NHMS, day one

[Ed Funk]

ITE
Ferguson, Cerasoli, Dobbins

ITB
Wentworth, Curran, Washay

ITR
Maynard, Breault, Munroe

ITS
Lawton, Piekarski, Stadelman

[Ed Funk]

IT7
Sheppard, Patullo, Swan

ITA
Bettencourt, Lawton, Tsiounis

No ITC

[Greg Amy]

ITS - Lawton, Piekarski, Stadelman

Glenn damaged his trans in morning qualifying. I'd heard he headed home to change it. So then he makes it back to the track in time and wins the race?? Sweet.

IT7 - Sheppard, Patullo, Swan

Dan comprehensively destroyed his blue IT7 car last weekend at a hillclimb (Tree, 1; DS, zip). Instead of licking his wounds and moping like I would have done, he called Faita and Patullo and literally dug out a flood-damaged race car from the dirt outside their shop and swapped out all the damn parts from his blue car. In 5 days. And then wins the race.

Sweet.

ITA - Bettencourt, Lawton, Tsiounis

Andy's running at the higher June 1 weight...that car needs 100 more pounds!!!

(Just kidding...no really, just kidding. Really. Mostly)

[Jeremy Billiel]

Are you in NH Greg?

[Greg Amy]

Are you in NH Greg?

Not any more. Worked tech for school/test day and first half of today, came home to Reality for the rest of the weekend. - GA

[lawtonglenn]

Glenn damaged his trans in morning qualifying. I'd heard he headed home to change it.
So then he makes it back to the track in time and wins the race?? Sweet.

... yes indeed... input shaft snapped on qualifying lap 1 ...
home is about 25 minutes away ... up on the lift ... swapped in
another transmission in 1.5hr ... back on the trailer ... back to
the track in time to change tires, get dressed, start from the back

We have 4 in our crew this weekend (including drivers) so Dick
and I did the transmission swap, while Bob Blake and Bob Bruce
stayed behind so Blake could qualify on the front row in STL,
then go onto to lead the first third of the group 7 race before
Tyler Munroe's ITR/STU E36 took the race lead, but Bob still got
the STL checker

The two cars (14 and 82) look good in the garage with a flag on
each windshield

[StephenB]

I am sure someone else will elaborate more but an integra was badly damaged today

Oh and I made a big mistake going into turn one of the ITR, ITS, ITB group in 4th overall which could have been very ugly! I missed a shift and instantly locked up the rear tires at the entrance to the oval. somehow I saved the car from spinning and I kept it out of the wall all while everyone played nice with heads up driving. Just wanted to publicly thank everyone for that! I think only one driver was upset with me. I will certainly post up video when the weekend is over!

Stephen.

[ulfelder]

I lost a timing chain in Friday practice; bits of chain are sprinkled throughout the head. Doubt I would have had anything for Dave Maynard anyway - he was flying!

[JLawton]

ITA wasn't one of the prettier races. It got REALY greasy out there, especially the inside braking line into 3...... as a few guys found out.

On lap 2, Dan Deyo locked them up going into 3 and instead of taking out half the field, steered it into the concrete barrierers on the inside. Hit them so hard he pushed them onto the track. He's OK but the car is probably toast. They black flagged us and we sat on pit road which seemed like forever, roasting in the heat while they got it fixed. We went back out: Andy, Yainnis, Mickey, me, Abhi. On the restart Mickey missed a shift and I got by him as well as Abhi. Then on the the next lap he tried the hero move down the inside of Abhi going into 3............... Locked 'em up, and tagged Abhi.......... That got them off my tail and let me start running down Yiannis. Got a few runs on him in places but finally made it stick with a couple of laps to go. It was friggen hot.................

Oh, and Andy just walked away from the rest of us..........

[lawtonglenn]

...Dan Deyo locked them up going into 3 and instead of taking out half the field, steered it into the concrete barrierers ...car is probably toast...

geez... that was Dan's like first or second race in the Acura

[Greg Amy]

geez... that was Dan's like first or second race in the Acura

Yes, that's Geoff Branscombe's old car. Dan bought it over the winter.

Damn, that news breaks my heart. I'm sure it crushed Dan's. I'm glad there were no personal injuries.

[MMiskoe]

Its actually now Day 2, but the reports are similar.

From the mid pack part of the ITS/ITR field I watched and was part of a lot of very close, but well driven racing. Both days were like this in both ITS and STL. Lots of very close racing, lots of lead swaps back & forth and w/ the exception of one guy who slammed his HANS on the hood of my car in impound, everyone seemed to be happy and having fun. It was a good weekend of racing.

I had a bit of a moment Saturday afternoon when I got bumped in Turn 1 and took a ride up to the wall, but did not hit it. I now have 4 hoosiers that have 80% tread left, unfortunately, that missing 20% is all mising from one spot! Ground all 4 down to the cords.

Considering that at 7:30 Saturday morning I had the chills & the shakes and was puking up my breakfast, the weekend turned out pretty well.

There are other stories that are no so good, but they will get told first hand I am sure.

[StephenB]

my story isn't so great I'll post some good videos this week. calling the frame shop tomorrow and we will hopefully be back out at the end of the season!

stephen

[JLawton]

It wasn't a pretty weekend. Lots of carnage. Three black flags to clean up bad incidents.

Although I was really happy with Saturday's finish, the rest of the weekend was disappointing. Sunday morning I was gridded 5th (based on Saturday's best lap time) Made it up to third or forth (?), over cooked it onto 3 and lost a couple of positions. Started making my way back, made a run on a car up out of three, he kept pinching me in at 4 (not sure if he didn't see me or thought I was further back or was just being a dick) To avoid contact I kept moving to the inside and finally with the inside wheels on the gators, the rear gave up what little traction you have there and came around on me......... Finished 11th

In the afternoon race I went from 11th to 6th by turn 6. Couple laps later I was in 5th and right on the tail of P2, 3 and 4. Got spun in 3 and went to DFL.................. The only good news was my times were right up there with the fastest.

The shining star of ITA this weekend was Jim Alley. Apparentlya new paint job will give you bigger balls!! LOL Good job Jim!!

Hope to have some video later today........

[Jeremy Billiel]

Man that stinks... I am sorry to hear about the carnage...

[wepsbee]

Yes, that's Geoff Branscombe's old car. Dan bought it over the winter.

Damn, that news breaks my heart. I'm sure it crushed Dan's. I'm glad there were no personal injuries.

Crushed is more like it. Suprisingly I feel bad for geoff, bought a class winning car. got my first podium finish in my first race wih the car then wrecked it, feel kinda stupid.
I think I over cooked the entrance into 3 and could not slow down. Hit the brakes and the car did a little bobble but kept right on going. Lifted the brake to try and get out of the skid and the SSB car right in front applied his brakes at that exact moment. I had no where to go. Maybe if I had stayed far left, but there was a Miata there, or obviously went in slower it might have been different. Either way I am the driver so it was my fault. I really appreciate the concern everyone exhibited for me after the race. The EMT crew was excellent and I thank them for there efforts. See you all when I get another built.

[Raceman77]

Dan sorry man. Been there done that. Talk to dan s. he knows how to get one together in 5 days. LRP is a few days more away. You got time.

What a battle we had in IT7 yesterday. Thanks Dan for the push up the hill. I would have let you by. Then Dick thanks for bump drafting. At least all hits were square. Dan drove into the sunset. While Dick and i battle for second. Hopefuly the show was as good as in the car.

[jimalley]

The shining star of ITA this weekend was Jim Alley. Apparently a new paint job will give you bigger balls!! LOL Good job Jim!!

Hope to have some video later today........[/QUOTE]

LOL:026: Nobody has every used the term shining star in reference to my weekend at the track. Believe me at 66 the balls don't have any growth spurts. I will credit the car it has been well developed and prepared and is fun to drive.

It also helps that it has been a great group to run in! I feel confident running with many drivers that have been there for many races in the last few years.

[Andy Bettencourt]

Great weekend with great folks! Good to see everyone after a year off the track and over 2 years away from NHMS. Hate to see good cars driven by good folks get wrecked.

See you at the NARRC Runoffs!

[StephenB]

Here are my entertaining videos from the weekend for me...

Race # 1 I was grided third overall and then completly messed up shifting into turn 1. This was a bad and dumb mistake as I went into the wrong gear and lost the rearend. I got lucky and saved it... some how! I wish I knew how to upload in higher quality video that isn't 480 but I can't find any editing software that will do it. The small video (PIP) is from Tim Dugans view. In the HD version you can see me sliding all over the place!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr_YFrN3q40[/ame]

Race #2 wasn't as eventfull. I had an awesome start passing at least a row of cars before turn 1. (boy do radios come in handy) I then stayed with Glen Lawton and the third place battle for ITR (Doc and Maynard took off) I was able to stay with them until I started to suffer fuel starvation issues on lap 5. These first few laps made me feel like this car really does have potential in the class. especially with a set of tires that have less than 10 heat cycles and didn't sit in the snowbank last year! I need to figure out 3 with a rear wheel drive car as I am losing over a second in that one turn!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6t0sI83Y6k[/ame]

Race # 3 started bad and ended worse! The car went into "limp mode" on the start for some reason which is still not known. I pulled down to the apron as everyone passed. I then tried to limp back to pitlane but wasn't fast enough to get back before the field was catching back up. I decided I was a major hazard on track so I pulled off and parked so that I could rejoin and head back to pit lane after everyone passed. Well that didn't really happen and instead I got a nice ambulance ride and someone else took my car back for me

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JonOgVC--7Y[/ame]

At least I still have a fan club that doesn't seem to care that I didn't finish!
Stephen