Memphis Results

Bill, noticed you DNF'd on Sunday. Is the RX7 ok?

Saw one ITR car on Saturday. Very good.

Looks like ITA had some good races for the top spot.
 
what is ITM? [/b]
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I'm guessing it's actually a typo, as one of the pictures next to a driver from ITM is of an ITB BMW, and ITB is mysteriously missing form the reults in all groups, and the times are ITB-ish as well.
 
ITM is IT Memphis, a catch-all class we have here to maximize car counts. Similar to SP. I don't know why Pete ran his nice ITB E30 in ITM. McLain was driving a semi-tube frame Z06 Vette that he also ran in GT1, and St.Clair was in a Sentra w/ a big wing that he usually runs in SPU.

I was having an annoying noise in the RF all weekend under hard braking and it was getting worse. Al Murdock (ex-Mears SpeedSource RX-7) were having a great race, back and forth as we usually do, and I was on his tail going into our esses (we call it the "M"s) and braked hard and the car darted to the right and felt like the wheel had come off or spindle broke or something bad. Blew threw the Ms and stopped and asked a corner worker if I still had all wheels on. I did and did another lap but it just felt wrong so I quit. Afterward the wheel and rotor looked fine so I don't know what it is. I'm going to pull the hub and check the inner bearing, etc. Thanks for the concern, Kevin.
 
I'm guessing it's actually a typo, as one of the pictures next to a driver from ITM is of an ITB BMW, and ITB is mysteriously missing form the reults in all groups, and the times are ITB-ish as well.
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Pete usually runs an ITA E30 325e.

glad to hear everything is relatively ok bill.

looks like i better get to work if i want to keep up with Mac.
 
As always Memphis was a blast. The main reason is THE FOLKS WORKING THE EVENT & all the other racers.
You won't find a better bunch of people to run with or to help you get through a race weekend. "Movie Star Phil" and all his fellow race workers are the tops as far as a "what can I do to help you" attitude. It was nice to have Toni up from SEDIV helping out, that lady knows how to keep a race day straight.
As far as the IT racing..... It was great since I didn't see anything much get torn up. Other then waiting on grid for cleanup on Saturday (Those dang OIL dropping Prod & GT cars) everything went off with out a hitch. Including the world famous MEMPHIS Bar BQ Saturday night at the track.
Roger Johnson (a Memphis SM convert to ITA) and I had a great battle in our miatas on Saturday. We passed each other several times and the race came down to me making a mistake in the Ms and Roger getting a good run coming into the Double 90s. I could see his nose on my inside in my mirror about at the back of my door and rather then braking and turning in I went off track so as not to get hit. (Actually it is in the parking lot part of the track so I never left the asphalt just got off the designated track.) I got back on his tail through Grant's Tomb and had a little run toward the checker but could only get to his back fender.
Roger has really improved his driving and deserved his top spot. From talking to the other ITA guys there were some good battles going on all over the track. At Memphis, it is really important in our cars to be away from the S cars when you get to the Ms & 90s. (We can go through them much faster, but are dead meat on the straights.) Roger was able to get past an S car on Sunday and win by half a straight. I had a great Sunday Q session and gridded up in the S cars. I was able to hold position for a couple of laps, but I went into the Tomb way too hot and almost hit the wall. Roger and two S cars got by and the rest of the race was just a situation of me trying to be smooth and hope Roger made a mistake.... It ain't gonna happen at Memphis. He got better as it went along, and my car ran a little hot so I started short shifting.
Fun race both days.

Two observations, (This one cannot be helped & I understand) ITE basically just shortens the other IT cars races. And I think I would weigh 185 (I go about 225) on MMPs scales! :D

THANKS to all (including the old SM gang who helped me this weekend.)

Mac
 
Your first paragraph says it all about racing in Memphis, Mac. I've never known a more friendly and helpful bunch of people that are so much fun to race with. A few years ago, when the national office moved from Englewood to Topeka, the licensing department got way behind, and I was one of those who got passed over. They couldn't legally let me out onto the track without a license, and, as irritating as that was, I was understanding and cool about it. They went to the trouble of phone calls, faxes, forms, travel, etc. just to allow me to race. I swear they may have even had something to do with the tow truck holing its engine on the front straight. In the time it took to clean up and get another tow truck in, they barely made it back with my necessary forms, and I got to grid scratch from the back of the field.

Needless to say, I thanked everyone I knew that was involved for the maximum effort. They all let it roll off like it was all in a days work that they enjoyed doing. :023:
 
And I think I would weigh 185 (I go about 225) on MMPs scales! :D
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That's the truth! :P After qualifying on Sunday I weighed exactly my minimum weight, to the pound. While I would like to claim that it was all part of my carefully planned master strategy, in reality I'm not nearly that good and it was just dumb luck. I expected to be 20-25 lbs over at least.

+2 on the workers, great event, thanks everyone!
 
In ITA, Mac and Roger were in a world of their own...the rest of us were slugging it out in other places. On Saturday, I got punted into the grass at T2 on the first lap....spent the whole race catching up. On Sunday, Roger didn't qualify, so started from the rear...and went screaming thru the pack. Great driving! Mac did a great job too. Fun weekend, and I learned a lot.
 
Sorry, Pete, nice ITA.

Current IT lap records:


ITS 3-22-97 Chris Collins RX-7 1:18.456
ITA 3-25-01 Bob Stretch 240SX 1:20.398
ITB 10-17-04 Chris Albin Golf 1:21.630
ITC 5-25-03 Gareth Rebstock CRX 1:23.264
ITE 3-11-07 Andy Wolverton 944T 1:13.372
ITM 3-21-99 Trip Goolsby 911T 1:11.368
IT7 3-11-06 James Stevens RX-7 1:22.735

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. We really lucked out on the weather!
 
I agree with Bill's comments. Thanks for all of you kind words. We try to make this fun for everyone. We had a couple of issues this weekend but nothing to hold back the racing. One of the main items is that the track ran out of Sunoco 104 Unleaded fuel about 830 Sunday morning. It was at that time that I found out that Sunoco no longer refines the 104 and is going to replace it with 98 Unleaded. And I assume that this is going to happen at other tracks as well. Just a heads up.

Phil
 
Sorry, Pete, nice ITA.

Current IT lap records:


ITS 3-22-97 Chris Collins RX-7 1:18.456
ITA 3-25-01 Bob Stretch 240SX 1:20.398
ITB 10-17-04 Chris Albin Golf 1:21.630
ITC 5-25-03 Gareth Rebstock CRX 1:23.264
ITE 3-11-07 Andy Wolverton 944T 1:13.372
ITM 3-21-99 Trip Goolsby 911T 1:11.368
IT7 3-11-06 James Stevens RX-7 1:22.735

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. We really lucked out on the weather!
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Hey, you forgot ITR. :D
 
Thanks for the concern, Kevin.
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Looking back, I suppose I should've asked if you were alright too, and not just the car. :D

Were all of the ITA cars ex/current SM's? Seems like it.

"ITA 3-25-01 Bob Stretch 240SX 1:20.398 "
Damn, five years old. Sounds beatable. Maybe I should've gone afterall. :023:
 
May sound beatable (and probably is) but that was back when the old black 240 was a rocket. Bob did pretty well everywhere he went with that one. The long (dragstrip) straight kills the miata, and the Ms and double 90s even it back up. That old 240 was probably the right combo.
 
Not sure....Mac and Roger couldn't do it. I don't think any of the rocketship SM cars ran that low either. In ITA there was also a Neon. The rest were Miatas. An ITA BMW ran ITM.
 
i don't think either of those are fully built to ITA specs either.

if the SM's are in the 21's, i bet 20 flat is possible for an ITA miata under the right conditions.
 
Just between you and me and everyone else, Kevin...you could probably beat it. The 240 was extremely fast, and I've never known Bob to not drive it as fast as it would go, but that was in '01 and a lot of delvelopment has been made to a lot of cars. If you recall, in '01 an Integra was not the fast car it is today.

I've had big cars with big motors take me in the straight at Memphis easily, but I was all over and by them in the tighter parts with a faster lap.

You should try to make Memorial Day at Memphis. It's ususally just as big a race and always just as much fun. :023:
 
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