awesome
Trans Am car pitted next to Chuck and I, kind of a humbling experience.
Alright, onto Sat morning practice session. I hadn't been to SIR in over
a year because I seemed to always have a scheduling conflict with races or
track days out there. So I wanted to follow Chuck around the track for a
few laps to get reacquainted with the line. The track was cool and my old
rubber was taking a while to heat up, so the first few laps were kind of
easy. After about 4 laps, I decided it was time to start running hard and
felt I could trust the car to go flat-out through turn 1; yea, I know you
guys are calling me a big wuss right now for lifting right?. ;-) For those
not familiar with Seattle's turn 1, it is a ~20-25 degree kink in the track
at the end of the straight. With our pretty much stock drivetrain, you're
going through turn 1 at about 130; when I was running 4.10 gears, I could
get closer to 135. So it's a high speed turn and even with my suspension
mods, it's working the car pretty hard, but it is a rush indeed! Anyway,
I'm hammer down in 5th gear about to turn into turn 1 when all of a sudden
BOOM!! Scared the living daylights out of me as my console lid flies up into
the air and the car starts shaking violently. Remember, the ~130mph speed
in a turn at this point. I immediately let out of it and start drifting
towards the edge of the track. I was able to coast to a safe location and
got flat-towed back to the paddock following the session. Once back in the
paddock, I find my driveshaft has broken in two right in the middle of the
shaft. For those who are wondering, this is the aluminum 1LE shaft that's
supposed to be for RR setups right? Well it let loose and beat the shit out
of the exhaust and the floor board (that's what sent my console lid flying
and busted my fire extinguisher out of it's bracket).
Well what to do now? Luckily the damage was mostly to the exhaust and I
really didn't care too much about the floor board because there wasn't any
structural damage. This is where it's nice to own 2 F-bodies. My wife
showed up at the track and I decided to use the Firehawk's driveshaft as a
loaner for the day. :-) So after swapping the driveshaft off my daily
driver and getting a local exhaust shop to fix my intermediate pipe, I
thought I was ready for the qualifying session in the afternoon. We get out
onto the track and right off, I notice the steel driveshaft from the 'Hawk
was vibrating pretty bad. Normal I figured, for a stock shaft, and kept
driving. After a decent qualifying session, I came back to the paddock to
find the rear of the car coated with tranny fluid. After removing the
driveshaft again, my diagnosis was that I probably trashed the rear seal when
the original driveshaft let go.
This is where the awesome teamwork begins. Ken Bollman was at the track
watching us have fun (and me swapping driveshafts) and happened to have
Ellis' number with him. He puts in a call to Ellis and, by the time I get
home, Ellis has left a message with me saying he has the rear seal I need
and he'd drop it off at Chuck's to bring to the track in the AM. Ken also
tells me he just happens to have a spare 1LE shaft sitting in his garage
ready for my use if I should need it. Well, I was a bit leery at first
considering what happened with my first aluminum driveshaft, but came to the
conclusion that I must've had a faulty shaft, plus the steel one vibrated so
bad it put my a$$ to sleep. OK, looks like I got a seal and a new aluminum
driveshaft all lined up for the next day. BTW, Chuck is also having CRACKED
rotor problems at this point too. So, we work on a plan to get him all fixed
up as well with a couple of my rotors. Hold on folks it's just starting to
get good.
[We had to reverse the mounting bracket for the BEAR calipars and I ended
up buying 20 meteric washers to use as spacers in order to reset the calipar
alignment once I got hold of John's spare set of 13" (vs my 13.5") rotors.
That was the poor man's engineering feat that kept me in the hunt for the
weekend!]
Alright, I show up happy and cheery on Sun morning with my new driveshaft
in the bed of the truck and Chuck waiting with my new seal. I put the new
seal in, install the driveshaft and I'm ready to go, or so I thought. We
got out on track for our second qualifying session and the car feels better
but still has a slight vibration. I thought that was unusual for the 1LE
shaft but it wasn't bad. Well, Chuck and I run around the track for a bit
and again coming through turn 1... poof! A large cloud of smoke in my
rearview mirror and a bad vibration. I point Chuck around and slow way down
thinking I just fragged the engine. However, after slowing down, the car is
running fine except I'm trailing lots of smoke. Arron and Zeke came out to
support the Team NW F-body effort (i.e. Chuck) and were in the hot pits. I
pulled in and Arron and I discovered the bottom of my car was coated with
tranny fluid. WTF?!!! Back in the paddock, we found the rear seal had come
completely out of the tranny. How the heck did that happen? I know I seated
it well. We pulled the driveshaft and found a metal bushing had also pushed
out of the tranny. Time to call the expert. So Arron called Ellis with his
cell and described the situation. Bad news! Ellis says that when the
driveshaft self-destructed, it probably elongated the tail section allowing
the rear bushing to push the rear seal off. He also said I was done racing
as this required a major fix in a shop. WAIT! Don't stop reading. I don't
quit that easy. ;-) Well, I immediately start thinking about the good
tranny in the 'Hawk and figuring out if we have time to swap the 'Hawk's
tranny into the Z28 for the race. We had 3 hours and 4 dedicated guys to do
it. It was worth a shot! Arron and I jumped underneath and started
unbolting stuff, Zeke jumped inside and unbolted top side. [Chuck had problems
of his own with a corded rear tire to replace. And he had to go from Hoosiers
to Kumhos mid-stream. Not a good thing as the Hoosiers were all set up for
the race.]
Somewhere in the middle of all this I decided this would be a good time to
join Team NW F-body. So now I'm the newest member. :-)
Believe it or not, between the 4 of us, we had the tranny out of the Z28
in 30 minutes. Ellis calls and says he's up for helping and is on his way.
Mary shows up with the 'Hawk and I give her the bad news that I'll be stealing
the tranny from it shortly. Arron, Zeke, Chuck and I move to the 'Hawk and
start tearing the tranny out if it. Ellis shows up as we're right in the
middle of installing the tranny in the Z ("stabbing it" I think is the
professional term he used) ;-). Arron and I were having some trouble lining
up the trans but Ellis' professional touch helped us get the thing the rest
of the way in. Bolted everything back up and presto, 1 hour and 45 minutes
later, we have a completed tranny swap and a race ready Z28! We even had time
to sit around a bullshit for a while. I can't begin to thank everyone for
all the help!
OK. As the newest member of Team NW F-body, I'm ready to hit the track.
Even though Chuck and I qualified back-to-back on Sat, he did a bit better
Sun morning and put a car between us in pre-grid. He was one row up at the
start. I started in row 6.
RACE TIME (Season photos HERE)
Alright, this is the last race of the season, and it's going to be
a good one damn it! We got out on track and after all the cool tire
scrubbing and brake warming we're ready for the green as we roll onto the
front straight. GREEN FLAG, hammer down! Holy chit, nothing but a bunch of
screaming maniacs (including me) flying through turn 1!! Cars are 3 wide in
turn 2 and I'm holding 2 wide on the inside of 2. Down the hill into turn 3
and I'm trying to locate Chuck. Shit, a white Barracuda in front of me
locks his rear wheels under braking and starts to lose it, I get on the
brakes to avoid hitting him, looks like he's going to save it, I let off the
brakes, no, he over-compensates and swings the tail the other way, back on
the brakes to avoid smacking him, now he's heading for the grass, back off
the brakes, no, SHIT!, he swings back onto the track and parks his big-old
white Barracuda road-blocking a$$ sideways right in front of me!! I barely
get stopped to avoid T-boning him. Cars are flying around us, 2 go by on
the outside in the grass, I'm stuck, no way I can back up. Cars are
screaming around us on the inside, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN! He's killed it and
finally gets it started. Seemed like forever but he was probably blocking
the track for under half a minute. However, that was enough to put lots of
cars between Chuck and I which gives him a hell of a lead. Man, what to do
now... just drive and try my best I guess.
[In the mean time Chuck is chasing Terry Ward and has moved up several
spots with Peterson coming from behind and taking up the third place SPO
slot right behind him.
Klokkevold is making good time from the back of the pack and will eventually
get by Kelchen, then Peterson and finally Jessup and ends the race a lap up
along with Skip Nichols taking 2nd away from Chuck in SPO...
Before that though, Chuck actually passes Ward going through turn 1 and
under braking entering turn 2. He can't hold the line though, drifts high
and almost goes dirt tracking. Ward can't get by Chuck which puts a car
between Chuck and Peterson. This is one hairy first couple laps to say the
least!! Unfortunatley, all the pressure of racing both Ward and Peterson
results in Chuck missing a shift coming out of 3B onto the back straight.
Ward gets back by and Peterson is purched for the kill too. Chuck grabs
3rd finally and holds off Peterson for the next several laps. Perfect driving
only serves to add about an extra 20 yard lead on Peterson every lap there
after. Peterson's goose is slowly cooked as Terry and Chuck pull away into
the SIR sunset. :)]
I start working my way up through the pack and come across Chuck's buddy
Peterson in his Mustang. Like I figured, he wasn't going to let me by
easily since he runs SPO as well. In fact, he steps his pace way up and I
track around behind him for a few laps deciding on when I should do my pass.
I can usually get a bit more exit speed out of turn 9 and should be able get
beside him on the straight or turn 1, then take him under braking for turn 2.
However, we come onto the straight, me hot on his a$$, and he blows a shift (or
engine or something) and I scream by him. Shortly after, I start to see the
red Z of Chuck's in the distance.
[By about the middle of the race Chuck's tranny started ejecting oil on his
off road pipe which resulted in smoke coming into the cockpit. Chuck decided
with his extended lead to save the componants as much as possible by backing
out and cooling down... that is until he notices John and another red MR2
tracking him down from behind. Chuck's old worn out rubber was on its last
legs as well, making it very difficult to get any decent traction through
turns 3A, 3B and/or 8. But it is still time to dig in and start racing
again knowing Kelchen will have the red mist for Chuck in his sights...]
As I start closing on him, Chuck starts putting lapped traffic between us and
I'm doing my best to pass and keep up.
Chuck must have noticed me in his mirrors because he picked up the pace too.
The most exciting pass of the day came right after Chuck passed a red RX7 on
the back straight before turn 5. The guy was kind of slow through the turns
and I needed to keep up with Chuck so I drifted out of 5 and up along side
the guy in turn 6. We went through turn 6 side-by-side on the ragged edge
of traction, and came out of 6 with me in the lead. What a rush! It's hard
to put that pass into words but damn it felt sweet, and I didn't lose any
ground on Chuck. I tried my hardest but wasn't able to reel old Chucky in.
I have to hand it to him, he was driving his a$$ off and keeping out in
front. I guess there must be something to that old saying about "Old age
and treachery prevailing". ;-)
[John fails to mention the run in he had with the MR2 and how they swapped
positions several times over the next 8 or so laps, as he and the MR2 were
both gunning for me. It was all I could muster to ward them both off.
And once I darn nearly made the fatal mistake of trying to cut through 3B too
fast and nearly lost it in the process. That was about as close as John ever
came to catching me. Again, I dug deep for the extra 110% and managed to pull
enough tricks out of the hat to get to the last lap and over the line maybe
50 yards ahead of John. It was a KILLER finish to the season having both John
and I cross the white line, back to back, as official TEAM NW F-BODY mates
and ahead of Peterson; who I had now wipped up on 2 out of 3 times even though
I had to grant him the points lead for the season.]
There's always next year, right? Hopefully I'll be around for the full season
and can participate in the run for the points. This race has to be the most
exciting I've run to date and thanks to all the help I had, I think it was worth
all the hassles.
Since the 'Hawk is a daily driver, you guessed it folks, we swapped the
trannies back over after we came off the track. Once again, Ellis, Zeke,
sometimes Chuck, ;-) and I swapped the trans over in record time. I also
want to thank Steph for being patient and understanding as I stole her
boyfriend for a double tranny swap in our race paddock.
What a way to wrap up a season!! Would've been cool to come out on top but I
had a blast trying. BTW, the teamwork impressed everyone, including Mike
Rocket's GT1 team who couldn't believe the TEAM effort put forth during all the
swaps. Thanks again to Arron, Ellis, Zeke, Ken, Chuck and Steph, what a
team you guys have started. Man, I just hope it gets easier from here on out.
See ya,
:-)
John Kelchen
Date: 10/17/99 After Phase VIII Mods + LT1 #2. More fun for the F-buds down at Kent this Sunday. Had to run against the Taco Time RX7 again. Is there an echo in here? But I also had a few F-buds running with me in EM. And we all had fun trying to beat each other in the sun. Last chance to run at Kent too. But we all enjoyed the going away party with 4 vs the normal 3 runs each. Here's all our times plus a few other hot shoes in our classes... Mark McCooey - RX7 - E Mod 50.100 + 0 = 50.100 48.338 + 6 = 54.338 55.387 + 36 = 91.387 50.802 + 4 = 54.802 Best Time = 50.100 Steve Sampson - Camaro - E Street Prep 55.556 + 0 = 55.556 DNF = DNF 53.590 + 0 = 53.590 52.362 + 0 = 52.362 Best Time = 52.362 Carlo Sparacio - Mustang - E Street Prep 55.369 + 0 = 55.369 54.268 + 0 = 54.268 53.203 + 0 = 53.203 52.750 + 0 = 52.750 Best Time = 52.750 Jason Sherrill - Beretta - E Street Prep 64.985 + 2 = 66.985 52.896 + 0 = 52.896 52.904 + 0 = 52.904 53.681 + 0 = 53.681 Best Time = 52.904 Richard Partridge - Beretta - E Street Prep 56.609 + 2 = 58.609 54.003 + 0 = 54.003 53.205 + 0 = 53.205 52.486 + 2 = 54.486 Best Time = 53.205 Chuck Jessup - Camaro - E Mod 55.299 + 2 = 57.299 53.941 + 2 = 55.941 55.802 + 0 = 55.802 53.966 + 0 = 53.966 Best Time = 53.966 John Kelchen - Camaro - E Mod 56.785 + 0 = 56.785 56.137 + 0 = 56.137 54.247 + 0 = 54.247 55.335 + 10 = 65.335 Best Time = 54.247 Pat Newton - Camaro - E Street Prep (street tires) 58.292 + 10 = 68.292 55.826 + 0 = 55.826 55.081 + 0 = 55.081 55.228 + 0 = 55.228 Best Time = 55.081 Tarryn Shriver - Mustang - E Street Prep 58.777 + 0 = 58.777 56.699 + 0 = 56.699 56.582 + 2 = 58.582 56.188 + 0 = 56.188 Best Time = 56.188 Ken Bollman - Camaro - E Mod 61.274 + 0 = 61.274 57.664 + 0 = 57.664 56.826 + 0 = 56.826 58.185 + 0 = 58.185 Best Time = 56.826 Ellis Groo - Camaro - Novice (street tires) 62.810 + 0 = 62.810 57.554 + 0 = 57.554 56.906 + 0 = 56.906 57.593 + 0 = 57.593 Best Time = 56.906 Will Baker - Firebird - Novice (street tires) 70.853 + 16 = 86.853 59.699 + 0 = 59.699 57.817 + 0 = 57.817 57.181 + 0 = 57.181 Best Time = 57.181 Joe Waldron - Camaro - Novice (street tires) 60.134 + 30 = 90.134 57.404 + 0 = 57.404 57.522 + 0 = 57.522 59.045 + 10 = 69.045 Best Time = 57.404 Zeke Taney - Camaro - E Mod 65.277 + 0 = 65.277 80.067 + 0 = 80.067 59.186 + 0 = 59.186 57.914 + 0 = 57.914 Best Time = 57.914 Craig Standley - Mustang - Novice (street tires) 68.??? + 0 = 68.??? 61.??? + 20 = 81.??? 59.7?? + 30 = 89.7?? 59.269 + 0 = 59.269 Best Time = 59.269
Dates: 10/23/99 and 10/24/99
After Phase VIII Mods + LT1 #2.
This little SHORT story was again well written by John Kelchen...
First off, the racing this weekend was tight. Chuck, Steve and I were
within .7 sec of each other most of the weekend. It was great competition
and I think we all pushed each other to the next level. We also made a deal
that the winner for the weekend had to make the write-up on the race, so,
uh, here's the story. :-)
Sat Morn: Show up and meet the other Solo 1 guys--couple of Vette drivers,
a MB, and a couple others. They all seem pretty cool. Check out Chuck's
car, brand spanking new tires, oh-oh, things are going to be interesting
this weekend. :-) Unloaded the car, got teched and all set to go. A Solo 1
weekend is set up like this: 2 15 min practices in the morning and 2 5-lap
qualifying sessions in the afternoon.
First practice session, Steve and I got gridded together and I was hoping
for some fun. Unfortunately, we got stuck behind the MB and he held us up
for a while; when we did get free, we seemed pretty evenly matched. If I
remember right though, I think I pointed Steve by for the pass during the
session. After we came in from practice, Chuck informed us his alignment
was out and he was going to check out an alignment shop to get it fixed.
Steve and I were both experiencing low brake pedals; we decided to bleed
mine and when we were in the middle of the process, one of the Vette drivers
came by and asked us if we were going to be ready to head out to grid soon.
No, I said, "we have over an hour till our next session". No he said, that
was a typo in the schedule, our next practice is at 10:50 not 11:50. A
quick glance at the watch and I see 10:48! The car is still up on
jackstands and we still have one corner to bleed. Luckily they were running
behind schedule and Steve and I were able to bust a$$ and get my car back
together in time. However, no Chuck yet; that alignment must be taking a
while.
Second practice session they decide to split us up a bit and put about 10
sec between us. That kinda sucked because we didn't really get to play. I
concentrated on getting familiar with the line at Bremerton since I hadn't
been there since last Nov. Following that session, we bled Steve's brakes
this time, only his went much faster with his Speed Bleeders. I have to get
those on my car for sure. Around lunch, Ken Bollman showed up to give
support and lend a hand, as if letting me use his driveshaft wasn't enough.
:-)
Ok, our first set of timed runs but where's Chuck? Wait, just in the nick
of time, old Slowrider comes pulling up and is able to grid up with us. I
went out and ran my laps pretty clean and came away with a pretty good
feeling with the exception of a low brake pedal again. We got our times
only to find the Chuckster had bested Steve and I with a 1:02:300. Steve
and I were .7 sec behind with 1:03:033 and 1:03:096 respectively. As you
can see the competition was intense and close. I figured picking up .7 sec
could be done, but I'd need to pick up more than that because Chuck would
most likely better his time too. That's when things took a bit of a turn
for the worst.
The weather started rolling in about 1.5 hours before our final timed
session. Sure enough, it starts to rain about half an hour prior to us
going out. Steve and I toyed with the idea of changing over to rain tires
and finally made the decision to do it right before heading out. Thanks to
Ken B., we were able to get Steve and I's tires swapped in time. Chuck
decided to stick with his G-forces (GF); this set us up for a great
comparison to see what tires were best in the rain. Since we were all
pretty even in the dry, whoever picked up the most would point us to the
best rain tires. I was on SZ50s, Steve was on Dunlop's, and again Chuck was
on BFG GF's. The downside to all this is that Steve and I weren't going to
have a chance at bettering Chuck's time now that it was wet. Well, the
SZ50's rocked in the rain; I ran a 1:08. Steve ran a 1:13 and Chuck also
came in with a 1:13 between spins, :-) so the GF's didn't do too bad in the
rain and like Steve said, the Dunlops weren't much good in the wet either.
It was kind of a bitter/sweet ending to the day as I was real happy with my
wet time but disappointed I didn't get another shot at Chuck.
Sun Morn: The sun is out, YES! However, Steve and I show up and Chuck's
not there.
First practice: Steve and I gridded together again and they sent us out
without spacing, cool. The track was still cold and damp and my R1's were
having a hell of a time hooking on the damp track. Steve was all over me; I
point him by for the pass. I chased Steve for a while and finally started
to find some dry areas. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to reel him in even
though I spun in turn 3 trying =:-0 (no wall contact fortunately).
Second practice: This was the best time of the weekend. Steve and I
gridded together again with me in front because even though I wasn't able to
catch him in the morning practice, I still somehow ran a slightly better
laptime (again within .5 sec). They sent us out with some spacing but I
think Steve's Kumho's heated up quicker than my GF(front)/R1(rear) combo.
He was all over me in a quick way. I pointed him by on the front straight.
This isn't looking so good for me as Steve was able to put a lead on me in
the morning session and keep it and now he's passing me this session too. I
was able to stick with him though and it wasn't long before the GF/R1's
started heating up and I was able to put some pressure on Steve. He was
pushing his car to the max and so was I. We'd come through turn 1 and I'd
see Steve's rear start to step out and mine would be right behind. In the
backside esses, we were both drifting the cars right to the edge, it was a
blast. Steve pointed me by on the straight for my turn to lead, oh-oh, not
his black Z in my mirrors again. :-) Again we stepped up a notch and I was
doing all I could to put some distance on Steve but he was hanging tough.
His Kumho's started to go away on him though and I was able to end up
putting some distance between us. Talk about pushing it to the next level,
we came in to find our best times during practice were 1:01:3 (me) and
1:02:0 (Steve). Very close indeed and we had blown the fast time of Sat out
of the water.
As if he sensed some attack on his position in the catbird seat, Chuck comes
rolling right after we found out our times. Hmm, now's he's going to step
it up a notch, this is going to be interesting. Chuck is still is having
alignment problems but he gets it pretty close to what he needs. For some
reason he can't get neg camber on the left side but is able to on the right.
Fortunately for him, Bremerton is mainly a left turn track so it isn't as
bad as if they were the other way around. The Stewart gave Chuck a Hardship
lap to see how the alignment was since he wasn't able to run the practice
sessions. He came back and the car wasn't great but it was workable.
First timed session: Went pretty uneventful but I wanted to make sure my
1:01xx time got made official and thanks to a nice warm track I was able to.
I was slightly slower than my best practice lap (remember tires don't get
near the same heat in them during the 5-lap timed sessions) and ran a
1:01:432. Steve came smoking in right on my heals with a 1:01:992, damn
this is close. Chuck isn't far behind with a 1:02:853. We took a break and
watched the very cool Group 1 race which included the awesome machines of
Mike Rockett (GT1 Camaro 0:54:xx!) and Scotty White (World Challenge C5
Vette).
Second timed session: The track and weather were getting cool and we were
all kind of doubting we'd run better times. Sure enough the ending was
anti-climactic as we all ran slightly off times.
They awarded the trophy for the weekend by adding our best times from both
days (during timed sessions) and whoever had the lowest combined total took
the win. Here's how we stacked up (Sat's times first):
John: 1:03:096 + 1:01:432 = 2:04:528
Steve: 1:03:033 + 1:01:992 = 2:05:025
Chuck: 1:02:300 + 1:02:853 = 2:05:153
Less than .6 sec between us all over a course of 2 days, man that is close!
I enjoyed the competition and hope you guys did too. Steve, I can't wait
for you to make the jump to fender-to-fender racing, I know you'll be
pushing me to the next level!
Here's the official numbers...
SCCA Solo I - October Results
Saturday Saturday Sunday Sunday Best Trophy Points
Class Car # Driver Practice 1 Practice 2 Race 1 Race 2 Points Practice 1 Practice 2 Race 1 Race 2 Points Total Award Award
GT-1-S 0 Fordahl 0 .58.958 .58.774 0 10 0 .58.770 .57.815 .58.010 10 1.56.784 1st 20
27 Harris 1.02.046 1.00.615 1.01.121 0 6 1.07.659 1.00.678 1.00.437 1.00.615 6 2.01.558 2nd 12
85 Hurley 1.03.940 1.03.489 1.03.701 0 4 1.09.889 1.03.582 1.03.082 1.03.149 4 2.06.783 8
SPO-S 97 White 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .57.925 0 10 n/a 10
9 Salvatore 1.06.388 1.05.750 1.06.465 1.15.787 10 1.08.229 1.05.127 1.04.348 1.05.564 6 2.10.813 1st 16
ITS-S 98 Kelchen 1.03.278 1.02.322 1.03.096 1.08.512 4 1.05.988 1.01.361 1.01.432 1.01.967 10 2.04.528 1st 14
24 Sampson 1.04.111 1.02.910 1.03.033 1.13.190 6 1.06.657 1.02.017 1.01.992 1.02.634 6 2.05.025 2nd 12
10 Jessup 1.14.530 0 1.02.300 1.13.022 10 0 0 1.02.853 1.03.361 4 2.05.153 14
FF-S 78 Skip Cain 1.09.307 1.01.856 1.03.757 10 0 0 0 0 0 n/a 10
?? Belcher 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.05.941 1.05.166 0 10 n/a 10
ITB-S 4 Joachim 0 0 1.21.167 1.36.563 10 1.14.223 1.15.499 1.15.978 0 10 n/a 1st 20
Date: 03/08/98 After Phase V Mods. My first "hot laps" of the season, as it turns out, were at an IRDC road racing school held at SIR. That was on Sat 03/07/98. Got my novice license so I guess you could say I'm now a real road racer. Had a major blast with the F-buds; John, Rick and Pat. Too bad Rick's friend munched up his Porsche though. MAJOR OUCH!!! All I have to say about road racing is that it is KILLLLLLER!!! Bob Rothwell is a killer mentor/instructor too. If you ever want to learn to drive a road course (and he's not teaching me some new tricks) I really recommend him folks. He really taught me how to find and use the line. And he didn't have to hit me over the head with a baseball bat to get his lessons home. The next day I ended up at the first '98 Oregon Region SCCA Solo II held in Portland. Naturally it rained. Got soaked changing the tires and then changed into some dry cloths. After my phase V mods I'm now stuck racing in E Modified class with a bunch of tin cans (cars composed of nothing much other than a shell body, suspension, engine, 4 gallon fuel cell, seat, stearing wheel, stick, pedals and big, wide racing slicks). Hardly fair. SCCA really needs to get their act together. How the F is an street legal F-body with a mere 325+/- HP pushing around 3600+ pounds on a tight a$$ Solo II course supposed stand a chance? Suprise, suprise. One F-body vs 4 other E Mod cars. The bell rings and the F-body comes out fighting and manages to take first place in round one on wet 40 psi tires. Ooops. Better let some air out. Try 36 psi next time. Second round; two tin cans fair better. F-body in a close 3rd postion after getting a little squirly. Round three, F-body has the lines and is out of the gate cooking with NO2. He's running very well, dancing through gates and turns. Then going down the back stretch he thinks (bad idea) TOO far ahead and forgets the next gate. Shit!! There goes the farm. But he stays on pace just for practice and is dinged for an unknown cone to boot. -12 secs. Oh well. Maybe next race. Could be worse. Still managed to get 3rd. And two E Mod kills isn't too bad for the first race with no real practice time all winter. Besides, 'ol Slowrider managed to get a VIPER kill to boot. Results... E Mod Class Make/Model Run#1 Run#2 Run#3 Best --------------- --------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ 1 John Ickes Volvo Tincup 58.292 55.863 52.462+2 54.462 2 Del Bibler Chev Vette 58.010 56.555 54.949 54.949 3 Chuck Jessup Chev Camaro Z28 57.349 56.857 55.346+12 56.857 4 Paul Newcomb Tincup w/4 Rims 63.795 60.527 58.002 58.002 5 Ed Newcomb Tincup w/4 Rims 60.367 59.291 59.353 59.291 Other Times ----------- Troy Cole Red Dodge Viper 70.157+2 56.578+2 59.337+4 58.578
Date: 03/15/98 After Phase V Mods. Well mother nature decided to let us play this Sunday without raining on our parade. Hooked up with Steve and Ken in Kent. Steve had run in the morning session. Forgot to get his times. Ken and I ran the afternoon session. It was pretty crazy as were all my runs. Turns out that I will be able to run in E Mod or Street Mod in the NW Region this year. Anyway, here's the results of all the cars I like to match my times with... E Mod Class Make/Model Run#1 Run#2 Run#3 Best ----------------- ---------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ 1 Mark McCooly Mazda RX7 (skin) 58.551+2 61.075+2 59.546+4 60.551 2 Chuck Jessup Chev Camaro Z28 63.665+6 63.208+10 63.549+2 65.549 Street Mod Class ----------------- 1 Doug Braun Pantera 59.827 59.528 58.951 58.951 2 Mike Gruber Toyota MR2 SC 61.453 60.726 60.451 60.451 3 Greg Downing Mazda 323 GTX 63.404 62.558 61.535 61.535 4 Geoff Clark Mazda 626 70.496 66.598 65.066 65.066 5 Dan Fisher Ford SVO 69.891 67.084 67.120 67.084 6 Paul Richer Datsun 240Z 67.678 85.094 77.812 67.678 E Street Prepared ----------------- Alex Carter Pont Trans Am 71.482 65.947 68.640 65.947 Ken Bollman Chev Camaro Z28 81.525 77.865 73.699 73.699 Other Times ----------------- Doug Herbenthal Porsche 911 60.517 58.975 58.417 58.417 Bill Thatcher Chev Vette 90.021 61.577 58.711 58.711 Val Korrey Porsche 911 60.488 60.923 70.608 60.488 Jodi Fordahl Porsche 911 62.303 60.939 61.228 60.939 Colin Watson Porsche 911 63.209 61.008 63.050 61.008 Rany Wells Porsche 911 62.334? 73.545? 62.611 62.611 Tony Kitdwicz Porsche 911 69.220 66.635 65.816 65.816
Date: 03/29/98 After Phase V Mods. This time I do a WWSCC event in Kent. Time to get terminated by the RX7 again. What can I say? I did poorly. I even let Troy Cole best my time in his Viper... B Mod Class Make/Model Run#1 Run#2 Run#3 Run#4 Best ----------------- ---------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ 1 Mark McCooly Mazda RX7 (skin) 53.188+6 46.665 46.253 46.863 46.253 2 Gretchn Everett Mazda RX7 (skin) 58.423 47.379 47.443 55.568 47.379 3 Chuck Jessup Chev Camaro Z28 57.614+4 53.773 54.525+2 53.151 53.151 Other Times ----------------- Greg Fordahl Porsche 911 50.168 50.181+2 48.653 48.098 48.098 Bill Thatcher Chev Vette 58.183+10 49.516 48.974 50.122 48.974 Stacey Molleker Chev Camaro SS 49.877 50.738 61.276+12 49.579 49.579 Val Korrey Porsche 911 50.724 49.640 50.319 49.598 49.598 L J Moffet Porsche 944 54.028+2 50.895 50.055 50.817 50.055 David Hurley Chev Vette 53.888+2 51.705 50.320 50.102 50.102 Colin Watson Porsche 911 RSA 50.483 52.409+2 53.830 50.120 50.120 Jodi Fordahl Porsche 911 52.447 51.973 50.238 50.478 50.283 Angela Lord Porsche 968 62.771+10 51.905 50.708 50.882 50.708 Troy Cole Red Dodge Viper 59.254+10 55.999 50.856 50.941 50.856 Steve Downing Porsche 911 52.459 51.367 51.323 50.962 50.962 Rick Smale Chev Camaro Z28 52.658 61.350+2 51.524 51.101 51.101 Bill Kim Porsche 968 51.682 52.625+2 52.253 51.176 51.176 Eric Hanson Porsche 911 54.548 51.735 53.419+2 51.268 51.268 Brian Home BMW M3 52.597 51.325 51.398 51.456 51.325 Laura Molleker Chev Camaro SS 52.002 51.951 54.051 51.580 51.580 Tom Bogaard Porsche 968 62.915+10 52.226 52.337 51.610 51.610 Dan Woodman Porsche 944 55.510 54.287 53.572 53.335 53.335 Richard Kaethler Porsche 911 53.542 54.058 53.986 54.549 53.542 Kevin York BMW M3 55.544 54.362 54.010 54.492 54.010 Katherne Busching Chev Camaro 56.506+2 54.165 54.219 54.124 54.124 Steve Lavigne Porsche 944 55.968 54.405 65.128+10 67.190+10 54.405 Colin Noel Mustang Cobra 63.927+10 55.690 55.559 60.017 55.559 Bill Thatcher Jr Pont Trans Am 67.745+10 57.065 72.242+12 DNF 57.065
Date: 04/05/98 After Phase V Mods. Went down to Portland and had fun doing laps in the PIR Pro Pits. Hooked up with Bob and Ken. Turns out the NW-F-Body crew cleaned house in both E Mod and E Street Prepared. I can't believe how well Bob Bigwood did for his first showing on the west coast here. Congrats dude!! Check out these results and remember if you want to support us just send money. E Mod Class Make/Model Run#1 Run#2 Run#3 Best ----------------- ---------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ 1 Chuck Jessup Chev Camaro Z28 67.986* 57.193 57.213 2 Del Biblier Chev Vette 63.700 56.313+4 58.017 58.017 3 John Ickes Volvo Tincup 59.076+4 57.960+6 56.741+4 60.741 * w/K5 spin out... E Street Prepared ----------------- 1 Bob Bigwood Chev Camaro Z28 58.099+4 57.625+2 58.206 2 Jim Terry Merc Capri 59.281+2 58.665 58.005+6 58.665 3 Chris McMann Pont GTA 63.403 61.145 61.126+2 61.145 4 Jim Warren Ford Probe 62.950 62.138 60.670+4 62.138 5 Ken Bollman Chev Camaro Z28 66.355 64.473 63.071 63.071 6 Joseph Coulter Toyota Supra Trb 69.510 65.405+2 63.838+6 67.405 Other Times ----------------- Chad Olerich BMW M3 55.986 55.528 55.593 55.528 Tim Boedigheimer Chev Vette 57.403 55.200+2 56.243 56.243 Bruce Harmon Chev Vette 57.640 56.345 57.528 56.345 Ed LaPlante Chev Camaro Z28 56.605 56.384+2 56.476 56.476 Kim Olerich BMW M3 59.403 57.543 56.785 56.784 Don Thompson BMW M3 57.565 57.629 57.022 57.022 Bill Spaulding Porsche 911 57.169 56.474+2 56.355+2 57.169 Glen Sands Chev Vette 57.584 60.031+6 57.507+2 57.584 Brett Hrenko Ford Mustang GT 60.182 61.000 58.420 58.420 Donna LaPlante Chev Camaro Z28 59.136+4 59.491+2 59.556 59.556 Alan Cohen Chev Vette 68.326 62.506 59.638 59.638 Mike Cronk Chev Camaro 56.671+8 59.751 58.297 59.751 Lance Cronk Chev Camaro 57.995+2 58.728+12 DNF 59.995 Kent McLain Ford Mustang 64.204+4 62.005 60.095 60.095 Andy Spec Ford Mustang 60.381 67.319+8 60.344+8 60.381 Jason Braunberger Chev Camaro 62.392 62.049 58.872+2 60.872 Troy Cole Dodge Viper 66.646+2 62.161 58.005+8 62.161 Michele Godfrey Ford Stang Cobra 60.920+2 61.093+8 61.626+2 62.920 Chip Hosler Chev Camaro 67.125+6 67.129 64.845 64.845 Dwight Meisner Chev Camaro 75.055+2 66.380 64.553+6 66.380
Date: 04/25/98 and 04/26/98 Track: Bremerton After Phase V Mods. Had a couple good days out a Bremerton. However, they never did post the times for Sunday. Boy that pisses me off! Well at least I took 1st place both days, even if there were only 2 cars in my class (three cars total) running in the Solo I event. They gave us 3 runs each session and posted only the fastest time of each session. I got some other lap times of the full race cars as well to take note of for benchmarks... ITS Class Make/Model Session#1 Session#2 Best ----------------- ---------------- --------- --------- --------- 1 Chuck Jessup Chev Camaro Z28 1:03.246 1:02.894 1:02.894 2 Daniel Townsley Mustang Cobra 1:03.124 1:03.657 1:03.124 SPO Class Make/Model Session#1 Session#2 Best ----------------- ---------------- --------- --------- --------- Kirk Salvatore M-Benz 1:05.350 1:06.698 1:05.350 Other Race Times Make/Model/Class RaceDay#1 QualDay#2 RaceDay#2 Best ----------------- ----------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- Steve Valentinetti Porsche 911RSR SP 0:58.811 DNS 0:55.636 0:55.636 Tom Kelly Porsche 911 SP 1:01.016 1:02.463 0:59.122 0:59.122 Bob Rygg Porsche 911 GT2 1:00.081 1:01.605 1:01.972 1:00.081 Randy Brealey Ford T-bird GTA 1:00.525 1:00.810 1:00.447 1:00.447 Jim Kelly Porsche 911 GT2 1:01.258 DNS DNS 1:01.258 Mark Franck Nissan 200SX SP 1:01.386 1:01.356 1:01.527 1:01.356 Lee Klepinger Porsche 914 GT2 1:01.498 1:01.789 DNS 1:01.498 Roger Stark Chev Camaro AS 1:02.207 1:03.151 1:02.074 1:02.074 Alex Long BMW M3 T2 1:02.851 1:03.372 1:02.301 1:02.301 Scott Zorn Porsche 911 GT2 1:02.954 DNS DNS 1:02.954 Leif Johnson Porsche 944T SP 1:03.547 1:03.321 1:03.297 1:03.297 Ron McDuffie Chev Camaro AS 1:04.498 1:05.543 1:03.309 1:03.309 Steve Pfeifer Mazda RX7 GT2 1:04.325 1:05.073 1:05.431 1:04.325 Larry Anderson Ford Mustang SP DNS 1:07.275 1:05.159 1:05.159
Date: 05/03/98 After Phase V Mods. Decided to take this right from the WWSCC site. Suffice it to say this Solo II is one tough arena to work in. And it is even worse when running in these darn WWSCC events against those nasty 911s. Imp A Class Make/Model Run#1 Run#2 Run#3 Run#4 Best ------------------ --------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ 1 Jeff Bailey Porsche 911 59.217 58.151 57.999 56.504 56.504 2 Val Korry Porsche 911 59.985 60.692+2 57.997 56.635 56.635 3 Ken Lavering Porsche 911 57.379 57.716 56.881 57.400 56.881 4 Steve Downing Porsche 911 60.092 58.761 58.885 57.784 57.784 5 Jodi Fordahl Porsche 911 RSA 59.414 63.384+4 58.283 DNF 58.283 6 Randy Wells Porsche 911S 64.054 59.890 60.068 58.804 58.804 7 Doug Hebenthal Porsche 911 RSA 61.787+2 59.092 59.455+2 59.208+2 59.092 8 Pete Bristow Acura NSX-T DNF 61.117 65.450+6 59.444 59.444 9 Colin Watson Porsche 911 RSA 60.126 62.779+2 59.533 62.008 59.533 10 Chuck Jessup Chev Camaro Z28 63.158 61.722 61.125 60.185 60.185 11 Eric Hanson Porsche 911 62.052 61.608+2 98.227+14 61.396+2 61.396 12 Peter Wong Dodge Viper 68.262 64.502 62.172 61.515 61.515 13 Andy Landis Chev Vette 71.844 70.198 66.102 65.581 65.581 14 Matt Androski Porsche 944S 67.231 67.593+4 66.456+4 66.536+4 66.456 Other Times ----------------- L J Moffet Chev Vette 56.751 56.183 56.013 60.025+4 56.013 Bill Kim Porsche 968 61.534+2 59.401+2 57.678 56.664 56.664 Stacey Molleker Chev Camaro SS 57.217 62.369+6 58.710+2 56.665 56.665 Glen Hernandez Porsche 924S ??? ??? ??? ??? 56.732 David Hurley Chev Vette 60.644 59.041 58.344 57.809 57.809 Jim Walsh BMW M5 58.260 58.490 62.413+4 57.982 57.982 Laura Molleker Chev Camaro SS 58.581 59.236 59.684+2 59.146 58.581 Angela Lord Porsche 944 59.734 58.791 59.639 58.825 58.791 Rick Smale Chev Camaro Z28 61.515+2 59.374 59.185 58.938 58.938 Tom Bogaard Porsche 968 60.077 59.570 59.464 58.987 58.987 Brian Horne BMW M3 62.227 59.747 59.561 59.506 59.506 Kevin York BMW M3 72.930 61.653 61.629 59.841 59.841 Jerry Frisbie Chev Vette 62.807 61.029 60.127 66.993+8 60.127 James Shaiman BMW M3 64.654 DNF 60.382 61.412+2 60.382 Ed Burnett Chev Vette 63.577 62.074 61.758 60.406 60.406 Jonathan Fay Porsche 911 63.202 61.040 76.413 60.451 60.451 Hugh Golden BMW M3 66.705 63.158 61.660 60.713 60.713 Dan Woodman Porsche 944 70.369+10 65.131 60.833 61.527 60.833 John Torkelson Chev Vette 62.662 62.332 61.171 61.559 61.171 Katherine Chev Camaro 71.367+8 65.800+2 62.907 62.347 62.347 Carlo Sparacio Ford Mustang 65.160+2 62.759 67.276+2 62.428 62.428 John Zweber BMW M3 68.245 64.011 64.460 62.851 62.851 Ken Kinlock BMW M3 69.489 75.069+10 64.016 63.598 63.598 Jim Lange BMW M3 67.030(1) 64.207 63.754 66.331+2 63.754 Andrew Rosenberg BMW M Roadster 67.246 70.105+6 66.201+2 64.208 64.208 Pam Novak Porsche 944 71.291 66.845 68.963+2 64.405 64.405 Daniel Nelson BMW 320is DNF 69.739 66.805 64.567 64.567 Kris Robinson Chev Camaro Z28 83.500+10 67.991 67.322+2 65.011 65.011 Dave Sauntry BMW M3 66.856 77.343+10 65.319 65.221 65.221 Charles ??? BMW 533i 68.490 66.762 68.701+2 66.649 66.649 Carlos Lopez BMW M3 DNF 74.103 68.705 68.540 68.540 Steve Norman BMW 325iX 72.891 70.389 70.514 73.673+2 70.389 Jason Pettyjohn BMW 325is 71.507 70.641+2 78.113+10 DNF 70.641 Terri Zweber BMW M3 93.989 79.204 74.794 71.161 71.161 Mike Thompson BMW 325iX 78.986 85.880+10 72.832 71.590 71.590
Date: 06/06/98 Track: PIR After Phase VI Mods. John Kelchin and I attempted a road race prior to this when I spun a bearing requiring an engine rebuild and he broke his clutch. So after several weeks of repairs we came back with blood in our eyes. It was time to race. Unfortunately my car was having all sorts of problems due to a bad cat converter resulting in over heating my engine and blowing oil out the crank vent breather. So I could not run full out the entire race. Luckily a couple very fast GT cars blew their engines (one on his last lap). So we managed a 1st and 3rd out of 20 cars! 1 John Kelchin Pont Firehawk 2 Unknown Pont Fiero (V8 up front) 3 Chuck Jessup Chev Camaro Z28
Date: 06/27/98 and 06/28/98
Track: Boundary Bay
After Phase VI Mods.
This event was not like the one in Bremerton at all.
It was more like a "large", 2 day, best time of all
attempts Solo II format. So we all took up to 12 runs
and the fastest time wins. Kinda strange considering
things change from one day to the next. But at least
the track/course was the same for everyone I guess.
I ended up taking 2nd is some strange GTO class and
10th over all (two cars being formula or highly
modified rigs). BTW - On day one I managed to shut
down one of my injectors somehow. So day two was
not a good day for me at all (running on only 7 cyls).
NOTE: Position numbers are overall not within each class...
GTO Class Make/Model Day#1 Day#2 Best
----------------- ----------------- --------- --------- ------
8 Peter Scheck Datsun 240Z DNF 76.641 75.127
77.331+2 76.534
77.136+2 76.883+6
76.436 75.363+4
75.599+2 75.792+4
75.127 77.319
10 Chuck Jessup Chev Camaro Z28 DNF DNF 75.830
86.566+2 84.065
78.329 DNS
78.653 76.716
DNF 76.624
75.830 76.022
Other Best Times Make/Model Class Best
----------------- ----------------- ----- ------
3 Alex Dumitrescu Mustang GT (SC'd) SP4 72.824
4 Campbell Carlyle Trans Am Firebird SP3 73.527
5 Doug Bayley Mustang GT SP3 73.719
6 Richard Boyk Camaro SP3 74.668
7 Glenn Rodgerson Mustang LX SP3 74.826
9 Jaz Dhanda Camaro RS SS3 75.465
Date: 07/18/98 After Phase VI Mods. Decided to do Mission today. A very hot day too. Did a practice session on my Pirellis to save the R1s. Then could not change the right front due to a stripped F-ing lug nut. By the time I got it fixed I missed my second practice session. So I ran the race on R1s with my best guess on tire pressures. To top it off I left my vent fan running and the engine over heated once again. It ran well the week before at the Alpha Club Time Trials once I gutted the cat. So I don't know what gives, unless it was running lean due to my injector problems. That's racing I guess. So anyway, I started out running neck and neck with the leader in a race prep'd Mazda coupe for about 10 laps. Then I had to drop off the pace and give up 2nd and 3rd to a couple Monte Carlo GTA cars. It was a blast in the mean time though as all four of us managed to lap several of the slower cars twice... 1 Unknown Mazda RX3 Coupe ? 2 Unknown Monte Carlo GTA 3 Unknown Monte Carlo GTA 4 Chuck Jessup Chev Camaro Z28
Date: 07/25 and 07/26/98
After Phase VI Mods.
Well the F-bodies did not fair too well. At least not
the one I was carving curves in. And ProSolo2 is even
more competitive than Solo II. Different format and
no straights but lots of fun and experience anyway.
NOTE: The top row of times are for the left course
and the bottom row are for the right course.
Prep & Mod Comb Make/Mdl/Class Run#1 Run#2 Run#3 Run#4 Run#5 Run#6 Best Score
------------------ --------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ -----
1 Jay Scholz Tri Spitfire 33.379 33.056 33.008 32.955 33.570 33.553 32.955 65.228
Prep 33.357 33.617 32.981 32.273 DNF DNF 32.273
2 David Schutz Dodge Viper 33.826 35.621+2 32.801 33.204+8 RL 32.670 32.670 66.767
Prep 34.245 33.109+2 RL 33.599+2 33.704+2 34.097 34.097
3 Larry Imbeau ??? RL RL 40.980+2 DNF 36.437 35.112 35.112 69.839
Prep 35.441 RL 36.073 35.446 DNF 34.727 34.727
4 Troy Cole Dodge Viper 36.069 35.332+2 36.379 35.331 36.699+2 35.808 35.331 70.802
Prep 38.431+2 37.188 36.843 35.471 36.719+2 36.157 35.471
5 Eric Armstrong ??? 36.016 36.018 36.924 36.002 35.911 35.606 35.606 72.104
Prep 37.123 36.424+2 36.881 36.053+2 37.342+2 36.498 36.498
6 Chuck Jessup Chev Camaro Z28 39.399+3 37.664 38.074+2 36.742 38.358 37.379 36.742 74.614
EMod 38.506 37.872 39.553 43.032sp 38.166 RL 37.872
Other Times
-----------------
Curt Ormiston Porsche 911 33.840 33.731 34.130+2 33.208 33.422 33.156 33.156 66.877
ISP 34.532 33.894 34.075+2 34.936+2 33.721 33.518+8 33.721
Greg Fordahl Porsche 911 34.014+2 DNF 32.715+2 33.070+2 33.384+4 33.005+2 34.715 68.410
ISP 34.250+2 33.058 33.860+4 33.695 33.827+2 33.816+2 33.695
Val Korry Porsche 911 35.475+2 34.873 34.628 34.493+2 RL 34.705+2 34.628 69.166
ISP 36.431 36.470 35.404 35.316+2 ??? 34.538 34.538
Doug Hebenthal Porsche 911 34.821 34.782 35.020 35.323 34.364+2 35.056 34.782 69.710
ISP RL 34.701+2 35.860+2 34.928 35.209 34.972 34.928
Scott McHugh Pont Firebird 35.198 35.134 35.783 35.607 34.903 34.851 34.851 70.205
F Stock 38.055 36.448 35.354 35.867 35.791+2 RL 35.354
Steve Eguina Chev Camaro SS 36.973 35.294 35.498+2 35.939 35.817+2 35.796 35.294 71.076
ESP 35.782 35.962+2 36.069 36.985 36.033 37.660+4 35.782
Colin Watson Porsche 911 RL RL 36.294 36.194 36.176 RL 36.176 71.681
ISP 36.510+2 37.040 36.168 35.505 36.118 36.622 35.505
Chuck Spittal Chev Vette DNF 36.383 36.723 36.406 36.651 35.904 35.904 71.735
SS 37.729 37.803 36.181 36.011 37.076 35.831 35.831
Chuck Hanson Pont Firebird 36.509 35.814+2 36.348+4 36.532 DNF 36.122 36.122 73.018
F Stock 36.906 37.224 37.137 36.896 37.194 36.930 36.896
Carlos Sparacio Ford Must Cobra 40.029 39.340 39.179 38.283 38.581 38.829 38.283 77.124
ESP 39.178 38.850 39.070 39.002 39.045 38.841 38.841
Steve Sampson Chev Camaro Z28 41.977 39.733 38.771 39.212 38.950 RL 38.771 78.161
ESP 40.053 39.763 39.390 RL 40.572 39.761 39.390
Date: 08/01/98 After Phase VI Mods. Entered a SCCBC/CACC novice race at Mission again to get some more seat time. Got to race both Sat and Sun. Both days were very hot and once again the engine refused to cooperate. Sat I had one injector which kept failing on me so ended up running that race on 7 cylinders. Both days races were thrill rides to be sure. Started out in the 4th row the first race behind 5 full race ProFormance Monte Carlos and Grand Ams, an A sedan Camaro and next to a Mustang which was faster down the main straight than I during practice. A spinout of one of the lead cars in turn 1 was all I needed to move into 3rd on lap one though. After a few fun laps of real close drafting in the corners and being passed in the main straight I was back down to 6th again. Yet another spin out in turn one and once again I found myself in 2nd. Once the fast cars learned to drive, however, and my engine started running bad, the fun was over. Finished the race mid way back in the pack. The offical results were obviously wrong as they had cars which I had lapped as finishing ahead of me in the standings. So I have no idea what place I took that day. Found a loose injector wire after I had reconfigured the intake back to stock. Decided to race Sun without the SC. But even w/o the SC the engine over heated after several very hard laps trying my best to ward off a senior driver in his Mustang and hold on to second place. Once I overheated I began losing ground to a few other cars as well and ended up in 5th behind a full race ProFormance Monte Carlo and Mustang, a very quick Datsun and a Porsche 911.
Date: 08/15 and 08/16/98 After Phase VI Mods. Entered a CSCC/ICSCC novice race at PIR. Raced my last novice race (before getting my upgrade) on Saturday. Had some pretty stiff competition with the fellow who runs that full race Fierro and another dude running in one of those ProFormance Monte Carlos. The other two started out on the front row as I was having coolant and oil leak problems and had to replace some fluids while everyone else was going to grid. By the time I got to grid I was sitting back in row 6 for the start. We did our pace lap and got the green. Next thing I know I'm blowing by half a dozen slower cars and tucking in behind the leaders after late braking into the chicane. It was an AWESOME start for me to weave through traffic and land out in 3rd by the first turn. Next thing I know the three of us are pulling away from the pack and bobbing and weaving through turns 1, 2, 3 and 4. We were going at it down the main straight when I managed to late brake again and almost rear end the Monte Carlo who was tailing the Fiero back into the chicane at the end of the straight. I down shifted to first, went high right and cut hard left, coming out of the chicane, and floored it! The Monte Carlo was right on the Fiero's tail and I managed to out drag him into turn 1 on his left forcing him off his normal line. He let me by as we broke for 1 and I was tucked into second and in the Fierro's mirrors for lap #2. We raced like bats out of hell down the back straight and the Monte tried to pass me but could not quite make it before we entered turns 7 and 8. But he did manage to overtake me on my right by the end of the main straight, starting lap #3, with the Fierro a couple car lengths ahead of him. We all broke real hard into the chicane and the Fierro locked them up, forcing the Monte Carlo to do the same. Next thing I know the Fierro is going sideways off the enterance to the chicane, into the sand pit on the left, and I'm cranking the wheel hard right to avoid the Monte Carlo who's trying to miss the Fierro. I grab second and am in first place heading hard for turn 1. It took the Monte Carlo two more laps to get back up with me and finally on lap #6 he pulled me again down the main straight. After that I managed to keep him within my sights as we began to lap slower traffic. Eventually someone else had spun in the chicane and the yellow came out. This gave me a chance to pull back up to the leader and shadow him again for the last 1/3 of the race. With all the traffic it became a leap frog event for the two of us. Next thing I know (not realizing we are on our last lap) for some strange reason he slows to follow a slower car as we leave turn 9 for the checkered flag. I come screaming up behind him as we pass under the Good Year foot bridge but I slow up too thinking there must be a yellow flag which they have slowed down for or something. Then the checkered flag pops out and he crosses the finish line with me on his tail. Now here's the kicker, the winner (see car #35 below) tells me there was no yellow, but he had seen a blue flag and got confused and held up because of that. I could have passed him if I had not been confused by the way he had slowed down. SHIT!! Oh well, that's racing I guess. **** The next day's race was against the fastest Group 1 cars. This race was so awesome (and tense) I don't remember much of it, other than the fact that my brakes had began to give me trouble. In fact, I nearly wiped my car out when my brakes had turned to mush during my qualifying session... nearly rear ended another car in the process of working the chicane. So after doing a couple fairly HOT laps I decided to bag it after 10 minutes and go back to the paddock for lunch and prep work on the car and brakes. But I do remember being lapped twice by the fastest 3 lead cars. That's hard to forget. I also remember how they not only screamed down the straights but they even cornered a bit better than my car. And I really remember one point in the race where the two lead cars, the black WS6 Trans Am Firebird (from Canada) and I diced it around real closely through turns 2, 3, 4 and 5 at one point. Talk about fender to fender and door to door while riding it out on the yellow curbs just to make it interesting!!! This happened right after the WS6 had passed me, after he had chased me for about 6 laps at one point, and I finally missed a shift to give him the chance he needed... a real low point for me that race. The caliber of those 3 drivers (Mike Bright in the T-Bird, Kevin Malone in the Z24 and Eric Galmut in the WS6) is hard to believe, not to mention some of the other SPO drivers (like Jack Zarowny in the RX7) who passed me at least once or twice somewhere in all the excitement! Anyway, I had managed to post a fairly decent time, 1:33.21, to be placed lucky 13 out of 33 cars (ahead of two other SPO cars in our group but behind 11 and one EP car). And I had finished 13th over all. So I guess I did OK for my first all out race with the big boys. Here's some of the results for the top 20 fastest qualifying cars from that Sunday's race too... PLACE OVERALL CAR# QUAL TIME LAPS CAR CLASS/TYPE IN CLASS ---- --------- ---- ------------------ -------- 158 1:21.73 21 SPO/FORD T-BIRD 1st 06 1:23.65 21 SPO/CHEV Z24 2nd 715 1:21.78 21 SPO/MAZDA RX7 3rd 750 1:31.07 20 SPO/GRAND PRIX * 4th 729 1:31.66 20 SPO/GRAND PRIX * 5th 161 1:31.83 20 SPO/MONTE CARLO * 6th 52 1:29.08 20 SPO/DATSUN 240Z 7th 77 1:34.25 19 SP1/DATSUN 510 1st 727 1:32.22 19 SPO/MONTE CARLO * 8th 35 1:32.60 19 SPO/MONTE CARLO * 9th 721 1:32.26 19 SPO/MONTE CARLO * 10th 97 1:35.25 19 CP/WS6 TRANS AM 1st 110 1:33.21 19 SPO/CHEV Z28 11th (me) 21 1:32.11 19 EP/DATSUN 240Z 1st 33 1:35.23 19 BP/FORD MUSTANG 1st 62 1:34.57 16 DP/DATSUN 240Z 2nd 788 1:33.26 11 SPO/GRAND PRIX * DNF 0 1:34.74 16 SPU/WESTFLF SPA DNF 51 1:23.98 0 SPO/GRAND PRIX * DNS 162 1:34.41 0 SPU/PORCHE 914 DNS * = The various ProFormance SPO race cars...
Date: 09/05 and 09/06/98 After Phase VI Mods. Ran a couple of frustrating, yet fun, days at the Port Orford Grand Prix, put on by TC/ICSCC over Labor Day weekend. The track is set up at an airport (similar to Bremerton). The surface was real tough on tires though... Only raced about 2/3 of the Novice race. Unfortunately, my Kumho race tires went TU during my practice session. So for that and other reasons (including a bogus black flag) I was forced to give up my 2nd place position, which I had barely been able to take over from a new driver in a very fast Mustang GT. The next day I gave it my best shot while running on my Pirelli P7000 street tires up front. It was a lost cause being about 2 seconds slower than I would have been on racing treads. But it was fun. And, at least I did not finish dead last. PLACE OVERALL CAR# FAST LAP LAPS CAR CLASS/TYPE ---- -------- ---- -------------------- 06 41.519 42 SPO/CHEV Z24 50 42.896 42 SPO/PORSCHE 914-6 GT 130 43.807 42 SPO/PONT FIERO 21 44.914 40 EP/DATSUN 240Z 52 44.829 40 SPO/DATSUN 240Z 0 46.741 39 SPU/WESTFIELD SPA 110 46.875 39 SPO/CHEV Z28 (me) 55 48.319 38 PSE/PORSCHE 924S 62 45.777 30* DP/DATSUN 240Z 81 42.433 23* SPO/MONTE CARLO * DNF
Date: 09/26/98 and 09/27/98 Track: Bremerton After Phase VI Mods. Had a couple rough days out a Bremerton while trying to maintain my Solo I points lead in the ITS class. Dan Townsley was there again with his Cobra as I expected. But we both had some bad luck with equipment failures. I spun once early in our first practice session on a very slippery turn five. Then during our second practice session I did it again. After two more laps I had an ABS INOP light and my right front began to grind loudly. Turned out I had nearly no front pads and a caved in right front hub which nearly wasted my right front rotor cap, rotor and caliper. I did not run in the Sat timed laps thus giving away any first place and/or second place points I would have collected. However, Townsley suffered a damaged right front rim (after collecting the first place victory points) and decided to go home. In the mean time I managed to find a replacement hub for Sunday's race and got even with him (just before wasting my right front tire) to collect the only points for first place that day. So it turned out to be a wash even though he apparently managed to be right on pace with his lap times from earlier in the year while I managed to drop back a couple seconds a lap not having had much practice or brakes to work with...
Date: 10/03 After Phase VI Mods. Well it isn't summer any more. So time for rain and that's exactly what I was greeted with out at SIR. My plan was to do two novice practice sessions, a qualifying session for the next day's race and finish up Sat with a novice race for practice. But mother nature had other plans. The rest of the story can be found here . Let's just say I learned that racing in the rain can be a major pain if you're not REAL CAREFUL.
Date: 10/17/98 Track: Bremerton After Phase VI Mods. Had another rough day out a Bremerton while trying to maintain my Solo I points lead in the ITS class. Dan Townsley was not there this time. So that pretty much locked me in as the season champ in ITS class. But I was not out of the woods yet as, once again it began to rain, and I still had to put in a showing to earn my points and credit for competing. In the process I managed to bang the car up all over again and add to the damages already done in the prior race I ran. So, I was just lucky to compete in the timed runs at all. But I sucked it up and clocked a few laps for good measure. Here's some of the highlights of that day's battles.
'97 RESULTS PAGES - CLICK HERE