Spring Nationals - May 25-28

Spring Nationals has come and gone, and what an event it was.  A whirlwind of seat time, wrench time, and time spent with friends.  There are two things that stuck with me, after the event was over.  One is related to driving.  The other, more important one, is not.

First, in relation to driving, while I feel I am making progress in the car, I am still over-driving.  I need to slow down some.  Or rather, need things to slow things down in the car some.  I am not looking far enough ahead, which is causing me to carry too much speed into the corners, which causes me to get on the gas late, which causes... well, you get the idea.  I had a sneaking suspicion that this was the case, during the past few events.  However, due to their fast and flowing nature, it was hard to be sure.  The somewhat tighter courses during the Tour really brought it to light, though, in my mind.  Simple fix?  Other than seat time, none really.  Just keep driving.  Focus on looking ahead, staying smooth, brake early and power out.  That being said, I am not that far out.  While I don't think any of the top drivers in the class had a really great run, besides Schenker on the East course, my times, in comparison, weren't too bad.  Ended up about .5 off of McCabe, and .4 off of Aro.  Close enough to feel okay about where I am, with the seat time I have in the car.  And the results weren't too bad, either. 3rd place in both the Pro and the Tour, and I paxed a mind blowing 7th for the Tour as well.  So, there is work to do on the driving front, but I already knew that was the case.  However, I feel I have a better idea about what is holding me back, and how to go about fixing it.

Now we get to the cool story of Spring Nats.  The people.  Friday afternoon found us looking for a clutch setup, after a hard launch and a misdiagnosis.  Matt went to make his first run of the afternoon on Friday, launched the car, and was greeted by a loud crack!  That was immediately followed by the motor stalling.  Matt tried to re-start it quick to no avail, and decided not to try again, just in case.  Car pushed off of course, and to impound, we went through the possible scenarios.  Matt got the car running, and tried to get it to move under it's own power, but said right after pick up, the clutch went mushy, and the car failed to move.  Thus, we, and a few others came to the conclusion that the clutch was toast.  Yay.

We went to work immediately, trying to find some kind of replacement for the 949 twin disk that was in the car.  Knowing that we wouldn't find that exact setup, we went about finding some kind of full replacement.  After googling, calling, and having friends and loved ones scour our garages for any pieces parts that might work, we had two options:  A full on stock setup that John Becker had found, or Bill Schenker's OS Giken setup.  That OS Giken setup would set the average joe back about $1500, if they were buying it new.  We had no idea what Bill would want for it, so we were set to go the stock route.  But, just out of curiosity, we inquired as to what, exactly, Bill would want to take it off his hands.  To our surprise, and amazement, nothing.  He said he didn't pay anything for it, why should he take money from us!?  He simply wanted to see us up and running tomorrow, so we could have a good battle.  That, my friends, is what true competition and sportsmanship is about.  What a truly great guy.  Alas, it was all for naught, as the issue had nothing to do with the clutch.  Which we found out AFTER the trans was completely out of the car.  At midnight.  The issue?  Broken half shaft.  A job that would take a fraction of the time to fix.  Great!  Button the car up, and put in the new axle, right?  Wrong.  No spare axle.  Dejected, we closed up shop, and planned to forfeit the next day, so we could put everything back together, find an axle, and repair that actual problem in time for the Tour.

That night, Matt and I concluded that we should work our assignments as scheduled, as we could possibly still trophy, and we didn't want to put an undue burden on the event staff.  So, we got up the next morning, went to the site, and went about our work assignments as normal. Shortly after finishing, I got a call from McCabe.  Something about Sue had called, Becker was at their shop, and there was no time.  What?  As Matt and I rolled up to the shop, we see that, minus the trans needing filled, and a few interior pieces needing put back together, the car was done!  The trans was back in, axle replaced, and the car was ready to race.  Becker had texted Sue at 5 in the morning, letting her know he was on his way with a spare axle, and would fix the car.  The car he sold to her, and was no longer racing.  He and Bob, Sue's husband, had spent the morning making sure the car would be ready for our morning runs.  I don't think John, or Bob, will ever know how awesome I think they are for doing this.  As I told them, I owe them a beer or fifty.  And probably a steak.  I still don't think that would cover it.

So, in the course of one car issue, we had MULTIPLE people go well above and beyond what could ever be expected of them.  And do you know what the coolest part of this is?  You hear about this type of thing happening all the time.  From small local events, to the grand daddy of them all, Nationals, you will hear of someone going out of their way to help another competitor.  From offering co-drives when a car breaks, to staying up all night, helping a stranger fix their car.  This is grassroots racing at it's best.  This is what the solo community is.  And this is why this sport is so much more than dodging cones.            

Wow, so it has been awhile since I last posted.  Honestly, I am terrible at keeping up with this kind of thing, which I am sure that is painfully obvious!  This year, however, I feel it might be important.  This year is bound to be an exciting, humbling, and immense learning opportunity for me as a driver.  Which might prove entertaining for others.  No promises, though.

I have switched cars this year, and will be running in a 1994 CSP Mazda Miata.  Not just any CSP Miata, however.  The Becker/McCabe/Eckles CSP Miata.  Yeah, the one that has been driven to multiple National Championships.  The one that was featured in Sports Car magazine.  The one that John Becker built, from the ground up, into the amazing cone dicing machine that it is.  I have always wanted to drive this car.  Any time it was offered for a fun run, or for an event for whatever reason, I would jump at the chance.  It was like being offered to drive your childhood dream car.  I guess I have always looked at this car as the pinnacle of Solo racing.  Now, I am not implying that it is the pinnacle of Solo racing, just mine.  Then I heard Becker was selling it.  I was shocked!  But when I learned Sue was buying it, I was quite relieved.  The car was staying local.  But who was going to drive it?  So, after meeting with Sue, here I am, co-driving with two multi-national champions, in a car I have always really, really wanted to drive.  Amazing. 

Now, after telling you all of that, I must also mention that making the switch wasn't an easy decision.  Last year didn't end quite the way I had hoped.  I ended up 6th at Nationals, well off the pace on the first day.  I just couldn't get there.  Not sure why.  Lack of confidence in the car.  Myself.  Not sure.  Either way, I didn't drive my best.  So the performance was lack luster, to say the least.  And to top that off, I was under the impression it was my last event in Bubba.  Jon and I were pretty sure Andy and Teressa would be picking him up on their way to his next post, this spring.  I walked into the banquet, that final night of Nationals, a bit depressed.  Not simply due to my results and that the car would be gone, but what that signified.  My co-drive with my best friend was coming to an end.  As was running in a class with a bunch of people I have really grown to respect, and enjoy racing against:  Kerry Coughlin, Andy Canak, Ian Baker, Darrin Madaffari, David Whitener, and his wife Kim, John Mensch, Hilary Anderson....  The list could, and does, go on.  And that was only the group in STS.  That doesn't even include the ST crowd!  What a fun, and cool, group to race with.  I would be leaving all that, behind.  It was actually really depressing.  Then Andy made the offer.  We could drive Bubba again, this year.  Wait, what?  So now I have to choose between Bubba and the Miata?!    

So, there I was.  Choosing between a class that I loved, and a car I had longed to drive.  A chance at unfinished business, or a new start.  It really was a hard decision.  It boiled down to not wanting to possibly lose the opportunity to drive the CSP car, if I didn't take it right then.  I couldn't risk that.  And while the Miata was local, and would always be here, Bubba would not.  Also, Jon mentioned he wouldn't be co-driving, either way.  He wanted to focus on Rally-X this year.  But the final nail in the coffin, was driving the Miata at one of the last auto-x's of the year.  It just felt like home.  Having started off auto-xing in a Miata (in CSP, then SM2), it just felt right.  The decision was made.  It was time to make the switch.  Thank you, again, Sue.

Fast forward to yesterday, April 22nd.  That was my first event in the car on a nationals style/size course.  Even though we were on well worn tires, the car simply blew me away.  I had become so used to STS speeds, that the CSP car felt like it was capable of warp drive!  The speed differential was intense.  The smaller events I had done in the car thus far, simply couldn't prepare me for what kind of speeds the car was actually capable of.  My first two runs were all "asses and elbows".  I was over driving, to put it mildly.  I heard there were bets on whether or not I would actually spin the car, at one point.  On my 3rd run, however, I managed to smooth it all out, and run a decent time.  But I was still off of Matt's pace by about .5 seconds, after he took his 3rd.  On my fourth run, I found some extra speed on the back section that he and Sue said I was missing, and was set to put together a really solid run.  Then I overcooked the finish, stepping the car way out sideways to the point of needing to back off,  losing a bunch of time.  Oh, and I had some cones.  Either way, first "real" event was now over, and the learning has begun.  Seems this will be a trial by fire, as I have only one other event to get acclimated to the car before Spring Nats!  

So, there it is.  The start... The beginning...  And an end.  Kind of bittersweet, really.  No time to dwell, though.  Now it is time to review some video.  Need to see what I can learn from the tall alien in the red helmet.