Summit Race reports?
- Thread starter RKramden
- Start date
zracre
New member
Gregg
New member
Here's a nice writeup from one of the local papers...
http://www.journal-news.net/sports/story/0...ro_062506_s.asp
Gregg "The Torch" Ginsberg
http://www.journal-news.net/sports/story/0...ro_062506_s.asp
Gregg "The Torch" Ginsberg
T
Tom Blaney
Guest
Because I saw the smart ass remark from Catch 22, regarding our failure let me make it perfectly clear, I ran consistant 29's & 30's for two 1.25 sessions with no mechanical failure, or failures because of the weight change, we were knocked out at 8PM because we had a short in the light bar wire harness that blew the alternator, and we ran out of batteries to replace. We had to replace an upright because we dropped the car down from a tire change without the lugs tight on one side and we snapped two wheel studs.
But I want to thank all the workers and thanks to all of the drivers out there who were gentlemen and gave room to me and other faster cars in the race. The miata guys were much less aggressive to us faster cars and in return many got good tows and passing opportunities.
Thanks again to the group and we had quite a few laughs and great teamwork.
Tom Blaney
But I want to thank all the workers and thanks to all of the drivers out there who were gentlemen and gave room to me and other faster cars in the race. The miata guys were much less aggressive to us faster cars and in return many got good tows and passing opportunities.
Thanks again to the group and we had quite a few laughs and great teamwork.
Tom Blaney
I'd like to see a full set of results too, we went home early.
This was the 6th trip we'd made there and the first one we didn't finish. Overheated at about 7 hours in. W/ a 3 lap lead for the overall no less. Grump.
Looked pretty rough for the first 2 hours while I stood in the pit, after that it seemed to settle down. Had a great race w/ the RC Import guys after the caution that happened at about 3 hours. (thanks Rick, that was a lot of fun!)
I was glad to see that the RX7 that won it did so by good driving and planning, rather than just outspending everyone else as it has been for most of the past several years. Don't know who they were but it sure looked like they were having to work hard to get to the front and stay there. Its much more fun to watch someone get rewarded for hard work than just being lucky enough to bring a better car.
Hope I gave everyone room, if I didn't let me know so I don't do it again. The goal is to win, but to so by racing the same way we want to be raced.
Matt
#23 ITE Miata
This was the 6th trip we'd made there and the first one we didn't finish. Overheated at about 7 hours in. W/ a 3 lap lead for the overall no less. Grump.
Looked pretty rough for the first 2 hours while I stood in the pit, after that it seemed to settle down. Had a great race w/ the RC Import guys after the caution that happened at about 3 hours. (thanks Rick, that was a lot of fun!)
I was glad to see that the RX7 that won it did so by good driving and planning, rather than just outspending everyone else as it has been for most of the past several years. Don't know who they were but it sure looked like they were having to work hard to get to the front and stay there. Its much more fun to watch someone get rewarded for hard work than just being lucky enough to bring a better car.
Hope I gave everyone room, if I didn't let me know so I don't do it again. The goal is to win, but to so by racing the same way we want to be raced.
Matt
#23 ITE Miata
I read the story in the local paper.
Too bad about Brian Mushnick's car. I am glad he is OK.
I guess it is time for him to build a Gen 2 RX7.
Is there something about racing a Rabbit (nee Golf) on the track? My better half's Rabbit was rolled into a ball at the runoffs one year, and the only thing worth stripping from the car was the motor. (But she did get a real nice story with pictures in Autoweek that year....)
Too bad about Brian Mushnick's car. I am glad he is OK.
I guess it is time for him to build a Gen 2 RX7.
Is there something about racing a Rabbit (nee Golf) on the track? My better half's Rabbit was rolled into a ball at the runoffs one year, and the only thing worth stripping from the car was the motor. (But she did get a real nice story with pictures in Autoweek that year....)
Gregg
New member
You should see the photo that was published in the paper (not online). It's got the car completely inverted, windshield half hanging out, w/ two Miatae seemingly driving directly under it. Stellar photo that I'd scan in but having once been in the photog & paper biz I'm loathe to do w/out permission.
BTW, results are up:
http://offtotheraces.net/12HourFinal2006.pdf
BTW, results are up:
http://offtotheraces.net/12HourFinal2006.pdf
JLawton
New member
I wish I could echo Tom's comments about the aggressiveness of "certain" cars....... Maybe we had a different perspective being in one of the slower classes........
We saw a lot of poor decisions when it came to passing (this was not the case with the faster cars) It made no sense to me why these drivers were hammering each other like it was the last lap of a sprint race!! I'm sure you'll be hearing more on our "little incident"...........In lap 8!!!!
Hope we gave people plenty of room. But figuring we probably got passed about 600 times (from my rough calculations)...............
The few times I ran door handle to door handle with the cars in our class, they did a great job. Made it fun!! Hope the feeling is the same!
But I also had a blast. The Phil Phillips/Conover Engines Golf was flawless. In fact, it was handling and braking just as good at 11:00 pm as it was in my first session!! Besides fixing crash damage, we only had to tighten the front hub nut, add a teaspoon of oil and that was it!! It was an incredible car!! Nice job Kirk and Cameron.
Great job by the workers, thank you!! Thanks to the the rest of the team for a great time!!
Yea, bummer about Brian and his VW. Glad he was OK. It looked pretty scarey!! Too bad for Matt Miskoe and his team.
Very tired, very sore......But can't wait till next year!!
We saw a lot of poor decisions when it came to passing (this was not the case with the faster cars) It made no sense to me why these drivers were hammering each other like it was the last lap of a sprint race!! I'm sure you'll be hearing more on our "little incident"...........In lap 8!!!!
Hope we gave people plenty of room. But figuring we probably got passed about 600 times (from my rough calculations)...............
The few times I ran door handle to door handle with the cars in our class, they did a great job. Made it fun!! Hope the feeling is the same! But I also had a blast. The Phil Phillips/Conover Engines Golf was flawless. In fact, it was handling and braking just as good at 11:00 pm as it was in my first session!! Besides fixing crash damage, we only had to tighten the front hub nut, add a teaspoon of oil and that was it!! It was an incredible car!! Nice job Kirk and Cameron.
Great job by the workers, thank you!! Thanks to the the rest of the team for a great time!!
Yea, bummer about Brian and his VW. Glad he was OK. It looked pretty scarey!! Too bad for Matt Miskoe and his team.
Very tired, very sore......But can't wait till next year!!
On reflection - and with a good night's sleep in me - we have to be pretty damned happy with our result. I was telling Cameron that generally, when someone talks up the positives of a race they didn't win, it sounds like excuses but I'm very pleased.
I'd first like to apologize for being part of the problem when I charged into the five-foot long 'straight' between T5 and the Carousel, and into the quarter panel of a slow Miata - the white York entry, maybe? I was doing exactly what we're were being so critical of for the 11.5 hours up to that point, being a selfish bahstahd. The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I was at myself for being sucked into the vortex of stupidity. I will not however apologize to the four who, over the course of my stints, dived inside of me at T1, only to come to a grinding halt in front of me. They got a push for their trouble and should be thanking ME for giving them back a couple of the tenths that they threw away.
Cameron, Bill Miller, Phil Phillips, and Lee 'Yoda' Grimes did a great job getting a new tie rod - and 74 tie wraps - on the car after we got clobbered. Jeff is absolutely right that the car was literally easier to drive when I got in at 11:00pm than it had been in practice.
I'll let Greg fill in all of the details of the actual snub but will add in advance that we were talking just a lap before he came in about how impressed we were that he was hanging back, giving the particularly dumbass group of Miati plenty of room to beat on each other. He took his new fender home with him, autographed by the entire crew.
We've now completed 37 hours of long races with this group and spent a total of about 45 minutes doing unplanned repairs. We still haven't changed any brakes during a race and averaged about 11 mpg this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing mylaps to get a better picture of how long we were actually delayed.
A huge thanks also to Collins Conover (head geek, who needs a Patrick Head-spec glass box next to the pit wall for his toys), Evan and Kathy Webb (for dumping fuel, taking great care of the whole crew, and shooting pictures), Spencer Conover (our equivalent of the enthusiastic, do-everything intern who got my ass out of a half dozen cracks), Jeff Lawton and Phil (for taking such good care of the car), and Greg 'Captain Panties' Amy for continuing to help the 'gentleman' car owner to go faster.
(PS to GA - Laurene says she forgives you, as long as you "weren't doing anything stupid when Pablo got hurt.")
K
I'd first like to apologize for being part of the problem when I charged into the five-foot long 'straight' between T5 and the Carousel, and into the quarter panel of a slow Miata - the white York entry, maybe? I was doing exactly what we're were being so critical of for the 11.5 hours up to that point, being a selfish bahstahd. The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I was at myself for being sucked into the vortex of stupidity. I will not however apologize to the four who, over the course of my stints, dived inside of me at T1, only to come to a grinding halt in front of me. They got a push for their trouble and should be thanking ME for giving them back a couple of the tenths that they threw away.
Cameron, Bill Miller, Phil Phillips, and Lee 'Yoda' Grimes did a great job getting a new tie rod - and 74 tie wraps - on the car after we got clobbered. Jeff is absolutely right that the car was literally easier to drive when I got in at 11:00pm than it had been in practice.
I'll let Greg fill in all of the details of the actual snub but will add in advance that we were talking just a lap before he came in about how impressed we were that he was hanging back, giving the particularly dumbass group of Miati plenty of room to beat on each other. He took his new fender home with him, autographed by the entire crew.
We've now completed 37 hours of long races with this group and spent a total of about 45 minutes doing unplanned repairs. We still haven't changed any brakes during a race and averaged about 11 mpg this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing mylaps to get a better picture of how long we were actually delayed.
A huge thanks also to Collins Conover (head geek, who needs a Patrick Head-spec glass box next to the pit wall for his toys), Evan and Kathy Webb (for dumping fuel, taking great care of the whole crew, and shooting pictures), Spencer Conover (our equivalent of the enthusiastic, do-everything intern who got my ass out of a half dozen cracks), Jeff Lawton and Phil (for taking such good care of the car), and Greg 'Captain Panties' Amy for continuing to help the 'gentleman' car owner to go faster.
(PS to GA - Laurene says she forgives you, as long as you "weren't doing anything stupid when Pablo got hurt.")
K
Hmm - let me guess what makes/models of cars he's referring to...
I didn't arrive until 2200h on Sat due to a previous committment that went by the wayside after an incident on Friday afternoon. However I rec'd a blow-by-blow report from my ace race reporter Richard, son of the RC Imports team owner, Rick. He filled me in on all the "incidents", most of whom involved friends and acquaintances which pained me deeply since I don't care to see anyone's day ruined by an incident of any sort, even though s**t happens in racing.
[Caution - ranting below]
The question that begs to be asked and answered is "What is being done about these overagressive drivers who insist on crashing and banging at will?" The DC Region Stewards have instituted a "get tough on body work" policy in order to make such behaviour become expensive. However a good number of the DC Region have very deep pockets which makes this approach only marginally effective. IMHO, Stewards need to become PROACTIVE - when they receive numerous calls about a car (or cars) banging or bump drafting, pull them in ASAP and give them a stop and go. If the driver can't pull his/her head out of their butt, provide them with a nice probationary letter and so forth.
I'm not suggesting anything as non-competitive as a 13/13 rule but there clearly can be a happy medium. I've been working for a Grand Am Cup team this year and have been more involved than in previous years. As a result, I've been listening to the Net religiously and am impressed that Grand Am Cup proactively is telling drivers to "cease and desist" or in the case of a certain CTS-V driver, to go home and never disgrace VIR again.
[Rant off]
Catch22
New member
Gee Tom, I am a smartass, so that explains that.
As to why I'd be a smartass to you...
Well, I could answer your post above with something like "You should have let me wire the car, I have been wiring ITA cars for years and have never ever had any issues. My wiring is proven to be perfect and lasts longer than granite."
and then I could add...
"You are having problems because you just did it wrong."
Thats the type of answer I've watched YOU give to people on various web boards (including this one) for years. Any time someone has an issue or a failure its because they are doing something wrong or more often because they aren't using your parts.
I'm simply tossing your own stuff back at you. Feels great doesn't it?
Sorry for the detour, and yes, I know it was a waste of time.
Carry on...
T
Tom Blaney
Guest
For your information, the car no longer belongs to me, and I was not responsible for the wiring installation. The new owners did this years prep on the car, and seemed to have made a minor but critical mistake. However the balance of the car remained as it was when I owned it, so as in other events, the mechanical components that I prepared (and that are in many other CRX's) did not fail.
As to the comment regarding my crew not being prepared and slow in the pits, we were able to gas the car (with stock fuel system) in the one minute allotment, and swap the driver in similiar time frame.
My guys were able to replace an entire upright assembly and back on the track in less than 15 minutes (which included working on halfshafts, joints, tierods etc) which I see as quite impressive. During the weekend, we had 3 different individuals from different teams come over and comment on the impressive about of work that my boys did.
I will make comments on the board based on what people say is happening or their experiences, not on some halfass remark you made about reliability when you had no clue what you were talking about (as you seem to do on more than one occasion), so next time engage your brain before you touch a keyboard or dribble verbage past your teeth)
Tom Blaney
As to the comment regarding my crew not being prepared and slow in the pits, we were able to gas the car (with stock fuel system) in the one minute allotment, and swap the driver in similiar time frame.
My guys were able to replace an entire upright assembly and back on the track in less than 15 minutes (which included working on halfshafts, joints, tierods etc) which I see as quite impressive. During the weekend, we had 3 different individuals from different teams come over and comment on the impressive about of work that my boys did.
I will make comments on the board based on what people say is happening or their experiences, not on some halfass remark you made about reliability when you had no clue what you were talking about (as you seem to do on more than one occasion), so next time engage your brain before you touch a keyboard or dribble verbage past your teeth)
Tom Blaney
Bill Miller
New member
Seems like the best place to add comments about the weekend, so here goes.
First off, I'm glad that Brian is ok, that car took a major shot. Kudos to whoever did the cage in that car!
And a big thanks to the folks from Joe M's and Brian M's crew that lent us various stuff throughout the race. Sure made things go easier!!
A couple comments about our team. This was my second 12-hour @ SP w/ them, and I just want to say, I couldn't imagine a better group of people to work with. Everyone brings something to the table, and I can't imagine not having someone there. The chances for adversity in a race like this are high, but even when it shows up, everyone takes it in stride and remains up-beat. The 'do whatever it takes' attitude is everywhere. And I can't say that people check their egos at the door, because I really don't think that any of these people have one to check.
Kirk - Thanks for your attention to detail in building such a good car, made my job easy!
Cameron - It's always a pleasure to work with you!!
Evan and Kathy - Not only are you guys great, but you've got two of the coolest dogs around!!
Phil - To say that your unflappable would be an understatement (hard to believe that we met almsot 20 years ago!)
Jeff - If you were any more relaxed, you'd probably be asleep. Oh, wait, you were asleep (don't know how you could do it w/ all that noise). Seriously, it's a pleasure to work w/ you, looking forward to VIR.
Collins - Without a doubt, you've got the coolest toys going (and they get the chicks! )
Spencer - Hydrate or die!
Thanks for all your help!
Dave - Nice to meet you, hope you enjoyed yourself, and thanks for the help.
Lee - I had no idea you were such a good juggler, you've set a pretty high bar. Great job!
Greg - Without a doubt, the best sport I've ever met!
Thanks again for a great time, and I'm really looking forward to VIR!!!!
First off, I'm glad that Brian is ok, that car took a major shot. Kudos to whoever did the cage in that car!
And a big thanks to the folks from Joe M's and Brian M's crew that lent us various stuff throughout the race. Sure made things go easier!!
A couple comments about our team. This was my second 12-hour @ SP w/ them, and I just want to say, I couldn't imagine a better group of people to work with. Everyone brings something to the table, and I can't imagine not having someone there. The chances for adversity in a race like this are high, but even when it shows up, everyone takes it in stride and remains up-beat. The 'do whatever it takes' attitude is everywhere. And I can't say that people check their egos at the door, because I really don't think that any of these people have one to check.
Kirk - Thanks for your attention to detail in building such a good car, made my job easy!
Cameron - It's always a pleasure to work with you!!
Evan and Kathy - Not only are you guys great, but you've got two of the coolest dogs around!!
Phil - To say that your unflappable would be an understatement (hard to believe that we met almsot 20 years ago!)
Jeff - If you were any more relaxed, you'd probably be asleep. Oh, wait, you were asleep (don't know how you could do it w/ all that noise). Seriously, it's a pleasure to work w/ you, looking forward to VIR.
Collins - Without a doubt, you've got the coolest toys going (and they get the chicks!
)Spencer - Hydrate or die!
Thanks for all your help!Dave - Nice to meet you, hope you enjoyed yourself, and thanks for the help.
Lee - I had no idea you were such a good juggler, you've set a pretty high bar. Great job!
Greg - Without a doubt, the best sport I've ever met!
Thanks again for a great time, and I'm really looking forward to VIR!!!!
Well I had a great time working the event. I don't think I had a moment where people didnt offer me food, water, or a thank you for wearing my whites this weekend. It was great to finally put a few faces to the names here.
The pablo team was like clockwork and had really impressive stops. Though I must make sure I have my whistle on me at all times just in case Bill decides to play chicken with the RC import benz or another car trying to leave the pits. (Bill I suggest a miata next time they dent easier if you loose.)
The pablo team was like clockwork and had really impressive stops. Though I must make sure I have my whistle on me at all times just in case Bill decides to play chicken with the RC import benz or another car trying to leave the pits. (Bill I suggest a miata next time they dent easier if you loose.)
I put my little write up on the (mis)adventures of the ITS #13 and #36 BMWs over RR-AX.com on the thread linked from this one.
I lost a tire and wheel in the pits at the 12 hour. It was a Kosei 15x7 4x100 et27 with a 225/50-15 kumho on it and could easily be mistaken for a spec miata (or lots of other) cars wheel. It didn't have my name or car number on it or anything. I suspect that it may have been picked up by accident by the folks that were in the pit one down from us. I think we were in pit 8 but I could be wrong. Anyway, if anyone picked up a wheel like that doesn't quite fit their car, its mine. You can email me at joel dot gallun at gmail dot com.
I lost a tire and wheel in the pits at the 12 hour. It was a Kosei 15x7 4x100 et27 with a 225/50-15 kumho on it and could easily be mistaken for a spec miata (or lots of other) cars wheel. It didn't have my name or car number on it or anything. I suspect that it may have been picked up by accident by the folks that were in the pit one down from us. I think we were in pit 8 but I could be wrong. Anyway, if anyone picked up a wheel like that doesn't quite fit their car, its mine. You can email me at joel dot gallun at gmail dot com.
Let's start with the positive: as anyone that has been a part of, or around, this team can attest, this is a fantastic group of people with which to be associated. Jeff put it quite well and succinctly during our drive home yesterday: if it was anyone else, we'd probably not be doing it near as often (or at all). I cannot say enough for this team and its protagonists. Cheers to you guys!
As for "The Lap Eight Incident", well, how do I put this delicately without starting a major pissing match? I really can't. Bottom line, as a generalized group of people the Spec Miata drivers drive like total asshats. There, I said it, let the war begin.
Here's a sanitized, edited version of The Event I sent to a friend via email:
The Spec Miatas were all driving like [idiots]. Dive bombing, stupid low-percentage passes, passing in areas guaranteed to slow down both parties unless the passee drove off the road. Very selfish, me-me-me, gotta-get-this-done-right-now-or-we're-gonna-die type of driving. Even the low-key drivers of the team were getting hacked off by these [idiots].
And this was on the opening laps.
I took the green flag stint, starting 43rd of 50 overall, 2nd of 4 (?) in class. The field looked like a Miata convention, comprising (I heard) 36 of the 50 slots. Believe it or not, everyone tippy-toed through T1 with no immediately noticeable results. However, by the start of lap 2 all the Special Me's (and Super-Special Me's and Super-Special-Me's dressed up with ITA and ITS decals) were beating up on each other. ON THE SECOND LAP! And mean literally bumping, hip-checks, [stuff] like that. I quickly passed the leading ITB car and got stuck behind a pack of about 8 or so of these wankers; realizing that there was NO way I was getting through them I laid back about 100 or so feet to let them duke it out and thin out the herd.
Unfortunately, one of the [idiots] caught me off guard and tried a STUPID dive bomb pass on another Miata into a no-braking, all-momentum, full-throttle corner (entering turn 9) and started a classic Miata Melee in front of me. ON LAP EIGHT OF A FREAKIN' 12 HOUR RACE! Dust and cars was flying everywhere and I turned hard outside to intentionally drive off the track. Just as I was about to make it through the mess a black Special Me (the one that may have started this whole thing) backed out of the dust cloud to intercept my line off the track; I tried to turn away but couldn't and hit him square in the rear quarter. DAMMIT!!!
The car started fine (I had locked it up and stalled the engine when I hit the grass) but it was obvious the right-front suspension was bent. I turned the car around, only to see the "driver" of the Special Me out of the car and walking/running towards me. I let him know via hand signals he was Number One and drove towards the track, watching for the corner worker's signals to re-enter, and as I sat there waiting for directions the guy was yelling into the driver's window and banging on the roof! I ignored him and merged back into the flow and went straight into the pits.
(I heard later that his actions caused quite a stir on the Worker net. After I drove away he apparently tossed his ripped-off rear bumper into his car, jumped into the car with no belts, window net, or other safety equipment, and drove the car back in. A steward told me "they had a long discussion." The guy never got back on the track and was listed as a DNF with only 8 laps. Classic.)
I made it into the pits, cussing like an unhappy sailor (a pitlane worker near us said she learned a few new words that day - I apologized to the group afterwards). Damage on the Golf wasn't as bad as I feared: the bumper cover was trashed (it got tie-wrapped/taped up), the right front fender was crushed (banged out), fender liner was ripped and worn (removed), the passenger door was bashed (no performance effect), there was a bent tie rod, and a destroyed tire. Cameron and crew replaced the tie rod and tire, quick-aligned the car, and I was on my way. I had to come in once more for an alignment check (slightly toed-in) and once it was all said and done we had lost 19 laps - about 26 minutes - for the repairs, but the car felt fine. In fact, I ripped off a couple of near-qualifying times and kept going (Jeff later beat those times - and set fastest team race lap - in his stint).
At that point I decided since I had already bought a fender, door, and bumper cover I was going to knock every G-D SM off the track I could find ("they should all pay for sins of the family" is how I think I put it), but instead I behaved...
The rest of the day went swimmingly, with nary a major concern, except for long-term continuation of the afore-mentioned Stupid Miata Tricks. You would not believe some of the selfish, short-term thinking of these guys, sticking their little noses into places that made no sense, either strategically or tactically. The attitude is pretty much "I'm faster, it's your responsibility to get out of my way!" Funny part is, on rare occasion (and I do mean rare) you'd have one of those experienced drivers that understood what it meant to work traffic, to strategic "plan" a pass such to maximize relative traits and to minimize time loss to both parties involved. When you saw those guys you'd work with them and probably only tie them up - at most - 1/2 second. Then you've got the Terrible Two's drivers trying to barge in and hip check a Golf in the carousel. Interesting enough, you'd be surprised at how slow and wide a Golf gets through there...as one other drive put it, "hey, Chief, you're slowing me down? Then we're BOTH slowing down!" and they'd lose AT LEAST 2 seconds on that lap, plus whatever momentum they lost on the subsequent lap. The really funny part? They'd do the SAME G-D THING next time by! Amazing, simply awe-inspiring.
We finished the race second place in class -- 18 laps down. To say I'm ripped with both "them" and myself for letting it happen is an understatement. But, I'm proud of the job the guys did to get us back online and I'm proud what we did for the rest of the race.
Here's the ironic kicker: in July '04 I rented the Flatout #00 for the Pro Spec Miata race at LRP. I started near the back of the pack (it was my first time in a SM) and ended up t-boning a guy that was driving like an [idiot] and spun. Guess what sponsor decal was on the rear window of the car I tagged on Lap Eight? You guess it: same one. I gotta wonder if - up until reading this post - the guy knew I'm the same person? If it was the same driver, I refer you back to my posts on SM.com just after that July 2004 event. It's obvious nothing's changed in two years...
Karma's a pisser (thanks Christine), ain't it?
I hate Spec Miatas.
As for "The Lap Eight Incident", well, how do I put this delicately without starting a major pissing match? I really can't. Bottom line, as a generalized group of people the Spec Miata drivers drive like total asshats. There, I said it, let the war begin.
Here's a sanitized, edited version of The Event I sent to a friend via email:
The Spec Miatas were all driving like [idiots]. Dive bombing, stupid low-percentage passes, passing in areas guaranteed to slow down both parties unless the passee drove off the road. Very selfish, me-me-me, gotta-get-this-done-right-now-or-we're-gonna-die type of driving. Even the low-key drivers of the team were getting hacked off by these [idiots].
And this was on the opening laps.
I took the green flag stint, starting 43rd of 50 overall, 2nd of 4 (?) in class. The field looked like a Miata convention, comprising (I heard) 36 of the 50 slots. Believe it or not, everyone tippy-toed through T1 with no immediately noticeable results. However, by the start of lap 2 all the Special Me's (and Super-Special Me's and Super-Special-Me's dressed up with ITA and ITS decals) were beating up on each other. ON THE SECOND LAP! And mean literally bumping, hip-checks, [stuff] like that. I quickly passed the leading ITB car and got stuck behind a pack of about 8 or so of these wankers; realizing that there was NO way I was getting through them I laid back about 100 or so feet to let them duke it out and thin out the herd.
Unfortunately, one of the [idiots] caught me off guard and tried a STUPID dive bomb pass on another Miata into a no-braking, all-momentum, full-throttle corner (entering turn 9) and started a classic Miata Melee in front of me. ON LAP EIGHT OF A FREAKIN' 12 HOUR RACE! Dust and cars was flying everywhere and I turned hard outside to intentionally drive off the track. Just as I was about to make it through the mess a black Special Me (the one that may have started this whole thing) backed out of the dust cloud to intercept my line off the track; I tried to turn away but couldn't and hit him square in the rear quarter. DAMMIT!!!
The car started fine (I had locked it up and stalled the engine when I hit the grass) but it was obvious the right-front suspension was bent. I turned the car around, only to see the "driver" of the Special Me out of the car and walking/running towards me. I let him know via hand signals he was Number One and drove towards the track, watching for the corner worker's signals to re-enter, and as I sat there waiting for directions the guy was yelling into the driver's window and banging on the roof! I ignored him and merged back into the flow and went straight into the pits.
(I heard later that his actions caused quite a stir on the Worker net. After I drove away he apparently tossed his ripped-off rear bumper into his car, jumped into the car with no belts, window net, or other safety equipment, and drove the car back in. A steward told me "they had a long discussion." The guy never got back on the track and was listed as a DNF with only 8 laps. Classic.)
I made it into the pits, cussing like an unhappy sailor (a pitlane worker near us said she learned a few new words that day - I apologized to the group afterwards). Damage on the Golf wasn't as bad as I feared: the bumper cover was trashed (it got tie-wrapped/taped up), the right front fender was crushed (banged out), fender liner was ripped and worn (removed), the passenger door was bashed (no performance effect), there was a bent tie rod, and a destroyed tire. Cameron and crew replaced the tie rod and tire, quick-aligned the car, and I was on my way. I had to come in once more for an alignment check (slightly toed-in) and once it was all said and done we had lost 19 laps - about 26 minutes - for the repairs, but the car felt fine. In fact, I ripped off a couple of near-qualifying times and kept going (Jeff later beat those times - and set fastest team race lap - in his stint).
At that point I decided since I had already bought a fender, door, and bumper cover I was going to knock every G-D SM off the track I could find ("they should all pay for sins of the family" is how I think I put it), but instead I behaved...
The rest of the day went swimmingly, with nary a major concern, except for long-term continuation of the afore-mentioned Stupid Miata Tricks. You would not believe some of the selfish, short-term thinking of these guys, sticking their little noses into places that made no sense, either strategically or tactically. The attitude is pretty much "I'm faster, it's your responsibility to get out of my way!" Funny part is, on rare occasion (and I do mean rare) you'd have one of those experienced drivers that understood what it meant to work traffic, to strategic "plan" a pass such to maximize relative traits and to minimize time loss to both parties involved. When you saw those guys you'd work with them and probably only tie them up - at most - 1/2 second. Then you've got the Terrible Two's drivers trying to barge in and hip check a Golf in the carousel. Interesting enough, you'd be surprised at how slow and wide a Golf gets through there...as one other drive put it, "hey, Chief, you're slowing me down? Then we're BOTH slowing down!" and they'd lose AT LEAST 2 seconds on that lap, plus whatever momentum they lost on the subsequent lap. The really funny part? They'd do the SAME G-D THING next time by! Amazing, simply awe-inspiring.
We finished the race second place in class -- 18 laps down. To say I'm ripped with both "them" and myself for letting it happen is an understatement. But, I'm proud of the job the guys did to get us back online and I'm proud what we did for the rest of the race.
Here's the ironic kicker: in July '04 I rented the Flatout #00 for the Pro Spec Miata race at LRP. I started near the back of the pack (it was my first time in a SM) and ended up t-boning a guy that was driving like an [idiot] and spun. Guess what sponsor decal was on the rear window of the car I tagged on Lap Eight? You guess it: same one. I gotta wonder if - up until reading this post - the guy knew I'm the same person? If it was the same driver, I refer you back to my posts on SM.com just after that July 2004 event. It's obvious nothing's changed in two years...
Karma's a pisser (thanks Christine), ain't it?
I hate Spec Miatas.