NARRC Runoffs

Steve Ulfelder won ITR
Rob Driscoll won ITS
Shane Hawthorne won ITA
Rick Benazic won ITB
Ed Funk won ITC

There was a bit of excitement in the ITS/R/B race as Stewart in the BMW lost it coming out of the Left Hander and was hammered by a Honda Civic. Stewart was stopped mid-track for at least a lap and a half before they called the full course, but not before a corner worker, for whatever reason, walked onto the hot track unprotected and stood next to Stewart's car, with a yellow at T2 (mixed reports on if it was standing or waving). Worker was still on the track when the leaders - lead by Rob Breault - came flying through on the next lap, fortunately with no incident. Soon after that they went full-course yellow.

Then, as they were trying to get the BMW on a flat bed, the tow truck parked across the track, completely blocking it, with the leaders behind the pace car coming through T1/2. Control finally called a Red Flag and the pace car stopped in the Left Hander. They collected Stewart's car, cleared the track, and the field restarted under full-course yellow, then later got the green. Race finished about 12 laps short with Driscoll taking the overall. Stewart's car looked a bit used up...

GA
 
that was a crazy one. just happy to have made it through in one piece.


can't wait to see the in-car's...
 
It's a shame about the incident out of the left hander. I watched and cringed when i saw the BMW roll back into traffic with no braking. The Honda had gone for the left of the track as the BMW had blocked the right, but, he was unable to miss a moving target.

Much damage to both cars, unfortunately.

As for the race, well, from the spectators viewpoint, it wasn't boring. Doc Bro made a great move around the outside in turn 1 at the start, and had a nice lead by lap 2. But, after the restarts he ended up 5th. Most of the front runners were up or down. It was almost like musical chairs, see who's in front when the music stops.
Volvo driver Wentworth had a great race, right up until the last lap, when Rick Benazick got by. And a Blethen as well, with 1/3 of a lap to go. Good stuff from the stands.
 
Video from the start of the ITR/S/B race is here: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StVz7gogFAA[/ame]

White RX7 shoots through the grass, hits red RX7, who hits me and I go for a spin. Not fun.
 
.

I feel like a schlump... I was closing fast on Jeff Henderson after the green
and put my nose right up his butt, expecting to ride around big bend with him...

then he braked harder than I expected, and I dove right to avoid collecting him,
and found myself in the wet grass with no way to get back, no way to slow down,
...a passenger... and came across, pushing Darryl Stein around, and got tagged
by Mark Gregory.

I put myself in a position where my subsequent sudden avoidance maneuver caused
me to lose control of my car, which resulted in a very messy start for everyone, and
sheet metal damage for me and a few others.

Immediately afterward, I did seek out both Darryl and Mark, to express my regret at
the outcome of the incident, and apologize for putting myself in a position that
resulted in my losing control of my car.... a bonehead maneuver.

I apologize now to everyone else whose race I impacted, including you Fred, I am sorry.

I also thank everyone else for keeping control of their cars so as not to collect me
as I was facing the oncoming traffic.

:(

I did proceed and got several more laps in, but during the double yellow for the
Stewart incident got a "low coolant pressure" warning so I came in, thinking I might
have punctured the radiator or lost a hose... but there was no fault, the engine
had just cooled down enough to trip the pressure light.

so I have just some body damage on both sides, and a bruised ego

:(

sorry

.
 
Hey Glenn,
Thanks for the explanation and the kind words. I limped around to get enough laps to get credit for the race. Just bummed because it was my first chance to race this year. At least my day didn't end a bad as John Stewart's. His car looked bad in the left hander incident.
 
JLawton said:
Just to be clear, it wasn't me who rolled back onto the track. I was trying to avoid a car that was doing that.

I had the camera installed and when I went to turn it on in grid, the freshly charged batteries were dead...

Andy, any time on Bob D in the second session?
Click to expand...

Jeff,
I was rolling through West Bend just as it happened, Miata to the left and you on
the right about 3 ft in the air. Looked like you ran over something big.
Hope you are OK. Looked like a real hard hit from my perspective. I will check my video to see if anything visable.
 
Jeff, Marc in the Miata has video (Gulick and I saw it). He'll be contacting you shortly. He is pretty sure he had both feet in but who knows after wacking the wall like he did. Total bummer for you. Always rough when you get caught up in someone else's mistakes.
 
wepsbee said:
Jeff,
I was rolling through West Bend just as it happened, Miata to the left and you on
the right about 3 ft in the air. Looked like you ran over something big.
Hope you are OK. Looked like a real hard hit from my perspective. I will check my video to see if anything visable.
Click to expand...

I didn't run over anything. I'm thinking that I got some air after bouncing off the guard rail the first time. I'd love to see some video.

gran racing said:
Jeff, Marc in the Miata has video (Gulick and I saw it). He'll be contacting you shortly. He is pretty sure he had both feet in but who knows after wacking the wall like he did. Total bummer for you. Always rough when you get caught up in someone else's mistakes.
Click to expand...

He did contact me and did apologize which I truely appreciated. It was actually the CRX driver that was ahead of me that pointed out he was rolling backwards onto the track. (I have to admit I was a little foggy after and don't have a real clear memory of the incident). The CRX was able to squeeze through. As Andy reminded me, rember Richie getting T-boned in the same area?? He was blaming the other guy and swore up and down that he had locked them up........... then we saw the video and Richie had to eat some crow. I'm just glad I missed him.

And you want to know the cruel irony? I got an e-mail from a guy that night who wanted to buy the car.................



.
 
Last edited:
JLawton said:
I didn't run over anything. I'm thinking that I got some air after bouncing off the guard rail the first time. I'd love to see some video.



He did contact me and did apologize which I truely appreciated. It was actually the CRX driver that was ahead of me that pointed out he was rolling backwards onto the track. (I have to admit I was a little foggy after and don't have a real clear memory of the incident). The CRX was able to squeeze through. As Andy reminded me, rember Richie getting T-boned in the same area?? He was blaming the other guy and swore up and down that he had locked them up........... then we saw the video and Richie had to eat some crow. I'm just glad I missed him.

And you want to know the cruel irony? I got an e-mail from a guy that night who wanted to buy the car.................



.
Click to expand...

Pictures of the damage or ban
 
Does anyone else have in-car videos? Groups 3 and 4 were WILD. I think everyone saw something crazy out their windshield this weekend.
 
Drew M said:
Does anyone else have in-car videos? Groups 3 and 4 were WILD. I think everyone saw something crazy out their windshield this weekend.
Click to expand...

My data and video failed to work that session. I'm bummed, as I wanted to present evidence that I can follow a BMW (Rob Driscoll, in this case) without ramming it. :D
 
Drew M said:
Does anyone else have in-car videos? Groups 3 and 4 were WILD. I think everyone saw something crazy out their windshield this weekend.
Click to expand...

I wasn't going to post this since the video quality is HORRIBLE! I have no clue what I did, but I will try to redue it at some point. If I watch the file it is great (Original file is HD), but after editing it I screwed it all up. waist of 2 hrs... :(

Anyway here it is from midpack of the ITB group!
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GPzARiadD0[/ame]

Stephen
Runnerup in the 2011 NARRC ITB Runoffs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top