Greeting from Oklahoma

[freeland]

Hi,

My name is Joe Freeland from Pauls Valley OK. I'm 48, married, with 3 small kids (girls). I've been working SCCA and vintage races at Hallett and Texas Motor Speedway for a few years. I'd always wanted to know if I had the guts to race myself. After reading Dave's book "Go Ahead, Take Out Your Checkbook..." or something like that, I sold an MGA I had and bought a new MINI Cooper S (which I love).

So far, I've done 3 track days at Hallett (which I have also loved). I plan on taking the school at Hallett this month, one day in my MINI and the second day in a rental race car. I'm probably going to use one of their Spec Racer Fords, just because it's handy. My plan is (if all of this goes like I hope) to take the SCCA school at Hallett in September.

I'm not ready to purchase a car, but when I do, I think I'll be looking for a fwd IT car, maybe even before the SCCA school, since I don't know what I'll be doing between April and September other than track days in my MINI.

I haven't seen a lot of discussion about Hallett here. If there's anyone that races Hallett, I'd like to meet you. I'll be working grid or hot pits for the races this month (12th-13th). I also plan on working at Eagles Canyon, which is quite a bit closer to where I live than Hallett.

Anyway, thought I'd introduce myself. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Joe

[x-ring]

After reading Dave's book "Go Ahead, Take Out Your Checkbook..."

...I think I'll be looking for a fwd IT car...

There's a couple of VERY reasonably priced cars listed here now.

Oh, BTW, welcome to the madness...

[dickita15]

When I started the best thing I did was to get a car that others in the region were running so there were lots of people to ask dumb question on any given weekend. What is being run around your area? What guys do you want to hang out with in the paddock?

[JeffYoung]

The best thing about this post is you are going about this the right way. STart with HPDE. Move up to racing slowly, and in a "bought" car. STart with a FWD A/B/C car.

Basically everything I didn't do.

For FWD, you can't go wrong with the CRX/Honda/Acura stuff.

[IPRESS]

Joe, I will be at Hallet with the Saferacer gang. My car will be ITA #40 a miata (shuu don't tell anybody around here, miatas are sort of outcasts at improvedtouring.com) You are more then welcome to stop by and look around and ask questions. I started much like you are doing about 10 years ago at close to the same age. I went to the Stephens Bros. school and raced a COMMA race at the end of the school (in the wet ) Great experience and set a hook that I will never shake. The only bad thing is I started at 45 instead of 15. (of course I would be far "broker") Do a bunch of research and find out what best fits your idea of what you want to do. For example, in my case I have trouble operating a screwdriver. So I looked for a low maintainence plug and play racecar ie a miata. In fact my first one was the first SM built other then the two guys that started the class. I moved to ITA when SM went National and the class became crazy competitive. (Although I still think it is a great race class and I still run SM every once in a while.) IT is the perfect place to race for me. Everybody is friendly and pretty low key in MidDiv. ( I live in Tex Region but race in MidDiv more because of the two race weekends.) I may have seen you as I work registration at TMS for most SCCA weekends. We are looking forward to seeing Eagles Canyon too.

See you at Hallett.

[Turkflyer]

I'll be at Hallett too....chasing that Fast Old Fart from Ft. Worth (in another Miata). He'll be the one in the lead (until he takes his Agricultural Expedition to the tire walls....and I'll be right behind him). Mine is #83, red and white. Lots of car choices in these classes. All are fun. Pick one you're comfortable with and it may help to know someone that races one of that make to ask questions and help with set-up/tuning. Mac can win at Hallett in a grocery cart....he's a good driver (I won't admit that in public)

[Gary L]

I haven't seen a lot of discussion about Hallett here. If there's anyone that races Hallett, I'd like to meet you.

We'll be at Hallett in the #50 ITB Volvo, glad to chew the fat anytime. Incidentally, we're fairly close neighbors... we live about 12 miles east of downtown OKC.

[lateapex911]

When I started the best thing I did was to get a car that others in the region were running so there were lots of people asking ME dumb question on any given weekend.

Fixed that for you Dick!
Dick makes a GREAT point....choosing a car that has "Brothers" at the track can be key...you aren't an island.

Of course, here's an "island" thats really pretty, and really really CHEAP! (And will WIN)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SCCA-...QQcmdZViewItem

[pballance]

Welcome Joe, You will find that this bunch is a pretty good bunch of guys.

If you need help with racing stuff look up my old friend in OK City, Robert Weaver. He runs production mazda's and has his own repair shop. PM me if you need contact information. If you do look him up, tell him hello for me.

Welcome to the fray.....

Paul

[freeland]

Thanks for the warm welcome, what a great group!

I’ve been checking out the classifieds here, but I don’t think I’m ready to buy a car right now. It really surprises me that everyone seems to be encouraging me to go ahead and buy a car. I had expected the opposite…”rent for a while, especially for the schools, so you won’t have to worry about the car, just the driving”.

After the Hallett school, I think I’ll be ready to think about it more seriously. The exception would be if I could find something that is still street legal. That really appeals to me now. I know Donald Carl, from Sand Springs, OK. He has a Dodge Neon in ITA at SCCA races. I’ve visited with him and his wife at a participant party one night. He’s the one that really got me interested in IT because he is able to do it so reasonably. At that time he was racing the same car he drove to work each day. If I get heavily into racing, I’m going to have to do it at the same time I’m trying to put three daughters through college.

What is being run around here? From what I can tell, it’s pretty good mixture. Seems like Miatas and RX7’s more than anything else, but nothing else stands out. I’ll look more closely at the next races.

It’s great that some of you are going to be at Hallett for the SCCA races. I’ll likely be working the grid or hot pits. I’m the overweight (but working on it) 48 year old guy. If there are a lot of grid workers, I might go to a corner. I love working; if I start driving I’ll really miss it.

Gary, I know you! I’ve met and visited with you before in the paddock. I doubt you remember, but I was asking you if you ever ran the CVAR races and we talked about that shortly.

Mac, I’m sure I’ve seen you at TMS. I’ve been working there for a few years in Timing with Kim and Reb. I always make the participant party at TMS, but not always at Hallett since I have a sister I visit in Tulsa. I’m not much of a mechanic. I’ve owned 4 MGs in my life, which is enough mechanical frustration for anyone. I still have two that are suffering from major neglect and I hate working on them.

Thanks again for your welcome and comments.

Joe Freeland
Pauls Valley OK

[freeland]

I've been doing a lot more reading and studying about my next step. I found a thread from a couple of years ago on this forum about street legal race cars which was good reading.

I think I'll just take the one day Hallett school in my MINI right now and do some more track days in my MINI until I'm able to find a street legal IT car for a reasonable price. I can take the $800 to $1000 I was going to spend renting a car and put that on the purchase. It's a big step for me, but it's probably not as big of a financial gamble as I was thinking it would be.

Looking forward to seeing some of you and some racing this weekend at Hallett.

Stay safe.

Joe

[fiat124girl]

Joe,

Jude and I will be in Hallett this weekend with our AS car (it is camo colored) and the ITR Mustang, stop by and say hi.

[freeland]

Hey Jennifer,

I look forward to meeting you and Jude.

I hope I have time to get by and see everyone in the paddock. I expect to be working on grid or hot pits, which doesn't give me a lot of time to socialize.

I'm so excited! This is my first day at the track this year.

Good luck to everyone this weekend.

Joe