Reflections on my first SCCA Club Race
Four years ago I was auto-crossing every weekend, two years ago, some auto-crossing but a lot more time-trialing. This year I decided to see if I really wanted to do this door-to-door racing thing. I put my auto-cross/time-trial Rabbit back on the street, sold my new GTI and bought an ITB Rabbit. I Filled out all the SCCA paper work for a Novice License, survived the two mandatory race schools where I got T-boned at Summit Point and endured 110 heat index in Sebring. I now find myself at Nashville SuperSpeedway for my first ‘real’ race, a life-long dream soon to be fulfilled. I’m a real race driver!
Nashville SuperSpeedway, an infield course where it’s all about getting off the front and back straights but where the transition from the concrete banking to the asphalt creates a big bump. And that means a BIG bump at 100 mph (in the Rabbit) off the front straight into the turn 1 sweeper. It’s all about the ‘pucker factor’. Coming down off the back straight it’s a very fast downhill left right combo called the Bus Stop, where you just know the car won’t stick but most of the time it will.
Practice and qualifying on Saturday and then a 7 lap qualifying race and the 22 lap main race on Sunday. Four competitors are in the ITB class, a pink Golf, a red Rabbit GTI, a Pinto and my yellow Rabbit. I was a good 2 seconds behind the other VeeDubs and way ahead of the Pinto. WooHoo, a potential podium finish! Saturday’s practice and qualifying went smooth and uneventful. I never knew how much you use your mirrors when running in traffic, very easy to lose concentration and find yourself way off line and struggling. I hope nobody saw me short cut that corner because of the early apex.
Sunday’s, race day starts with a 7 lap qualifying race. Hey, what’s a qualifying race? However you finish determines your starting order in the 22 lap ‘feature’ race. The faster pink Golf has problems, bad coil, and will end up starting behind me on the grid. I’m starting on row 5 and the red Rabbit is on row 3. I tell the pink Golf I’ll maintain my position in line at the start until he gets around. My plan is to try and keep the pink Golf in sight, at least until he catches the red Rabbit. You know where the best seat to view a race, from behind the wheel at the back of the pack!
Green flag drops, the pink golf goes right up the middle of the pack. Now I understand what they mean by door handle to door handle because it’s way too close for comfort. But, no time to think about it now here comes turn 1 and the pink Golf is already out of sight. Maybe I can pass something on the back straight. Time to come down the hill into the Bus Stop section, but wait, there’s the pink Golf and the red Rabbit sliding sideways and coming to a stop in the middle of the track! Hard on the brakes, I hope the guys behind can stop, because I don’t think I can. The pink Golf is moving so I steer hard and follow him around missing the red Rabbit by inches. There are 2 more cars in the pile up on the other side of red Rabbit, a couple of Honda’s.
The pink Golf is smoking from both right side tires, aaahhh, the smell of tire smoke on a Sunday afternoon. Hey, I think I might be able to pass him if he doesn’t go into the pits. Unbelievable, he stays out, and we are neck and neck down the front straight with nothing but a huge plume of smoke separating us. Hey, this might not be the best idea, those tires aren’t going to last forever and I don’t think I want to be this close when they blow. I’ll let him have turn 1 this time around. So, this completes my first lap as a real race car driver.
Black flag is out at the flag station, must be for the pink Golf. Nope, it’s a Black Flag All, time to slow down for the big mess still at the Bus Stop. The red Rabbit looks bad and he’s still in the middle of the track. Now, I hear something dragging under my car and it’s a very metallic sound. Maybe I picked up some debris, the car is driving O.K. Time to head for the pits.
Pit Marshals point me off to the side out of line because of the noise under my car, he says it’s my exhaust pipe. Shut it down, unbuckle, and get out. The stupid rubber exhaust doughnut has come undone and the pipe is dragging. The Chief Steward of the whole race comes over and informs me under a Black Flag All condition no work can be done to the car or I will be disqualified. I have to wait until the other cars start their engines before I can try and fix it. I am far enough down pit lane that I have completed my second racing lap of my new racing career.
I have to run back to my pits to get a jack and a screwdriver to get the doughnut back on the exhaust pipe, by the time I get back out on track I’m not sure how many laps I’m down. And who should show up in my rear view mirror but the Pinto! The race is back on! I am really pushing the car through the esses heading onto the back straight when the car gets quiet and the world looks askew. Holy Crap, I’m on two wheels! And not just a little bit but a whole lot, am I going to roll the car? But because I am going through the esses I’m already turning in the other direction and the car comes back down on all four. Maybe I need to ease off some, I need to finish at least half the race in order for it to count and I can get my Novice license signed off. There’s the start finish line, lap number 3 of my racing career now completed!
The race settles into a rhythm and I let a couple of ITC Honda’s by so I don’t get in the middle of their race. I catch the Pinto and lap him on the back straight and start thinking if I’m only two laps down maybe I can catch him again before the checker. Each time I pass start finish I’m looking for the Pinto and the checker and sure enough I can see the Pinto at the end of the straight and the checker isn’t out yet. I catch him on the back straight and the checker comes out. Was I two laps or three laps down?
I head for the scales and impound, the preliminary results show me in second, I started out three laps down. So ends my first ‘real’ car race, what an experience! The two novice drivers in the class get first and second while the two old pro’s get DNF’s.
Moral of the story…
“You have to first finish before you can finish first.”
Jim Wray
#4 ITB Wraycer Wrabbit
Greensboro, NC
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