shoulda asked this earlier...
if someone has a free minute, could they please put me on their crew list and let me know they did so???
thanks!!!
Chris Rallo
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shoulda asked this earlier...
if someone has a free minute, could they please put me on their crew list and let me know they did so???
thanks!!!
Chris Rallo
Give me a call on my cell 860-307-2353. I'll see if I can change a name on my list. Matt Bannerman #73 ITB
Ummmmm, interesting run group 4 today.....errr was that a Miata? Hunter ok?
http://www.roadraceautox.com/images/smilies/popcorn.gif
Somebody take pitty on those of us who wimped out, and post the results and story of the race!
ITA Results
Shane H 102.0
Joe D 102.9
Marc C 103.0
Tim K 102.9
Craig M 104.3
First let me say congrats to Joe Diminno our new ITA NARRC Champion - Nice one Joe.
Next Congrats to Shane Hawthorne (my esteemed garage mate and friend) - Drove an incredibly quick and talented race today. I was with him at practice on Tuesday, he cracked a 101 - I knew he was the one to watch - fast car, great driver, home track - nice one Shane.
Track was dry at the start, although big heavy clouds moved in while in false grid. We had a fair amount of light rain to drizzle during the race - made things a little slippery but the track did dry out again. We were all on dry tires and setup.
I heard Andy B had a small off, cracked his splitter and started to overheat (not sure I have my facts straight). Jeff L had a minor off in lap one (might of been reacting to my off too), limped around and finished but the car was not quite right after making contact with the tire wall in driver left. I went to the beach on lap one in the left hander - got a decent start to grab P-2 (for about 3 seconds) - Joe D was protecting the inside line - I used the traditional line thinking Joe might wash out after apex, I came in too hot and deep, lit up the tires on the lefty, almost got stuck in the swamp but managed to exit station 5 around P-17. Then all hell broke loose arounf L-15. Apparently Richie H got two or four off drivers left, in West Bend, spun and ended up on drivers right at the bridge, Justin Curry was coming through, picked his line and T-boned Richie - There might have been annother Miata in there too - not sure - guys please confirm what I heard. Richie's car is trashed, the passenger door was completely removed for the car on impact, floor pan bent, the X door bar was exploded and hit Richie's arm - both cars a shot. Not a great weekend for Richie.
I'll let the other classes chime in - A great NARRC season again - the regions should be proud of putting on a good show.
Congrats to Shane on the win and Joe on the Championship. Still have the mud on my helmet from Lawton's off...can't wait to see that video...oye!
After the restart, the tires came back in and we were running Shane down. Some kind of fluid got me loose in WB and then the DH and I put 2 off. Stayed straight but blew the splitter off and it took the factory undertray with it. A piece of that got plugged in front of my radiator and temps started to rise. Brought her in at 220+. Couldn't get the temps down even by short shifting. Fast lap is a small consolation... not!
Congratulations to Joe for his ITA Championship. No doubt the boy drove the wheels off the car (literally and figuratively). He certainly didn't have a fast car (except in a straight line) but he is a racer and always came through when it counted. Of course, now he thinks he's the next tGA. :rolleyes:
Also, props to Shane Hawthorn. He was on FIRE yesterday. He drove the sh*t out of that little CRX. I enjoyed watching him from my position on the other side of the armco.
And how about Chris Milton-Hall?? Qualifying third in the rain!! Very impressive.
Mark Cefelo, in a rear wheel drive car, on Toyos, gets the pole in the rain. Very impressive driving.
Glad Richie was OK after his huge hit. As Greg said, he was 180 degrees from dieing. Some of the scariest damage I've seen on a car. Both drivers walking away from that wreck goes to show that our safety equipment does work. Anyone have video?
The ITB/ITS race was also a good one. Nat Wentworth in a borrow car for the ITB win. Rick B gets collected by a bunch of spinning ITS cars from his pole position on the first lap, gets knocked back to DFL or close to it and charges back to a fourth place finish.
"Good Guy" award of the weekend: Dave Zaslow lets Nat borrow his car so Nat can finish his run for the NARRC Championship. Sorry Dave, I don't mean to ruin your reputation, but that was a class move!! :happy204:
Also, great job to Don Dumon in the Kessler Engineering prepared SM winning his race easily (or at least it looked easy watching!!)
Thanks guys for the props. It was a great season.
Props to Shane for the dominant performance. I wasn't catching you if I had another 50 hp. :smilie_pokal:
And Jeff I do not think i am even close to thinking I am the next tGA. I know I am better. ;) Yeah I know 1 week and 6 days to go.
Big Congrats to Joe D, on Hankooks from PhilsTireService (shameless plug)......He never gives up.:smilie_pokal:
Glad all the other ITAer's made it out safely !!
I have known for a long time that Dave Zaslow is a classy guy !!! Congratulations to Nat !!!
Nat-
he big question... what is faster, more fun, and easier to drive; The car with years of domination - a Volvo's from the 70's or the new underweight VW's of the 90's????
Congrats to all the winners and I am glad Richie and all involved were ok.
Raymond
I just got off the phone with Richie H. He is ok. Just a massive headache and some soreness. He said he was knocked out for a few seconds and actually considered continuing with the race after he came to. The car was still driveable:o Wayyy to go Joe:smilie_pokal:. Congrats on the NARRC and congrats to all the class winners. Now let's get some videos going so I can see what I missed.
Congratulations to all the participants and winners of the races yesterday. It was fun for me to be gridded right behind AB... My new motor for my HP car is very fast, and I was looking forward to seeing how well I could keep up with Andy as the race progressed.
I got a front row seat for Jeff L's off-on-off-on-off-on again in the left hander... that was wild... Having an open top car is a problem when huge puddles of water are hitting you in the face... Holy water Batman. Nice job collecting it several times and not getting hit by anything or anyone. I would love to see in-car of that. Unfortunately my water temp was showing 240+ so I brought it in during the full course caution. Luckily it turns out the sending unit lead melted to the header and was giving false readings. Phew...
Nice work Shane!!!! We met at Tech on Thursday evening and it was good to see that the hard work from Tuesday to Thursday paid off.
After reading the other thread about the cage it got me to thinking.... How/why did richie get hit (t-boned) in the door??? From what was said ,he was off line, stopped and it was a direct hit in the door... Did the driver even attempt to go around the car?
More importantly can we learn from this??? If any of us are given no choice but to "t-bone" a car, where do we aim??? This certainly shows us to do everything possible to avoid a direct hit on the drivers door...
Raymond "something doesn't seem right about this..." Blethen
Yes, the hit on Richie certainly seems avoidable from his description of his location, and from the responding flaggers comments as well.
perhaps the driver came around West Bend, and jumped off the throttle, started to spin and just locked them up and "Boom", that's all she wrote.
According to the flagger i spoke with, the car was all locked down before the contact.
It seems that just driving normally would have been better. :shrug:
Hey guys - how about an ITS update? It was eating at me all weekend that I didn't go.
Cheers
First of all I want to thanks Dave Zaslow for letting me use his car, as said earlier a very classy gesture. I blew the motor in my Volvo on the 2nd lap of qualifying in the morning session. Dave got to the track in the early afternoon found out about my situation (I was in 2nd place in the NARRC championship ,50 points behind Ken Hubbard and was going to be watching the race) and offered me his car. I can't thank him enough. I manged to qualify 3rd behind Rick Benazic and Richard Gleason. I didn't get the greatest start but I was lucky that I was gridded in an even position which left me on the inside of the lefthander on the 1st lap (if you study the results 1st, 2nd and 3rd were all in even grid spots and benefitted from it, my condolences to Rick who was otherwise in a great position to win the race, and the other guys who had the same bad luck) , at that point an ITR BMW spun and stopped broadside in front of everyone on the outside of that turn. I checked up a little and Ken Hubbard got by me on the inside, I was close behind going up the hill and into west bend, but he made a slight mistake and went wide at the down hill and I was able to drive by. The rest of the race was pretty routine until I got caught up behind some cars I was lapping, suddenly Ken was on my bumper and we went though the left hander 3 wide with me coming out ahead. I was able to put some good distance on him at that point because he got caught up in traffic too.
Raymond, to answer your question Dave's car was AWESOME!!, it was very easy to drive, it was on rails the whole race and I didn't have the slightest slip or wiggle until the last couple of laps when it got pretty wet, and then only minor crabbing of the front wheels in big bend, I don't think I would have won in my own car. Its going to be hard to get back in my tank after this ride,
Dave, thanks again and again, I'm going to owe you forever.
Nat Wentworth
2008 NARRC ITB Champion
You know, Nat, that says buckets about your skills as a driver, in that you:
- Had the confidence to race another guys car in the "NARCC Crash-offs" as they have been called occasionally, and-
- WON the darn thing in a car that has to be way different than your normal car. Heck, they are what, 20 years apart, and RWD vs FWD!?
And as you pointed out, wow, Dave sacrificed his own race to loan you the car. That's huge. Nice job Dave.
Congrats!
I think I want to also give the NY Region some props for the quality of the goodies. I was thrilled to be able to FINALLY take a checkered flag lap at Lime Rock -my first ever there- and when i came back to the pits and stopped to give it back for the exchange to the dinky "keeper" flag, they waved my by. Wow, nice flag! Then I went to get the trophy...nice surprise there as well. Not any old plaque deal, this was a nice curved glass piece, similar to the one got at the IT -Fest. Then they handed me a huge bottle of champagne! I would have been happy with a beer!
Nice job, NY Region!
first off congrats to Nat. he raced hard all year. Ken and i gave all we had to catch him. i also agree that daves moves was class all the way.
for my weekenend , i think it was a race for me to loose. on tuesday the car was flying. then the provisional ITB pole in the rain and the pole in the dry. 7th out of 30 with the closet B car in 12th. the race started with a good mist. we get to the left hander and a car in front of me taps the ITR bmw spinning him right in front of me. i slid into him and get hit from behind. it takes a moment to get going again but the field is gone. from that point on it felt like a circus show. cars all over the place. i had no idea what positon i was in as i passed car after car. i drove my ass of trying to catch up. near then end of the race i had a great battle with charles for 3rd. charles had titanium balls going through the down hill. i am bumbed out that my chance ended so quickly but i am glad to leave with my car having only a bloody nose. nothing a big hammer and some tugging wont fix.
glad to hear that Richie is ok. Marc did some amazing drifting while qualifying exiting bigbend. congrats to joe on the ITA naarc win. shane kicked some but. thanks also to Matt kessler for getting the car to rock.
Congratulations Nat !!
Nice way to end a great season of racing. Dave Z without question, deserves the White Knight of the Year award.
I must say that was the hardest/craziest race I had ever run. While Nat was Cruzin in his luxury VW, I was 11/10ths, makin a whole bunch lappers mad trying to catch back up to Nat. After passing lapped cars 3 wide in the grass on NoName :), the left hander should have been no problem. LOL At least both our cars are white. oopps<Sorry Dave>
Glad to hear Ritch is OK.
If you had asked me in the begining of the season, if I thought ,I'd have a chance competing for a championship. I would have said you were a crazy person. I feel priviledged and honored to have participated in all these events with all of you guys and girls. This was a great season with a whole bunch of first class racers and first class people !!
Nat, are you going to re-fit the tank for NJ ?
Ken
Wow! Nice job man. Congrats on the win.:happy204:Who else was there doing the IT-7 thing? Need results man!
Went up to see Hunter at his home this evening and he is doing fine. Still has a headache and will probably go see a Doc tomorrow just to make sure all is well. He showed us his car and man, that must have been a helluva hit. The X bars on the pass side opened up in the center like a gate on hinges and the passenger door ended up being the center console. Sheesh! He was wearing a HANS device, thank goodness for that. Now what aboot the dude that hit Richie eh? How is he doing? Any videos yet?
First and foremost I want to say that Nat, Ken, Charley, and Rick (individually and collectively) drove an absolutely friggen fantastic race. I was lucky enough to have Scott Carllson and Michael Reece standing next to me in the tower to keep picking me off the floor while watching the action. I was ready to ask them to carry me to medical when they went three wide in the lefthander. Ken, if you want the rubber from your sidewall, it is available on the side of the Golf in front of the rear wheel.
While the ebb and flow of traffic certainly played its part Nat just put his head down and drove at a smooth yet aggressive pace. The passes I saw were clean.
Let me point out that the first 4 ITB cars crossed the finish line in order,one behind the other. One miscue would have cost many positions.
Look at the fastest laps:
Nat 1.05.264
Ken 1.04.763
Charley 1.05.877
Rick 1.05.264
Note that Ken is the only RWD car.
The next three ITB cars (Volvo) ran 1.07's.
Nat, I don't want your firstborn, but how about a 10 year 'no-pass' rule?
It was fun for me, nerve wracking, but fun nonetheless, to see my car win and have Nat earn that championship.
DZ
Damn, that was beyond nice of you Dave and as Jake said, a bit gutsy. Yeah, I think you deserve at least a 5 year rule on that one. If I had only known you were offering rides on your car. :) I'm still pissed I coudn't get the car repaired in time although it makes me feel better it wasn't raining during your qual. and race. Next year's gotta get easier, right?
Nice job Jake & Joe. So Jake, we gonna see you in ITB next year?
The axel / wheel.Quote:
If any of us are given no choice but to "t-bone" a car, where do we aim???
Nat - Great job!
Dave - your the man.
Nat - hope to see you in NJ.
BTW- I do have a VW for sale ;-)
Beran
Coming back to the ITS/ITR/ITB discussion, I was driving the 92 BMW which got hit and turned by a red Mazda (I think it was the 77) in the left hander in the first lap. Motor died and 30 cars were coming my way :eek: thanks to everyone for watching out and trying to avoid me. Rick was the unfortunate one who could not get around me, but luckily enough he slowed down already significantly before impact. The whole situation could have been much worse. Hope his car is not damaged too badly. Mine needs some body work, but should be ready by mid October NJMP.
Race accidents can happen, but I don't think this one was necessary: the top 4 cars in front of me were going at a slower pace, understandable giving the wet track and the cold tires in the first lap. So everyone was queuing up, except for the Mazda RX7 who tried to win the race in the first two turns at any cost: he dive bombed into the left hander, proper hit on my left rear bumper.
As I said, accidents can happen. What bugs me: These kind of incidences with too much temper in the first lap are dangerous and can cause mass crashs and totalled cars. Nevertheless, the guy did not even show up after the race to see what damage he caused, not to speak about an explanation or apology - so the learning experience for the future I am afraid is zero.
I know I am emotional since I was the one who got hit (plus Rick), but I think this is bad driving & bad style.
Well, in changeable conditions, and with minimal qualifying spreads, getting in front of cars can be VERY important. i might have qualified behind you by a tenth or two, but in the race I might be faster, for whatever reason. now if it begins to get damp, passing will be next to impossible, as the lead car can choose to stay on the dry line.
So I understand agression at the start.
But, as you said, mistakes are made.
I agree with you that the car that did the hitting should seek you out and apologise and/or discuss. Of course, there are two sides to every story.
Maybe though, before pronouncing him or her "guilty" you let some time pass, as you guys were the last group, and time to pack and get off the premises in the rain could be tight. Who knows, he may have had guests with him that included a worried mother and a bitchy girlfriend and he was just trying to keep the peace at home, so to speak. Let's hope he contacts you.
Good points, Jake. Provided that someone thinks rationally - I have seen too many racers who just mutate to different persons once the helmet is on and the green flag out. You can typically tell by the number of incidents what species you have - if someone is in control or takes accidents into consideration. We'll see.
In any case I do not wish him the racer's nightmare: the bitchy girl friend ;-)
Thanks Chris :)
Glad you like the design. Looks good on the track, but the car can easily get lost in the woods ;-)
I was watching the local news and they ran a story about Paul Newman. A reporter was at Lime Rock interviewing PLNs competitors and they showed a 2 second clip of the start of the ITR/ITS/ITB race from Saturday and the car that stood out the most was Rob's Green zebra striped BMW.
rob oddly enough one of the ladies from timing and scoring thought it was busy and she wished that your # was on the center of your door. i think it looks cool. i am glad that you car is not worse. it could have been ugly. as soon as he tapped you i knew i was fxxked.
SCCA regionals on TV :happy204: That's great. Did not see the cameras, where were they?
@Rick: how's your car? What's damaged?
Glad the T&S issue got sorted out
The red 77 is Mark Gregory. Good driver, very aggressive, had a weak motor in his car this weekend so he may have wanted to get every inch he could on the start (he always does! :eek: ). Mark hasn't been around much this season, but he's a nice guy and reads this board sometimes, so I hope we'll hear from him.
Sorry about the rough break, Rob. I was pointed right at you (green Mazda) in that melee, getting set to either hit you or spin trying not to, when your car did one of those miraculous (for me) jukes and cleared a path.
Steve Ulfelder
Flatout Motorsports
05 ITS
Instead you hit that poor 944!!! :p
Kidding!! We were standing right there at Big Bend. I don't think he had any idea you were there. Tough break. He did get the worst of it.
The front runners in ITS/ITR put on a great show. Some outstanding driving and all with rear wheel drive!! Very impressive!!
Rats, I hoped nobody saw that, with only 2 laps to go. :D We talked afterward, and you're right - he didn't see me, and I thought he did because he'd just let another guy through. One a them racin' deals. As you say, it was just a fender for me, but suspension for him. Bummer.
Steve