2011 Race At Charlotte Motor Speedway - Format?

[Parrish57]

My only suggesting is a clearer rule on how far inside the white line in 3a and 3b you are allowed to go. It certainly seemed the "more" inside I went the better my laptimes, but it felt a bit like a-cheatin'.

the last time we raced there they lined the inside of those corners with empty plastic drums. The limits were very clearly defined then!

[seckerich]

OK, Long post on weekend. 175-180 cars with great weather. Saturday started with the Charlotte Hornets booster club (hornets nest) all over the infield starting at 6:00 am setting up for autofair that is a week away?? Big wig informed us he was not leaving so management for CMS had to come to the track to remove them. Next year we will hand out paintball guns to group 1 and give deductions for every hit. Had time in the schedule after open wheel was combined so we caught back up. Big groups with some real good racing. After group 2 we realised there were quite a few number problems, turned out the orbits software was defaulting to the race from May at CMP. I am too stupid to run it so left it to more able folks to fix. Results were a challenge to say the least but the workers pulled it together and got things fixed.

As some have mentioned we did have some real creative corner cutting because CMS paved a large area inside 3A-3B for the drift crowd, and we were not allowed barrels by safety. We will find an alternative next race. Special thanks to all the drivers that came to me with problems with a great attitude so we could get them fixed, this was my first race at CMS as chair and EVERYTHING had changed since 2006. Track officials and security were incredible and I still can not believe they rolled that fork lift so fast Saturday night to get the armco fixed to continue the CCPS race. I was driving the pace car for that race and figured we would run the clock out before going back green. As I said in my earlier post please be brutally honest in your emails to me about what needs fixed for next year, I want this to be a great future race for us all.

Race Chair hat off, driver hat on.

Only had time to run one race and still work, so I brought train wreck out. Had the wrong gear in with no time to change so had to live with it. Hooked up on the bumper of "the shape of the future" TR8 of Jeff Young and he punched a big enough hole to drive my trailer through. Still could not stick on his bumper through 3-4 as I kept bogging down and would gain some back in the tri oval. He did help me a 10th to get the grid spot in front of him.
By race time I knew I had to try something else so I just twisted a lower gear longer to keep under the bumper of the cars in front. ITS Mazda's will turn past 9000. Had a run on Chuck Hines coming into 3 but stayed in the draft and pushed him through the corner so he closed real fast on the lead pair of Thompson and Parrish. He ducked right between the wall and Parrish in the brake zone and the car stepped out and they were both collected into the wall. I will leave fault to those involved. Dove to the bottom to avoid and ended up right on the bumper of Kent. Went full course and when we went back green I just stayed glued to his bumper and let him pull me. We ran the second half of the race within a 10th every lap. Last lap Kent got a bad exit on the banking and I got right to his bumper down the back straight. We had an IT7 mid track entering 3 so it was decision time. To hard to pull down so I went very high to the wall and the IT7 moved down giving Kent the middle line. I got a good run down the banking and closed fast but Kent saw me at the last minute and covered the line. No time for another move so he got a much deserved win.

Pulled the car in the trailer and went to work as race chair.

[iambhooper]

....Ditto that............ Hot ----YES....... Fun-----you bet

Racing under the lights was "The Bomb" Man what an experience. Going over the rise into turn three was almost like driving with your eyes closed.... WOW.

Had quite a battle up front with the Acura Integra Type R during the CCPS race "Under the Lights". We were nose to tail at 140+ on the oval..... Just praying nothing goes flat or breaks

Steve Eckerich.......... Class Act..... You made the difference and I Thank You. Your efforts were above and beyond

I think someone owes us all a look at their in car cam video of a certain spin

Steve, thanks to you and Vicky for all the hard work!

[Trackrat ITR 81]

[QUOTE=iambhooper;326743]I think someone owes us all a look at their in car cam video of a certain spin

Too bad my GoPro was pointed rearward or I would have had a really memorable vid.

However...I can describe it in vivid, detail

to Ricky for keeping it off the walls.

It was great to be back at CMS again. What a great event. Kudos to the SCCA crew!

[SPiFF]

Hey TrackRat. Nice lap time Sunday. Represent for the VTEC crew. Will you come out to any more SCCA races this year? Goblins or the ARRC?

[Trackrat ITR 81]

Thanks Dood! Still plenty of opportunity for improvement

Gonna do VIR Goblins and maybe ARRC.

[Russ Myers]

Where can we get copies of official results for contengiency prizes? I never could get results for group 4.

Russ

[ITA_honda]

Im just throwing this out there...doesnt it really suck to go back to work the week after an amazing race weekend like we had?

Seriously though, thanks to all who were involved in making this event a success. Im glad I made the trip down to race. The facility at CMS is wonderful and the people make it even better. If there is another race in 2012 planned, Im there.

And yes, there is no better feeling that going in to turn 3 balls out, feel that car set...and just go for it. Not to mention all you can see is the pavement and wall..that is crazy

[Trackrat ITR 81]

Where can we get copies of official results for contengiency prizes? I never could get results for group 4.

Russ

Officials said final results may not be available until Wed or Thurs. There were some T&S challenges to work out.

[SPiFF]

Thanks Dood! Still plenty of opportunity for improvement

Gonna do VIR Goblins and maybe ARRC.

Sweet. I will be at both. Long time no see.

[seckerich]

Where can we get copies of official results for contengiency prizes? I never could get results for group 4.

Russ

As soon as I get full official results I will post them in PDF form on the CCR site so you can get copies. I understand there were a few protests and stewards action in some groups.

[Russ Myers]

Thanks, Steve. I'll be back next year. I love that track.

Russ

[iambhooper]

Im just throwing this out there...doesnt it really suck to go back to work the week after an amazing race weekend like we had?

True that! I know it's a roval, but I love that place!

[cjb25hs]

No need to dwell on the obvious with the grid problems for the Saturday night CCPS.

Only suggestion I have is possibly tweaking the schedule so if you are running both a double CCPS and double SARRC that Saturday isn't so busy. I know with the restriction on Sunday start time that may be hard to do. Maybe instead of having a CCPS hardship on Sunday, make it the Sunday qualifier and moving the CCPS to later in the schedule since Group 2 is no the only group that runs in it.

[seckerich]

Not much room to change either day around. I did have the run groups flipped for Sunday (6-5-4-3-2) where open wheel was supposed to run after the CCPS to give more transition time. Somehow it got switched back with all the changes to the supps by different officials. That is one of the downsides to electronic forms, you can miss a small change that does not get saved. We will look at the schedule and see if we can make it better.

[Mazmarc63]

I need some video. Mine is 16 years old and on VHS.

[JeffYoung]

Still installing mine....

[seckerich]

Careful Mark, he called me a washed up dinosaur on the RR board and now you admit to VHS. I had no camera in but Parrish did and might share. Stewards might still have his though.

[JeffYoung]

Hey! I called you a grizzled old veteran......

I'll e-mail Steve P.

Was there a decision by the Stewards on the Sunday incident? I noticed that Mylaps had the final results up.

Careful Mark, he called me a washed up dinosaur on the RR board and now you admit to VHS. I had no camera in but Parrish did and might share. Stewards might still have his though.

[seckerich]

Results posted on the CCR website.

http://www.ccrscca.com/