Month: October 2009

Chump Car!!!

I’ve described the 24 Hours of LeMons as a Halloween Party with cars, and Chump Car will soon take this description to its natural conclusion with a “race” at Portland International Raceway Oct 31 – Nov 1, 2009.

Background:  LeMons has been around since 2006 and is immensely popular in the car guy community.  My understanding has been that “LeMons” events have been in such high demand that there just hasn’t been room on the schedule for a Northwest race.  And, it seems that maybe we’re not the only place being left off of the schedule.

So, Chump Car is born.  The biggest difference I can see, at this point, is that it seems speeds are going to be higher in a Chump Car race (but not too high) – so, kind of like a Conference event.  I think they get away with calling it a race because they will be using transponders, and if they wanted to use that information for scoring, they could…

potentially fast car with shark theme - will the judges fall for this old trick?
potentially fast car with shark theme - will the judges fall for this old trick?

There is a difference between an “activity” and a “race”, and it is important to understand what those differences might be.  If Lemons and Chump Car were really races, then the primary purpose would be to have a race – but, that’s not the primary purpose and everybody knows it.

There is no reason to believe that this isn’t simply going to be a Halloween party with cars.  Before the race even starts cars will be credited or penalized laps based on important “racing criteria” like team theme and costumes, and the amount of school supplies donated to a particular charity.  The information gathered by the transponders can be “corrected” at any time and for any reason – again, just like Conference.

The promoters are very up front about the fact that they may, again, at any time, for any reason, mess with your “race car” just because they would enjoy it.

transformation from "red meat" to harmless bird
transformation from "red meat" to harmless bird

So, the Miatacage.com race team is in possession of the 2007 Thunderhill LeMons winning car.  The then recently acquired, totaled (complete, save the broken cam shaft) and purchased for $200, 1999 Mazda Protégé, was then known as Team Red Meat and Poontang – it was really cool when the track announcer said the team name on the loud speaker (once).

consensus is that we'd all still date her
consensus is that we'd all still date her

For Chump Car, the team has gone with a Partridge Family theme – something about 6 dates in 24 hours with Laurie (who didn’t have a crush on Susan Dey in 1973..?).  We’re all pretty excited about this.

The driving line-up for this grand adventure is made up of crew members of the nearly successful, go-til-ya-blow, 2008 25 Hours of Thunderhill Miatacage.com team.  The Miatacage.com “over the wall-stars” are Brian Clemons, Ed Pavone, Dave Sutherland, Kevin Clark, Garth (Crusher) Levin and Jeff Jenks.  They didn’t spill any fuel or make other mistakes at the 25 – lets see if they can keep the fenders on the Partridge Bus…

I’m not going to be of much use (unless there is a mid-event break for a walker race), so I’ll probably just hang out in the motor coach and watch the silliness (read: experiment with new cocktail recipes).  I love seeing people drive on the race track (in anger) for the first time, and there is going to be a lot of that going on.  I’ll be there just to see the looks on my friends faces both before and after their big racing debuts – I can’t wait.

C’était un Rendez-vous

I’ve been meaning to write something about this video for some time – just because I think it’s so outrageously cool that I want people to see it. I thought about it again last Saturday morning when I received a message from my buddy Russ that he was on his way to “Cars and Coffee” in a Ferrari 275 GTB – Russ knows that I like old Ferraris and that I think the 275 GTB is one of the prettiest cars ever built.

Ferrari 275 GTB
Ferrari 275 GTB

The story behind this short film is that French director Claude Lelouch filmed the early morning run through Paris and that the car used was a 275 GTB driven by an un-named Formula One driver.

Lelouch later claimed that a large Mercedes carried the camera and that the sound of the Ferrari was dubbed over – I am somewhat skeptical, but I suppose an Oscar winning director should be able to accomplish a task like that.  I thought Star Wars was cool when I saw it, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t real… In any case, the film and sound are amazing.

The Route
The Route

The route that Lelouch chose also passes by and through many famous Parisian landmarks, including the finish line of The Tour de France (so there’s a bicycle racing connection), and places where my sister worked and lived in the time she spent there (so there’s a family connection).  The speed of the “Mercedes” has been calculated (and independently agreed upon) to have been 190 – 200 kph on the Champs-Élysées – and that will get you to church on time…

 

That Wasn’t the Plan…

Alpenrose is the first race in the Cross Crusade cyclocross series that the promoters claim is the largest “cross” series on the planet – I have no reason to doubt that.  This would be my first time racing this venue and I was very much looking forward to it as it is generally regarded as the best cross venue in the Northwest.

My preparations were mostly the same as for any other race – it is important for me not to feel rushed, and I didn’t.  I had arrived a couple of hours early and the Mountain View Cycles team had set up a paddock along the course near the wheel pit.  Cross racing is fun in that there are many races during the day and many opportunities to cheer on friends and teammates.

I had completed my checklist in time for the scheduled recon 1 hour before my race.  I could then do 30 minutes of warm-up and get to the staging area with time to secure a reasonable starting position.

I was thinking to myself that there was an unusual amount of hard surface (black top and concrete) on this course, and was slightly concerned about the grip level.  The recon was good for exploring that a bit, and as the course was relatively clean, the grip level seemed pretty good – which is right when everything went wrong.

Approaching a stairway run-up there was some slightly damp dirt in the dismount zone just before a small curb.  Even though I was taking things slowly, I mistimed my get-off.  My left foot didn’t release exactly as I had expected (a result, I think, of being too careful) and I went straight to the ground.

I quickly popped back up to continue the lap but was unable to put much weight on my left foot.  I figured I had simply knocked the wind out of myself and possibly had a groin pull – I just needed to shake it off and do some spinning on the trainer…

Yeah, maybe not so much.  It was stiffening to the point that I couldn’t lift my leg over the seat, so I began hobbling my way back toward the Mountain View compound.  I saw Kristi Dirks and Amy Moody and they informed me that I “didn’t look so good”.  Karl Mikkelson was close by and suggested (brilliantly, as it turns out) that he should go get my car.

I was still pretty sure that it was just a strain and that if I could drive I would make my way toward Seattle (where I was planning to work Monday).  I could depress the clutch with only a small amount of pain so I hit the road.

The up-side is that I would now be able to stop at PIR and watch the final race of the Oregon SCCA Spec Miata championship which had come down to the final race between my friends Will Schrader and Joey Atterbury.  I stopped at the track and was able to get out of my cycling cloths and into something more comfortable.  My leg was feeling better.

It was feeling better until I stopped to stretch about an hour later – it still wouldn’t take much weight.  When I got to my mom and dad’s house, mom had done some research on hip injuries and I was able to see that I didn’t have all of the symptoms of a fracture.  So, I had a snack and a beer and did a little bit more research.  I really don’t like hospitals, and I certainly don’t want to be “that guy” who shows up in the ER with a stubbed toe.

I couldn’t find anything to convince me that I had a strain, sprain or anything besides a fracture, and reading between the lines it was clear that a fracture was better identified immediately.  Mom drove me to Overlake hospital to have it looked at.

It didn’t take long for the x-rays to come back and there was, indeed, a fracture.  The ER doc explained to me that this was the type of thing he wanted the orthopedic surgeon to make the call on – and that the call would very likely be to proceed with surgery tonight.

The surgeon had a very confidence inspiring way about him.  He explained what the issues were and why it was best that we not wait – there can be vascular complications with this type of injury that are best avoided.  I had never spent the night in a hospital before, or broken any bones – I need to do something about my bike handling skills….  But, first things first.

Surgery went off without a hitch, the OR staff and doctors were all awesome.  I must say that it is a surreal experience to be wheeled through an empty hospital and into and under the bright lights of an operating room late on a Sunday evening.  But ,like I said, the surgeon had left me with an excellent first impression and most importantly, my mom (an effective health care advocate) was there to handle decisions that were soon to be outside my capabilities  – here we go…

The anesthesiologist put me on a med that would put me to sleep – he said something about a “slight” burning sensation.  Thankfully, I went down quickly because that stuff burned like heck.

The next thing I knew I was awake – the surgery had taken only half an hour (which I think is a sign of no surprises) and I now had three “deck screws” holding the top of my femur together.

As I write this I sit in my hospital room all jacked-up on caffeine and Percocet (the othopedic surgury equivalent of Red Bull and Vodka) having been through one successful round of physical therapy and waiting for lunch.  If PT goes well this afternoon I may be released to the care of my saintly mother – I don’t just live my life like an irresponsible teenager, I generously share the experience with mom, as well…

I’m thankful for a lot of things right now, not the least of which is that this is the result of my stupid mistake (inattentiveness) and not somebody else’s, and also that I didn’t hurt anybody else in the process.  I’ve always found it easier to accept injuries and crashes when they are the result of my errors and when I didn’t take somebody else with me.

Thank you also to my many cycling friends and teammates for their well wishes and offers of support – I really appreciate it.  I will find a way to positively feed off of this and come back stronger than ever.  I might even be able to be Andrew’s lead out man by April.  That’s my plan and I’m sticking to it this time.