428 replies to this topic

[DDG]

Yes, good going Berry. You get the strong will award for coming in second. I'm betting on you next year to wear the gold wig. SCCA is clearly fun.

[High Chair]

I do want to give a thumbs up to Danny. He ran a great clean race and worked with Charbs (and others) when he could. Danny I know it was not the finish you wanted but it was drive that many of us respect you for. Good Job!

[suck fumes]

I give charbs huge credit!!!! He drove the piss out of that car.

[Cnj]

Man I wish I was a good politician

Oh I don't know - that was a pretty efficient political jab. One short sentence which concurrently questions the integrity of the front two and SCCA tech. Frees you up to continue posting innuendos contrary to Runnoffs tech evidence.

Cnj

[Mike Collins]

I am going to explain this one time only...

Both cars were legal! A go/no go gauge was used. The gauge used was not the design the SMAC submitted.

The gauge needs to fit into the valve guide to be accurate. The gauge works fine EXCEPT when used in a worn valve guide.

When inserted in a worn hole the tool had "slop"... we are talking about measuring .00X in hole that had more slop than the fixed gauge.

When measured with a real valve and caliper both cars were legal, not even a question!

The CS retracted the action. The race was not won on protest or appeal...IT WAS WON ON THE TRACK.

Congratulations : Jim, Craig, Von C, and Stephan T...All who took cars apart and all passed.

[suck fumes]

Well now that all the confusion is cleared up I retract my previous statements and would like to sincerely congratulate the top 3 in a great race!

[38bfast]

Was that the same go/no go gauge used last year?

[Mike Collins]

Don't know..probably.

[screaming monkey]

Nice to see the 95-97 so competitive

KG

I want my old restrictor plate back.

[JRHille]

Shouldn't we know??

[Mike Collins]

I was not involved last year....

[Tom Sager]

I want my old restrictor plate back.

Me too. I think parity season starts tomorrow.

[Tom Sager]

Just watched the race for a 2nd time. Some great action and driving among the front pack and also the next pack. Many drove Valiantly. Congrats on a great year to everyone.

[Jim Drago]

Well what a week... It didn't start out very well at all. I fell out of a bar height chair in front of a crowed Paddock club restaurant... Fell again trying to stand the chair back up.. You can only imagine the laughs and claps I got from the entire restaurant. Believe it or not, I was the only one not drinking at our table. Got stung by a yellow jacket in the lip while driving a golf cart in the pits and looked like I was mentally challenged to all that were staring at me while I smacked myself silly in the face trying to kill this bee. My lip looked pretty funny for a full day. I lost my primary engine in practice session two on Sunday. I felt that my chances were all but gone at that point. We installed the spare engine and the car was good from that point forward. The two laps that Craig and I put together in qualifying were really something special, I don;t think we breathed the entire time. On Friday morning I really think we could have hit low to mid 42's. Craig had a tire going down and we didn't catch it until well into the session, with everyone turning low 43's, we thought we were in trouble, fortunately our times held up.

As far as the race goes, I watched it twice now, it was a lot of fun. I think those were the best thirteen laps that I have ever put in at Road America. If I made a mistake, I really don't remember it.. We have put in so much time, money and effort over the last three years trying to accomplish this, it was a great feeling to finally accomplish it, to have Craig finish second and on my tail was even better.

I'm really tired with 6 am flight, but wanted to shoot a note. Thank you for all the congratulations.
Jim

[Gatoratty]

Jim
Congrats again on a great race! Craig, Andrew, Danny, and the rest put on a great display of driving and racing clean. The rest of the SM nation should watch this race to learn how to race without carnage at every turn. This was hard, exciting, and CLEAN racing without dive bombing the corners, etc. Sandlin put a block on Charb's that almost put Andrew into the wall at high speed. I am sure he would do it differently today after watching the video. Again, CONGRATS TO THE SM NATIONAL CHAMPION FOR 2012......JIM DRAGO!

[tony senese]

Congratulations Jim,
Well won and deserved!

[Mitch Reading]

Jiim, when you have the chance... can you tell us about the specs of the STL car please? Another heck of a race...

[FTodaro]

Jiim, when you have the chance... can you tell us about the specs of the STL car please? Another heck of a race...

To bad the STL race was not as clean as the SM Race.

[Chris70]

Congratulations from the S.A.C. racing crew. Job well done.
We are pleased to hand the title over to you.

[Jim Drago]

Back in the office this morning..
As I have said to a few others.. To my dismay, there were no fans holding congratulations signs at the Airport this morning meeting me at the gate, no one asked for a single auto graph, no ticker tape parade being planned that I am aware of and believe or not, we didn't even get a police escort to work today! I have a big email of accounts payables to look through and stack of other issues to deal with this morning.. Oh yes, back to the real world!

I have lots of people who have made this happen and have helped me over the years! More than I will probably remember!

First and foremost my team mates and good friends Pat Sandlin and Craig Berry. We have all three worked so hard on getting ourselves and the cars better and it really shows. Three very unselfish people, all working together to make the team as strong as possible. I can say without a doubt that those two guys are probably more happy for me than I am myself. We had a plan all year and executed it the best we could. Thank you guys!

Mazda/Hoosier goes without saying

My crew and employees here that work their butts off getting the cars ready!

Robert Lloyd, who donates his time and manages the crew and keeps all of our heads on straight when the nerves kick in

Sam Henry of Springfield Dyno, one of the smartest guys I know and and asset to anyone in any field, also one of the best friends a guy could have!

Ademir from Savings Auto, He has become a good friend and a sounding board for ideas etc, I think we have helped each other tremendously and it has paid dividends with back to back National Championships!

Jim Pace, a great friend and coach, He has taught us the do's and don'ts at Road America. This guy is one of the best coaches in the business!

Jim Stewart, One of the best engine builders in the business and a stand up guy. Even as I went out on my own to start our own engine program, Jim has always been there to answer questions and offer advice. Literally one of the smartest engine builders I know.

Mark Bennett - Many know Mark on the site as the ball buster who can tear you apart with words an some time you don't even understand just how bad he tore you up. What many don't know is the guy is a double engineer, one of the smartest guys on the planet and literally not a question you could come up with that he can't answer! No telling how much I learned from Mark, but it is certainly substantial!

Jim Daniels- The running joke is that I used to ask Jim where should I put the worst flat spotted tire? Jim has been there since day one, he is the one who got me into SM and is there whenever I have a question

Sean Hedrick/ Miatacage.. Again, Sean is another smart guy and has helped us for a long time with advice and products

Todd Lamb/Todd Buras- Both have helped me with driving for a long time. Buras was one of the first "top" drivers I met in SM, he was nice to me and helped when I had two races under my belt. Todd Lamb coming to me and winning two National Championships helped put us on the map.

Jeff Labounty- Without a doubt the best mechanic I know, by far teh best Sm mechanic in the country. Jeff has fixed more of my issues over the phone and saved me more time than i care to admit. There is nothing this guy doesn't know.

Saferacer/Charlie James- Been racing with these guys since I started, not a better bunch of guys to be around, we have been fierce competitors but always great friends

The great drivers that have forced me to get better!! There are many, pretty much the entire Southeast division.. I don't want to leave anyone out.. Many others as well including Blake Clements and Matt Reynolds.. racing guys of this caliber makes the Runoffs just another event..

Tom Fowler and OPM -- Tom is another guy who is always there, always willing to help and has done a lot for us this year.


All my friends and customers. Thank you for all the support and congratulations!!!



I am sure I will add to this list, but that is all I have off the cuff, please don't feel slighted if your not on this list!