Freedom Regional

[paulydee]

Scott,

I will be getting there Friday afternoon and since I park by TruChoice as well I can help you setup your canopy, even if you are an ITA driver I'll be with the black ITS RX-7 #73, come look for me.

Pauly D

[downingracing]

Hopefully we don't have weather like this: http://www.grandamerican.com/News/Article.asp?ID=6683

I thought we had it bad a few years ago... Check out the pictures from Thursday - The wind rolled a 5th wheel on its side!

See ya all next weekend!

[RacerBill]

Matt: See you up on the hill. I registered on Wednesday - wanted to wait and see how the car was comming together. Looks like everything is ok - I get wheel rotation in all gears. If Thursday's work goes well, I am going to shake down at Columbus Motor Speedway late on Thursday.

[Racerlinn]

Anybody else see this?

http://matt.nfscheats.com/videos/spo.../Handcrash.wmv

Uh - that's not good.

[downingracing]

Yea - We def. need to take a walk over there Friday night and see if the track has made any changes... Hopefully they have 'filled' the hole or 'level' the grass to road transition.

[Racerlinn]

Somebody please go take a look. I won't be rolling in until O' dark thirty on Saturday morning (I'll honk when I come by your rig Downing) so I will be very interested to hear about what people see there.

[R2 Racing]

Just so you guys know, I'm expecting to hear stories of a Scott, Ian, Steve, and Matt shootout! Get to it, and create good in car video for my viewing enjoyment.

Oh yea, and no one go off drivers right down the backstraight.

[Racerlinn]

I'll try my hardest to give Downing the finger.
I doubt I will see Scott and Ian except at the start as the motor away from me!

[downingracing]

Yea - the only shot I have at seeing those guys is when they come around to lap me! I did remove the flapping rocker covers, so it should be easier to get around me... Man am I pumped to get back on the track! And I'd love to see the finger again - that just got me more motivated than you can imagine!! (But you know I'll do it to you the first chance I get :P )

[R2 Racing]

I doubt I will see Scott and Ian except at the start as the motor away from me!
[/b]

....says the guy who can motor me down the straights.

[downingracing]

Finally got loaded up by Midnight last night! Allignment is done and I'm ready to have FUN! The cooler is packed and I've got the 'guest' beers on ice. Should be at the track by 5:00pm. Hopefully earlier - I really don't want to be at work right now!!!!! It is time!

[iagreen]

So we'll make the six-pack track walk at about 6?

[Racerlinn]

Well, when you're arriving I'll just be leaving Indy.
See everyone on the morning. Have some extra beers for me.

[downingracing]

Yea - 6 sounds about right. I don't plan to walk the whole track, just over to the 'ramp'. And don't worry Steve, we will still be drinking by the time you get there

[R2 Racing]

Well, when you're arriving I'll just be leaving Indy.
See everyone on the morning. Have some extra beers for me.
[/b]

Geez Steve, it's only like a 3.5 hour drive! Put the pedal to the metal and get some good practice in before you get to the track!


If anyone cares, me and four friends have 1507.2oz of beer on hand for our trip to Indy this weekend. That's 31.4 beers a piece.

[Eagle7]

So, have they changed the "launch pad"?

What effect have the track changes had on lap times?

[downingracing]

Large stacks of tires in front of the ramp. The new surface was GREAT! I was worried about having no patches to reference, but the track is smooth and FUN! I don't know about anyone else, but I bested my personal best time by 1.8 seconds! (And I know I've got a few turns that I can still improve on.) Ran a 1:48.5 in qual. on Sun. and a 1:47.6 in the race! Can't wait to get the F/D installed and maybe spend the $$ for some 'real' suspension!

It was GREAT seeing everyone! I really enjoy running in ITA. Great people! Looking forward to doing it again! And Ian, glad you're OK.

[Eagle7]

Large stacks of tires in front of the ramp. [/b]

Head-on into a tire wall at 120 MPH?

[WIZARD Racing]

WOW!! what a great weekend of racing!! Ok, any weekend of racing is great. I saw a few farmiliar faces and met some new & interesting people (ITB Pintos rock!!!). Plus I got to stand in some BMW divots!!

I'd like to thank the Cincy Region for putting on the event, and my fellow drivers in group 4/5. I had some great racing with Steve Linn in the 1st part of Saturday's race, then spent the 2nd half chasing Phil's orange RX7. I improved my best lap by over a second also (once I put the Kumhos back on the car). Sunday I put the Toyos on the car for the whole day and just couldn't get as fast.

The trip out there was decent too. No traffic, no flood detours, no troubles. I figure the track is about a 770 mile tow for me (one way). I got home about 6:30am today. I only stopped for a 45 min nap in Conn because my crew was supposed to work today.

I hope to get back out there in within the next 2 years (planning on VIR for my long haul next year) and race with you fine people again.

[RacerBill]

Glad to hear that everyone in Group 4/5 had a great time. This weekend seamed to be another development session for us. Got tied up putting the finishing touches on the trailer on Thursday, and replacing suspect brake lines on Friday, so we missed annual tech on Friday. But we were able to get an early start on Sat. morning.

Shift linkage issues are seem to be fixed. So, now that the car gets up to speed, the fuel has decided to become the current problem. A friend who watched my in-car video suggested that I might have an issue with the float levels. Hard to diagnose when the car is not moving. But in the course of cleaning out the garage today, I found a collection of fuel system (filters) stuff that's going to get installed before September.

But the good news, the car rolled onto the trailer at the end of the weekend and back off and into the garage. Got a lot of track time (compared to my lst weekend), and picked up my first race finish. Which is saying a lot for having a car that refused to make left turns without turning the engine off.

Thanks to all for not taking my front fenders off (although a couple of times, you came close). I don't think I saw anyone shake a fist at me, and I tried to stay out of everyone's way and let you race (I will have a nice new set of red gloves before September!).

Ian, great to see you back on the hill after the race. That was some hit.

Wish I could be at the Brat Bash in two weeks, but other obligations have precedence.

See you all in September!