MIDAM BONUS Regional at GIR Registration Open

[Turkflyer]

Yes, Green Acres is overflowing with "opportunities" at the moment. Just added cattle to the tree and hay operation, and it is causing some challenges. It'll settle down in a few weeks and things will be back to normal. Looking forward to getting back to STL and racing next season. Have fun, wish I were there!!

[volante]

Travis it must just be you cause anytime I call he answers or calls back,see you douchbags on friday!

Dave V

[IPRESS]

Dropped the trailer at the track about 7pm. Dan was very nice and showed me where the entire Douche Contingent would be sequestered! I told him I was with Volante never heard of that Tnord guy! Actually he put me in a good spot and the rest of the yahoos can pile in around.... see ya tomorrow, looks like it may be damp.

Oh BTW, stopped at Saferacer's new showroom this morning, Charlie did it up right. Derek worked on my setup and I got to watch the SM Runoffs tape while in the car. Nice place. If you are in the Joplin area it would be a nice place to stop.

[tnord]

Car; still on jackstands. I think it's ready.
Trailer; in the driveway not hooked up yet.
Tools/spares/etc; still laying around in the garage.
Food; I think I've got enough water and snacks for the weekend laying around in the cupboard and refrigerator.
Clothes; Some in the bag, some still in the hamper.
Beer; In the truck and ready to go.

what are you doing up Mac? I should be leaving here by 11, there by 3:30. Hopefully cornerweighted and ready to go by 5:30. Beer consumed at 5:31.

[77ITA]

I&#39;m still at the garage tonight finishing things up. <strike>Quick</strike> time consuming alignment in the AM, wash up the car, and I&#39;ll make the 3 mile tow to the track in the afternoon.

No testing for me this weekend.. I need to save all my nitrous for the race


Can&#39;t wait for the fun this weekend guys... remember to just ask if you need a hand with anything.

[Turkflyer]

Looks like it&#39;s damp there today. Travis....let me know how "Flat out into T1" goes in this weather. Just follow that "Fast Ole Fart"....he&#39;ll know the lines there. You might borrow some of Jeff&#39;s Nitrous, that way he&#39;ll be short for the actual races. Y&#39;all play nice!

[Speed Raycer]

Test day was cancelled due to the wet conditions & dry weekend forecast..

I was all set to have a nice slow race in IT7 on Sunday.... Now there&#39;s 5 of us and i&#39;m bringing a slingshot to a gun fight!

[m glassburner]

Well....how did it go today ??...mike

[IPRESS]

Jeff drove a nice race and was first. S. Johnson was second (starting from DFL), Travis was third.
I got loose out of the Carousel and knocked my toe funny while in the lead. Jeff and I got together and I went dirt surfing. Car wouldn&#39;t turn left very well after that and I caught the tirewall at T2. Was still able to finish, but I think i need a few more laps to learn where you can go at Gateway.
Congrats to Jeff on driving a good race when he really needed it to win the MidAM.

[m glassburner]

I wish I could have seen the race sounded like an exciting one

[Speed Raycer]

What happend with the Capri?

Looked like a piece of ITA history won&#39;t be coming back....

[77ITA]

Mac, Travis...

Excellent racing with the both of you this weekend. Those were some of the fastest laptimes I&#39;ve ever run in the Neon and I sure had to work hard for it during Saturday&#39;s race.

I&#39;m not sure if I&#39;ll be running the championship next year, but I&#39;ll be looking forward to seeing both of you on track. Ed, wish you could have been here! You missed a great one.

On another subject, what was the deal with the damn pace car driver? After the ITC car wrecked during Saturday&#39;s race, I exited turn two and found the pace car stopped on the inside shoulder (next to the wreck). He was just sitting there and the passenger waved myself and about three other cars by. Next thing I know, full course black flag/all and there were corner workers calling me in for blowing by the pacecar. I explained, they figured it all out, and straightened up the field, but then the damn pace car driver screwed up again. They started us off in the pit lane with the pacecar in front and then he pulled off at the end of pit lane.

So, I&#39;m already confused and then station two didn&#39;t have any flags displayed.... "Were we green? we can&#39;t be green!" I thought to myself.

There was no pacecar and no flags, so it was very confusing! station four(?) thankfully threw the double yellow and I carried it around at what I estimated to be a good pace until the starter gave me green. Am I correct in assuming that the pace car should have carried us out if he started with us? I&#39;d never been more confused behind the wheel of a race car.

[Turkflyer]

Darn, sorry I missed it. The cows are just now settling down and in the right pasture. I wish MyLaps had the times. We&#39;ll see you guys next year. Congrats to Jeff and everyone else!

[brprok81]

Sorry guys I am having trouble getting the results uploaded to mylaps. I lost access to the wireless network that I was stealing to access the internet from the T&S computer. I should be able to get the results up tomorrow when I get off work.

Congrats to Jeff and thanks to everyone who came out to Gateway this year. Hope to see you all out next year.

[tnord]

:sigh:

on the whole a disappointing weekend for me. i never did quite figure that place out, and was ultimately a half second slower than i was hoping to be. part of it was poor tires, but more of it was my crappy driving all weekend. it should be easy with only 7 turns.

given the first AM qualifying was wet and almost completely useless for learning anything, i was somewhat ok with the qualifying time i turned in. i got my doors blown off at the start, but managed to sneak by jeff going into 5. i thought i had enough of a gap back to jeff to drive my normal line going into T1, but his knowledge and comfort with that track gave him the courage to complete a clean pass under braking for T2. i have to admit, i really wasn&#39;t expecting that at all.

i tucked under and followed jeff until we got back up to Mac (i think he missed a shift that gave us back a big chunk of the multiple second lead he had on us). They had their racing incident, and it was down to me and Jeff. i had a HHHHUUUUUUUUUUUGE lockup going into T2 and destroyed my LF. worst flatspot i&#39;ve ever had, it was bad enough that during the black flag all i had a grid worker look at it to see if he thought it was going to blow up since i wasn&#39;t allowed out of the car. anyway, i really had nothing for these guys after about lap 8 and just spent the rest of the race hoping it would hold together. it was down through a couple layers of cords and probably wouldn&#39;t have lasted much longer. Yes, I agree that was an extremely odd restart. Glad I didn&#39;t get caught out on it too bad. Seemed like everyone behind me did though.

Ed -

I never went flat through T1, but i did go in with only a lift a couple times. with the too-aggressive brakes i have, and the car being so unsettled over that transition, it&#39;s just not worth the risk. i don&#39;t think it&#39;s really any faster either, as you end up being all asses-and-elbows and are too slow through T2.




Thanks to Mac for sharing a garage stall (Dan does seem like a good guy in person :P ) and for buying enough pizza to feed the whole paddock saturday afternoon. Good luck at the ARRC, hopefully we&#39;ll get to race at Hallett next year.

Congratulations Jeff.

PS - STL Region does the best job of anyone at keeping the event running quickly. 5min whistle as the last group is on cool down lap, 2 qual sessions on saturday, and all races over before 330 today. i left after the SM race and was home to KC before 730. knowing i can get home at a decent time makes me far more likely to come back sooner than 4yrs this time.

[Turkflyer]

Travis....don&#39;t kid upself, STL can be a difficult track. Going into T1, I also just lift momentarily, or tap the brakes to rotate, then back on the power over the bump, then brake hard as the car settles and turn in. Jeff knows the track well and is a master on T/1-2. He passes me regularly there. It sounds like Jeff brought his "A" game. Congrats to all....it sounds like you had a good time. Mac bought pizza?......sorry I missed that too!

[m glassburner]

Any video ??

[IPRESS]

Wish i could drive the racecar as well as I tow. We made it home in just under 11 hours including dropping Martha-Nell at the Airport in STL. (I think Shelley tows better / faster then me.) Eleven hours allows you some time to figure out how dumb you can be. Also how good / smart others are.
Jeff really did a good job of wheeling the Neon Saturday. Much faster and more aggressive then any other time we have raced. Overall I think our cars are very close on that track. I got comfortable enough during second Q seesion to get a better time, but during the race he was consistent through T1 & T2 and that really is important at STL. I think for the most part the miata beats the Neon on the turn back on to the oval, but the Neon has the HP / TQ to cover any advantage. Cars are close. Drivers at STL NOT! My lack of time at the track showed up in the race for sure (not to mention my stupidity.) For some reason I thought I should win the race on the first few laps. After breaking away from Jeff & Travis I got the ol "your doing great, you are way ahead," on the radio and proceeded to have traffic & missed shift problem. This let them catch back up even as they diced. SOOO in my great wisdom i decided to do my best not to get passed by taking an inside line where it really is not a good idea to. Two wheels off, contact, all wheels off spinning dirt, OH SHIT! Back on track wheel is not exactly straight. Still lead cars in sight so back on the hammer. T1 not bad...T2 OH SHHHHHHIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT! car does not want to turn left very well and here comes MR. TIREWALL! Bang, actually double bang. Car will still run and steer so back on the track. Radio says the nose is bent to hell, but fenders don&#39;t look too bad. Side door has a Neon rash, but I am sure his does too. Double Yellow comes out for the Capri. Then black flag brings us in for a short wait, we go back out and I am behind some B & C cars as we pace around the track i am yelling GO GO GO, but the B & C cars are gapping back for almost a split start. OH WELL, lets finish the last couple of laps and get ready for ARRC.
Jeff ran a smart race and showed his skill where he was most comfortable. He had his car well prepped (Dang you Burkett ) and ramped up his game when he needed to. Very Good job.
Thanks to the whole paddock for fixing my car after the crash, I could have run it Sunday, but glad I came on home so I can start getting it ready for ARRC today. Travis, Sidewalk, Volante, Jerrod, Renny Bobby, Paige, Zman, Scott, Brian, and anybody else thanks it was fun and you guys are the best. Got to thank the officals also, STL bunch were very nice. Thanks to my crew (daughters Martha- Nell and Shelley they are great helpers.)
It was a fun season ....good racing, and fun times in the Midwest in 07.
Got to go beat out some fenders.
Mac

[Racerlinn]

What happend with the Capri?

Looked like a piece of ITA history won&#39;t be coming back....
[/b]

Was it an ITA blue with white stripes from GLDIV? Maybe with a For Sale sign on it?

[77ITA]

Thanks for the compliments guys, I worked my butt off for this one. I have to say thanks to Dave Jones for some tips and tricks that helped me get the car better set-up before the race. The only credit Burkett gets is for the door bars on my roll cage and for being an awesome business owner :P

I was so focused during the race that I can&#39;t even remember how the position changes went. I only wish I had incar video to re-live it all.

The carrousel is an interesting one, eh Mac? I remember catching up to you and being right on your bumper in the braking zone. You went out to the left (proper line) until you saw me trying to squeak by on the inside. When you came back over to guard your position, I could see that your wheels were pointed in the right direction, but the tires just couldn&#39;t swing it. You under-steered, put either two or four wheels off and came back on track right into my door and rear wheel. No worries though, the contact is half the fun!

Travis is the MVP though... I can&#39;t believe you finished the race on that tire! I only remember seeing a cloud of tire smoke in my mirror and hoping that you didn&#39;t put it into the wall.

Thanks for the memorable race guys. Your competition made me push farther and drive harder than I ever have before.