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.
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to the guys at Carbotech, especially Dan Puskar.
Then, trying to get them off in the hot pits after his stint so that the hundred plus people in the pits wouldn't see him!! We finally determine that public humiliation makes him drive faster!! 
