13 replies to this topic

[MPR22]

First race of the SCCA Southwest Division 2012 Season. The turnout was a bit low, with several of the top 10 contenders not showing. BFC (Beacon of Fitness Clements) raced in January at the NASA race and sat this one out. Suck Fumes did the same, not sure if he didn't want to race at MSRH or just didn't have the new NA 1.8 ready yet. Luke Bickham is wating on the new build to replace his last trip the Wall. However we did have some guest appearances from the local pros at the track all fielding SM's ranging from POS to Rocket Ship. Jesse Combs, Steve Ott and Mike Mills all attended so the overall tallent level was still outstanding.

Saturday Qualifying,

Cool weather and the new Hoosiers meant some hot times in the qualifying session.
15 mins into qualifying Udell, Haldeman and Ross were 1,2,3. Then Combs and Ott come out and lay down some sick laps, for some reason Combs went behind the wall and came back out to run another set of laps so he lost his pole position qualifying and slipped back to 5th with his official time.

Ott 1:46.991
Udell 1:47.503
Haldeman 1:47.546
Ross 1:47.602
Combs 1:47.770
Mills 1:47.820
York 1:48.433
Reynolds 1:48.648

Saturday Race

Light rain was falling starting shortly after qualifying off and on until about 30 minutes before the race. Group six never looked so good; by the time we took the track the previous two run groups had dried the track and we had a good clean surface with cool weather to race.

Ott and Udell took the green flag but Udell didn't get off the mark well and Haldeman moved into second by turn two, followed by Udell, Ross Combs. By lap two Ross was able to get around Udell but could not make it stick as Udell passed back through the carousel on the inside. Udell's car was on rails through the high speed round about all weekend. Shortly thereafter, Combs came around on the inside down to Diamonds edge and Ross was shuffled back to 5th. The top five had a good gap on the field by lap three with Ott and Haldeman pulling a slight gap on the 3,4 5 cars. Udell blew and engine about on lap 4 and was unable to get the car completely off the racing surface. Eventhough he pulled over to an area of the track that nobody uses SCCA decided to double yellow the race while the towed Udell. That bunched the field again and Haldeman and Ott's lead evaporated and put them back into range for Combs. The restart on lap 6 consisted of Ott, Haldeman Combs, Ross and Mills and within three laps the top four had pulled a gap on the rest of the field. Ott Haldeman and Combs were merged into one giant snake that slithered though the 17 turns as MSRH, while Ross was just off the tail waiting for the carnage big one. Lap 8 Ross' transmission went into a phantom neutral as he shifted from 2nd to 3rd out of Diamonds Edge and he lost two places trying to get the car back into gear. The top three checked out and ran nose to tail for several laps with no room between the three as Ross was able to pass Reynolds and Mills to regain 4th place. Lap 11 saw Haldeman go for a pass at 15 to only come up short and not quite complete becasue of some astute track positioning by Ott. Combs took the opening and passed on the inside as they group went 3 wide into 16 and 17. The shuffle left Haldeman in 3rd with Ott leading Combs. Lap 12 saw Ross passed again as third gear escaped him for the second time. The top three were still indistiguishable as seperate cars as they circulated the track. Corner workers were calling in "contact" at every station. Ross got back around Mills and pulled away. Combs passed Ott at the end of lap 13, and as they passed the start finish line with 2 to go the starter was showing furled black flags to the trio. The race ended on lap 15 with Combs eaking out a hard fought victory over Ott and Haldeman.

At impound fuel samples were taken and quickly disposed of in the tech crews usual method, (free fuel for the inspector). The top three were lectured about the dangers of racing too closely and that touching would not be tolerated. It was noted that no marks were found on any of the cars and the competitors were all smiles and hand shakes.

Haldeman's consolation prize was a new track record 1:47.910. Hoosier's like this track.

Sunday's update later this evening.

[Danny Steyn]

Thanks for the great write up, great to get blow by blow accounts from across the country, and it is so much more interesting when you know the drivers and the track. Congrats to all and congrats to Chris H for the track record.

Suspect that we will see several new track records this year with the Hoosiers. As far as I know we have seen new record times at

• Sebring
• Roebling
• MSRH
• and possibly more

[chris haldeman]

Thanks micheal for the great write up. Saturdays race was a great time as always!! I ended up third but it was super close. The track record will last for awile so that makes it worth it. It was also super cool to see that you made it thru to finish right behind me.

[Andy Rushing]

Congrats Mike and Chris on the strong finishes! 46's and 47's around that track must be crazy fun...Wish I could have been there for it.

Any thoughts on the car parity (power vs handling) with the new rules?

[chris haldeman]

Thanks Andy!! In my opinion the cars are very well matched. I have zero parity complaints

[MPR22]

Sunday Qual:
Weather is warmer than I expected, so we don't expect to blaze out the 1:47's of yesterday. Out lap proves slippery for me and my teammate Haldeman and it take us an extra lap to catch a flyer, my Traqmate was full (acting up) so I didn't know how we were doing, just kept glued to Chris' bumper and hoped we did ok. After Chris pulled off I drifted back to help my buddy Michael Mills (local guru with POS SM) but we couldn't get a good lap going and he decided he would perform a super drift thru the carousel while i watched anxiously. Afterwords, he asked me to make copies of the video, but I had none (Bummer, it really was you tube worthy). I pull in and didn't see Chris waiting in the hot pits so I figured we must have done ok.

1. Ott 1:48.197
2. Haldeman 1:48.390
3. Ross 1:48.404
4. Udell 1:48.768
5. Reynolds 1:48.869

The top 10 were much closer than Saturday. Combs did not race on Sunday.

Sunday Race:

Last race of the day overcast and damp but no rain. Ott and Haldeman lead the field to the green flag and Haldeman got a slight jump. Udell followed Haldeman and Ross tucked in entering turn 2 with Reynolds close behind. Midway thru turn 2 Ott was pushing wide and got into the marbles and could not keep it on the racing surface and fell all the way to last as the field filed by. The top 4 settled in and started to pull away from the field quickly and Ross passed Udell on lap 2, but again could not hold it going through the carousel (rember those rails from Saturday). Ross was able to get a run on Udell coming out of Diamonds Edge when Udell slid sideways on exit, and stuffed it inside hard under braking entering the Bus Stop. Then the oh shit moments started for the front runners. Unknown to us the slides we experienced at Diamonds Edge were just the beggining of the slip and slide. As Ross exited the Bus Stop the car hit the next banna peel and he had to shut it down, this allowed Reynolds to close on Udell and they all tip toed through rest of the twisties sliding over someones leaking fluid. Once we got clear of the slop the race for 2,3,4 was on as Haldeman had clean track and could run hard without the pressure of a pass. Mills worked his way up to 5th by lap 3 but was off pace and could not catch the train as Reynolds Udell and Ross ran several laps in the low 1:49's. At lap 14 Reynolds was able to get by Udell, this gave Ross a little breathing room, until the next lap when Ross caught a lapper mid apex in the carousel. Reynolds and Udell again were back on the hunt for P2. On lap 15, Ross smoked the tires into the Bus Stop allowing Reynolds a shot at the pass going to the keyhole but Ross defended and stretched back out a small lead by the start finish line. Next lap Ross over braked the Bus Stop and Reynolds was caught out by the mistake and gave Ross a little reminder to keep going. This slowed Reynolds up and gave Ross and decent gap, with the 1 to go at start finish. Both Reynolds and Ross turned in nearly identicle 1:48.9's to finish, with Udell 1:48.7. Haldeman yawned as he rolled across the finish line with a 1.7 second victory. Top three impound, weights, plates (funniest part when the tech guy trys to shove 39 mm peg into a 38 mm hole), and oh by the way pull a 99 shop manual out of your rears. They actually looked at us funny for not having the books with us as we pulled off the track. Chris and I keep ours on my lap top, so thank goodness I brought the thing to the track.

[MPR22]

Thanks Andy, the Hoosiers allow you to attack the track. As for parity, we have raced two races at MSRH with the new weights and plates. The track was always a multi car track and I think now there is really no advantage to one car or another. TWS will be interesting as the plates will have more effect on the long front straight.

[MPR22]

Now a big thank you to my sponsors and team.

Thank you to Chris Haldeman, great teammate. Congratulations on your first National win!!!!
JP3 perfect set up for me, thanks for teaching me how to go fast, now I finally did.
Thanks Eric Yagle for changing out that pesky tranny Saturday night, could not have podiumed without it.
Poppa Ross, I made the podium, I know you were as excited as I am about two good finishes this weekend!!! Thank you for your tire sponsorship.

Thank you to Cordray, Wagner, Schneller for your financial support this season.

Super duper thank you to my wife for putting up with me being a big kid and letting me go play with my friends.

[Ron Alan]

Ok...now lets see some video of all the excitement!!

[Jim Drago]

Congrats Haldeman and Ross, JP3 knows what he is doing for sure! TWS should be a blast.. trying to get my car together and make it, but it's 50/50 at best

Jim

[Danny Steyn]

Congrats to all. Micheal - thanks again for a great write up.

Chris Haldeman - a HUGE CONGRATS on your FIRST NATIONAL WIN - WHOOOOHOOOO - that's a big deal dude - coming on strong!

Hope Phillips brings a big contingent to the runoffs this year. You are going to be a contender for sure!

[trimless]

Thanks for the write up Michael, good stuff. And congrats Chris for the win and Michael on the National Podium, way to go!

Jim, Hope you can make TWS. You used up all your bad luck last year at that track so you should come down if the car is ready.

[chris haldeman]

Thanks for the congrats guys. And I look forward to tws!

[suck fumes]

First race of the SCCA Southwest Division 2012 Season. The turnout was a bit low, with several of the top 10 contenders not showing. BFC (Beacon of Fitness Clements) raced in January at the NASA race and sat this one out. Suck Fumes did the same, not sure if he didn't want to race at MSRH or just didn't have the new NA 1.8 ready yet. Luke Bickham is wating on the new build to replace his last trip the Wall. However we did have some guest appearances from the local pros at the track all fielding SM's ranging from POS to Rocket Ship. Jesse Combs, Steve Ott and Mike Mills all attended so the overall tallent level was still outstanding.

Saturday Qualifying,

Cool weather and the new Hoosiers meant some hot times in the qualifying session.
15 mins into qualifying Udell, Haldeman and Ross were 1,2,3. Then Combs and Ott come out and lay down some sick laps, for some reason Combs went behind the wall and came back out to run another set of laps so he lost his pole position qualifying and slipped back to 5th with his official time.

Ott 1:46.991
Udell 1:47.503
Haldeman 1:47.546
Ross 1:47.602
Combs 1:47.770
Mills 1:47.820
York 1:48.433
Reynolds 1:48.648

Saturday Race

Light rain was falling starting shortly after qualifying off and on until about 30 minutes before the race. Group six never looked so good; by the time we took the track the previous two run groups had dried the track and we had a good clean surface with cool weather to race.

Ott and Udell took the green flag but Udell didn't get off the mark well and Haldeman moved into second by turn two, followed by Udell, Ross Combs. By lap two Ross was able to get around Udell but could not make it stick as Udell passed back through the carousel on the inside. Udell's car was on rails through the high speed round about all weekend. Shortly thereafter, Combs came around on the inside down to Diamonds edge and Ross was shuffled back to 5th. The top five had a good gap on the field by lap three with Ott and Haldeman pulling a slight gap on the 3,4 5 cars. Udell blew and engine about on lap 4 and was unable to get the car completely off the racing surface. Eventhough he pulled over to an area of the track that nobody uses SCCA decided to double yellow the race while the towed Udell. That bunched the field again and Haldeman and Ott's lead evaporated and put them back into range for Combs. The restart on lap 6 consisted of Ott, Haldeman Combs, Ross and Mills and within three laps the top four had pulled a gap on the rest of the field. Ott Haldeman and Combs were merged into one giant snake that slithered though the 17 turns as MSRH, while Ross was just off the tail waiting for the carnage big one. Lap 8 Ross' transmission went into a phantom neutral as he shifted from 2nd to 3rd out of Diamonds Edge and he lost two places trying to get the car back into gear. The top three checked out and ran nose to tail for several laps with no room between the three as Ross was able to pass Reynolds and Mills to regain 4th place. Lap 11 saw Haldeman go for a pass at 15 to only come up short and not quite complete becasue of some astute track positioning by Ott. Combs took the opening and passed on the inside as they group went 3 wide into 16 and 17. The shuffle left Haldeman in 3rd with Ott leading Combs. Lap 12 saw Ross passed again as third gear escaped him for the second time. The top three were still indistiguishable as seperate cars as they circulated the track. Corner workers were calling in "contact" at every station. Ross got back around Mills and pulled away. Combs passed Ott at the end of lap 13, and as they passed the start finish line with 2 to go the starter was showing furled black flags to the trio. The race ended on lap 15 with Combs eaking out a hard fought victory over Ott and Haldeman.

At impound fuel samples were taken and quickly disposed of in the tech crews usual method, (free fuel for the inspector). The top three were lectured about the dangers of racing too closely and that touching would not be tolerated. It was noted that no marks were found on any of the cars and the competitors were all smiles and hand shakes.

Haldeman's consolation prize was a new track record 1:47.910. Hoosier's like this track.

Sunday's update later this evening.

Congrats to CHRIS H!!!!

I wish all the regions were more consistent with contact enforcement. Seems like Texas is the most strict about it. In Atlanta and Wisconsin they could care less seems like.