50 replies to this topic

[Caveman-kwebb99]

Maybe you forgot the 2015 Runoffs race. Damn if he wasn't DQ for similar driving when he took out two different cars at two different times. If I was to pull a move like the 98 car did when I was passing you it would be called aggressive driving at minimum. When you fall off the pedestal I hope you don't get hurt.

Wasn't racing at the 2015 runnoffs so have no idea what your talking about! I am going off my personal experience racing with the guy, do you have any experience racing g with him?

[FTodaro]

Sunday was a much better day for me. I had only been to pit once before years ago with NASA on the old configuration, so i wanted to go learn the track. As many have stated the weather was the "Pitts". Rain more than not, also cold, I mean snowing cold.

 

Saturday was qualifying in the wet, the race or what was to be a race Saturday was semi wet but cold, not much traction. My race ended on the third corner. We all watched each others video. I will sum it up this way, its frustrating when you get taken out from a spin. I was pretty Frustrated  by it, but the bottom line is we all make mistakes. Its just difficult on the budget and the my mental health.

 

I spent the day Saturday putting the car back together. They sent a tech guy to my paddock to tell me that i would need to bring the repairs to tech before i could race, I did, and they were great. I thought the staff and the people at this event were fantastic, they did all the could to help us.

 

Not giving up paid off for me on Sunday, came home with a P4. the car was not perfect, it was pretty loose which made the drive interesting. We had 3 laps of sprinkles mid race and then Sleet and snow the the end. All in all interesting.

 

Tyler had the field covered but had a mechanical that took him out Sunday. Congrats to Nick, Marc and Vic for their podium finishes.

 

Hille , Jason and Nolan found the open bar in the motor home and we toasted to anything we could think of.

 

I finally met Brandon face to face, he and many others stopped by to give a hand. Thanks for all the support.

 

One last point, the track was fun, it has some significant elevation changes but its interesting. There were several Red Flag sessions at this event but it was a combination of driver error and weather. I thought the track was a safe layout and had sufficient runoff. 

 

On to Mid Ohio. Lets see if we can do one without the rain.

[Caveman-kwebb99]

Maybe you forgot the 2015 Runoffs race. Damn if he wasn't DQ for similar driving when he took out two different cars at two different times. If I was to pull a move like the 98 car did when I was passing you it would be called aggressive driving at minimum. When you fall off the pedestal I hope you don't get hurt.

And maybe I will be corrected if the Kohler vid gets posted, been told by someone I trust that has seen that vid first hand and if so I'm wrong won't be first or last, but my oersonal experience with Charlie he has been nothing but clean racing with me, we all make mistakes.

[Bench Racer]

A leopard can't/doesn't change its spots.

 

Something that you say which means that a person's character, especially if it is bad, will not change, even if they pretend it has.

 

I have met Charlie and his brother Tom through F production racing. Have never raced with him. The DQ at the 2015 Runoffs was in F production.

[Caveman-kwebb99]

A leopard can't/doesn't change its spots.
 
Something that you say which means that a person's character, especially if it is bad, will not change, even if they pretend it has.
 
I have met Charlie and his brother Tom through F production racing. Have never raced with him. The DQ at the 2015 Runoffs was in F production.

No idea what Chinese your talking so just come out and say what you have to say...

[TJKearney]

Tire wall fire...attached

Attached Files

•  fire.jpg   47.58KB   5 downloads

[FTodaro]

Tire wall fire...attached

I was told that after this crash, 4 race groups were canceled. What a crazy weekend.

[Danny Steyn]

Maybe you forgot the 2015 Runoffs race. Damn if he wasn't DQ for similar driving when he took out two different cars at two different times. If I was to pull a move like the 98 car did when I was passing you it would be called aggressive driving at minimum. When you fall off the pedestal I hope you don't get hurt.

 

Bench - I call BULLSHIT. Were you at the 2015 Runoffs? Did you watch the race? I was there. I watched the race. And I have raced Charlie all over the country, MANY times, and I consider Charlie both a clean racer and a Gentleman. I suggest treading lightly with the character assassinations on the web. I respect you and your views, but I expect more from you, seriously

[LarryKing]

Important to note that the 98 car did not contact any other cars. Subsequent spins and contact appear to be due to those driver's reactions. Sorry Bench but you're wrong.

[JRHille]

I was told Charlie admitted he got greedy as he was one of the only ones with rain tires and had a false sense of security. Charlie is a great guy and has always raced me clean. Shit happens. just lucky it was only his car, car is bad.

[FTodaro]

We have no reason to be calling out Charlie he did not hit anyone, he went off, no reason for a character attack. We have all been there done that have we not? 

[Bench Racer]

Yes Danny I did watch the race live. Both brothers are fun guys. From your view, did he or did he not tag two different cars at the 2015 Runoffs.

[M.Tanz]

Hey guys, I just want to say we All had a very interesting weekend, I have been racing for over ten years now and I have never raced in Rain, Sun, Sleet and Snow in the same Race. The conditions were, difficult to say the least. I have watched over 5 videos now from different guys and from what I can see, no one really 'hit' anyone to initiate the pile up, Frank got the worst coming down the hill and slamming into the spinning car. I luckily was right in front of Frank and missed him by a second. Sucks for the rest of the Groups being canceled from the Fire. I had left by that time but hear it was not good and the Guard Railed melted from the Heat of the tires.

[speedengineer]

Yes it was a crazy weekend all around for sure!  Wild weather, a tire wall fire, a car hit the wrecker truck, etc.  Never seen so many wrecked race cars in one weekend, from all the classes. 

 

I wasn't really trying to blame Charlie too much.  He just made an error in braking point and in judging how much speed could be held in the corner.  God knows I made plenty of mistakes on track, can happen to anyone.  He came by my trailer yesterday to say hi, certainly no hard feelings.  That said, neither start was clean by any means.  I do wish drivers would use a bit more caution on the starts so we can all get though the first laps without carnage.  Just a thought. 

 

Overall, I had a fun first weekend in SM!  Nice meeting fellow racers and hanging out at the track.  Car ran well, had decent finishes, and came home in one piece.  Can't ask for more than that for a first time with a new car at a new track!  Now I just need to learn to drive a little better    Looking forward to Mid Ohio!

[DrDomm]

So happy I was on call, and couldn't make it.  

[MotoFusi]

I am new to spec Miata but have raced something for almost all of my life. There is a couple things I know for sure. I have never had as much help offered and given as with spec Miata. Thank you Kyle, Jet, Hille, Danny and Mike Rossini.

 

Because you make a mistake does not have anything to do with a drivers character. If it did then I am a pretty big low life. Poor judgment at times? Guilty. Loss of situational awareness? Guilty. Over driving/riding? oh yes. Poor moral character?  Hmmm just can't make that connection. He who is without sin throw the first stone.

 

Probably flame bait, I bit anyway...................

 

Still no website...

[Jim Drago]

A leopard can't/doesn't change its spots.

 

Something that you say which means that a person's character, especially if it is bad, will not change, even if they pretend it has.

 

I have met Charlie and his brother Tom through F production racing. Have never raced with him. The DQ at the 2015 Runoffs was in F production.

I went back and looked as I assumed he must have hit Ken

At 16:30 and 21:45

 

I'm sure it is a race that Charlie would have done differently if he could go back.. I think it safe to say we all have those. I don't know Charlie extremely well, but the few times I have been around him, he has raced me very clean and is a very nice man off the race track in conversations we have had.

Jim 

[Bench Racer]

Spun Gary Baucom @ 16:39 and spun Eric Prill @ 22:15. GCR 6.11.1.A, D.

 

 

When the #98 car crosses in front of the Orton and Kohler cars is the #98 car playing within GCR rule 6.11.1.

Please keep in mind within GCR rule 6.11.1. there is no word mention of driver mistake, dry track, wet track or tire selection.

[B(Kuch)Kucera45]

Wasn't racing at the 2015 runnoffs so have no idea what your talking about! I am going off my personal experience racing with the guy, do you have any experience racing g with him?

I have plenty of experience with Charlie and it has gone both ways. He has gotten me and I have gotten him (returning the favor) but no hard feelings. We have all made our fair share of mistakes. He is a aggressive driver but there is nothing wrong with that and he is also a nice guy until you bump draft him to hard and break his rear diff. Lol

[Tyler Kicera]

OK, so that was probably the most bizarre weekend of racing I've ever seen (sounds like crazy stuff wasn't just isolated to Pitt).  In a nutshell this was my recollection from the weekend:

• Warm, Sunny, Cold, Windy, Rainy, Snowy, Sleet
• Beautiful breezy test day
• Rain started 10 minutes before grid for Q1 (all cars on jack stands waiting to make the call to go dry or wet)
• Q1 was wet and very slick
• Race 1 - Two related incidents collected 7 cars in turn 3,4,5 of the first lap (3 could not race Sunday)
• Three laps of green, two double yellow, black, red, then checkered
• Group 6 Race - Mini hits a tow truck head on during a hot pull, destroys the car completely, tow truck runs over drivers foot of car being pulled out, crash jams the steering rack in the tow truck, tow truck loaded onto roll back
• Officials abandon group 7 race on Saturday and decide to run Sunday at 8am
• Group 7 didn't even complete the first lap before being red flagged, later restarted
• Track was wet before Q2 but not raining 10 minutes before grid (all cars on jack stands waiting to make the call to go dry or wet)
• Dry tires was the right call for Q2 - track was cold but very fast
• Race 2 - Dry start, set a new TR on lap 3, lap 4 I developed a vibration, pulled into pits and Rookey took over the lead 
• A lap later Rookey slides off track while leading into the tire wall at turn 3 with snow blowing across the track
• Snow gets much harder and the track turns damp
• Leverone, Cefalo, V. Kicera podium
• Group 2 Race 2 - at the end of the race a car goes off in turn 19 and ignites the tire wall
• 3 fire departments show up to fight the fire 
• Officials abandon the rest of the event.  

Needless to say, the weekend didn't go as planned but we were lightning fast in every session wet and dry.  In Q2 I cracked into the very high 2:02's and probably could have gone another 3-4 tenths faster had I stayed out.  As you can see below, my LR hub failed when the flange completely separated.  The only thing holding the wheel on was the a caliper.  Luckily I slowed when the vibration got worse.  The flange didn't fully separate until I entered pit road.  

 

Interestingly enough, Rookey was behind me for the first few laps of Race 2 before I pulled in and ran over one second faster than he had run at any other point in the weekend - within two tenths of my lap record.  It was the first time all weekend anyone was close enough to me to see my brake points, apex speeds, and lines.  I think had my car not broken and he not gone off, it would have been a very close race to the finish.  Congrats to Nick for getting the monkey off his back in SM Majors competition, Marc Cefalo on second place, and my dad for his first Majors podium in very tricky conditions and after repairing the car from Saturday!!!