146 replies to this topic

[dstevens]

Glad to hear it went relatively well.  With as ambitious a schedule they had it's no surprise they have to scrub quals for the last group.

[Tom Sager]

Sounds like it was one heck of a good show with much of the usual cream rising to the top.  Hope today's event is equally fun, competitive and incident free.  

[Waterboy]

Doesn't appear to have quite as well today

[Danny Steyn]

No good deed goes unpunished. Chris Haldeman, one of the nicest guys I have ever met in racing helped me get up to speed at COTA, and what did I do? I took him ou on the 2nd lap after the restart. I was so disappointed in myself that I parked my car. Chris you had the speed to be up front and I ruined your shot at it. Chris I am so sorry!

[Johnny D]

Berry

Bolanos

Charb

Drago

Reynolds

Leverone

Carter

Rushing

Verges

Reger

 

J~

[Mitch Reading]

Why didn't Meat, Pat and Blake start?  Broadcast sounded like Craig and Alex had standout races, well done. 

[Muda]

Looked like a he!! of a race even from the computer screen.

Can't wait to see the vids.

Congrats to Berry, Bolanos & Charb for the podium.

Congrats to our local boy, Nick Leverone in 6th!

 

Who was the other commentator on the online feed?

He really added a lot to the reporting.

[Brendan O]

No good deed goes unpunished. Chris Haldeman, one of the nicest guys I have ever met in racing helped me get up to speed at COTA, and what did I do? I took him ou on the 2nd lap after the restart. I was so disappointed in myself that I parked my car. Chris you had the speed to be up front and I ruined your shot at it. Chris I am so sorry!

 

Man - you are too hard on yourself. It was probably just a racing incident. Any chance we can see the video?

[Jim Drago]

Congrats to Craig today, win from the pole.   Being a Texan, this is like the Daytona 500!   Hard work and talent pays off. He was fast all weekend, drove a great race today and deserved the win. That makes two poles and two wins for us.  I felt guilty taking yesterdays win the way it went down, but no so much now after Craig won today

 

Today's race was a little rough. Andrew and Craig came together on the straight leading to turn one on the front row. No idea what happened there. They both shot off each other. I went inside to miss Craig, I think I was hit by two or three different people there, no idea how many, but it felt like bumper cars. My left mirror was ripped off, left front and rear wheels knocked out of whack. Dents pretty much down both sides of the car. Glad I decided not to paint before Cota.   For all intents and purposes my race was over at T1.  The car would not turn right at all and t3, t6 and t16-18 were just about no doable.  It would have been nice to race one of the two days with a car that had no issues, sometimes it just works out that way. 

 

 

STL race was fun, ran the SM in ITS trim ( no plate) and started from the back since I didn't race yesterday and got to third.  The alphabet soup racing is tough.. It can be crazy.  What I can tell is the best drivers are definitely in SM

 

Jim

[JRHille]

Sounds like a great time and I wish I could have been there playing too. 

 

Danny you're a stand up guy after what you did, most would keep going, I probably would have..

 

Congrats Jim and Craig on the wins, and congrats to everyone else who ran.  Hopefully not a once in a lifetime opportunity driving on the track because I want to do it!  Cant wait to see videos

[CruzanTom]

A little COTA review from the mid-pack and back bunch.

 

COTA was a blast to race, although the local region struggled to handle the weekend. I had a great time debuting my new car at the only F1 race track in the USA! Besides building me a fast and beautiful car, the OPM gang was top-notch, as always. Tom, Tracy, Jonathon and Richard kept us going no matter what the issues. Jim Pace is a great guy to have in the paddock - he has race intelligence like no other. Team mates Danny Steyn, Glenn Stephens, Jonathon Czarny, Jeff Rothstein and Willie Phee are always fun to be around. 

 

Thanks to all of the great camaraderie in SM. Today I got hit on Lap 1 and had a tire go down. I made it to the pits just as a Double Yellow came out. As I pulled in, I see a F1-quality pit crew rush out to change my tire and mend the damage - Tom Fowler, Mike Collins, and Jim Pace. Vettel get jealous; I didn't lose a lap.

 

During the BS sessions at the end of the day, Andrew Charbonneau  Danny Steyn, Tom Brown and many others were eager to watch my videos and point out my mistakes.

 

East Street Racing paddocked next to us and it is always fun to hang out with Pat Sandlin, Craig Berry and Jim Drago. I barely have time to stop laughing before the next story is told. Congratulations for your great finishes. The Meathead crew was on the ball and fast all weekend, too.

 

Farther back in the pack, it was a blast to see many others I usually only see on this forum. Kyle Webb is the most competitive but gracious guy I know (little known secret - Kyle really knows how to spell). Michael Ross is a class act, if everyone from Texas was like him, Texas would rule the world; Todd Lamb is the true gentleman among racers, Ted Cahall, Tom Long, Whit Gregg, and all of the other fine racers I swapped positions with, thanks for the fun and racing room. 

 

I hope other classes enjoy racing as we do in SM.

[Butch Kummer]

[Who was the other commentator on the online feed?

He really added a lot to the reporting.]

 

Not sure who you are thinking about, but besides Greg Creamer doing the play-by-play, Mike Pettiford and some guy name Jim Daniels were also adding color. It was good to see Jim back at the track (podiumed in EP on Sunday) after laying out for two years.

[Jim Drago]

That is really cool. I wasn't aware Jim and mike were doing color. They know many of the players so that was probably a good broadcast. Greg Kramer is really good on his own, surprised one of the networks hasn't picked that guy up, he is better than most I listen to weekly calling races.
Well the party is over.. On the plane headed back to memphis and a few days back log of work after getting up at 3:45 to make the flight... Surely will be a great day 😄

[LarryKing]

"As I pulled in, I see a F1-quality pit crew rush out to change my tire and mend the damage - Tom Fowler, Mike Collins, and Jim Pace. Vettel get jealous; I didn't lose a lap."

 

Now THAT is really cool!

[Muda]

Must have been Jim on Sunday talking about Bolanos.  He added a lot to the broadcast.  Nice to have him back on the track and on the air.

[Craig Berry]

Congrats to Jim, Alex, Andrew and the others who had a good weekend!
What a great week. We felt really good about our dry set up and chances after the thurs test day..... The damp fri practice session brought us back down to reality, with Steyn, Lamb and others really able to do amazing things in difficult conditions. Thankfully all runs that counted were on a dry track.

The race Sat was one of my favorites ever! From the green it was a three way battle with myself, Andrew, and Jim.... All of us had the point at some time during the race. VERY hard clean racing. I was content in 3rd most of the time because I did not know if Andrew could keep the tires the entire race.... I was Wrong!... He drove the wheels off it and never slowed. I also thought there was a chance Andrew and Jim might come together and I could capitalize. Our crew was on the radio saying to keep pushing, that the SCCA was debating on when to throw the checkered.... The 3 of us battled like crazy on whatwethought may be the last lap.... With Andrew and Jim passing me. The battling allowed Danny, Chris, and maybe even others to shrink or lead.... Andrew made a great pass on me giving Jim an opportunity to make it 3 wide coming out of 1.... Andrew and I touched giving Jim the momentum. The order stayed Jim, Andrew and myself that lap. Our crew was still saying there might be another lap.... At the line we got the1 to go, not the checkered. This Next last lap was incredible! The others had caught us and the battle was on for the first COTA SM win. On the back strait Andrew drafted beside Jim, this createda huge hole in the air for me and even larger one for Danny and Chris. I was able to draft to the inside of Andrew and secure the pass. From the rear of my car... And I will be posting this video!... We saw some of the most incredible racing ever! The moves Chris made with out contact were something all need to see. I took the checkered and thought I won, made the parade lap and pulled to the scale only to be told the were going back 1 lap and freezing the field giving Jim the win, Andrew 2nd and I would receive the3rd. The explanation was that Jim crossed the line less than 1 second after the 30 min mark. Congrats Jim! I wish u could have gotten the parade lap! Only good thing about that mess up was the really cool and intense final lap that developed!

Sunday race.... I was able to start on pole with my fast lap from sat race. Andrew2, Jim 3. At the green Andrew and I were side by side on front strait in 4thgear.... Jim was a few feet back and I did not think he would dive my inside into the 2nd gear turn 1.... I was trying to stay strait to take a More normal line in 1....all of a sudden Andrews front tire touches mine and we both shoot to the side letting the others pull beside us... It seemed like 10 wide! Turn 1 felt like a pinball machine for myself and many others..... I raced downd the hill with Andrew on my right rear quarter.... Held my breath in turn 2 knowing if he touched me I was done... He did not. Going into the esses I was leading then I saw Andrew come from off track to the lead. He had to cut the esses to avoid creating a crash. I followedandrew the next 2 laps, then we had a full course cation. On the restart I had a great run on Andrew, he tried to block but I was able to squeeze inside on 1. I was able to develop a very small gap over the Battle with Jm, Andrew and Balonos. I was trying to run one hard lap then one maintenance lap to save my tires and 3rd gear was starting to feel a little funny. I have never had such negative thoughts in a car... I was thinking something was gonna break. Fortunately it heald together and I had a great view thru themirrorof three grat drivers pounding on each other!

I want to thank Jim, East Street, my family, Robert Loyd, Gerry Klingman, the 7 1/2 year together love of my life Jolie, my sponsors including Austin based AG&M! Could not even attempt to race without all the support, besides it would be no fun without friends!

For the SM guys around the country who could not make it, rest assured SM put on a great show!

[Mike Collins]

Why didn't Meat, Pat and Blake start?  Broadcast sounded like Craig and Alex had standout races, well done. 

I took a knife to a gun fight...I put a seat in a rental car and the motor started to let go at the end of the race on Saturday. I had a great time hanging out with d friends.

[Caveman-kwebb99]

A few thoughts:

Tom Hart is the coolest SM racer, even if hge dont know what a mirror is aacording to charb...


Jim, and Craig and Robert helped me exponetialy!!!! Thanks to them I was just hanging out at the back of the p4-p18 train, just turning laps as one after another the guys in front of me kept taking each other out or just running off the tack. I might have breifly pierced the top 10 not really sure. the car was so good, tires were spot on, and then we had a damn double yellow for 3-4 laps where i proceeded to tell myslef its time to make your move there will only be time for 4 more green laps once it goes green. IT WENT GREEN ALRIGHT...

aFTER DANNY took himself and Holderman out at t1 I was still sitting there with anderson 2 playing along right behind me and a about a 6 -8 car gap to the next group behind. I proceeded to mash the gas way to early in t11 and rather than just runn wide to keep my momentum tryed to stay on the track and looped the car, stupid mistake. backwards about 10 spots and then it got worse from there avoiding a couple more crashes, and quite the race before the checker, so I get get out of dodge!

Most all of the wrecks I saw in 2 days, could have been avoided if drivers knew that they had mirrors. This is the dove bomb track from hell, if you dont watch mirrors you wont finish... YOU MUST GIVE UP THE CORNER!!!! Saw so many people take each other out just so they wouldnt loose a corner, didnt look like thaqt approach was the right one.

Feranti got spun on sat. and came back to team up with me, he was driving like a mad man with me haning on for dear life pushing him down the straight and jumping in on all his pass attempts, it was a good combo. Not sure how many turns he actually stayed on the track, but he would always manage to get just in front of my bumper when we got straight for the push again! Man was that a blast. To bad for him it had to go that way, he had such a good start possition on Sat.

The Reger Kid, Say what you want the kid is smart. Learned everything I would show him on day one in practice just folling me, then found someone faster next day, why cant all the kids be this smart? Nice Job!

[MPR22]

The week was an exterme dissapointment for me. Wednesday test day my 99 developed a miss, we changed most of the electrical components praying it was not a wire harness. Thursday I had to work most of the day and when I got back to the track the car was still missing. We changed out the remaing possible culprits only to confirm the dreaded harness problem. Our paddock area was full up with mechanical issues and it did not seem possible for us to get the wire harness changed out in time to go out Friday for practice and pre-qualifying.

 

I made the decision to run back to Houston and get my 1.6 out of the garage, got home about 12:30 am on Friday and woke up at 4:00 to head back to the track. Got to the track around 8:00 and went out to practice with a shattered windshield, (let someone test drive without the hoodpins), brakes that chattered badly and no setup whatsover ever on the car. Go out for the official practice session with the intention of feeling out the car. About 2 laps in the car shuts down mid turn at 14. WTF? Starts and stalls starts and stalls, I know its the AFM so I pull up inside of 16 and wait out the rest of the session.

 

Get back to the pits and sure enough the clip has failed to hold the harness on the AFM, 3 tie wraps later and she is good as new. Started the process of changing pads and rotors when the car cooled down, put the car on the scales and checked the toe, major changes needed. I was running on no food no sleep and i was totally overwhelmed by spedning too many hours working on cars that were not working with me.

 

The official practice session begins with me going out behing Luke Bickham. I almost run over Luke in several of the brake zones as his car was not building heat in the tires and was very twitchy under braking. I know once he gets up to speed we will turn in a good time as Luke is very good in the rain. A few laps in and I get broken off of Luke and John Babot is about to kill me at the end of every straight as he is doing 10 MPH more than me by the end of the straight. As the session goes i am not going any faster and I decide I need to man up and drive like Danny Steyn in the rain. I have my best lap going on lap 5, full on drifting the entire way around 16,17,18 complex, carrying tons of speed and committed to not slowing through 19, blow it wide sideways, still committed to keeping it matted and catch that damn carpet wrong and experience the nastiest set of spins of my short career. 2 feet in thinking don't hit the wall, where are those cars that cant see me going to hit me, and I stop facing traffic about the bottom 1/3 of the track. Left black crossing lines all over the wet pavement. I get going again and can't get a clean lap as the session ends.

 

I think i was something like 35th in the practice session and I know I will be by myself for qualifying as most of my teammates were in the top 20. Qualifying was on a damp and slippery track, my plan of attack was to go hard early and bridge up to a teammate if possible. The two Anderson's were in front of me and I was able to get by them going into 11 but they went by like i was standing still to turn 12. I chalk it up to they had some grunt and got out of the corner better than I did. So I keep working hard to get some speed going, sliding and trying my best to carry speed through the turns. As the session goes on the car is going slower and slower and now I'm worried the something is very wrong with the car. Checkers, hanging head, I'm hosed and think no way this could get worse. As im pulilng into pit lane the car starts to shudder in the rear and BAM, total lockup. I think i broke the diff and my weekend was over. Get out to check and I have braker caliper wedged into the wheel and a big gaping hole in the wheel to boot. The rotor is blue from the heat buildup, the mounting bracket has a broken pin in it and I am sure the caliper is cooked.

 

I go looking for parts and get back in time to put on the brake, change the plugs, CAS and anything else I can think of to make the car go. Of course the caliper was problably rubbing way back in the last practice session which explains the egregious speeds the other cars were going past me on the straights. Strategy for the race: BALLS TO THE WALL don't blink or brake, except someone forgot to tell the guys in 30-4x position they will start the race without them if they don't keep up on the pace lap. We are full on the gas exiting 12 and round the corner at 20 in time to see the leaders are already braking in turn 1. Nice, so much for the Banzai plan on moving up. 4 laps in and I have passed the same 4 cars about 12 times only to be repassed on the next straight. My only hope is to carry speed through the turns, I came up on an OPM car (i think, white with some purple) rub him at the exit of 20 and then in turn 1 he takes the inside path and I take the out and about path so I can carry more speed down the hill, he doesn't clear as he stuggled to get the car slowed and turn and I go to brakes but have a soft pedal. The result is I hit him square in the rear and follow him down the hill, as he enters the esses, its clear he has a problem and he pulls off and parks on the inside of 5, I'm pretty sure his diff is broke from the bump. I don't know who you were but I am verry sorry I ended your race.  Down to turn 11 and I have next to no pedal, coast on back to the pits on lap 5 or 6 to watch the rest of the race. Great race from a spectators standpoint, crazy finishes (both of them).

 

Now I am pissed that I took the 99 back to Houston as it was fixable it just meant missing the official practice day maybe even just half of it. I am on a mission to fix the 99 and I get in a car and head back to Houston, get a phone call about 45 mins into the trip, "you have to fix it at your house, there will be no access to the garages after 7:00. Ok, no problem, have tools and a helper ready to go. Another 15 mins in to the trip and I get another call. Oh by the way SCCA cancelled tomorrows qualifying so you will have to start the race at the back of the field. That sucked, so I just turned around resigned to the fact I wasn't going to race. Went to dinner with the team, drowned my sorrows in some suds. Got up the next morning to see if I could get some of my money back by withdrawing from Sundays race, NOPE. Your money is ours says the SCCA. So i head to the pits to see if i could help anyone. My buddy Eric Yagel decided to see what I did wrong that caused the brake failure and replace the line that I had installed improperly so it was rubbing the inside of the wheel. He says get ready to race dumb ass and I'm so frustrated I just head back to the trailer to visit with my family.

 

After about 2 hours, I head back to the paddock and start to prep the car for the race. Now I'm starting 57th based on the crappy lap times I turned in the Sat race. At least I get to race with people I have never seen before. I tell the guys in front of me if they lollygag around on the pace lap I'm going by them at 100 mph screaming "I was 7th". We still miss the start which was probably a good thing because there was a huge pile of lockups at the front that caused a chain reaction in the rear. By the end of lap one i was in 45th position as we come to the double yellow. Managed to make it to 29th with the 5 green laps with the help of several 99s that took pitty on me and pushed me down the straights. Big shout out to Amy Mills, Mr. Czarny and Willie the Tard for the bumps that helped bridge up to the next folks. I was so looking foward to this weekend for two reasons, first and foremost was to meet many of the folks i have met though this forum, Hello Kyle Webb, Mr. Hart, Mr. Czarny, Andrew.... just of few of the folks i got shake hands with. The second was to prove I could race at the front with the best tallent in the country. I spent so much time under the hood i didn't get to do much of either and was terrible disappointed by that.

 

However, my kids  and wife were with me all weekend and they inspired me to persevere as I would never want them to give up no matter how hard things got. Thanks to my family and friends who put up with me this weekend, especially my dad as he is the proverberal wipping boy when it hits the fan. I hope they do this event again so I can get to meet all the great characters that race in this class.

[Rob Burgoon]