The Miatacage.com Endurance Racing Team has won the “21 Hours of Thunderhill” two years in a row – and there isn’t a trophy for that. The first week in December we will be heading south to do the 2009 result one better and win the bloody thing for a change.
2009 Post Race Photo - all fingers and toes intact...
Sean Hedrick (Mr. Miatacage.com) is a longtime supporter of amateur sports car racing, in general, and Spec Miata, specifically. “The White Car” was built by members of the team with the purpose of winning this race in 2008 – we blew it… up.
The short version (long version is in here somewhere) is that the throttle body broke while we were leading the ultra-competitive E2 class by what I recall being as much as 5 laps. By the time we found a replacement we were down 5 laps and not much interested in finishing second. While 2 laps down, we decided to skip an under hood check to add some oil to the motor which was consuming lots of it. We don’t know exactly how much oil came out of the four holes made in the block when the connecting rod separated itself from the piston – but it was most of the rest.
In 2009 we were again enjoying a comfortable 5 lap lead when a rear hub sheered itself in two – yes, that IS weird… the car was towed back to the paddock where drivers Ken Sutherland and Will Schrader made repairs which allowed us to finish – in 15th overall and 2nd place in class E2.
Putting on the pressure late in the 09 race.
During 2009, I had raced the car a couple of times – so it was already well sorted when it came time to do the Thunderhill preparations. It really is one of the best Spec Miata’s I have ever driven. It has a safe cage with a nice roomy cockpit; it’s easy to see out of and is generally comfortable to drive quickly.
In 2010, the team made The White Car available as a rental (to increase the 25 Hour budget) and it was returned molested to the extent that it needed some real “body shop” kind of attention. The shakedown that followed resulted in more damage (which was easily repaired) and then the fresh enduro motor nearly suffered a catastrophic failure which required a complete rebuild after just one lap.
Everything is okay now as the team packs for the trip to Willows, California. Hopefully the strange luck has played itself out and this 3rd time will be a charm. The team of previous years is mostly intact and the driver’s roster contains only Oregon Region Spec Miata Champions (amongst other substantial accomplishments) – all of them are championship and race winners.
As last year, drivers Sutherland and Schrader are joined by Jon Davies and newly crowned Oregon Region SM champ Bruce Wilson. Brian Clemons will again serve as Crew Chief and Carrie Sutherland as Den Mother.
The entire team has been through this exercise at least once. Jason Rawlins (the owner of my 2007 Championship winning car) and his wife Cheree will be with us again. Kevin “Big Hands” Clark and Josh McKinney are back for the second time – this time possibly with Josh’s wife Holli and their newly born daughter (start them young…).
Perfect Pit Stops in 2009 - The Team Returns
Sam Davies will be joined by her younger sister Claire (neither of them are strangers to race cars, and Dave Sutherland and Ed Pavone (both longtime crew members of team leader Ken Sutherland) will provide “over-the-wall” experience. In addition Ed brings financial support to the team – you might say he is fully committed to the program…
I’ll be there to fill in when needed, file and defend protests, annoy competitors and report here on the team’s progress. If there is any doubt that we race because it’s “hard”, the fact that we are returning again, should put that debate to rest.
There has been plenty happening lately (I am bicycle racing some and I’ve done some driver coaching), but I haven’t taken any time to write about it. This, however, was an important week that capped off an unusually strange year…
Last Sunday was my first visit to Alpenrose Dairy since I broke my femoral neck there, almost exactly a year ago. I managed this while previewing the opening race of the 2009 Cross Crusade bicycle racing series. Thursday, I strapped into a race car for the first time since before the cycling mishap.
Part of the fall-out of the cycling crash was the necessity to make some difficult decisions. The first was to yield my place as a driver in the Miatacage.com effort to win the 25 Hours of Thunderhill in December – it was the best thing for the team, but also put me on a path that lead away from being reliably effective as a race driver.
Working Out the Bugs at an Early Season Cross Race
The nice part was that it allowed me to focus on rehabilitating my injury and regaining some of my fitness more quickly. I was racing the bicycle again at Tucson in March (5 months after surgery) and I feel very healthy – that is a reasonable accomplishment with which I am very pleased.
Return to the Scene…:
Upon arriving at Alpenrose on Sunday, we walked toward the place on the course where I had fallen. There is a concrete stairway on the grounds that makes an interesting (but totally treacherous, in my view) feature for a cross race. As last year, the morning was a bit damp and at 9:30 (before the start of the second race) there was already lots of wet dirt on the black-top where riders must dismount their bicycles.
I stepped onto the course and ran my foot across the dirty surface where the racers would leave a grass area to make a 180 turn on the approach to the dismounting zone – F*** ME, it was super slick!!! I didn’t need this – let the two hour long freak-out session begin.
My race (Masters 50) would start at 11:40. We watched the start of the Clydesdale (200 plus pounders) and Cat C (like Cat 4 on the road) race and observed the carnage. Every third rider was hitting the ground – HARD. How smart would it be for me, knowing how dangerous this course can be, to race here?
Searching for Grip…
There was a break scheduled for after the Cat C race, so I returned to the car to get kitted up and prepare to have a look at the rest of it – but especially the stairs. Everybody and their brother (and sisters and all of their kids) was out there. It was mostly okay, but the course also utilizes the famous Alpenrose Velodrome which is concrete on the apron and is painted on the smooth banked concrete surface. So – lots of hard surface with dirt and / or mud on it (or wet paint). Perfect… Even better was that because of the slow movement of the preview caravan, I was diverted from the course before reaching the stairs. So, I wouldn’t have the peace of mind of some perspective and having done one low speed dismount there prior to lap 1 of the race.
I had, by now (and sensibly), managed to persuade myself that racing this day was a bad idea. Ken, Carrie and Emma Sutherland had come out to see about this sport that was filling the void left by auto racing, and I informed them that I would be able to explain it to them during my race, because I wasn’t going out there just to entertain the Portland hippies. Carrie was understanding, but Ken thought it would be good if I started at the back and just rode around – after all, I was entered and everything…
I did have a pretty good starting draw for riding around at the back – so, what the hell? My number in the “starting lottery” was picked seventh of ten. What that means is that everybody with a number that ends with a “2” would start together about two thirds deep in the field.
I’m glad that cross is popular, and eventually it all sorts out, but it can be frustrating (and a bit dangerous) when lots of guys that haven’t been on a race bike since last December are starting in front of you. No, I don’t have a plan that you would like and that would also solve the problem… But, what this means is that the faster guys starting at the back (like my friend Gregg Leion who drew the eighth number) would be blowing through the field at the start. Gregg is retired so he doesn’t have to bother with being at work Monday morning and therefore can take big risks…
It all turned out okay – some of the 130 Master B’s that started 2 minutes ahead of us ended up on the ground before reaching the first turn (or the actual start line), but we were fine. I had a good race and after starting somewhere around 60th of 84 old dudes, I not only stayed upright, but I also made it to 17th place – which gets me 2 points and a call-up for the next race in the series (meaning that I start nearer the pointy end).
That’s one demon slain.
And then, back at the race track…:
The Miatagace.com Race Team has been preparing for the 25 hours of Thunderhill pretty much since, for the second year in a row, we led most of the race only to have a mechanical failure within sight of the finish. Part of that preparation has included renting the car to other drivers so that the team budget can be supplemented – money fixes everything… Well, the car has been knocked around a bit as a result, and it would be useful to run it.
As this weekend is the final SCCA Regional Race of the year (two of them, actually) at Portland International Raceway. Race weekends always begin with an un-official test day, which would be Thursday. This would be the best last chance to do any testing before Thunderhill, and there were some new suspension bits to try and decisions to make.
Drivers Will Schrader and Jonny Davies would handle that task along with crew member Josh McKinney. Chuck Hall had made lots of changes to his Spec Miata for this season, but had only run it once. He was in town to evaluate any other changes to make over this winter. He invited me to come out and do some laps so that he could have a second opinion.
I suppose that driving a Spec Miata, for me, is a bit like riding a bike – it’s not a sure thing that I’ll do it properly… The car ran well earlier in the year, but we would have the challenge of running on two sets of questionable tires (a mostly used up set of R-888’s from last year, and some RA-1’s from 2003).
The good news for me is that I’ve spent a lot of time racing on tires that others would have thrown out (or had). We started on the 888’s which some guys didn’t care for, but I liked the couple of times I raced on them last year – they feel a bit more like “real” race tires. We did air pressure and ride height adjustments to get the balance right and the car was a comfortable “loose-ish” – just like we want it.
One of the coolest things I saw all day was an old (mid – late 1970’s) March Formula Atlantic car. In my first session, it passed me leaving the chicane and it was neat to see the massive rear tires (those cars were only low 200’s on horse power). All of that mechanical grip made them a blast to watch when there were fields of 50 of them “back in the day” – aerodynamics, schmerodynamics. Cool stuff.
The Business End of a March 76B Formula Atlantic
The first laps on the nearly eight year old RA-1’s felt like the dirty, damp concrete surface at Alpenrose. After a half dozen laps they began to gain some grip and the lap times started to come down. I ran a good series in the high 1:32’s and low 33’s with a handful of laps within 2/10ths of a second – I was pleased with the consistency and the behavior of the car, so we called it a day.
Perhaps the most interesting thing to me was that I was comfortable in that particular car. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in it over the years, and the driving position and mirror set-up have always been a challenge. Cyclists can think of this as a seat being too far forward, or handlebars that you don’t like the feel of – it makes a difference.
Today, however, everything was fine even though the car hadn’t changed. I think that not having the recent perspective of something that I was used to contributed to that. This makes me think that I could have done better adjusting to such changes in the past. I learn something every time I go to the race track.
You wouldn’t think of the Mid-Columbia region as motorsports hot bed, but we have quite a bit going on here (drag racers, circle track, speed record and lots of road racers). At one time there were six Spec Miatas living within several miles of my home in Hood River (I think there was one for every 1,000 people that live in town)… And living in Hood River makes us the closest active road racers to ORP. Several years ago Jonny Davies and I drove out to the field in Grass Valley, Oregon where a race track now exists – If you build it they will come…
the view of Oregon Raceway Park from the road outside of Turn 2
Back then ORP was merely an inspired field of dreams, but nobody was sure how the venture would turn out – they have now held a sanctioned sports car race. That is a massive accomplishment.
activity around the registration trailer
I had planned to drive out to the track on Sunday of the Founders Grand Prix to see how it had all worked out, when I received a phone call. Holly Remington, who seemingly has had every responsibility at every car club in the Northwest, called to ask if I would drive the Pace Car… Really? Wasn’t I recently, banned, fined and then un-banned and then un-fined for some sort of unacceptable behavior..? …never mind that, and could I also bring a Pace Car? As it was Holly that had asked, I said yes.
My first thought was to call Tim Urness at the Chrysler / Dodge dealership in The Dalles to ask if he was interested in being the “communications” guy (and if HE could bring a Pace Car). Tim is an easily certifiable motorhead and is also the guy who organizes the summer drag races that happen at the Dallesport airport (which is also the location of the top secret Team Hoodwinked test facility). We’ve been talking about a trip out to Grass Valley, and this seemed like a perfect excuse to go. Tim called me back from the veranda of a beach house in Virginia to tell me about the 80 degree weather he was enjoying, and the appropriately cooler temperature of the cocktail he was sipping – and, to tell me that he would arrange for the Pace Car.
The Urness Motors supplied pace car
Tim and Mike (Tim’s brother) had recently taken a 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T with a six speed transmission on trade – he thought that car could handle whatever pacing might be necessary. And it did.
There were a couple of notable highlights for me over the course of the weekend. Importantly, nothing bad happened – although I was “Red Flagged” while giving rides to the Medivac crew. I, of course, ignored the flag because the man holding it was not displaying it from the proper location… there are rules about these things and I know better than to disregard rules at a Conference race.
the medivac paramedic about to go for a ride
It was an honor to be asked to drive the pace car at such an historic event. And, it was a huge privilege to be able to drive a couple of laps with Bob Caspell (the man who shepherded the track into existence).
It was fun to take the crew members of the Medivac Chopper on tours of the track and I enjoyed spending some time with Bill Harris (who I know from working at ProDrive) who shared the Pace Car work load by handling communications.
one of Sunday's races entering the track
ORP will be a great Drivers School / HPDE track. Not having raced there, I’m not sure how I feel about it as a race track yet. It is very “turny” with a lot of elevation change – it is certainly technically challenging. Some tracks are very “racey” (meaning that they practically beg for you to attempt passes) – ORP is not one of those places. It may be nearly impossible to pass a skilled driver with a “wide” car – we’ll see.
The setting is spectacular and the weather in that part of Oregon is much drier than on the west side of the state. It is little more than a two hour drive from Portland – a small price to pay for access to a very interesting race track.
Todd Butler, the former Oregon Region SCCA Road Race Director, called me a few months ago and asked if I would again “help” with the Driver Licensing School. I, against my better judgment, agreed to show up and take credit for anything good that happened under the condition that Bruce Wilson did all of the work. I knew, under any circumstance, that if anything went wrong I could, with a clear conscience, blame it on Todd.
So, the 2010 Oregon SCCA Driver’s School is history and nothing went horribly wrong – Todd is seemingly safe. As a matter of fact, contrary to thinly veiled concerns by almost everybody else involved, I think that when all was said and done, even the Stewards and Chief Officials were happy with the result.
A clue to the problem with having me run something like this is that I left the corporate world some 20 years ago. The reason I left was that I just don’t always get along with the other kids – even then it was obvious that it would be best if I just worked alone… And this isn’t really one of those “work alone” deals.
So, Bruce organized the instructor corps and then (because, I think, Bruce doesn’t need the grief), he just let me do my own thing. He brilliantly had managed to get us a bunch of guys (and a girl) that I could work with (read, would put up with my crap). This became important when I decided that “the way we always do it” wasn’t the way we would be doing it this time.
Student Russ Seewald in his BMW - http://camdenthrasher.com/
For example, in the past we’ve assigned one “instructor” to one or two students with whom they would work independently for the entirety of the school. This kind of worked sometimes, but I had concluded that this was mostly by accident. I wanted a system in which nobody could slip through the cracks. The solution was to have the entire instructor staff available to work with any (and all) of the students from the first session. For this to succeed I needed eyeballs outside of the cars observing the entire process – so, that’s what we did.
Admittedly, the first “On Track, Lead / Follow” session started in a way that didn’t appear to make sense to anybody but me – I knew exactly what I wanted, though. Grid Goddess, Julie Winslow, can be forgiven for spending the half hour following the first release of cars from grid searching for a guillotine. Don’t deny it Julie – I speak a small amount of French and still have friends at the local shops that secretly sell such things… Trust me, when I say to you that my plan made quite a bit of sense to me…
Mark Whyman fast and safe in the 996 - http://camdenthrasher.com/
Anyway, everybody got out (mostly with instructors that know what lead / follow means), and the observation crew got on with the observing part. Jonny Davies was planning on being an instructor to his Crew Chief (mine too) Garth “Crusher” Levin, anyway. 2009 success story, Mieko Doi-Olson had agreed to come down the night before to talk to the new racers about what had helped her obtain her racing license last year. And Fenn Bourland, the Spec Miata equivalent of Evil Knievil (could try to jump a Miata over the Snake River Canyon and live to tell) also skipped his regular tee time to pitch in.
I could go on and on about these three (not a stooge amongst them). Jonny has an eye for minute detail that still boggles my mind. Mieko is so enthusiastic about the sport that she has developed an ability to see important things that most seasoned veterans miss. Fenn is not only a great communicator, but has an uncanny ability to make people feel (and look) fabulous.
We took notes and discussed plans of attack for our crop of prospective racers. Very early on we were able to focus specific attention on those that could benefit. The “on track” instructors responded well to the new format, as well. Bruce had secured the services of Jim Murray (the new Road Race Director) who brilliantly shepherded the two “open wheel” students. The numerous closed wheel students were attended to by Ken Sutherland, Gary Bockman, Will Schrader, Ken Olson (Mieko’s husband), David Conover, Tim Scott (Vintage expert) and Geoff Cochran.
The only guy I hadn’t met previously was David Conover, the NW Region Head Driving Instructor, (so he was likely pretty good). The only other I hadn’t really “worked with” was Ken Olson. I knew Ken from Mieko’s experience last year and was massively confident that he knows how (and when) to communicate – he never once interfered with an instructor that was working with his then fiancé. Clever dude.
We put the best guys on track with those that needed visual feedback (like more lead / follow), and good examples to emulate. We had mandatory post session de-briefs – Jonny, Mieko and Fenn all made that work. By lunch time the first day we had a firm grasp of everybody’s capabilities, and some good ideas for how maybe to turn them into reasonable facsimiles of race car drivers.
Some of the students had come with cars equipped to accommodate an instructor as passenger. The Road Race Director and Stewards had worked it out so that we could put an instructor in those cars during some sessions. Jeff Gamroth (local Porsche guru and a pretty good wheel man) had a couple of customers out as students and asked to assist one of them as an instructor – no brainer.
Barrett Smith with Gamroth in the Porsche - http://camdenthrasher.com/
I did become a bit nostalgic when two of the Stewards (Gary Van Horn and Jeff Neiss) approached me to ask (more or less) “What the hell are we doing?” “We are building race car drivers, sirs….”
The end result was a bunch of Driving School students with big smiles and Permits to race – most took advantage of the opportunity. I think the reason I say yes to “The School” is that I get a huge kick out of sharing one of the most important things I’ve enjoyed in my life. It really is a privilege to drive a race car – and for many of us, it is a great challenge. I have been able to enjoy racing experiences with family and shared successes and failures with some great friends. So racing is also a kind of sacred thing for me – I suppose this makes us some sort of missionaries’… It makes me happy to see others have the success I have enjoyed.
There are some great individual stories to tell that I hope to get to. I am thankful to all that participated and especially those who helped some new ideas turn into racing dreams.
As we prepare for the 2009 25 Hours of Thunderhill, I thought it would be good to tell a little bit of the story about how this race became particularly important to us.
25 Hours of Thunderhill Grid
In 2008 The Miatacage.com team traveled to Willows, California with a car that hadn’t existed 2 months earlier. In fact, there had been no plan to do “The 25”, at all. If it hadn’t been for our success at the ICSCC 12 Hours of the Cascades, at Portland, just over a month earlier, nobody would have ever thought of it.
The Miatacage.com Team - Version 08
The drivers for Portland were Jon Davies, Chuck Hall, Will Schrader and me. We had built the car with Sean Hedrick at Miatacage.com in less than 2 weeks and installed Chuck’s “special project” Miata motor. For the Cascade enduro the classes are “displacement based”, meaning that the only concern is how big the motor is. We had a small motor with some special parts in it and it was a rocket. We won our class by 12 laps and finished 4th overall.
Bruce Wilson, Jonny Davies, Ken Sutherland and Brian Towey
Two of our regular Miatacage.com teammates were not with us for the race, however. Ken Sutherland and Bruce Wilson, having missed all the fun, were now itching to do an enduro. We had over a month to prepare for the longest endurance race in the world – no problem. Sean offered to provide the car and lots of support – so the thrash began.
Thunderhill is a NASA (National Auto Sport Association) race. That meant we had to deal with yet another set of unfamiliar rules. Cars are “mapped” into an endurance racing class based on their performance (SM and ITA cars are E2, for example) – but our car wasn’t exactly either of those. After some discussion with NASA officials it was decided that we would re-prepare the car to be classified as PTE (Performance Touring E) which NASA also maps into class E2.
Bruce Wilson after a very busy first stint
Performance Touring is interesting as it uses a points system to make it possible for nearly any type of car to go racing. We considered the parts available to us and did some math to come up with what we thought could be a competitive car. We knew that a Miata with a 1.8 liter motor would be preferable (on sheer speed, anyway) as an ITA car, but we have a 1.6 liter and what we believe was the best driver line-up on the E2 grid.
We had to throw together another “less aggressive” motor to make the car E2 legal and capable of 25 hours. The rest of the parts which were “mostly” SM legal (and importantly, SM based) stayed with the car. Ken Sutherland organized the preparation. We installed a new transmission, micro-finished hubs, specially made brake pads that would last the entire 25 hours, an improved radio system and away we went.
Nap Time
The race was red flagged for fog in the middle of the night. We had taken the lead during my stint (and not because of anything, in particular, that I had done) and had a substantial lead when the race was stopped.
As the race resumed, we slowly extended our lead
As the race resumed, we settled into a solid rhythm and extended our lead to 5 laps when a part that never breaks, broke – and, we didn’t have a spare.
Ken Sutherland was able to scavenge a part and get the car running again in just over 20 minutes. The culprit was the throttle body – the shaft that controls the butterfly had snapped because of a small amount of corrosion that was hidden from view. That’s the kind of thing that can ruin your day.
Jonny Davies and Sean Hedrick - About to get some laps back
We now had a choice to make – the only choice. The car was running on pace again, but instead of being 5 laps up, we were 5 down. We made a plan. We would go at “sprint pace” for as long as the car would last – betting that somebody (everybody) else would have at least a small problem in the meantime.
The Miatacage.com crew performed flawless pit-stops
There are other choices to make when one makes choices… Our decision was to streamline our pit stops and only check under the hood (for oil level, as an example) when we were also changing a tire (this could gain us a full lap by the finish). Our motor was using a little bit of oil and this was a concern – not as big a concern as not winning, however.
We were running in second place (and gaining) with Ken in the car, running a scorching pace, when we developed a ventilation problem with the block. The problem was that you could see from one side of it through to the other and all of the oil had fallen out. That’s bad. And, it’s also why we must return.
I'll return this year in a different role - here with Ken Sutherland and Brian Clemons
The Miatacage.com travel team this year is mostly the same. The crew is missing two key members, Peter Lovejoy (to Fire Chief duties) and Garth “Crusher” Levin to his job making cruise ships beautiful for vacationers everywhere (I’m thinking tanned college co-eds and seriously considered joining him). The driving team this year includes Will Schrader (replacing me as I continue my recovery from the cycling injury). Will is the current Spec Miata lap record holder at Thunderhill and a great guy to race with. I can’t think of anybody I’d rather have take my place. I’ll be there as member of the Miatacage.com braintrust making sure that Peter and Garth aren’t too badly missed.
Live blogging on the race should happen in this space – Thunderhill is known for intermittent (read: poor) data access. We will do our best to circumnavigate the challenges.
“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.”
I wrote that passage a couple of days ago in my post Chump Car!!!, about this weekends event at Portland International Raceway. It turns out that not everybody “knows it”.
Here’s an example from a 24 Hours of Lemons race:
Recently, I made a number of inquires to friends and acquaintances asking for photos of their Chump Cars and descriptions of their driver line-ups. I didn’t get many takers. The reason, it seems, is that they don’t want anybody to know what they’re up to…
Why not – you may ask? I think they figure that if they hide until just before the race (that would be now), the officials won’t notice that they’ve grossly exceeded their budgets. The rules clearly state that cars will be assigned penalty laps if they run afoul of the $500 prep rule. Actually, maybe not so clearly, but they do say this:
“If you screw-up… you’ll either be docked laps or you’ll have to face “The Wrecking Crew.” We hope that you’re as good at fixin’ cars as they are at dismantling them.”
If we apply just a little bit of logic we can deduce that since this is specifically supposed to be affordable racing ($500 cars), that the powers that be will vigorously protect this idea (crap-can racing commandment) by imposing “penalties” on those that “screw-up”. After all (dare I say it), if we just want to do laps in $2000 cars we can do that at a Conference event.
I've never seen one of these before
Anyway, I did receive some photos of a mobile Italian restaurant, which is really cool and I wouldn’t think counts toward the $500. But, they have no pictures of the race car? – Suspicious indeed… I’m told it’s a Fiat X 1/9, well actually (counting the pasta cooker) it’s a Fiat X 1.5/9 which (if you take the time to do the math) is really a Fiat X 1/6.
Antonio, where is the wine opener!?!?
In any case, I’m not so worried about this one because the vital bits of the motor in an old Italian car like that will be organized much like a bowl of seafood linguine by the time the second bottle of Chianti is gone… Ask me how I know sometime.
Then there are a couple of teams with reclaimed Spec Miatas that they think nobody knows the cost of parts for. Excuse me – hey look over here, there are some guys that have built a couple of these things.
Spec Miata masquerading as a.... Spec Miata - crew chief disguised to protect the innocent?
For example: the hard top on your $500 car is worth $800 all day long on Craigslist – “but we only paid $200 for the car, from my co-driver…” These guys must think that the officials are Ferrari F1 fans.
And, if we put some fins on this one then maybe everybody will think its a fish and not a real race car..? Until they start falling off of the poor thing – but that’s okay because the corner workers (both of them) will be looking for something to do around midnight…
this one's been swimming round the bait tank for a while...
It’s no secret that this was (very recently) a real race car. Again, we know stuff and we’re not afraid to prove it. Lest you think that this is sour grapes or garden variety whining – reconsider. Mostly I’m just bored, but there’s nothing gardeny about it and I am not telling you what to think of any of this, anyway – that’s all up to you (and those who would judge you). I just shine the light of righteousness on those of sinister intentions – yes, I’m talking to you Schrader.
The situation with Conference has been resolved after a long conversation with the ICSCC License Director.
My first impression regarding the License Director was absolutely correct – he’s a good guy and I suspect that he is very highly respected amongst his racing peers. He has a tough job, and we simply have a disagreement about how far is too far – we’ve both agreed to accept that.
He sincerely wants people that love the sport to participate (and does a lot of work to help them) and I think that’s pretty cool.
Note: Before I was “un-banned” I wrote a post that, while it included an important part of the story, was unusually sarcastic (I must have been in a grumpy mood when I wrote it…). As I believe that this post contributed to the eventual resolution, I wanted to republish it in a more appropriate version – basically, I just took some stuff out.
I’ve had time now to edit it in a way that still maintains the original meaning without being unnecessarily demeaning… This is the edited version.
Conference Takes a Mulligan
I finally received an email late this afternoon. The gist is that now I have been fined per a different “Conference Regulation”. I suppose the up-side is that I am no longer “banned”.
Here is the content of that email:
After consulting with the parties articulated below, as of September 7, 2009 you have been fined for unsportsmanlike conduct per C/R 609. This is the extent of your penalty. You are welcome to appeal according to the procedure outlined in the Competition Regulations, but be advised that the while the fine is outstanding, you are automatically disqualified from participating in all Conference races and events. You will also be receiving, or have already received this info in writing in the mail.
So, after deducing that my challenge of their use of “E 404” (the rule that grants the License Director ultimate authority) to require an apology was indeed well founded, they have switched to a fine based on C/R 609. Well, at least we can agree about something…
Still, these guys can’t even be bothered to read their own rules. According to C/R 102 the Competition Regulations (C/R’s) “apply to every ICSCC sanctioned event.” The issue we’re discussing didn’t happen at an ICSCC event – as previously documented, it happened on this blog.
I had a little bit of time this morning and wanted to fill in some of the details of how the ICSCC officers have handled the disagreement they have with me. My race weekend with them has been reasonably well documented and most of you know the story. I had a good time and wrote about the experience – it was a pretty good story. This explanation is so that members of Conference can have a better understanding of how their club works.
First, I have many very good friends that race in Conference. I like most of the people there, and in some cases the feeling is mutual. The people that do most of the work that make the racing possible are awesome. As a matter of fact, I went into the last race weekend with a favorable attitude regarding the current crop of upper level Conference Officials, as well. That attitude would be short lived, however. The problem still is that some people that aspire to the “top of the club” act like a bunch of 8th grade bullies once they get there.
The analogy is that at a middle school the 8th graders are the “big kids” and there are always a few that have to show the new kids who is boss. It’s just the way life is, I suppose – some kids are just mean and pick on the smaller kids. Sometimes they grow out of it… Sometimes they become Conference Stewards.
My original story about my experience racing Conference included a description of a Conference Official that, in my view, is likely a serial bully. That description is what the Conference License Director took offense to, and is the original source of Conference’s problem with me. A problem that the License Director believed warranted a removal of my racing privileges. I was “banned” for writing a story.
This is the passage from an email I received from the I.C.S.C.C. License Director dated August 19 that explains his position:
Per E 404., all non-ICSCC licensed entries are subject to my approval as License Director. There are no qualifiers on this approval. Sportsmanship is one of the criteria that I apply when making approval decisions. I find both your conduct, and demeanor, to be unsportsmanlike, and therefore I do not approve of your entry, in any future ICSCC sanctioned event.
There was a phone call and several emails that went back and forth related to this passage, but that is the important paragraph. There was a demand that I apologize without an offer of an apology for the way I had been treated by their bully – WTF, is this some kind of a joke..? I did ask for a clarification regarding specifically what the issue was and I received this – an excerpt from my story:
“Captain Rule Book” then rode away on his motorcycle (sans helmet) his shirt flapping around his over the shoulder walkie-talkie holster like a moo-moo worn by a Hawaiian grandmother on a breezy Maui evening. I wonder if Adolf knows that Portland is a city park and is therefore not exempt from the Oregon motorcycle helmet law..? This guy is serious Mall Cop material.
From my perspective, this is what the issues are:
I was “banned” from racing with Conference until I apologized to a bully (not going to happen).
The License Director had quoted the ICSCC rule book to affirm his position that he has the final say.
Most importantly, the banishment was for an issue that may fall under “freedom of press” protections.
My response was to suggest that the License Director (and Conference) get his story straight and engage in some CYA (cover your ass).
“Power corrupts”, but usually there is a place within a racing organization to air grievances. An example is that I was racing in an SCCA Pro Racing series where the Series Steward often behaved like an unreasonable jerk. He had the “final say”, but there was a series sponsor (with a representative) that was interested in resolving differences – we could go to him. The jerk was eventually replaced. In Conference, Per E 404 (see above) there is no higher authority. I went to the rule book and the License Director is correct – he has the final say should he choose to use it. And he did – “absolute power corrupts, absolutely.”
I continue to believe that ridicule is a useful tool when dealing with bullies. I also believe that what happens away from the track (provided it is within the law) should have no bearing on the approval of things like racing licenses. To this day, I have not received an apology or a retraction of the License Directors invocation of ICSCC Rule E 404. I have submitted an entry for the ICSCC race that takes place this weekend, and the registrar indicated that a resolution would be forthcoming (to save me the trouble of preparing a car and making the tow for nothing).
I believe this really is the case of one bad apple spoiling the bunch. I think that the License Director is probably a pretty good guy that has simply been immersed in a culture that protects its own – no matter the reason… The 8th graders are going to show me who is boss. They know that E 404 was a lame call, but now they won’t do the right thing and correct the mistake. I wonder what’s going to happen walking home from school on Friday…
I will continue to push back on this – because I do have friends that race in Conference and I think it is time for somebody to finally call BS on this crap. There is also Oregon case law that makes clear the responsibilities of organizations that conduct events on public property (like PIR for example). Conference doesn’t care about little guys like me, but they (and the clubs that make them up) are on the wrong side of that law – maybe they care about that…
There are not words sufficient to describe how cool it is that a bunch of guys that like racing were able to pull something like this off. Seriously, they are 99.9 percent of the way to a functioning racing facility.
Being from Hood River it seems that we are among the closest active racing residents to this new facility – that makes it even cooler for us. So Sunday, Garth Levin, Jonny Davies and I visited Oregon Raceway Park for the first time since we had attended a tour in November of 2006, shortly after they had cut the original path through the fields that now contain the race track.
This is going to be a challenging place to race. It seems that first they will run races in the clockwise direction, but the track was conceived with the notion that it could be run counter clockwise, as well. I think it looks much better clockwise than counter. My biggest concern is turn 1 in the counter direction – it will be fast and scary, and it doesn’t get really scary until you leave the track. There is a nice place to land the medivac helicopter near where the cars will finally finish crashing, though. I think it will be a while before this track races in that direction. Everything else I’m worried about looks like it could be handled by mid-week.
Jonny Davies was the driver on Sunday – he is one of the finest amateur race drivers in the country. I was in attendance to collect data and help with the car – the same car that I’ve been racing this year and was used in the 12 Hours of the Cascades and 25 Hours of Thunderhill last fall. Garth came along to fix anything I broke while working on the car.
We use the AiM data acquisition system in all of the cars and I also gathered some video, and for one session taped a small Garmin GPS device to the dash. Here are some interesting factoids from his second session in the clockwise direction:
Top speed (clockwise) – 98.8 mph
Best Lap Time (clockwise) – 2:04.671
Elevation Gain / Loss – approx 400 ft
To put things into perspective, Pacific Raceways, the track with the most elevation gain and loss in the Northwest, has about 140 ft change per lap. According to our little GPS unit (with a slow sampling rate), ORP is somewhere around 400 ft in just over the same distance!!!
It is a shame that there will not be a race at ORP this year. It was on the ICSCC schedule up until last week, and then it seems a new interpretation of some rules ended the fun. For sure, there are still some safety issues to work out. But, in racing anything is possible as long as everybody pulls in the same direction – for some reason they aren’t.
Again, I can’t say how impressed I am by this group of people that did what many thought was impossible. This is an awesome accomplishment and the sooner ORP is raced on the quicker the issues of amenities and safety will be addressed, and the facility expanded.
