How did you get into racing?

[gran racing]

I’ve received a few e-mails from people talking about the hurdles or myths they overcame to get into road racing. I know from talking with people (it seems especially over a few beers), many of us have some very interesting stories to tell. I think it would be fun to share some of these with each other. Hopefully it will also show other people interested in starting to race that it is possible and it doesn’t have to be something they merely dream about doing.

I just added a page to my book’s website (www.GoAheadTakeTheWheel.com) titled “Tell Your Story,” which already has one very cool story on it now. I’d like to add a couple of others to it as well. It can be anything from a couple of sentences to a few paragraphs.

If you’d rather just post something here and not have it added to the website, just add a quick note to the bottom of your post and we’ll keep it within it.com. I don’t want to make the web page too long, so please don’t be offended if your story isn’t used on the website.

So, what’s your story?

[Newbie]

I've always loved to watch racing. A few years back, a friend won the "Marlboro Racing School" and took me as a guest. It almost got me hooked.

A few years later, I was sampling a few too many home brews and playing with my new wireless internet connection.

I ended up on ebay looking at BMW M Roadsters, since my friend Dave just bought one. Now, I know what they were worth, so I figured I was safe entering a low-ball....Right. So it's Thanksgiving time, and I got this M Roadster for a really good price, and it checked out to be a good car according to a third party mechanic. My wife would kill me...unless....(remember last month in Vegas, she hated that Viper, but really liked the BMW 2 seater)...I'll give it to her (us) as a Christmas present.

I pulled ot off, she liked it and was completely surprised. I even cheesed it up with the big red bow, the fake boxes getting smaller until the one with the key. So now it was time to joinn BMWCCA to get some info on track time. We went to the Christmas party and I was shocked that the local BMWCCA does not allow convertibles. Had my plan backfired? I found out that PCA will accept rag tops with factory roll protection, so I was in.

After my first DE, I went and got a few mods including stainless steel lines, race pads, a cold air intake and a chip modification. The hook was set. I had a few customers, Tim and Derek that were into sports cars, and we decidied to do a 3 day skippy school together. I still kept doing DE's and ended up having and "event" where I was off track going backwards at about 80 MPH heading for the trees...in my wifes car...After that, Tim and I started to look for a race car since it had to be safer and more fun than a street car.

Around Thanksgiving (one year after the ebay purchase) we found a 944 that we agreed to get. The problem was that Derek now wanted in on the action, and 3's a crowd. I was left out, so I decided to get the RX-7 we were also looking at. Once again, I had to figure out how to tell my wife. Skillful negotiation and a remodeled kitchen later, she gave me the green flag. She even bougt me the fire suit for Christmas.

I joind the Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs, did the spring school and had my novive license by April of last year. I'm 3 races away from my second full year. I still do DE's and I race as much as I can. Although Anne did not like it at first, and is not a true supporter of the addiction, she deals with it. It's my mid-life crisis, and like I told her, it's better than another girlfriend!!

Steve

[matt batson]

My history isnt all that exciting...
No karting experience from a very young age.

First motorsports experience was in motocross at age 13, which I did for a few years.

My father was into mostly british cars, and very involved in spectating with car racing...but only competed in a few autocrosses in college.

At 16 I started autocrossing with my dad's mini's, a right hand drive 1275 cooper S, among others.

Did this for a couple of years...won the Fl region champ in ES with an Isuzu I-mark RS...

Raced my volkswagen super beetle for a year or so, but never won much with it. Drove it for eight years though...so I grew up driving with oversteer.
I used to go to the local tracks (moroso, sebring, homestead) and watch and mingle in the paddock. I would talk to people, learn, and dream about someday making it out on track. I just couldnt afford to do it.
College and no money got in the way, even though all thru college all I wanted to do was go IT racing...This was back when it was just getting started.

I used to sit in class and write out a budget for getting my volks super beetle out on track in IT...I knew it wouldnt be competitive, but was all I could afford.

In the late nineties I got into road racing motorcycles with the CCS, mostly tracks in florida and GA.

Wasnt very fast... <_< Of course I was on a 1991 Yam FZR in the middleweight class with R6&#39;s, GSXR600&#39;s, etc.. I&#39;m already a big guy, so being 25 HP in the hole didnt help

Did a couple of track days with my old first gen MR2 back in the late nineties...but these were fun days with an instructor sitting next to you. I always did really well. My instructor&#39;s, in fact, would usually just say I already knew what I was doing and we would talk about work, the weather, life, etc...

The thing is, I always kind of knew I could do well in this sport...I just never really had the money to do it.

Last year I started in ITB with a car I built myself.....Meaning, it has a lot to go so far as set-up, as I am no race car master mechanic. Junkyard motor and all, but at least I&#39;m on the track! It was sitting in my dad&#39;s backyard with a blown motor and he offered it to me for free...
(Of course, now that I know better, I would have bought a built car and saved some money!)

Havent raced yet this year for various reasons...
First time back will be VIR in oct., and then the ARRC....

Give me another year or so...(and some more HP) and you ITB guys will have to start checking your mirrors...

The point I guess, is that money has a lot to do with whether or not a lot of people get into this sport.

[joeg]

Matt is correct--it all has to do with money.

No racing is cheap--even local four cylinder classes at ovals.

I am a consummate motorhead, but got into SCCA Club racing later in life. It replaced Pro Rally (too much of a logistical nightmare) and ice-racing (too weather dependent). I enjoy car building, car-prep, racing and race spectating in that order.

Cheers.

[gsbaker]

My first experience on a road course occured when a friend who owned a Porsche invited me to tag along to a DE he was attending somewhere out in the sticks in Wisconsin. He was excited about his new track hobby and said I should try it. "Maybe I can get you a ride with my instructor during the lunch hour," he said. I played along but, after prior experience building engines for drag racers, wasn&#39;t too excited about getting in some six cylinder sports car for a ride around the woods. I mean really, what could be the thrill?

The lunch break came and I was introduced to my friend&#39;s instructor who offered me a ride. That was when things went south because this guy had been driving sports cars for so long he had grey hair, so not only was I stuck with a six cylinder ride, it was going to be aimed by this Old Geezer. It was too late to back out, but I&#39;m hoping Gramps doesn&#39;t have a heart attack while we are on track.

The next stop is his car. It&#39;s one of those 911s and looks a bit old, but in good shape. He says it&#39;s stock, "...pretty much." I compliment him on the car, but can&#39;t figure out why he has four slicks on it. What&#39;s he thinking, a six-banger burnout? "Much better for cornering than street tires," he explains. Ah, of course. The cornering thing. I should have thought of that. He&#39;s smiling and I, being a car guy, start warming up to the car a bit. He tells me he hasn&#39;t done "much" to the motor, then begins rattling off a long list of brake upgrades, none of which I understand. I admit that the cornering thing makes sense, but what&#39;s the deal with the brakes? "You&#39;ll see," he says.

Finally he gets the cute little engine started and as we head out of the paddock he asks, "How fast do you want to go? We can start at 60% and work our way up once you&#39;re comfortable." That was when I made a big mistake in replying, "Just uncork it. I&#39;ve been in race cars before and want to see what this will do." He thought this was a fine idea, and based on his grin was enjoying himself immensely.

He seemed to be cornering and braking very hard during the warm up lap. I was surprised the car could do that, but knew from my drag racing that warm rubber was sticky rubber. I guess that was his only option, since he didn&#39;t have much motor.

Coming onto the front straight he lets it loose. It&#39;s no 500CID V8 but it&#39;s pulling pretty hard, and at 6,000+ rpm "cute" is not the word that comes to mind. Snarl, maybe. We crest the hill, cross the start/finish line and I see T1 up ahead, where he is going to do the turn thing. I am convinced this will be interesting...

...I&#39;m also convinced that he has had a coronary and I am next to die, because he should have braked way the hell back there--I mean waaaaay the hell back there. Even a drag chute can&#39;t save me now. I&#39;m not worried about The Old Geezer because he&#39;s gone, off to road racer heaven while I, too young to die, am hurtling toward the Wisconsin forest at a freightening rate of speed in a vehicle being driven by a corpse. At least he looks content. He appears very calm in death and, from what I can see through the helmet opening, his smile reflects solice in life&#39;s last moments. I&#39;d like to be able to tell his family that he died peacefully, but I&#39;m will have no opportunity to do so given that I am about to expire in a most violent manner. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Suddenly, Dead Guy stabs the brakes, drops the gears, turns in and is back on the throttle pulling lateral Gs I never thought possible. It&#39;s Alive!!!

Dead Guy: Well, the tires seem good.

Straight Line Boy: Huh?

Dead Guy: They are up to temp. We&#39;ll work the brakes in T5.

Straight Line Boy: T5?

Dead Guy: That&#39;s where all those brake parts come into play. After that we can let it loose.

Straight Line Boy: I thought we already let it loose!

Dead Guy: Nah, we haven&#39;t even had a full lap at speed. You&#39;re gonna love The Kink.

[lateapex911]

OMG...that is CLASSIC!!!

(You owe me a new monitor as I spewed Gatorade on this one about the time the guy died instead of braking waaaaay back there. I&#39;ll take something in the 16:9 ratio, and around 21" ,to replace this sticky mess... )

Very well written, esp for an engineer!

[Eagle7]

Very well written, esp for an engineer!
[/b]

Impossible. He can write and can&#39;t add.

[camop]

Gregg, that was a great story!

Neal Norton
Tampa, Florida

[ddewhurst]

First trip to Road America Gregg. First time entry to T5 & the Kink

Do you remember who the driver was?

[gran racing]

Great story Gregg! I just love drive-alongs. Last year at LRP I was approached by a guy who was there with his brother and was hoping he could hitch a ride. Why not? I then learn he’s a roundy-round racer. One that has never been on a road course – in fact he’s never even seen the whole track we’re at (LRP). Like Gregg’s driver, my eyes light up especially after he said I can go as fast as I want. After the first warm-up lap I ask him “ready?” He just nodded and smiled. As we crest the uphill and the front wheel spins, all I hear is “Yeeaaaah!” In my mind I’m thinking “So, that’s how it’s gonna be. I guess I’m not pushing hard enough. And he hasn’t seen the down hill at speed yet.” Although the Yeah changed into Holy Sh#@!, he was laughing pretty hard down the straight. That session was so much more fun than if I were in the car alone. Your story Gregg really reminded me of this. My all time favorite was having my wife take a ride with me.

[gsbaker]

Impossible. He can write and can&#39;t add.
[/b]

Don&#39;t tell anyone, but math makes my head hurt.

First trip to Road America Gregg. First time entry to T5 & the Kink [/b]

Yeah, I thought it was all over heading into T1, but I knew it was over at T5. Should have kept my eyes open.

Do you remember who the driver was?[/b]

No, I can&#39;t remember. That was around 1990. He was tall and thin, had been a PCA instructor for 12 years and drove to the track a 1977 911SC, IIRC. I believe he said he lived in Illinois.

[JimW337]

Reflections on my first SCCA Club Race

Four years ago I was auto-crossing every weekend, two years ago, some auto-crossing but a lot more time-trialing. This year I decided to see if I really wanted to do this door-to-door racing thing. I put my auto-cross/time-trial Rabbit back on the street, sold my new GTI and bought an ITB Rabbit. I Filled out all the SCCA paper work for a Novice License, survived the two mandatory race schools where I got T-boned at Summit Point and endured 110 heat index in Sebring. I now find myself at Nashville SuperSpeedway for my first ‘real’ race, a life-long dream soon to be fulfilled. I’m a real race driver!

Nashville SuperSpeedway, an infield course where it’s all about getting off the front and back straights but where the transition from the concrete banking to the asphalt creates a big bump. And that means a BIG bump at 100 mph (in the Rabbit) off the front straight into the turn 1 sweeper. It’s all about the ‘pucker factor’. Coming down off the back straight it’s a very fast downhill left right combo called the Bus Stop, where you just know the car won’t stick but most of the time it will.

Practice and qualifying on Saturday and then a 7 lap qualifying race and the 22 lap main race on Sunday. Four competitors are in the ITB class, a pink Golf, a red Rabbit GTI, a Pinto and my yellow Rabbit. I was a good 2 seconds behind the other VeeDubs and way ahead of the Pinto. WooHoo, a potential podium finish! Saturday’s practice and qualifying went smooth and uneventful. I never knew how much you use your mirrors when running in traffic, very easy to lose concentration and find yourself way off line and struggling. I hope nobody saw me short cut that corner because of the early apex.

Sunday’s, race day starts with a 7 lap qualifying race. Hey, what’s a qualifying race? However you finish determines your starting order in the 22 lap ‘feature’ race. The faster pink Golf has problems, bad coil, and will end up starting behind me on the grid. I’m starting on row 5 and the red Rabbit is on row 3. I tell the pink Golf I’ll maintain my position in line at the start until he gets around. My plan is to try and keep the pink Golf in sight, at least until he catches the red Rabbit. You know where the best seat to view a race, from behind the wheel at the back of the pack!

Green flag drops, the pink golf goes right up the middle of the pack. Now I understand what they mean by door handle to door handle because it’s way too close for comfort. But, no time to think about it now here comes turn 1 and the pink Golf is already out of sight. Maybe I can pass something on the back straight. Time to come down the hill into the Bus Stop section, but wait, there’s the pink Golf and the red Rabbit sliding sideways and coming to a stop in the middle of the track! Hard on the brakes, I hope the guys behind can stop, because I don’t think I can. The pink Golf is moving so I steer hard and follow him around missing the red Rabbit by inches. There are 2 more cars in the pile up on the other side of red Rabbit, a couple of Honda’s.

The pink Golf is smoking from both right side tires, aaahhh, the smell of tire smoke on a Sunday afternoon. Hey, I think I might be able to pass him if he doesn’t go into the pits. Unbelievable, he stays out, and we are neck and neck down the front straight with nothing but a huge plume of smoke separating us. Hey, this might not be the best idea, those tires aren’t going to last forever and I don’t think I want to be this close when they blow. I’ll let him have turn 1 this time around. So, this completes my first lap as a real race car driver.

Black flag is out at the flag station, must be for the pink Golf. Nope, it’s a Black Flag All, time to slow down for the big mess still at the Bus Stop. The red Rabbit looks bad and he’s still in the middle of the track. Now, I hear something dragging under my car and it’s a very metallic sound. Maybe I picked up some debris, the car is driving O.K. Time to head for the pits.

Pit Marshals point me off to the side out of line because of the noise under my car, he says it’s my exhaust pipe. Shut it down, unbuckle, and get out. The stupid rubber exhaust doughnut has come undone and the pipe is dragging. The Chief Steward of the whole race comes over and informs me under a Black Flag All condition no work can be done to the car or I will be disqualified. I have to wait until the other cars start their engines before I can try and fix it. I am far enough down pit lane that I have completed my second racing lap of my new racing career.

I have to run back to my pits to get a jack and a screwdriver to get the doughnut back on the exhaust pipe, by the time I get back out on track I’m not sure how many laps I’m down. And who should show up in my rear view mirror but the Pinto! The race is back on! I am really pushing the car through the esses heading onto the back straight when the car gets quiet and the world looks askew. Holy Crap, I’m on two wheels! And not just a little bit but a whole lot, am I going to roll the car? But because I am going through the esses I’m already turning in the other direction and the car comes back down on all four. Maybe I need to ease off some, I need to finish at least half the race in order for it to count and I can get my Novice license signed off. There’s the start finish line, lap number 3 of my racing career now completed!

The race settles into a rhythm and I let a couple of ITC Honda’s by so I don’t get in the middle of their race. I catch the Pinto and lap him on the back straight and start thinking if I’m only two laps down maybe I can catch him again before the checker. Each time I pass start finish I’m looking for the Pinto and the checker and sure enough I can see the Pinto at the end of the straight and the checker isn’t out yet. I catch him on the back straight and the checker comes out. Was I two laps or three laps down?

I head for the scales and impound, the preliminary results show me in second, I started out three laps down. So ends my first ‘real’ car race, what an experience! The two novice drivers in the class get first and second while the two old pro’s get DNF’s.

Moral of the story…

“You have to first finish before you can finish first.”

[RacerBill]

Let&#39;s see if we can clear out the cobwebs and get this straight. I remember being interested in drag racing and hot rods in high school, and my dad and I went to a local bull ring in Freeport, Long Island (just out side of New York City) a couple of times.

In 1964, one of my best friends introduced me to a guy whose family just moved into the neighborhood who was also interested in cars, but he was into Formula 1. Well, we hit it off anyway, and became good friends. One day Jim says, "NASCAR is bringing the Grand National Stock Cars up for a New England tour and they are going to be racing at a track called Bridgehampton. Why don&#39;t we go!&#39; Well, I had tickets to a Mets double header on Sunday, and Jim and I were going to double date with my girlfriend and her sister. But I had the weekend off, so we decided to go.

We had a vague idea of where we were going and made out way out to the back woods of LI. Ran into a couple of the teams having breakfast at the Howard Johnsons at the traffic circle in Riverhead. Still have pictures of the Holly Farms Special - on OPEN TRAILERS!.

Well, we got into the track and started walking around the infield. Got a program with a map so that we knew where we were. Then we hear cars on the track! When we got to a place where we could see, there were all these funny little things, some without roofs, and others without even fenders! Oh, well, the stock cars will be out soon.

We had worked our way down a deer path down the inside of Echo Valley and wound up on the top of a sand cliff at Turn 5. In between groups, the flaggers called up to us and asked if we wanted to cross the track so we could see the cars all the way from Turn 3 (about a half mile or so as I remember it) so we did.

After watching NASCAR and the SCCA cars that were filling out the program, Jim and I started talking about how we could dump the baseball tickets and come back the next day. Well, that&#39;s another story, but we were back at the Bridge the next day. Unfortunately the weather decided to pull a fast one, and it poured all day long. Of course NASCAR did not run, and even though they sent the sports cars out, the rain was too much. So we left, not seeing any races, but with four tickets to an SCCA National in August. By the way, this was now way cooler than any circle track stuff, and drag racing was a one-way tennis match! (I was to develop an appreciation for these schools of competition later.)

Another friend of mine and I made it to the National and camped out at the track. Foutunately, the weather was a lot better. I borrowed my dad&#39;s twin lens reflex camera and took pictures of everything in site! Two more stories out of that sentence, but I&#39;ll save them for another campfile.

Needless to say, we went back the next year, searching diligently in Car and Driver, Sports Car Graphic and Road and Track for the dates. Eventually we ran into a group of workers who also camped out at the track and lived in Queens right close to us. Well, we lived about 15 minutes from Charlie Bow&#39;s Dragon Seed restaurant in Jackson Heights where New York Region held it&#39;s meetings once a month, and the Queens Sports Car Club held meetings twice a month. (Ate a lot of Chinese food!).

The rest is history. Since I lived in an apartment, I had no place for a car to work on, and I was still paying my way through college. So I worked in Timing and Scoring, and Flagging and Communications until 1985 when I tried Starter. In &#39;86 a new specialty came along - Sound Control. I was chief of Sound for various regions for 18 years but went back to start in 2005. Somewhere back in 1999, I had a bout with cancer and decided then that if I was ever going to get to drive a car, I would have to make it happen myself. So here I am, in 2006, sorting out a car that I have rebuilt myself. I have finished only one race so far (due to mechanical issues) out of six, but we are getting better. I have a small crew to help, and my wife and daughter are really enjoying weekends at the track. Every session on the track, we get a little better.

Sorry if I turned this from a &#39;how did you get envolved&#39; into a &#39;how did I get where I am today&#39;. With forty years of envolvement, I have forty years of stories. Do you want to hear the one about certain a certain SCCA director caught in a Long Island restaurant in drag? (pictures incuded!). Maybe we should start a campfire section on the forum. What a way to spend the off season!

[gran racing]

Sorry if I turned this from a &#39;how did you get envolved&#39; into a &#39;how did I get where I am today&#39;. [/b]

Bill, don&#39;t be sorry! That&#39;s the type of story I was looking for. Thanks for sharing.

[JamesB]

My story is a long dream finally comming true. If you where to ever ask anyone who knew me for years it was just a matter of time before I was racing. As a kid I was facininated with any racing I could find on TV. NASCAR, F1, motocross....if I couldn&#39;t find it on cable I found someone who could get it from satalite to tape it for me (nothing like those old 3meter dishes out there.)

That progressed as I got older, BMX with my cousin which quickly evolved to MX racing through HS and even competing at the regional level with the help and sacrifice of my fathers truck and time. Just at the end of HS I was taking a mustang to events at limerock. Then college came and I pretty much sold everything off and kept my F250 and my rabbit. Post college I was in another state with a professional job and living the average life as I call it. After years of working more hours then ever asked of me I finally had advanced my career enough that owning a small house was not all I could do with my paycheck.

That led to me buying my 2001 Jetta and off I went to autocross. It took me a season to learn about FATT (Friday At The Track) at Summit Point. From that day I was hooked once again, but the homeowner in me (cheap) moved on to club track events for the cost per hour of seat time. I spent 3 seasons running in club events, mostly at VIR but some at Summit Point.

At the same time I was very active in the autcross scene, but due to local popularity I started to run with VMSC in the Richmond area. After a season that became a tedious trip but I wanted to be involved. I had just started to help out people at the club events when I didnt have the money to run. So as an SCCA member already I chose to come down to a club race and work due to the recruitment efforts of what is now the WDCR Co-Cheif of Pit. I worked as much as I could find the time for till one year I had a rough time with layoffs and I took a year off from everything.

I had finally overcome the setback of the layoff and got back on then track. And then came the fatal weekend. At 87k miles on the motor I had an issue and blew the motor at VIR. The next plan was to fix it. That&#39;s a whole other story that would amaze many but its one reason I liked the VW scene for so long. With the Jetta now being repaird and the known cost that I managed to come out well ahead of I decided its at the point where I will buy a track car.

So I turned to some racers and started contemplating a car I had sitting at my house and turning it into a track toy. After MUCH online discussion I was eventually persuaded it was a bad idea and I should buy a built car thats IT prepared with a log book and update it at that point. Well as soon as I found a worthy ride, the idea of track events faded and now it was onto racing school.

If it where not for the guidance of IT.com, Matt Yip and to a degree in the convincing stage our vocal Bill Miller, I would probably had made many of the mistakes covered by Dave Gran&#39;s book.

So I went through my two schools without issue as well as had the time of my life!!! My season started with a roller coaster ride of the highs and fun of racing to the lows of breaking. Over the next few events with some support from fellow racers and some dedication it continued to impprove for me. I was having fun, but I was less fustrated in the paddock as we sorted out my car and get her to purr like a kitten (really shes that quiet at full throttle that I can usually get away wtih running the motor after unmuffled hours.) Then just prior to the MARRS labor day double I found myself 4th!!! in points, I mean 4th I never expected that. I&#39;m sure I wasn&#39;t a top 5 ITB competitor YET, but I was consistent enough to be infront of several of the top 5 guys when it came down to points.

I have one race left for the season and I have to say I don&#39;t regret it at all. Next season I hope to be smooth, with the learning curve of a car I went mildly over budget this season. Not enough to kill next season but enough that im going to focus on having fun and keeping in or under budget, even if it means a light hearted season. There is always the following year to improve my skills and go for the points.

[rob22]

In 1964, my buddy, Chip, asked If I would like to go to the Big sports car race at Daytona with him and his older brother. At age 12 I was already a fan of any kind of auto racing, already a big fan of Richard Petty and Don Garlits. However I didn&#39;t know a thing about this sports car racing, but hell, it was racing so I said sure. "One problem, "I told him, "I&#39;ve got no money." He said, " don&#39;t worry about it, we will get you in."
We get near the track and Chip&#39;s brother Terry pulls the family 1963 Chrysler 300 over and tells us to get in the trunk. We removed the camping gear, slid all the way to the front and Terry piles the gear back in, covering us. If you don&#39;t know these cars, the trunk was as big as most folks&#39; backyard. We got to the gate, Terry pays for himself, starts to drive through the tunnel when a security guard stops him and tells him to pull over, he would like to look in the trunk. Terry complies, thinking all the while the jig is up. He opens the trunk for the guard, who moves some of the gear around but never sees us, closes the trunk and tells Terry to go on in.

Once In, I got to see some of the coolest cars ever in racing, Ferrari 250 GTO&#39;s, Cobras, Porsche 906&#39;s (I think). Great drivers, The Rodriguez brothers, Phil Hill etc. I was Hooked! In 1964 the race was called the Daytona Continental, not becoming the 24 until about 1966. I have never missed one, from 1964 to the present. Saw the GT40&#39;s, the 917&#39;s, 934, 935&#39;s 962, The Brumos Porsche&#39;s and then BMW&#39;s, John Greenwood and his crazy fast but fragile ZL1 Corvette, the Dekon Monzas, The Bizarre, like the Morgan+4 cruising around at about 100 mph with a 917 streaking by above him at about 220 mph. Brian Redman in the Cooke Woods Lola, John Paul jr, AJ, Mario, Rolf Stommelen, David Hobbs, David Pearson and Bobby Allison runnin the 24 in stock cars. What A show.

In 1992 at age 39, with two kids and 17 years on the Orlando Fire Department and newly promoted to District Chief, I finally reached my goal, purchased an ITS 280 Z with Chip. We both made it through drivers school that year and in November finished fourth at the Sebring Turkey Trot Enduro. We thought, were good, this is easy. Well, 14 years later and I&#39;m still lookin&#39; for that first ITS win. I did manage a number of wins in E Production with a 240 years later but have found road racing ain&#39;t easy.

I retired from the fire department in late 2004 and immediately set out to build a GT-1 Monte Carlo, six months and about 35 thousand dollars later we hit the track. Daytona ain&#39;t the place to shake down a new GT-1 car, it was brutal. I quickly found that most of what I learned driving Z cars don&#39;t apply to 650 hp stock cars on 10 inch tires.

The Monte and I are gettin&#39; to know each other and driving it is amazing. It is hard to get back in an ITS car. At 54 years old and almost 15 years into this I love it as much as ever and hope to be still driving at the age of my heroes Paul Newman and Charlie Kolb (Nart Ferrari driver in the fifties who was still racing in CFR just a few years ago).

"Bosco" Logsdon

[CaptJon]

Around 1969 or 70, my two older brothers and my dad took my younger brother and I to a race track in the middle of ohio to watch these cars called "Canams" race. The first time I saw these monsters flying down the back straight I was hooked.

Fast forward 11 years. Right out of high school & living with my oldest brother in Atlanta. He is working timing & scoring at Road Atlanta and asks if I want to go work at the track too. Sure!!! I figure the pits is the place to be. Ended up being stuck behind the wall the entire time during the IMSA weekend. Ok, I&#39;m close to the cars but it wasnt really fun.

Fast forward another 3 year. Living back in Ohio. Other older brother asks if I want to work course crew at this little track. " You mean we get to drive OUR trucks on the track???" OH YEAH!! Then we found out about the Longest Day of Nelsons. Worked our share of those.

Fast forwad yet another 11 years. I walk into a shop to do a fire inspection. In the back of this little shop, behind the model cars, is an HO scale slotcar track. I end up taking an old HO car I have and try it out. Since I can&#39;t afford to race full sized cars, I try this. I start off telling myself I will just stay in the lower classes. Ended up running all the classes with the exception of the unlimiteds. Now I have a box full of toy cars and lots of good memories. Believe it or not, many lessons I learned in slot car racing transfer to the full sized cars.

Fast forward to 2004. I recieve a check for the insurance money from my oldest brothers death. Even with his handicap (muscular dystruphy) he still climbed the steps up to timing and scoring at Road Atlanta. In ways he was more of a father to me than what my dad was. (Richie was 18 years older than I was) After talking it over with my loving wife, we decide that we can just barely afford to buy a race car. Has to be a cheap one. Cheap to run too. Missed out on a sweet looking RX-2 ( had one of them in my younger days but that is another story). Missed the Capri too. Hmmmm, this Rabbit looks cheap. It was. eBay is a wonderful thing. My remaining older brother and I spend the winter getting the car ready to go for my driver&#39;s schools in the spring. One of the last things to go into the car is a picture of my oldest brother taped to the dash. My brother started a tradition that we have done every session I&#39;ve gone out. "Go give Richie a ride" is the last thing he says before he leaves the side of my car on the grid.

[pgipson]

I grew up in Alabama watching dirt stockers and drag cars. Did my first drag race at 16 in my best friend&#39;s mother&#39;s car. While in the AF I worked with a friend with a dirt track car. In the late 70&#39;s I was living in Atlanta, working and going to grad school. One of my professors and one of the other students were racers. At this point I had never heard of the SCCA (except an occasional reference in Autoweek) but their before class discussions caught my ear. Unfortunately I had to move on (to North Carollina) before the next insertion point appeared.

At my local news stand in Winston-Salem I came accross a copy of Sports Car magazine on the shelf (I may still have that issue from early 1986). There was a list of region contacts in it and I put in a call to Bill King who was the RE for North Carolina Region at the time. He sent me the region newsletter with a membership application and an invitation to their next region meeting. I went. met some people including a guy that lived pretty close to where I did. He and I traveled together to some races and worked in the tech shed at Roebling Road and Rockingham.

At Rockingham, I am working the scales and the winner of the GT3 class for that day rolls across. He&#39;s light (maybe 10 or 15 pounds) so I tell the tech chief. We go through all the usual stuff to validate the scales, reweigh the car, roll out our test car to verify the earlier calibration (anyone remember the old roll-on beam scales they had at the rock?) all to no avail. He gets disqualified from his first race win. I feel bad, then we get to talking and discover he lives less than 3 miles from us (in this part of NC that is almost like next door neighbor).

I start hanging around with him and his girlfriend, helping with the car at the track. We travled together, in this old motorhome he bought, for a few years while he was chasing the SARRC championship in GT3, then he went national racing. A lot of good times that I miss.

I moved to AZ in 89, and didn&#39;t really do much in the club for several years. Worked a few races, including a Pro IT and Mexican F3 race at Firebird once. In 1996 I decided that it was now or never. I went to Drivers School (you haven&#39;t lived until you do a drivers school in AZ in early September -- 110 F) and started racing. I bought a car, got really involved for awhile, including one stint on the region BoD. Now I race a little, work corners at some races, and try to make my voice heard when I think it matters.

My buddy from NC sold the GT3 RX3 and bought a legends car. Then he quit racing altogether several years ago. Last time I talked to him he was taking flying lessons at 68. He and his girl friend broke up, but she stayed active in SCCA. I see her once in a while. She was the NCR RE for several years.

This year is my 20th anniversary in SCCA. Maybe I shoulda bought the lifetime membership the first time they were offered?

[PDoane]

No one in my family was a gearhead, so I started off with the mass media things like Road & Track, then Autoweek, and finally On Track magazines. There was no SPEEDCHANNEL back then, but I dutifully watched every F1 broadcast I could find. I rebuilt and old Mustang in highschool and drove a Fiat Spider in college. The 1978 IMSA 6 Hour/Can Am race at Watkins Glen was my first event as a spectator and I went to the Indy 500 a couple of times while getting an engineering degree at U of MI (where I took all the automotive/engine course they had). I only wish they had had Formula SAE back then.

Then one of my college friends took me to Waterford Hills for a club racing event and when I saw all those different types of cars being raced by ordinary people like me I said to myself, "I gotta try this". Trouble was there weren&#39;t any HPDEs back in 1979 and very few racing schools even. My mom decided that since I was bound to wind up being an automotive designer/engineer someday that I should know how to drive cars too, so she put up the $750 for my 3 day Jim Russell school. Big mistake! I was hooked after that. To make it even worse, I was selected the "smoothest driver of the class" and that entitled me to a free lapping day. Not even my younger brother getting killed in a street car accident while I was running my first Jim Russell School Series race weekend in 1980 detered me. Only running out of money did that after 2.5 seasons with Jim Russell (including 1.2 seasons as a mechanic/driver) and 2.1 seasons with SCCA.

I never did go on to be an automotive designer/engineer. The Big 3 were on their ass at the time, but the Ford HVAC dept nearly hired my when I graduated in Dec 1981. I wound up taking a high paying engineering job with IBM to help pay the racing bills. Two years later the lure of trying to be a pro driver (and being bored with my IBM job) led me to unemployment while unsuccessfully chasing Super Vee sponsors. Marriage and instant family (2 step-sons) helped put a 12 year hold on any racing for me other than TV and being an occaisional live spectator. I wound up working in military shipbuilding/weapons system integration and still do.

After the step-sons were grown and on their own, I got back into racing in 1997 with the ITA car I still own and run today. Only a one-off Grand Am Cup rental (2002), some professional fly-in crew stints (2003 & 2004), and now a work-for-your-seat time GAC deal have distracted me from Club Racing.

[gran racing]

What&#39;s been said here has reminded me even more of my "early days". At that point in my working career my racing budget was, well, close to non-existent. While money certainly comes into play, it also comes down to how bad do you want it? For me it was really, really badly.

My friend Dan and I headed up to NHIS the night before the HPDE. Room at Red Roof Inn? Oh, how nice that would have been, but it just wasn’t in the budget. I had money for some used racing tires and the entry fee, that was just about it. The night before the event, we drove past the track and were psyched to find a dirt road leading no where. Yup, this is our campsite for the night! Ain&#39;t it great? We didn&#39;t start a fire out of fear we&#39;d get caught for setting up camp somewhere we really shouldn&#39;t have. After hearing many weird and Freddy Cougarish noises, we finally fell asleep (kinda). In the morning, we woke up and headed off to the track.

The event went well, but after the car’s exhaust fell off. I was driving my stock &#39;87 prelude, and the rusty exhaust finally couldn&#39;t take it anymore. We tried to use a coat hanger to put it back together for the ride home but it just didn&#39;t work. Man was it ever hard to hear each other in the car!

Jump ahead a bit...I&#39;m looking to do my first school at NHIS. I hear people say that I shouldn&#39;t go alone and to bring crew. Crew? I don&#39;t need no stinkin&#39; crew! I&#39;ve done HPDEs by myself, why all of a sudden
do I need crew to do this school thing? From IT.com jumps Jake Fisher into my life and volunteers to go to the school with me for support. Before going there, he tells me he and a few friends are going to Race-A-Rama and asks if I&#39;d be interested in going. Heck yeah! We ride up with two of his other friends. Little did I know the four of us would become good friends. My journey up to NHIS for the school was an adventure! This was my first time using my new trailer (a tow dolly). In hindsight, I should have taken it for a test run with the car on it before. Oh well. About 1 ½ miles from my house, something doesn’t look right on the trailer. It turned out the straps came loose. Great, I’m not even 10 minutes into the ride and I’m already having issues. When the straps came loose, the car too adjusted itself on the trailer and it was necessary for me to take the off then put it back on. It wasn’t like I was already nervous about the whole racing school; this didn’t help. (I was driving up by myself and meeting Jake F. & Co. at NHIS. This time I rented a room at Red Roof.) Finally I get going again and enter the highway. Geese, this is really tough to pull? I know it’s only a 4 cyl. Jeep Wrangler, but it was doing just fine only a few minutes ago. Some kids pull up beside me, beep then waive and off they go. Yup, I am pretty cool driving my racecar! Hmmm, now it’s getting even harder to tow the car. I pull over and get out to look things over. Doh! I’m not cool, I’m a dork. They were waiving at me cause I had a flat tire. Fortunately I was smart and brought a spare, but changing it on the side of the highway made me rush through things a bit more than normal. Back on the road again, and now the towing is much better. About 15 minutes later, a truck blows his horn and points me to the side of the road. This time I knew that I’m not cool, and pull over. Not again!! Yup, another flat tire. How could this happen? And why now? I open the car and learn I forgot to take the e-brake off. (My first thing I did after getting home was to remove the darn e-brake.) Two flat street tires later, I’m now putting on a race tire. I now take my time checking things over; nope, the e-brake isn’t on. At this point, I’m pretty frazzled and make the call to my wife Melissa. Maybe this just wasn’t meant to be? I give some thought to turning back home, but decide to keep on going. I’m happy to say the rest of the ride was smooth sailing. Although when I looked in my rearview, some idiot in a Prelude was tail gating me a couple of times! Well, it took me a little while to get used to seeing my car on the trailer right behind me. The school went well but was really thankful I had a crew there to help me. I’m not sure if I would have made it though without them there. Look back on all of this now I can’t help but laugh and wonder how in the world did I do all of that?

My second school was another adventure…it’s never good when you hit one of the instructors. I’ll save that one for the campfire thread.