143 replies to this topic

[High Chair]

Congrats to Todd Buras for first win in his 2017 car, Jamie Tucker in second and Preston Pardus rounding out the podium in his first weekend in his new car

 

Good luck to all tomorrow

Jim

It was a fun race yesterday.. We all had teammates around us at the start but after lap 3 my teammates were all gone (thanks Peoples Champ); which left me to fight it out with the East Street gang of Buras and Pardus. While leading they both drafted by me and I then spent the rest of the race keeping them separated. In the end I  was able to get inside Buras through 17 and drag race him to the finish but came up short by .160. The race was super clean (top 3) and the top 3 all took turns leading. Hopefully more of the same today. 

Oh and the Caveman kicked ass in SMSE and is now the executive assistant to the Peoples Champion on SM/SMSE relations.

[MPR22]

It was a fun race yesterday.. We all had teammates around us at the start but after lap 3 my teammates were all gone (thanks Peoples Champ); which left me to fight it out with the East Street gang of Buras and Pardus. While leading they both drafted by me and I then spent the rest of the race keeping them separated. In the end I  was able to get inside Buras through 17 and drag race him to the finish but came up short by .160. The race was super clean (top 3) and the top 3 all took turns leading. Hopefully more of the same today. 
Oh and the Caveman kicked ass in SMSE and is now the executive assistant to the Peoples Champion on SM/SMSE relations.

Congrats on the P2 Jamie, you still have it even if you don’t race every weekend like some people. Get your team metates head out of his arse and tell him to stay on your six the whole race.

[Craig Berry]

Way To Go Todd!!! Great race and congrats to Jamie and Preston!

[Spencer Rutherford]

It was a fun race yesterday.. We all had teammates around us at the start but after lap 3 my teammates were all gone (thanks Peoples Champ); which left me to fight it out with the East Street gang of Buras and Pardus. While leading they both drafted by me and I then spent the rest of the race keeping them separated. In the end I was able to get inside Buras through 17 and drag race him to the finish but came up short by .160. The race was super clean (top 3) and the top 3 all took turns leading. Hopefully more of the same today.
Oh and the Caveman kicked ass in SMSE and is now the executive assistant to the Peoples Champion on SM/SMSE relations.

I was in the back with all of your teammates, while I had no help. Maybe we should just trade spots today.

[Caveman-kwebb99]

Congrats to Jamie Tucker great weekend, good to see you and all the other Florida boys! Congrats also to preston and Todd, as well as Davison who got robbed for his podium after race monitor listed him 4th and did not report to tech because of that.

What can I say best flat track I have ever been to!

Thanks to old dogs racing for hosting me and we all had a great time!

Look forward to coming back maybe next year for the turkey trott!

[High Chair]

Congrats to Jamie Tucker great weekend, good to see you and all the other Florida boys! Congrats also to preston and Todd, as well as Davison who got robbed for his podium after race monitor listed him 4th and did not report to tech because of that.

What can I say best flat track I have ever been to!

Thanks to old dogs racing for hosting me and we all had a great time!

Look forward to coming back maybe next year for the turkey trott!

Thanks K Webb.. It was a great weekend with some very close racing. It was anyones race today I just found myself in the right spot at the right time. Todd was super hard to beat as always as was Preston and the rest of the top 8 or so..In the end the People's Champion almost got his first win today which would have been cool but it wasn't meant to be. Thanks for coming down and hanging out.. See you next time.

[Craig Berry]

Congrats Jamie!, Preston, Todd, and The People's Champ! Looked like a great time! Sebring always produces some of the most exciting SM racing.

[Danica Davison]

Long weekend write up incoming (I got carried away):

 

Man, that was one of the best weekends I have had personally as well as one of the hardest races I have ever had to drive.  Ran my fastest time ever with Jamie and I hooked up in qualifying to put it front row with a 2.36.6xx out of 70 cars so that was pretty cool. Didn't have a great start in race 1 as I got trained and was in 5th already in Turn 1.  I got back around Spencer in the carousel, but by that time ... Jamie, Preston, and Buras already had like a 1.5 second lead and they were rollin out.  I could never real in that gap, so I finished 5th behind Leverone who had a great race as well coming up from 11th I think!

 

 But race 2 was very difficult. With the 3rd gear syncro going bad, I had to baby the 2-3 shift coming out of hairpin every lap ,which was not fun, and I missed the shift twice. One of those times was on the first lap which gave me some catching up to do.  Once I got back up to Jeffy, we pushed our way up to Preston, Jamie, and Todd quickly, as Jamie split them up very well.  Once we got up there, Jamie started racing Todd and we shuffled Preston back to 5th.

 

Halfway through the race there was a weird double yellow where we didn't have a pace car. So Todd was in first and he kept about a 90% pace for about 2 whole laps once he knew there wasn't going to be a pace car and a green flag at the start ... so this helped us keep the second pack further behind us which was nice.  They went green flag right as we were in the middle of the hairpin!  Jeffy had the car to beat as his was on rails and none of ours were, but a lap after we went green ... we moved into Jamie, Jeffy, Me, Buras and Preston and his car shut off for some reason, so he was out.  That turned into an intense 2 on 2 battle with lots of passing, side by side racing, and just really fun battling out the last two or three laps to get into the right positions.  With one lap of side by side racing with Buras, I got around him and got up to Jamie and pushed him around for a lap.  When we got the white flag, Buras sent it on me big time in Turn 1 and somehow made it stick and didn't lose a tenth (very impressive)! 

 

That led to an interesting final lap:  Jamie was trying to help me get me my first win (thanks Jamie) and coming out of T16, he moved over to the inside, side by side with Todd, to get me to come up and push us two by.  This was my plan as well and thought it was going to work perfectly.  Only issue was, Preston and I had a good run out of T16 and he gave me a push and I thought I was going too fast to push Jamie and thought I would break his diff.  Didn't want to slow down as I thought Preston was still right on my bumper (he wasn't actually) and so I went on inside and almost cleared them both but we went three wide into T17. This pushed Todd out wider and Jamie and I were side by side in T17, but I hit the bump pretty hard and got on gas a little too early and had to save a big slide ... which allowed Jamie to go on and win, Buras to get 2nd, and Preston to drag race me to line and beat me by 0.005 for third. Not upset about it, but a little bummer I could have gotten the win if I pushed Jamie instead.  Thought I did the right thing in the moment, so that's all I can really look back on and learn from.

 

All in all, It was a fun weekend with no drama, the way it should be! Great racing with Jamie, Todd, Preston, Jeffy, Leverone, Spencer and others and was happy to have some of the Northern guys like Joey G, Geraci, Kyle Webb, the Novaks, and the Flatout gang to come hangout with us crazies in the South.  I am really looking forward to doing it all again in January and hope to have my video up soon!

 

Sorry for the essay.  Michael Ross wasn't here so somebody had to do it!

[Richard Astacio]

All you need now is a Drago car and you will be guaranteed your 1st win....

[Jim Drago]

Congrats Jamie on the win and Todd and Preston rounding out the podium, with an honorable mention to people's champ who managed to lose another one  and finish fourth:)  Looked like a fun weekend by most all except the few that had some pretty nasty contact.   

 

See most of you in January! 

[MPR22]

Long weekend write up incoming (I got carried away):

 

Man, that was one of the best weekends I have had personally as well as one of the hardest races I have ever had to drive.  Ran my fastest time ever with Jamie and I hooked up in qualifying to put it front row with a 2.36.6xx out of 70 cars so that was pretty cool. Didn't have a great start in race 1 as I got trained and was in 5th already in Turn 1.  I got back around Spencer in the carousel, but by that time ... Jamie, Preston, and Buras already had like a 1.5 second lead and they were rollin out.  I could never real in that gap, so I finished 5th behind Leverone who had a great race as well coming up from 11th I think!

 

 But race 2 was very difficult. With the 3rd gear syncro going bad, I had to baby the 2-3 shift coming out of hairpin every lap ,which was not fun, and I missed the shift twice. One of those times was on the first lap which gave me some catching up to do.  Once I got back up to Jeffy, we pushed our way up to Preston, Jamie, and Todd quickly, as Jamie split them up very well.  Once we got up there, Jamie started racing Todd and we shuffled Preston back to 5th.

 

Halfway through the race there was a weird double yellow where we didn't have a pace car. So Todd was in first and he kept about a 90% pace for about 2 whole laps once he knew there wasn't going to be a pace car and a green flag at the start ... so this helped us keep the second pack further behind us which was nice.  They went green flag right as we were in the middle of the hairpin!  Jeffy had the car to beat as his was on rails and none of ours were, but a lap after we went green ... we moved into Jamie, Jeffy, Me, Buras and Preston and his car shut off for some reason, so he was out.  That turned into an intense 2 on 2 battle with lots of passing, side by side racing, and just really fun battling out the last two or three laps to get into the right positions.  With one lap of side by side racing with Buras, I got around him and got up to Jamie and pushed him around for a lap.  When we got the white flag, Buras sent it on me big time in Turn 1 and somehow made it stick and didn't lose a tenth (very impressive)! 

 

That led to an interesting final lap:  Jamie was trying to help me get me my first win (thanks Jamie) and coming out of T16, he moved over to the inside, side by side with Todd, to get me to come up and push us two by.  This was my plan as well and thought it was going to work perfectly.  Only issue was, Preston and I had a good run out of T16 and he gave me a push and I thought I was going too fast to push Jamie and thought I would break his diff.  Didn't want to slow down as I thought Preston was still right on my bumper (he wasn't actually) and so I went on inside and almost cleared them both but we went three wide into T17. This pushed Todd out wider and Jamie and I were side by side in T17, but I hit the bump pretty hard and got on gas a little too early and had to save a big slide ... which allowed Jamie to go on and win, Buras to get 2nd, and Preston to drag race me to line and beat me by 0.005 for third. Not upset about it, but a little bummer I could have gotten the win if I pushed Jamie instead.  Thought I did the right thing in the moment, so that's all I can really look back on and learn from.

 

All in all, It was a fun weekend with no drama, the way it should be! Great racing with Jamie, Todd, Preston, Jeffy, Leverone, Spencer and others and was happy to have some of the Northern guys like Joey G, Geraci, Kyle Webb, the Novaks, and the Flatout gang to come hangout with us crazies in the South.  I am really looking forward to doing it all again in January and hope to have my video up soon!

 

Sorry for the essay.  Michael Ross wasn't here so somebody had to do it!

But now that you have written this riveting account of the weekend, it is like i was there. 

[High Chair]

Congrats Jamie on the win and Todd and Preston rounding out the podium, with an honorable mention to people's champ who managed to lose another one  and finish fourth:)  Looked like a fun weekend by most all except the few that had some pretty nasty contact.   

 

See most of you in January! 

Thanks Jim..

[Danica Davison]

All you need now is a Drago car and you will be guaranteed your 1st win....

 

Well ... I had more power than P$ so ...

[Preston Pardus]

Race 1

[Danny Steyn]

Preston - thanks for posting - that was fun to watch.

[Jim Drago]

Well ... I had more power than P$ so ...

AND HE STILL BEAT YOU

[callumhay]

Interesting to look at the difference in time between the SM5 car and the SM cars in the Sprint race. Only a 2.3 second gap between  the SM 5 car and P1 for the SM (Buras). I don't know the SM5 driver and this is not implying anything about his skills but I'm thinking that it must take a lot of skill to drive a 122-128 hp car to about the same as a 145 hp car. 

[John Wilding]

I had a lot of fun last weekend trying to keep up with the super fast guys. I was able to hang with the Danica Davison pack in the 1st race, and the front pack in the 2nd race, but not really in the mix for a podium since I was fighting brake issues the whole weekend. We changed the brake lines before the weekend and could never get all the air out, I think when we kept bleeding the system I pushed too far on the pedal and ended up blowing a seal in the master cylinder, because the pedal kept getting worse every session. We also noticed that there was a ton of fluid on the firewall and below the master after the 2nd race, when the brakes really took a turn for the worst. Looks like it's time for a new master cylinder!

 

Here is my video from race 1 with the setting sun, where I had the pleasure of trying to keep mistakes minimized to stay relevant to the pack; but the video gives a good visual of the fun everyone was having in front of me.    It was also fun to race with the Northern guys, which made it feel like a mini-Majors race.

 

 

Congrats to Todd and Jaime on the wins, you guys are studs!

[Danica Davison]

AND HE STILL BEAT YOU

 

Lol! Well, according to Timing and Scoring, I beat the National Champ!  I know you know already, but for everyone else, they visually scored me that I beat him at the line (but I knew he didn't) and then DQ'd me when I didn't show up for impound.  I complained that:

 

1.) Timing was wrong because I saw that Preston's mirrors were about 5 inches in front of mine.

2.) I finished behind Preston in 4th, race monitor confirmed, and my eyes confirmed it. So, why do I get DQd if Timing/Scoring changes it manually and doesn't tell Pit Road or Tech to tell me to come to impound? It isn't my fault that they didn't communicate a change in the top 3 to anyone.

3.) Also, even though I think Preston was still ahead of me at the time ... did y'all know the Timing loop at Sebring is actually 8-10 feet before the S/F line on the track?  The Chief of Timing made her decision there (even though I still think she was wrong) ... and gave me attitude because I didn't know where the "real" S/F line is.

 

After no initial luck with Timing/Scoring and the Chief Steward (who just seemed clueless when I talked to him) ... I went to Leland Miller, who in my opinion is one of the best Stewards we have, and he was able to convince the Chief Steward file a "Request for Action" to reverse the Timing/Scoring call.  I ended up getting my P4 finish back instead of being DQ'd. So all good in the end and hopefully a learning opportunity for some.

 

 

So short story, Timing said I beat Preston ... but I knew that couldn't be true because I cant possibly finish ahead of the Natty Champ!  

[Jim Creighton]

Danica, your story has several important lessons. First, you took the time to go speak with T & S. When not satisfied, you went to the Chief Steward. And when not satisfied with their actions, you sought out an experienced person to assist you. Granted, no where in the GCR does it say "seek out an experienced person" but the reality of SCCA is that the most experienced person is not always the one in charge. A few years ago, a driver was penalized post event for an action at the Runoffs. That driver sought out some very experienced members to help and as a result, his penalty was reduced. He went on to become a National Champion.

 

Lesson is if you think something is wrong, take action.

 

BTW, your 4th place finish at Sebring in that field was a win just about any other time. Good job.