My First Race Ever

[RSTPerformance]

Not sure if any of you have seen this but I thought it fit all of us pretty well. I also thought it might be interesting for us to all add in our own stories. When I get more time I may make one but for now go to this link it's pretty funny and sums up probably a bunch of our first races but hopefully not our entire racing careers!

http://www.europeancarweb.com/retrospectiv...e/0407ec_wrong/ (http://www.europeancarweb.com/retrospective/0407ec_wrong/)

[itbgti]

That is one of the funniest things EVER!

Honestly, that article should be REQUIRED READING for anyone even thinking about getting into racing...I mean that guy quit after having some engine problems....heaven forbid he had gotten punted off the track, hit a wall, knocked out, and then two years later, same corner, gets punted again and flips the car over multiple times and STILL is coming back for more....I am an idiot.

[Diane]

That was in SCC 2 years ago, along with a complete opposite story of a kid who had parents pay for a top dollar car, got signed off his first time out because he won the mock race (he says) etc. Sounded like he had everything handed to him on a silver platter (disclaimer: it's been 2 yrs since I read that so actuality may differ from my perception).

They made it sound like if you are guy #1, don't even bother. The only way you can race is to be guy #2.

I wrote a nice article to dispute that, complete with pix, saying you could buy a car for a decent amount and have a good time with relatively few problems. So what if you don't finish on the podium? That was the year we got our licenses, my car cost $1500 and Tim's was a freebie. Granted we put money into them before running them but mine was essentially turn key when I bought it, though we had to make changes to pass SCCA tech.

Apparently they didn't like my dispute as I never heard a word from them.

I really like the story from guy #1 (posted above).




------------------
ITB Escort GT
NER

[Geo]

Originally posted by Diane:
That was in SCC 2 years ago...

<snip>

I wrote a nice article to dispute that...

<snip>

Apparently they didn't like my dispute as I never heard a word from them.

Scott Oldham is a moron. I'm not surprised they didn't run what you wrote. Oldham is the current editor of Sport Compact Car and single handedly ruined the magazine built up by Larry Savaadera. Savaadera built a magazine for enthusiasts. Mature and full of technical information. He hired at least two automotive engineers that I know of to write for the magazine (I know 4 current editors there personally and wrote an article for them around the time of the editor change).

Under Oldham's tenure, the previously technical magazine (with math even and without apology) has become just another riceboy rag filled with attitude and punk-speak. Savaadera was clearly against street racing. Oldham seems to glorify it.

That story didn't surprise me at all.


------------------
George Roffe
Houston, TX
84 944 ITS car under construction
92 ITS Sentra SE-R occasionally borrowed
http://www.nissport.com

[Mike Spencer]

Originally posted by Geo:
Under Oldham's tenure, the previously technical magazine (with math even and without apology) has become just another riceboy rag filled with attitude and punk-speak. Savaadera was clearly against street racing. Oldham seems to glorify it.


I don't know the history of the magazine, but I *DID* see a fairly recent copy my 18-year-old son brought home. It doesn't seem to offer much in the way of "useful information".

Regarding the article above, it's sad to the point of being hillarious! I started trying to list the "mistakes" this clown made, and gave up because you couldn't be more stupid if you tried.

As far as the article being "required reading", I have mixed feelings. I think forums like this would be better preparation for someone wanting to get into the sport. Along with a few weekends crewing and a couple-three more doing flags. See what kind of cars are running in your area. See what this is REALLY about. Then make an informed decision.

But then, what do *I* know? I don't write for a big time magazine.... http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/biggrin.gif

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Mike Spencer
NC Region
ITA/7 RX-7 (finally)
1990 RX-7 Convertible (street car)

[OTLimit]

How many ways do you know how to spell M O R O N?

This would be like me deciding that I can drive a race car and Chris is going to start showing my dogs for me. And he seems proud...

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Lesley Albin
Over The Limit Racing
Blazen Golden Retrievers

[Geo]

Originally posted by OTLimit:
This would be like me deciding that I can drive a race car and Chris is going to start showing my dogs for me. And he seems proud..

OT, but do you have a web site for your kennel?


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George Roffe
Houston, TX
84 944 ITS car under construction
92 ITS Sentra SE-R occasionally borrowed
http://www.nissport.com

[OTLimit]

George,
Not yet; have to stay home a few weekends to make it happen. I have everything set up for it; just need to register the domain name and upload it.

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Lesley Albin
Over The Limit Racing
Blazen Golden Retrievers

[gran racing]

Required reading? Just curious, what about that article could be helpful for new prospective SCCA racers? Funny yes. Certainly would be interesting to hear more stories.

Darn parking brake and people waiving at me because I'm cool while towing a race car!

I am totally with Diane on this. You can race at a reasonable budget. Was his budget reasonable? Of course not. Was any part of that article reasonable. No. Buy a car and don't have a place to put it?

The $1,000 car itself and trailer may not have been such a bad deal, it just wasn't handled right. It is hard tell by reading this what really may have been wrong with the car. Springs worn out? Yeah. Probably high spring rates that when he pushed the car up and down it didn't respons like a street car.

Sell the trailer after fixing the lights. A complete new lighting set is very cheap. Just did it with my tow dolly. Yes, tow dolly not trailer. Even if he didn't want the trailer, sell it to someone to use as a utility trailer. Even get $200 for it.

Say the engine was garbage. Which again, who knows. Again, based on the article it may have even been something very simple. But just say it was trashed. Get a junk yard engine and run it stock.

It would be much more productive to hear stories like what Diane alluded to.

------------------
Dave Gran
NER #13 ITA
'87 Honda Prelude

[Geo]

The funny thing is this moron is now a car magazine editor. He didn't try thing one to diagnose or fix the car. He threw the problem at someone else and said <whining> make it work </whining>.

What really is annoying is after having someone put their time into his "project" he just walked away and dumped it in their lap. What a jerk.


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George Roffe
Houston, TX
84 944 ITS car under construction
92 ITS Sentra SE-R occasionally borrowed
http://www.nissport.com

[Diane]

Wait a minute, the guy that wrote story #1 (Mr. Bad Luck VW) is the current editor of SCC? Now *that* is funny.

No wonder they never got back to me! Not right to blow the editors theory is it?

I spent over a year pouring through every page, thinking maybe they had even condensed it and did it as a letter rather than article. I sent pix of myself and my car! I never send pix of myself anywhere! (grumble grumble)

I do have a few of the very early issues, I liked the format much better. That said, Tim did get an article written about him and his Sentra. http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/smile.gif

Maybe I should submit the article someplace else LOL

Diane

[This message has been edited by Diane (edited July 29, 2004).]

[Geo]

Originally posted by Diane:
Wait a minute, the guy that wrote story #1 (Mr. Bad Luck VW) is the current editor of SCC? Now *that* is funny.

Yes. Same moron.


Originally posted by Diane:
I spent over a year pouring through every page, thinking maybe they had even condensed it and did it as a letter rather than article. I sent pix of myself and my car! I never send pix of myself anywhere! (grumble grumble)

With Oldham as editor you'd have to do a big burnout while wearing a bikini.

Oldham is a total loser.


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George Roffe
Houston, TX
84 944 ITS car under construction
92 ITS Sentra SE-R occasionally borrowed
http://www.nissport.com

[RSTPerformance]

Ok the idea was to have one positive thread on this website that we could all laugh at eachother ...so I guess I will start!

Me and my brother went to our first school back in 1999. We built 2 exactly identicle Audi Coupes. We wanted to build reliable cars that had the safety stuff to be safe and get our feet wet. So we did all the safety stuff then asked around for a few speed secrets that would make us a little faster for zero dollers! Well low and behold someone told us about how you can flip over the oil pressure valve thingy and it would create mroe pressure and for some reason make it more reliable and faster. We had no idea so we went for it. We then decided that we needed mechanical Autometer gauges because those of course would make us way faster.... besides who would ever keep stock gauges in a racecar! So we get them hooked up and we fire the engines up for the first time the week before the first school! Hmmmm wierd the oil pressure gauge doesn't work. Well it dosn't in mine either says raymond. know we are stressed. How the heck are we going to get new ones or figures out how to install it in 4 days. Well we try all sorts of stuff and never figure it out. So we go to the first school anyway. As I am driving around in my pace car laps at the begining of the school the car stopes running. Nothing, the engine doesn't turn over or anything. Wierd ehhh. Well We decide to share raymonds car since his is still running fine. so he goes to grid to line up and ....... yup you guessed it the same thing happens. It stopped and wouldn't do a thing. We try jump starting and all sorts of stuff but the damn thing just wouldn't turn over! Well after a long day of observing we get them back home..... only to discover that the gauges worked perfectly... we had no oil pressure! so in the end we had 2 engines to replace and we learned that you can't flip over that presuure dohicky thing.... oh ya and that the cars would run for a good 45 minutes with no oil pressure! I also learned how to observe and get totally bummed out!

My second school story to come soon!

Stephen

[Blix]

Hey, what do you expect...the guy is from New Jersey....

Sorry couldn't resist.

Eric

[Blix]

The only saving grace to this story is that if you type "sport compact car official" into google guess what comes up first on the search page:

The SCCA,,,,woohooo....

Socct is TRULY an idiot. I've met him, spoken with him, and I can honestly say, unlike the guys at GRM, European Car, Circle Track, & sportscar, he really thinks that the Fast and the Furios is a good example of where car culture should be headed.

The only reason he matters to me is that I think that he contributes to the clowns out there who make driving (and towing my trailer) more dangerous...and he thinks it's funny and cool.

BTW...if you want to send an email it's

mailto:[email protected]



[This message has been edited by Blix (edited July 30, 2004).]

[Diane]

Originally posted by Geo:
With Oldham as editor you'd have to do a big burnout while wearing a bikini.


Silly me, I had my driving suit on. http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/frown.gif

[Geo]

Originally posted by Blix:
Socct is TRULY an idiot. I've met him, spoken with him, and I can honestly say, unlike the guys at GRM, European Car, Circle Track, & sportscar, he really thinks that the Fast and the Furios is a good example of where car culture should be headed.

The only reason he matters to me is that I think that he contributes to the clowns out there who make driving (and towing my trailer) more dangerous...and he thinks it's funny and cool.

BTW...if you want to send an email it's

mailto:[email protected]

Actually, I've been thinking about writing to the powers that be at Primedia. I share your concern. A very good friend of mine is an editor for SCC. He used to write wonderful technical articles. Stuff that is truly of value and a lot of stuff that even experienced enthusiasts could get a lot out of. Oldham has pretty much killed all of that. He wants dumb articles.

Oh and Diane, forget about correcting them. They published something about the friction circle and made a huge fundemental error (surprisingly from one of the engineers) and they never published a correction.


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George Roffe
Houston, TX
84 944 ITS car under construction
92 ITS Sentra SE-R occasionally borrowed
http://www.nissport.com

[PFM Racing]

Okay, so one day in 1993 (I believe it was February), Jude is riding to school on his 250 SRX in about 10 inches of snow. He has his feet out and looks pretty silly. He passes this guy who is laughing so hard at him that he has to sit down.

A couple of months later, this same guy, had his garage door open and was working on a race car. Jude and I stopped in to see what this was all about. That is how we met Shane.

The following weekend Jude went with Shane to Heartland Park. He called me at around noon on Saturday and said that this was the coolest thing he had ever seen and that I needed to come and join them. So, I quit my job and left Springfield to go to Topeka. We had a blast and decided that we needed our own race car.

By the end of the weekend, we had met everyone in the Ozark Mountain Region and a wonderful man, JD Rice, said that he knew were we could find a car.

The following week, we drove to Oklahoma City to look at our new race car. It was a Fiat 124 Spider, neither Jude nor I knew what it looked like. We show up and there is an old rusty Fiat 128 sitting outside this shop. We both figure that this is our car. Dave came outside and said, you must be the kids that JD said were coming and took us inside to see our Fiat. It was absolutely beautiful. Clean and shiny. We said that we would take it and he said that he would like $4,000 for the car. JD said to remind him of the favor that was owed and we got the car for $1,500.

We lived in an apartment, had no garage and were in school at SMSU but we figured that this was the time to do this.

The following race at Hallet, we had a car and Jude completed a Stevens school. So now, he just needed a SCCA drivers school. Gateway, here we come!

We did not have a trailer or anything to tow with so we leaned on our friends in Springfield and got both. We headed up to St. Louis with the car.

Registration went easy, we unloaded the car Friday night and Jude went to class. Saturday morning, we were up at the crack of dawn. Jude gets in the car, fires her up and off he goes. The first couple of sessions went really well. Then we start to have trouble. It was all typical Fiat trouble. Every session, he came in on a hook and every session we had him back out.

The funniest thing about this drivers school was the instructor that they paired Jude with. Keep in mind that he is driving a 1971 ITC Fiat Spider. Jude's instructor drove a Formula Atlantic! He spun a lot! We got through the school and the regional race the next day and all was good.

We have been happily racing ever since and now have 4 race cars. I would not change it for the world!

Through the SCCA, I have made the greatest friends and had more fun than I should be allowed.

You will find the money and time to do those things that are important to you and we decided that this was important to us.



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Jennifer Rudder
PFM Racing
www.pfmracing.com

[TBreu007]

Great stories!
Oldham sounds like he's really dedicated :rollseyes:

My first race was in a go-kart...and was a doozie. I started a bit late in karting at 23 years old or so.
After doing 20+ open track days in my street car I started to get bored and wanted to do some real racing. I bought a 30hp Rotax go-kart because it's the best teaching tool out there, fast, and being a spec. sealed motor class it was the most financially feasable racing I could do at the time. I practiced for about 100 laps a day, at least three days a week for a year so I could be competitive at my first race. I was regularly running the times of the front of the pack racers, so I decided it was time to race.
I was off on the setup for qualifying and qualified 6th out of about 12. I was a little disappointed, but I knew which way to go on setup and was certain the kart would be better for the race. The race started, and I made up a position right off the start. I quickly caught up to 4th place and was battling with him for a bit. I made a pass into 4th and was making ground on 3rd when I got passed back. We battled some more and he started to get real sloppy and was more worried about blocking me than racing. A lap or so later, he hit the inside of a tire barrier at about 50mph, spun to the middle of the track, and I could do nothing but t-bone him at about 40mph or so. When I hit him, his kart flipped up and over the front of my kart taking my left ankle with it. It was badly broken and stuck pointing 45 degrees the wrong way...right in front of everyone at the track. After my first race, I spent three days in the hospital, earned two metal plates, a bunch of screws and four months on crutches for my trouble. Luckily, I next day Fed-Ex'ed my insurance payment a day before it was due and wasn't stuck with the $30K bill!
The very week I was okayed by my doctor to walk again...four months later, I raced in an endurance Rotax kart race with a friend at the same track and we won. I was so out of shape I was right at the edge of heat exhaustion, but I made it.
Don't discount the value of games like Grand Tourismo 3 and Pro Race Driver http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/wink.gif I played them a lot for that four months.

[Knestis]

My first race was in the pouring rain at Portland, in the perfect car for the conditions - an underspring, weak-bar'd, low powered, fully-treaded tire'd Renault Alliance ITC car.

I finished thinking that I truly had talent, passing all kinds of bigger-HP cars all over the track. At one point I passed a guy on the inside with the nose of my car pointing right at him, before the car rotated back the other way - Swedish style - for Turn 1.

I ran almost that entire season in the wet before a dry regional late in the season...

HOLY CRAP! WHY IS EVERYONE GOING SO FAST IN THE CORNERS! I'M SCARED!

And slow.

K

[SamITC85]

Ok first I got started racing by starting a motorsports club at UMass and convincing them to buy us an ITC Rabbit. 2 years after the club was formed we headed to Pocono for my first drivers school. Lets see we had the Kill switch turned the wrong way so when you shut the hood it would snap the lever off the switch.(Fix by next event in the log book) This wouldn't of been a problem but the alternator wasn't working and we had to jump start the car to go out for every session, plus it was rainy and fogging and downright miserable. My next school went much better, I got signed off at NHIS and was ready to race the next day. I started second in class was leading most of the race when third gear disappeared, and then suddenly everythign disappeared and the car wouldn't go. It turned out that when we were black flagged during qualifying earlier in the day the car blew a hole in the radiator and lost all the fluid, not being smart enough to check fluids before every session I blew the head gasket and melted the head. But I had a blast.

------------------
Sam Rolfe
TBR Motorsports
#85 ITC VW Rabbit
#85 GP Scirocco

[JeffYoung]

I got my novice permit in Feb of 03. March of 03 is my first race at VIR. I decide to buy new tires, spiffy RA-1s and go to the test day on Friday. I have to work all night the night before, and get there with no sleep.

Go to the driver's meeting and they say: "watch out for the Dan River, it's high."

Go out for first session. Go through turn one on pit out and think, hmmmm....that river is CLOSE! As in 30-40 feet off turn one.

Go into turn one for the first time at speed. Go in WAY too hot for cold tires. Go straight into the Dan River.

I was lucky no hydrolock, get pulled out and run a session later that day. Saturday. ECR race. Lap 5 or 6, starting to get comfortable withteh car. Whammo ... too hot into turn one, and into the river AGAIN.

Stupid, ended up costing me a motor (motor never ran right after that). And of course got a lot of ribbing after that from the guys and workers in the SEDiv......the Triumph Submarine....the U-44....where's your trolling motor......heard it all, and deserved it.

That's my first race, but I kept coming back.

[BUMPnGO]

My first race was at Roebling Road. I had been there for a test day so I thought I knew the track a little. My nephew and I had built a car that was designed to get me thru the schools, no high tech stuff just the basics. We were working the Toyo tire truck and decided to build a car since we were already there anyway. We traded two tires for a motor, a power plant on it's last legs. We had also arranged to buy a new motor from Mike at ISC Racing soon. I arrived at the track on Saturday morning and jumped in the car for practice. Little did I know that my nephew and Mike had installed the new motor the day before. Slow out of the pits, I gained momentum going into the big staightaway and pushed the pedal to the floor. I was thinking "man, this old motor sounds good". Looking down at the rpm's, I saw 8000+ in 4th gear when I entered my "old" (late) braking zone. It became immediately apparent that I had carried way too much speed into the 1st turn. I left the track in a straight line over 100 mph and plowed halfway to Atlanta. Hey, that was no way to treat a ROOKIE!