ARRC updates....

[Tkczecheredflag]

Tim,

Isn't it nice to know that 2 of the last three years ARRC winning ITA cars are in our Region? :P


Andy - Indeed it is.
I hadn't noticed that you already posted Greg's win on the 1st page - there I go drafting your air again.

[Greg Amy]

Thanks, all, for the the kind words. I'll have more to write once we get home, but the quick summary is that Joe Moser didn't make it easy; he literally drove the wheels off that CRX trying to keep up. He would KILL me in the corners and under braking, but the power of the Kessler SR20DE is what kept me ahead. By the same token, he drove an amazingly clean race; he had several opportunities to use the chrome horn but chose to avoid it. As I told him in person, he did a hell of a job and I'd race door-to-door with ANY day.

The tech shed kept us honest; at one point we were concerned that we had miscalculated on compression ratio (this is the same engine we've been running all year; we ran out of time to install the new one), but in the end our fears were unfounded. Whew!

As of this moment we're sitting at an exit off I-77 in Boonville, NC; Crazy Joe melted a trailer wheel bearing. Matt, Joe, and Dave are off looking for a replacements (I told them to stay close and watch out for each other...) It's been a hectic, but extremely satisfying year, and I'm proud to have raed with you guys. - Greg

P.S. Dave Gran, you're gonne get yours...

[dazzlesa]

reif,darling and moser broke, no contact. jeff lawton spun in turn 5 passing a car. congrats to Gregg. a well deserved win

[Bill Miller]

Thanks, all, for the the kind words. I'll have more to write once we get home, but the quick summary is that Joe Moser didn't make it easy; he literally drove the wheels off that CRX trying to keep up. He would KILL me in the corners and under braking, but the power of the Kessler SR20DE is what kept me ahead. By the same token, he drove an amazingly clean race; he had several opportunities to use the chrome horn but chose to avoid it. As I told him in person, he did a hell of a job and I'd race door-to-door with ANY day.

The tech shed kept us honest; at one point we were concerned that we had miscalculated on compression ratio (this is the same engine we've been running all year; we ran out of time to install the new one), but in the end our fears were unfounded. Whew!

As of this moment we're sitting at an exit off I-77 in Boonville, NC; Crazy Joe melted a trailer wheel bearing. Matt, Joe, and Dave are off looking for a replacements (I told them to stay close and watch out for each other...) It's been a hectic, but extremely satisfying year, and I'm proud to have raed with you guys. - Greg

P.S. Dave Gran, you're gonne get yours...
[/b]

Have a safe trip home Greg, and I hope Joe gets his trailer fixed quick. Watch the weather when you get farther North, it's supposed to pour. Oh, and I think you need to update your sig.

[JLawton]

/edit/ Anybody know what happened to Jeff Lawton??
[/b]

Yup, Greg was killer out there!! And Crazy Joe also did a hell of a job this weekend along with Rick!!


All through practice and qualifying (along with some over used tires) I was was struggling to figure out the track. Only ended up qualifying in 19th with a 1:48.XX. At the start there were some bumps and check ups going into turn 1. I managed to get a good run on the pack and finished the first lap around 12th. I had worked my way up to 10th, trying to work Joe over when I over cooked turn 5 trying to over take a lapped car. Spun into the gravel trap and got stuck. Ended up turning a 1:46.xx. Boy is that Saturn torque sweet!!

The good part of ending up in the trap is that I got to watch Greg, Rick, Joe and Jake for the rest of the race. I was jumping up and down screaming from the bank as they took their cool down. They got me pulled out in time to join in the celebration in victory circle. Very cool stuff. It was a blast being part of this road trip!! And we had a ton of laughs!! (like watching Jake trying to corner weigh his car with 8 "helpers"!! )

Again, Greg, Rick, Joe and Jake did a hell of a job!!

I know the car can do well there, now the driver has to get his sh*t together!! Can't wait until next year!!!

[JeffYoung]

Anyone know if KVanSteenburg ran his ITS Miata or his 944s?

[charrbq]

KVS=Miata Q3 was running 2 mid race didn't get to see finish

[lateapex911]

I had worked my way up to 10th, trying to work Joe over when I over cooked turn 5 trying to over take a lapped car. Spun into the gravel trap and got stuck. Ended up turning a 1:46.xx. Boy is that Saturn torque sweet!!

The good part of ending up in the trap is that I got to watch Greg, Rick, Joe and Jake for the rest of the race. I was jumping up and down screaming from the bank as they took their cool down. They got me pulled out in time to join in the celebration in victory circle. Very cool stuff. It was a blast being part of this road trip!! And we had a ton of laughs!! (like watching Jake trying to corner weigh his car with 8 "helpers"!! )

Again, Greg, Rick, Joe and Jake did a hell of a job!!

I know the car can do well there, now the driver has to get his sh*t together!! Can't wait until next year!!!
[/b]

LOL, Jeff,...the corner weighing started with good intentions, and was a lot of fun. Not sure about the effectiveness, though, as the track scales told a story of the FL being 125 lbs heavier than the FR......oh well, at least the tires weren't rubbing anymore. I was so surprised to see that it was you in the kitty litter at 5...I had my windsheild full of RX-7 rear bumper for a bout 9 laps it seemed, and didn't ID your car. I was sad when i saw it was you on my cool down lap.

I'll second the comments from Jeff. It was a good time and I was relieved to finally turn a wheel and spend some time with the guys that I've gotten to know more online than in person. Joe is kinda crazy, LOL>

-Trip home. Joe was able to find a bearing set, but the time cost was high. Spares, Joe, ya gotta carry spares and a tub of grease! As I write this the Amy party is still driving, eta is after 2AM. Ugg!

-ITS: 19 cars started

Kip ran the Miata, and it was a bit of a strange race..... pretty tight in the begining, with Huffmasters RX-7 leading, Kip in the Miata, the Z car of David Spillman, the Corrado of Bill Solouff and the RX-7s of Richard Wilke and Kent thompson running in a pack. Soon the front two eased out a bit, but the fight for 3rd -6th was tight. Then they started catching the Vette backmarkers, and it probably got very annoying for the ITS guys, esp Spillman who found a corvette in his nose...(Not sure of the details) and it ended a strong 3rd place run. (I think he was in 3rd at the time). Bill Solouff got the Corrado into third!!! Nice to see a VW up so high in S! Then his brakes went even further south, so he nursed it home to a fine 5th place finish.. Nice run Bill! At times the front two got seperated in traffic, but Kip reeled the RX-7 in, it seemed, each time. Reports were that the Miata had the RXs number in the twisty section and off turn 7, but Huffmaster was very wide in the first part of the straight, and Kip was just not strong enough at the end to make anything stick. In the end of the race a Corvette wound up between them costing kip time, and they finished about 30 or so seconds ahead of the rest of the ITS cars, but the lead cCorvette had lapped all but the front two, so the results appear lopsided. I think the race times were a bit slower than Q times, which were under 40, if I heard correctly. (I don't have the Q sheet with me) The fast lap was by Huffmaster with a 1:41.263 to Kips 1:41.417. No ITS cars were in the 42s...Wilkes43.304 was next fastest.

[lateapex911]

-ITA/IT7

Wish I saw this one, LOL! I knew Greg would be there, and i knew he had a good formula for RA. A fast motor and decetn brakes, and enough handling to hold off a charge out of 12 and under the flag. But they run races for a reason, and sure enough, he pulled it out. Nice run, and a great result for all the hard work he and Matt "Monster" Kessler put in. As many know, the NX2000 is pretty much the only one of it's kind in the country racing at anything close to this level. It's the result of a lot of trial and error, some sharp engineering and rulebook reading, and lots of custom fabrication.

Whats cool about the finish is that its Nissan NX2000, Acura Integra, Honda CRX, Mazda Miata ("On the start of the development curve" according to Mr. Stretch), and a Nissan SE-r in the top 6 in ITA. I bet if we took these same 5 cars to another track, we'd see the same good racing, but the order might shake up. Add the 240 SX that we all know can run up front, and the Saturn, and we've got a real cool thing going in ITA! 25 cars took the green, and interstingly, the highest placing local driver (closer than 500 miles, LOL) was in 12th! That's right, the top 11 guys were all from over 500 miles away, from places like Texas and nova Scotia, and CT, and MI, and OH. I think that gives credence to this being more than just a "Regonal" race as some like to claim.

The IT-7 battle was fun for me. The opposite is true in IT-7, most of the guys are pretty local, and have lots of miles at the track. Other than me (950 miles away), we had only 2 other non locals, one from CO, and 1 from OH.

The IT-7 battle was fun for me.....I have to say, it was a hoot, and my race was very close and had some good battles. Clean though, which is more than I can say for my first lap in the Pro IT race when I got tagged going into 10a after making a pass on an Accord into 10. Ugg...sheesh! Sure, we were battling for 56th place, but still... But after that, i had lots of fun chasing and racing people. (I started dead last on the field due to no Q time) Was lucky enough not to run out of gas, and got a good finish out of it.

But the RX-7 guys know the track, and their cars, and it was great to run with them. I could get a nose along the 4th place car from time to time, but it really wasn't enough, and I ended up 5th. For being as woefully underprepared as I was when I got there, and cosidering my dismal qualifying I was pleased with the finish and the general lowering of my lap times. More is certainly needed, and possible. My only regret is the video camera not working in the race.

Misc comments and overheard items....

- Joe Moser drove his car HARD, and a control arm or something related failed. He wound up off 10A.
- Greg Amy is not a gymnast....
- The spread at Evan Darlings paddock spot had some tasty food that I can't spell, and was too late to get any quantity of....maybe I'll get more next year.

-ITB -15 cars.

No doubt about it, Justin Pooles '05 winning Accord is pretty fast, as it qualified 3rd this year in the hands of Scott Seck. Scott had the fast race lap with a 1:48.076.

Peter Keane had the pole, but when I talked to him before the race he was aprehensive about his transmission...trouble with 3rd and 4th gears. He had a spare, but not enough time to install. I'm not sure if that was a contributing factor, but he got swallowed on the start, and it looked to me like he was about 4th.



Trevor ran his Accord strong and the three Hondas were in lock step.

ITB was more notable for who WASN'T there than who was. As mentioned earlier, Chris Albin missed it, the first time in 13 years....the Blethens were missing, Dave Gran is currently building a new car,and not a Volvo was to be seen. But there WAS a Pinto!!!!

In the end, it was Trevor in the Accord by a second or so over Seck with Keane about 5 seconds back. After that lead group, Nova Scotians Rob Mcabe and Derek Lugar fought it out with Brooklynite Micheal Reese, with Rob taking 3rd, and Derek in 4th.

[RSTPerformance]

Thanks to all for the updates Especially you Jake- Great writeups!!!

Looks like it was a great weekend for most, I havn't herd any "drama" stories yet (maybe they will come?). Seeing all those Hondas up front in ITB really makes me wish I had coughed up the time and money to fix up at least 1 Audi Maybe next year, if not me someone else!!! One thing I did notice looking at the results was Micheal Reese obviosly got more comfortable with the car and track as he picked up .8 seconds in the enduro... Maybe a force to be reconed with next year??? Also I noticed that the pinto turned a 1:52... wow!!! I think that is dam good for an ITB pinto IMO. Also I am awaiting pictures of the Toyota Celica that was running mid pack... Interesting "oddball" car as well. Well anyway, for those ITB Honda's (Peter especially as you know Lime Rock well) you need to bring those things up to Lime Rock and show us what you have at the NARRC Runoffs next year .

Other things I noticed.... I expected it and I am glad to see it, did anyone else notice GREG AMY WINS 2006 ITA ARRC Sprint Race Championship (in panties) . Greg you have recieved a great deal of attention, and you deserve it... I know you put in a lot of work. Now my only question is, why isn't anyone else building one of those cars?

ITS, not many stories from that group??? Whats the deal, ITS used to be "all the talk" Now that the class seemes to be better alighned it seems as though a lot of people have run away from the class... disapointing to me anyway.

ITC... the results show some close times... where are the stories???

ok and one last thing... in tech... Greg you mentioned that you were worried about the compression test... How was it done, and with what tools (can you post a link to the equipment online?). I am very intersted in our local regions having the actual knowledge and ability to test compression ratios. Was anyone DQ'd in tech this year for that or anything else?

ok, I am out, great job to all, we all (The RST gang) missed you!!! Time to pray for snow and ice... skiing and ice racing here we come!!!

Raymond

PS: One last thing I noticed... when you have IT-7 cars finishing in the top 6 of a 36 car field of ITA and IT-7 cars, I don't think it is time for your car (the RX-7) to move into ITB!!! Actually a real question... do IT-7 cars get something that "IT" cars don't thus making it appear as though an RX-7 is still competitive in ITA when it really isn't?

[Greg Amy]

Thanks, Raymond. Sorry you weren't there, we missed you...

On the compression: my engine was partially disassembled, so it's not something that we can be prepared to do on a regular basis within the division.

No one was DQ'd in ITS-A-B-C that I am aware of; I heard rumors an IT-7 was tossed for ride height or air dam infraction? Jake could speak to that.

It was clear that the focus was on ITA this year, that they (we!) wanted to make sure the winner was legit. The NX was the absolute last car released from tech for the day (even though we were the fourth race), and we were still there well after the last races were complete (and the sun was dipping). On my car they removed and inspected the intake and exhaust manifolds, and had us remove the head from the car. They manually measured the bore and stroke, and "cc'd" the piston dish and combustion chamber, and measured the head gasket. From that they could calculate the compression ratio accurately.

The second and third place cars had to remove the manifolds - but not the heads - for inspection. I inferred from the inspector was that if my car had failed they were prepared to begin teardown on Ruck's second place car, and third place if necessary. I saw Bob Stretch's fourth place car in the impound area (he was not torn down), but I don't recall if I saw any others there.

Obviously, we were all weighed (I came in 12 pounds heavy), and the inspector also had us remove the spare tire from the car to asssure I had not filled it with something (hell, it wasn't even pressurized) and I was also told by a crew guy that they measured our oddball rear rollcage mounting plates for size.

Our "concern" in regards to compression arose from some of the numbers they were getting during the measurement process. They didn't "seem" right - not in terms of their measurement techniques or standards, but the actual numbers themselves did not seem familiar. It gave us quite a fright, especially when they were inside the tech office for an extended period of time (~45 minutes). However, in the end we were released with no problems and awarded the win.

That 21st lap is always the most stressful...

Tech/Impound at the ARRC was NOT an adversarial relationship whatsoever; the Atlanta Region tech inspectors were very pleasant and helpful, even allowing Matt to double-check measurements himself. They allowed our crew guys close access to co-observe all their processes. They double-checked just about everything and went overboard to assure their accuracy; we are completely satisfied with their techniques, processes, and measurements.

On a somewhat-related side note, Matt had built a fresh engine specifically for the ARRC in order to make sure we arrived with a maximum effort. Unfortunately, we ran out of time; Matt was about one day short of being able to install it before our departure for Georgia. We brought it along with us but it stayed strapped in the back of the van the whole week. However, not only did we not need it (thankfully!) but we can proudly say that the engine that was torn down at the ARRC is the same one we used all year long in the Northeast. That is significant in the sense that it should dispell any concerns (assuming there were any) regarding our engine legality during the 2006 NARRC and NERRC season. Hell, we're still running the same transaxle, clutch disc, and pressure plate that we installed 3 years ago!

Watch for wrap-ups, thoughts, ideas, photos, etc at our web site; I'm hoping we can have something in process in a day or two (gotta catch up with reality first!)

Thanks again, all!

Greg

[gsbaker]

(All together now, to the famous "T0-GA! TO-GA!" chant of Animal House...)

A-MY! A-MY! A-MY! A-MY! A-MY! A-MY! A-MY! A-MY! A-MY!...

[Butch Kummer]

The ITS cars running with the TCC Vettes was a joke. What were they thinking???? David Spillman was running a solid 3rd and got taken by one of the TCC cars damaging his quick 240Z.
[/b]

Just so this doesn't get lost, I'll be glad to debate this decision with anyone who ever had responsibility for putting over 300 cars into seven race groups in one day:

We had 27 ITS cars pre-registered in Group 5 (the smallest of the "normal" IT Groups) and over 60 cars in Group 6 (SPO, GTA, LMSC, ITO and TCC), 15 of which were TCC Corvettes. The stewards were considering having split qualifying sessions for Group 6 with each session being 15 minutes, but besides extending the day that also penalizes guys that towed over 800 miles one-way to be at the event. Moving the TCC cars into Group 5 created two groups of 40-45 cars with similar speed and size characteristics, and I fully support the Stewards decisions to do so.

As far as the TCC cars messing up the ITS race, the conditions were the same for everyone. Part of racing is dealing with traffic, some slower and some faster. Next year ITS will have to share the track with ITR (assuming that happens), so that class's days of being the stars of their own show are over - it just happened a year earlier than I thought it would. And even if it was an all ITS race in 2006, who's to say an ITS back-marker wouldn't have affected the eventual outcome either?

And don't tell me to "dis-invite" the non-IT cars because they are making up a larger percentage of the participation every year, they're paying the same entry fee as everyone else and deserve the same amount of track time for their money.

Congratulations to the winners, condolences to the non-winners and we hope to see y'all in 2007 (we've already begun the planning process)...

Butch Kummer
ARRC Committee Chairman
Atlanta Region Competition Director

[dspillrat]

ITS from front row perspective....8 seconds worth!!

ITS was a little slower time wise when compared historically to last 5 years, weather had some effect....course many of "big" names no longer racing with ITS...Trembly, Haskell, Wittle, Thomas, Clay and others that have moved on to larger ponds, or just quit racing. Natural ebb and flow of participants I guess.
Paired with those dang vettes will be a sure way of depleteing our ranks at the ARRC. Split start spaced what, 10 seconds apart defeated purpose of split...I'd rather started in the middle of TCC crowd , then trying to get around the slow end of that field.

Bills Corrado, Is a bullet!! Hard to understand his 4 wheel discs having cooling issues....great drive Bill, smart driving at that to realize impending brake failure, before comple loss occurs.

From my front row start, and I might add at the ARRC no less, nerves were a issue. Haven't been up front in several years. Huffmaster is good kid...but I did leave him plenty of room down the hill, my carwouldn't hold up to the beating that he and Wttle gave each other before the green flag last year. Great start the datsun torque pulled a half car length, only to brain fart and brake early at normal spot at end of pit out wall ......Kip took my position, and frankly I was surprised I didn't lose more spots...

The VW gradually made up time on me and passed aftger 3 laps or so, for a couple of laps Bill pulled out further, until brakes became a issue, got back around cleanly. Lap or two more 3rd thru 6 positions became "stuck" behind a Vette Lap after Lap...Vette was slowed in 12 by a lap car, and I finally got by in one, Yes, I had installed the chicane behind me!! Had been able to save tires and brakes somewhat behind the vette, and I'm comfortable in finishing race while running respectable laps. Somehow the Vette I'd just passed in turn one manages to just run me down on back straight enough to pull a incredibly dumbass dive bomb on me in 10-a.....hey Dude we're not racing ..matter of fact no one in sight behind you, no one in sight in front of you....Why slide out of control off track then back across track to collect me? AGGHHH...
But quite honestly Having only raced a couple of times this year, I was surprised with the success I had during the weekend, give me some more track time in 07, and the old Datsun will be back with vengence next year....Just please don't put us with the vettes!!!!

Couple of stories in ITS race had to be the vettes... and a couple of passes made while yellow out in one......no papers filed, workers didn't report, so really I guess it didn't happen.

If the ITS group had more cars, we might have dodged the vette implants, but we just have to get more cars out there at the ARRC.

David Spillman

[seckerich]

Glad to see you post this Butch. I would agree that the size and lap times were close but the speed differences in most areas of the track were big. You did the best you could given the situation and given the mess group 6 turned out to be I'm sure they were glad to get out. Congratulations on a well run event from start to finish. I have not run Atlanta for many years and it was fun to come back and run with this group. The ITS drivers were all a class act and drove hard and clean and were a pleasure to race against.

That said--registration left something to be desired. ONE line for drivers who just needed to pay or add a worker? Stood in line Thursday night for over an hour when the line went all the way into the parking lot and all the other windows were asking for "Express" entries but could not find the time to help the one poor lady who was handling 80% of the entries. Everyone does not know a month ahead when we enter who can get off work to crew. Many just needed to hand them a check--only one person capable of handling money? I saw the "Express line empty for 30 minutes and would not help anyone else and you were standing there with us. If this was an attempt to teach us to enter and do everything online or pay by standing in a very long line--I got the message. I may just choose to spend my money elsewhere next time. No disrespect to the volunteers and I thanked the lady who finally registered me for working.

[DavidM]

Evan blew one of his brand new ground control advance design struts in the ITA sprint race, but said he managed to pass Bob before it completely went and put him out. I don't know what happened in the enduro. He didn't have a very good weekend as his truck is leaking diesel fuel as well and hopefully he makes it back home sometime today. Thanks to Chris and Francis for the hospitality and yummy cajun food.

The start of the ITA race was a mess behind the first few rows. A yellow miata went off in one, dirt tracked around the outside, and shot back onto the track. I had visions of a t-bone with a massive pile up and eased off to attempt to avoid any contact. He somehow saved it without hitting anyone or being hit, which meant I promptly got passed by 5 or 6 cars. I then got stuck on the outside behind all the other people that had let up. Once things sorted out I wound up behind the two GMC cars in the race - the fiero and spirit. I was much better than they were from 1-6 and was right behind them in 7, but they pulled 2-3 car lengths on me down the back straight. The fiero got slowed coming out of 10 while being lapped and I managed to get by. I had an IT7 guy behind me for a while, but pulled away from him and had a boring race the rest of the way. I managed to knock 2 seconds off my personal best lap time, but I'm still pretty damn slow. I had lots of fun, though.

David

[Butch Kummer]

Steve,

Registration continues to be one of our challenges and we're still working on it. Adding crew members and/or changing drivers requires additional paperwork to be filed (lawyers and waivers), but I agree that having a "need to pay only" window is a viable option. I'll add it to the list.

Putting TCC in with ITS seemed to be the least offensive solution to the oversubscription in Group 6. It's likely ITS will be combined with ITR in 2007, TCC in with ITO (which has a chance to be a BIG class if we can get the word out during the year), then SPO, GTA & LMSC as a separate group. Now all I need to do is figure out how to add an extra hour of sunlight to Saturdays in November. And don't forget the open-wheeled folks are complaining about speed (and experience) disparities in their group as well.

If the (National) BOD maintains their recent direction of adding National classes and letting participation determine who competes at the Runoffs in 2008, the underlying philosophy of the ARRC could very well be altered, too. Instead of the "National Championship event for non-National classes", we may become the "National Championship event for non-Runoffs classes". Don't know HOW that one's going to fit into a three-day schedule (particularly when everybody wants Sunday to get home).

Thanks for your coments, we ARE listening...

Butch

[RSTPerformance]

That said--registration left something to be desired. ONE line for drivers who just needed to pay or add a worker? Stood in line Thursday night for over an hour when the line went all the way into the parking lot and all the other windows were asking for "Express" entries but could not find the time to help the one poor lady who was handling 80% of the entries. Everyone does not know a month ahead when we enter who can get off work to crew. Many just needed to hand them a check--only one person capable of handling money? I saw the "Express line empty for 30 minutes and would not help anyone else and you were standing there with us. If this was an attempt to teach us to enter and do everything online or pay by standing in a very long line--I got the message. I may just choose to spend my money elsewhere next time. No disrespect to the volunteers and I thanked the lady who finally registered me for working.
[/b]

I was not at the event so I have no idea if registration is/was good or bad, but I can say the 3 times I have been it has been awful. I think if you were to do some research and look back at past ARRC postings you will see that EVERY YEAR the event as a whole is a class act, from parking to the trophies... However everyone with exceptions to some locals generally feel that registration is awful. Unfortunatly I doubt it will ever change, but think of positive, your standing in line drinking beer (or something else) with a bunch of friends, whats the difference between that and standing around your paddock spot?

Raymond "think positive" Blethen

[R2 Racing]

Just finally got home about 1pm today and first things first, congrats to Greg on running a great race. He got out front and stayed there, even with Joe breathing down his neck for the first half of the race.

Prior to the race, I was finally feeling good for the first time the whole weekend. Up until then I wasn't very impressed with my driving and the car was screaming at me to quit fiddling around and give it the right setup. To solve the driving like crap issue, I realized that I was driving pretty conservatively in practice and qualifying because honestly, after how the last two months have gone, I wasn't about to wreck the damn thing again and not even make the race. I also spent some time watching my in-car and convincing myself to quit driving like a pussy. I adjusted the setup once again for the Saturday morning warm up session and was finally pretty happy with my driving and how the car felt. Before the race though, I made one more adjustment to the car that I was pretty confident was going to make it rotate a bit better in 7 and 10a. So all in all, I felt pretty good before the race.

At the start, I was able to get pass Bob Moser but allowed Bob Stretch to squeeze by into turn one. Down the backstraight, I was able to pass Stretch and firmly latch myself onto the back bumper of Greg and Joey up front. At the end of the fourth lap, Greg, Joey, and I were within 3/4 of a second of eachother and I had even clicked off two laps in the 1:43's. Unfortunately on lap five, I ran wide going into the esses, took a creative line through the grass, and gave up several car lengths to the leaders and allowed Bob Moser to catch up behind me. Then on that same lap I missed my shift to fifth down the backstraight, effectively giving third position to Bob and waving bye-bye to Greg and Joey. A very bad lap that was my fault and only mine. A little frustrating because I really thought I had the car to stay with those guys as it was just a rocket from start to finish. But, I did get to spend the next ten laps racing really hard with Bob Moser. We're both Great Lakes Division guys who know eachother well and just as expected, we never once touched. Not a single time. We passed eachother eleven times during that race and never once touched or made any rediculous dive bomb moves. Greg already said the same about Bob's son, Joey. These guys are just awesome and I love racing with them!

Anyways, on the 15th lap, I was finally able to get around Bob for the last time and stretched out on him in a last ditch, no chance in hell effort to catch Greg who was about 11 seconds ahead of me. At the end of the 20 laps, I had cut the gap down to about 7.5 seconds, but I'm sure Greg was in cruise mode by that point.

All in all, I can't be too upset but I wanted that one badly. Really though, only 7.5 weeks prior to the ARRC, the car had been rolled over twice and I wasn't even sure if it was fixable, or if I even wanted to try. But after an absolute metric crap-ton of work by my Dad and I (mainly him!), we got it there, we ran well, and I came home improving on my 3rd place last year, with the fastest ITA lap time, and as the highest placing Integra. I suppose asking for more than that is getting greedy. But man am I glad the offseason is here because I need a break! :P

Oh yea, and Greg, I've never been more excited to pop a head off of a car as I was at about 5pm on Saturday. Good show, old man! Also, you should've seen my face as I was coming down the hill into 10a and saw your car go completely sideways! I thought for sure you were about 1/2 a second from being buried to your axles in the sandtrap. The only thing I could think of was "Oh my God, the Great Lakes Division is about to take first through fourth at the ITA ARRC race!" (we were 2nd through 5th at the time, prior to Jan and Joey's mechanical failures). But that all got dashed quickly, as Greg somehow pulled that thing back in! It gave me a great idea though. Since he's selling the egg and looking for something different, how does "Greg Amy, professional drifter" sound?

I'll try and get some of my in-car video up sometime soon so you guys can see Bob and I going at it. It's great video!

[DavidM]

Steve,

Registration continues to be one of our challenges and we're still working on it. Adding crew members and/or changing drivers requires additional paperwork to be filed (lawyers and waivers), but I agree that having a "need to pay only" window is a viable option. I'll add it to the list.

Putting TCC in with ITS seemed to be the least offensive solution to the oversubscription in Group 6. It's likely ITS will be combined with ITR in 2007, TCC in with ITO (which has a chance to be a BIG class if we can get the word out during the year), then SPO, GTA & LMSC as a separate group. Now all I need to do is figure out how to add an extra hour of sunlight to Saturdays in November. And don't forget the open-wheeled folks are complaining about speed (and experience) disparities in their group as well.

If the (National) BOD maintains their recent direction of adding National classes and letting participation determine who competes at the Runoffs in 2008, the underlying philosophy of the ARRC could very well be altered, too. Instead of the "National Championship event for non-National classes", we may become the "National Championship event for non-Runoffs classes". Don't know HOW that one's going to fit into a three-day schedule (particularly when everybody wants Sunday to get home).

Thanks for your coments, we ARE listening...

Butch
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I think the biggest issue was that the express line wasn't. There was one window for express and 3 for other. I think two windows for express (pre-paid with no changes) and two for other would work. If either line gets empty then the empty windows should be able to help people in the other line as well. And make sure it's clear that express is for no changes only.

As mentioned, waiting in line is good for drinking beer and socializing so it wasn't that bad, but it'd be nice if it was faster.

David