98 replies to this topic

[Danica Davison]

I am sure Saturday morning will be faster times

[Bench Racer]

SCCA live timing and scoring

 

4 qualifying groups complete, the Prod group 4 is the only group shown and it's not complete. Oh, I'm sorry, this is the nineteenth century. 

[Bench Racer]

WOW, today after qualifying 1, the top 8 are within 1 second and the top 10 of the qualifying list looks other than normal. Bet there's a lot of head scratching tonight, or are some folks counting on cooler 8:15 Sat. air making the difference.

 

Hmmm.............

 

Fri.   Qualifying 1:00 pm temp 77*  humidity 68%
Sat.  Qualifying 8:00 am temp 70* humidity  86%

 

https://dk1xgl0d43mu....pdf?1497645678

[Danica Davison]

Anyone listening to the live broadcast? It is quite comical. We need an entertaining SM driver to fill in as a guest broadcaster. I vote for Dewey!

 

"It looks like Jim Drago tried to make a move on the inside of Turn 5 but just couldn't pull it off."

"You are exactly right! Jim tried all he could but he just COULDN'T PUT THE POWER DOWN!"

 

Damn Jim, maybe some people are right ... maybe you are cheating! Because if you can't put the power down in an SM then you must be making some power

[Danica Davison]

The newsletter after Road America will read:
 
"Danny Steyn prematurely ejaculated from the race!" 
 
The clock still ticks since the last time Danny Steyn's car has had an orgasmic win. His race ended just a couple pumps- I mean ... laps ... too early. Jim Drago and Kyle Webb just double teamed him hard from both the front and the rear and it was just too much for Danny to handle. Both of those boys are just bigger and faster than Danny is used to. Sources say, after the race weekend, Steyn checked WebMD for some possible solutions.  This led him to seek an ancient remedy used by the Swahili's, so he is going back to his native land of Australia to see if he can come back stronger, harder, and be able to last the whole race.  According to WebMD, this issue is common among men of his age and roughly 1 out of every 3 Spec Miata drivers have this problem.  Hopefully, his car doesn't stay unsatisfied for too long and start to break both physically and mentally, and eventually sold to another driver.

 

Did I call it or what?! Substitute kyle webb with haldeman and it was almost the same story

[Caveman-kwebb99]

Congrats to all the podium guys both days!

Had a great time with so many of my good friends, Jim d and the gang, the browns, senter and Andy, powers family etc etc.

Didn't think it would quite take me 3 days the fully knock the rust off but other then a good session in the timed practice it took getting into a race to get back to working the pedals in the right sequence...

What can I say that town, the lake, the region, the comaradarie was as usual superb!!! See you guys elsewhere in the future.

[Jim Drago]

Sitting in airport so I will give quick recap..

We have never come to Road America and struggled with set up and handling, typically within three laps, I am usually going as fast as I will go all weekend. This weekend was an exception. Took us a few days to figure out that I had a bent rear subframe from the contact at VIR. It forced the bushing out of the knuckle and had a metal to metal bind on left rear. The carousel and kink were both hold your breath and cross your fingers lap after lap after the tires could not mask the problem.. usually 2-3 laps. We fixed it Friday night and all of sudden I had my car back.

I will try and post both race videos. The race with Chris was a blast. The Sprints itself was literally a chess match st 120 mph.. it was not an easy one and in the end I was beaten by two teammates working well together.. sound familiar. :)Congrats to  all for a great weekend, especially Danny for the win on Sunday.
Congratulations to all the podium finishers and my teammates Craig Berry for P3 and Todd Buras p4 on Saturday. Strong runs and constant movement forward by Spencer Rutherford and the cave man.

Post race Craig was the lucky winner to remove his cylinder head, the only one all weekend. They checked bore, stroke and the head. All good. I have no doubts Danny Bender was compliant either however if you win the sprints, IMO they should pull your head for inspection especially if already doing one. it validates the win, Just my 2 cents. I do applaud the effort made to inspect other front running cars regardless of finishing position though as well. 

Here is my post race interview.. I hope Chris ineterview gets posted as well.. fwiw the stack shit up comment was one of the late John Carters favorite lines! I miss the guy already


https://www.scca.com/videos/2032524

[Bench Racer]

T5 bleacher report, WOW.

Fantastic thru T5 and partial thru T6.

Entry to T14 and thru T14, great both days. Without yellow on Sat. would have been interesting for the Jim/Chris dual. Got a bit crowed Sun. with Jim, Voytek and Danny B.

A few good bumps up the hill to start finish.

 

Met some of y'all from Saul's state of Texas. Fun bench racing guys. 

 

VIEWED a first time ever event, Amy driving to grid drinking her morning coffee.

[davew]

Amazing weekend in may ways. From the rain storm on Wednesday night, to the body work fiasco, to at least 4 totaled cars, to a vcitory (and P2) on Sunday.

 

The same 3 drivers fought it out as last years Sunday race. Bender, Burdzy and Drago. Just like 2016, the leader coming onto the front straight was not the race winner.

 

I agree with Jim, the winner of the Sprints should expect to pull a head. tech was minimal. Post Q1 was the usual open hood, visual inspection while they had the manditory drivers meeting. Post Q2 we pulled right front wheels for visual inspection of lower ball joint, and sway bar was measured. Some had fuel tested and the dreaded STALL TEST. Post race we pulled left front wheel and had restrictor plate measured.  Weight( for the first time all weekend). P1 had a "open throttle, visual inspection of the plate. Inspecting for modification marks in the anodizing. P2 the plate was pulled and measured since it has clear anodizing on a VVT. In some ways disappointing, since at Mid Ohio, 2 weeks ago we had to disassemble transmissions.

 

Someplace on the internet, there is a downward video from the starters stand. Shows the margin of victory to be less than a car length for the top 3. Amazing.

 

Dave

[Jim Drago]

 

Someplace on the internet, there is a downward video from the starters stand. Shows the margin of victory to be less than a car length for the top 3. Amazing.

 

Dave

 

If you find it, please post the picture. I would like to see it.  

Congratulations on the win!

[davew]

Check out here on facebook. Try to stop at 11 seconds

 

https://www.facebook.com/chris.buccola

 

Dave

[davew]

Check out this video

 

https://twitter.com/chicagoscca

 

Scroll down about 6 videos to see the cutest crew member ever.

 

dave

[Bench Racer]

Dave, your mailbox is full, therefore I'll post here.

 

Dave, you may have been aware of this award to Ron Malec. My MI son friends with Ron and Jimmy back in the day when they were with Herzog MotorSports told me yesterday of this award to Ron. This well could have been you had your life taken a couple different turns. Ron was at the Sprints with his Roush All-Sport Mustang.

 

http://www.mechanix....hievement-award

[Danny Steyn]

Congrats to Jim Drago, Chris Haldeman and Craig Berry on Saturday's win, and to Danny Bender, Voytek Burdzy and Jim Drago for Sunday's June Sprints feature podium. Great driving by all. The level of competition a the front of this class is nothing short of staggering. 

 

After making a couple of really dumb mistakes and falling back to 11th on Sunday, I was clever enough to almost come to a stop on the track, wait for fast-friend Michael Ross, and together he and I started to catch the lead pack, finally making contact with 2 corners to go. It was fun coming back like that but I would have preferred to be at the front with the leaders

[Craig Berry]

What a fun event!!! I am proud of our crew for digging, when Thurs and Fri the cars were unusually bad for Road America.... a place where perfection in set up is one of the keys. No one had a bad attitude, they just looked at all the data and started making changes to my car and Jims car. The result was an awesome car for both races! Sat was a crazy fun battle with myself, Buras, Carter, and Steyn. You did not want to be the lead car of the 4 car train. Sun was very relaxed and feeling like I was in a great spot with 3 or 4 to go, when I had to chk up because of a slower car in 5, got a push from Haldeman (that I appreciated) and the car started to vibrate, a lap later the rear diff let go on the front strait.... just bad racing luck! This place is so much fun, you have to strategize in the car more than any place I can think of.... just because you can pass, doesn't always mean you should.

Congrats to all the podium, Bender, Drago, Chris, and Voytek! All Very Good! Sat Podium was cool to meet and have the trophy presented by Bobby Rahal!!! I will say it again, I feel like it is very hard to "luck" into a top 5 at one of these well attended Super Tour events. We have a very deep class.

[Johnny D]

Sat Race interview. Did he call you Dave at the end ??

https://www.scca.com/videos/2032524

 

Sun Race interview

https://www.scca.com/videos/2032554

 

Sat Race results

https://scca.com/dow...ficial/download

 

Sun Race Results

https://scca.com/dow...ficial/download

[davew]

Big shout out to X-Factor Engines. Halderman got 2nd on Saturday, then Bender, Voytek and Haldermen finished 1-2-4 on Sunday

[davew]

Big shout out to X-Factor Engines. Halderman got 2nd on Saturday, then Bender, Voytek and Haldermen finished 1-2-4 on Sunday

 

Fastest race lap both days to Danny Bender

[sentercut]

 Congratulations Jim and Danny Bender on the win. Just phenomenal racing and competition. 

 

My racing was frustrating for various reasons and results were poor, but I could not have been on track with out the Sneaky Moose Team. Tyler and Tom Brown were our hosts for me and my best friend Andy "D" Devoto coming up and over from SC and Montana. So grateful for all of the help with the cars and guidance in so so many things you guys provided. We had a blast hanging with yall and the Pecores as well. 

 

So appreciative to ESR and Jim for scaling and alignment on my car even when they were covered up dealing with their own issues and had no time. I could not have raced with out them as the car was borderline undriveable until they stepped in. 

 

Great to see Dave, Ann, and the whole Advanced crew again providing us needed parts over the weekend. 

 

Awesome meeting Chris Halderman, and Michael Ross who are just ANIMALS. And I seriously mean that in the most complimentary way. In the short time I had speaking to them, inquiring for help on a tranny swap, I then found myself going over my race video for an hour turn by turn.  Having never met either of these two gentelm...........guys, they leaped at the opportunity to help me. They had no clue who I was or even what I needed, but the answer was yes before I could even ask it,  and then some. Tremendous.

 

Last, but damn sure not least, we had a blast with Caveman and his WAY WAY WAY better half over the weekend on the lake and breaking bread. 

 

Good luck to all of yall going to WG, should be another epic weekend. 

[MPR22]

 Congratulations Jim and Danny Bender on the win. Just phenomenal racing and competition. 

 

My racing was frustrating for various reasons and results were poor, but I could not have been on track with out the Sneaky Moose Team. Tyler and Tom Brown were our hosts for me and my best friend Andy "D" Devoto coming up and over from SC and Montana. So grateful for all of the help with the cars and guidance in so so many things you guys provided. We had a blast hanging with yall and the Pecores as well. 

 

So appreciative to ESR and Jim for scaling and alignment on my car even when they were covered up dealing with their own issues and had no time. I could not have raced with out them as the car was borderline undriveable until they stepped in. 

 

Great to see Dave, Ann, and the whole Advanced crew again providing us needed parts over the weekend. 

 

Awesome meeting Chris Halderman, and Michael Ross who are just ANIMALS. And I seriously mean that in the most complimentary way. In the short time I had speaking to them, inquiring for help on a tranny swap, I then found myself going over my race video for an hour turn by turn.  Having never met either of these two gentelm...........guys, they leaped at the opportunity to help me. They had no clue who I was or even what I needed, but the answer was yes before I could even ask it,  and then some. Tremendous.

 

Last, but damn sure not least, we had a blast with Caveman and his WAY WAY WAY better half over the weekend on the lake and breaking bread. 

 

Good luck to all of yall going to WG, should be another epic weekend. 

Senter and Andy are good guys who are interested in improving, guys and gals like that will always get our help.