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Just getting back to the office after a weekenf of wacky weather at Mid ohio, well it is mid ohio!!!!!
19 spec miata's were signed up thats a big increase over last years numbers as I remember it, I think there were a few no shows, the event was put on very well! I must say the new ownership of the region is really turning the show around, once a gain tech was freindly, scales were freindly, competition was freindly.
Some observations, I would still rather have a 99 then a 1.6 given the choice, but I can say with 1000% certainty that the 99 is not the magical siver bullet, as the most notable driver in recent times here at mid ohio brought his very good 99 to the first race did not go faster and did not fight for a podium that he normally fights for every weekend in the 1.6! Once he gets it all figured out dont you worry he will be right back there in the mix, personally he is one of the best drivers at Mid Ohio I have raced agaisnt!
I got asked back to do some more coaching this weekend, I suppose I did ok in my first crack at it... Anyway practice day was crazy weather, then just rain, which Adam was one of two that even went out in the rain session, and I think he learned a metric ton about rain and about mid ohio! We then put scales together and put the car on the scales once it dried out, we found that the car needed some wholesale changes if we wanted to be competitve for the weekend, well 3 hours later and 3 sessions skipped we finally finished the car about 4 pm with one exhausted coach and some pretty tired team members. Saturday we opened up with Adam roberts with the fastest lap in warmup, which gave him a great grid spot for qualifying, but somehow he never got a clean lap and made some wrong choices on the track to end up 8th for the race. After a total reset I let Adam know there was no rule againist winning from P8!!!!! and well thanks to some poor driving by a porsche 944 holding Frank and Williams up for most of the race Adam eventually caught and past them for his FIRST EVER SM WIN!!!! Sunday started out ok practice we were p7 just running a decent lap without burning down the tires, qualifying he layed down 3 consecutive 142 laps ending with a 142.0 before hi radiod him to hit pit road with nobody within a second of his time. We made some changes to the car for the race, missed the mark by a bit but the car was good enough early on to pull away and then maintain the lead of about 4 seconds on the field for WIN #2!!!
I cannot say how proud I am of Adam, not only because he was able to turn around that disatrous p8 qualifyinig on sat to two wins, but also because he served this country with integrity in the armed forces!
On saturday night I was asked to give a hand and find some speed for a couple of SM friends Randy Fusi, and Mel Davis. Both took over 5 seconds off their best ever laps, and I saw Mel turn from a drivger into an actual racer, passing people setting up passes not just driving around thinking it was fun but actually making it fun!!!! Big props to you both!!! Not sure how you guys can learn when that much when Im tired and drinking beer, but somehow you guys found a way!!!
Two nasa events and two great experiences in a row have me thinking about mounting a comback with nasa after going on permanenet Nasa retirement 2 years ago!!!!! Way to go NASA GL!!!! keep up the improvments!!!!!
Frank, one of my long time SM friends brought a car that was capable but had a mechanical and struck the wall, I feel for him as he has some of the bad luck at mis ohio I have found recently but he was able to get the car back together run the fast race lap of Sunday race and finished P2!!!! great job Frank!
Podium for Saturday was
Adam Roberts p1
Chris williams p2
Jonathon Davis p3
Sunday
Adam Roberts p1
Frank Todaro p2
Jonathon Davis p3
great racing and congrqats to all the above!
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but I know its just a matter of time!
