First off I'm really enjoying the discussion here... It is a great illustration about how difficult making the final direction decisions can be. As Jim said, post RunOffs I will be getting with SMAC to see what we can do to close the huge chasm between the two sets of rule sets
I want to take time to thank a few folks that contributed greatly to the overall success of this years NASA Nationals event. First off, Mike Collins & Glen Murphey for how they conducted tech. They set the tone early and stayed the course regardless of the weather of which caused Mike to rush home to deal with some stuff there. They were professional, thorough and fair, which were my three goals of tech for this event. Thanks guys, you can be part of the team anytime you want!
Thanks to Clifton Winkelman for being just the perfect steward for us... He had to make some hard decisions and had to leverage the escalation process a few times. At times I'm sure its not a fun gig, but he did a great job!
Next to Koni (Lee Grimes) & AST (Mike Patterson) for stepping-up (and working together) to perform shock dyno services at the event for not only SM but for SE30 & 944 too. Stewart Development's transport was not available so these guys agreed to do it for us. Thanks guys!
Finally, all the racers who attended! Bravo on making the time & resource commitments in this very bad economy to come out and play. We were only a few cars shy of what I would consider a perfect size championship field, thank you so much.
On a personal note I met a ton of folks and had an amazing event that was made possible by a few people. Weekend-Racer.com and Stepco Insurance for funding. My smoking hot wife and the rest of my family for the support and encouragement that I ought to attend as a racer too. My brother-in-law (Steve Smith) for all the cheer-leading and car prep he did at the track (he was the only hands-on-help I had). Taylor Ferranti, Matt Barns, Gale Corley & Ed Gilfus for sharing knowledge & tools & fellowship - you're all really cool guys & thanks for the help. And finally to Mother Nature for giving us one of the most interesting, crazy and memorable races ever! The moving rain made the track different every lap and rewarded you handsomely if you were able to stay on track (or only go off a little). I'm a solid mid-pack guy who is consistently 3-to-4 secs off the pace, I started 27th and ended-up 15th.
Really. It was a absolutely kick-ass-awesome time!