NORTH / SOUTH Challenge

[DerElf]

As our fearless leader, Mr. Tatum, heads South to do battle against the Hordes of Cal Club a question has come up.

Apparently the San Francisco Region Vee contingent has driven the numbers of Vees entered to levels they have not seen in the South Lands for quite awhile. So much so that the officals in Cal Club were asking how the Vee drivers kept their numbers up in our region and was their any suggestion we could make to help them do the same.

Since Cal Club has yet to schedule the second half of their season Blake thought it was an intesting idea for us to organize some sort of "North-South Challenge Race". I added in the concept that it be run on American Racers and, if there was sufficent interest, that we try and get contingency prizes to go along with the event.

Perliminary idea for the challenge would be to run it internal to the Double Regional at Thunderhill and at a Double Regional at Buttonwillow. To qualify for the challenge drivers would have to run both race weekends.

Comments and interest levels please?

[spondon]

I think that is a brilliant idea! Buttonwillow, (built on a medical waste site) was pretty fun on two wheels, so it must be twice as fun on 4! Maybe we could add Fontana into the mix next year and one Laguna event as well! I think that Blake and Dick are going to have a great weekend and I wish them the best.

[DerElf]

I forgot to add to the mix the fact that the folks in Cal Club said if we produce 15 cars they will give up our own run group, far from the ravages of the "winged monsters".

Sounds like the Cal Club guys want to help us get all of those Vees that are sitting in garages down South out on the track!

[hardingfv32]

You guys are dreaming! FV has been dead in the south for years. No more the 4-5 reg competitors. Now there is only one group for ALL open wheel cars. With the loss of Pete Sharland and then Mike Sipos, there is no "Ron Chuck" to work on the avg guys car when he has special problems.

I'm waiting to hear from Blake what it is like to be passed by an Atlantic on the banks of Fontana!!!

Brian

[DerElf]

So is that a "No" Brian?

I have been on the track with Formula One cars at Sears Point and I am not only still alive but I am still racing. THis was during testing as well so there was a helluva lot more opportunity for "Red Visor" with no stewards.

There is a big pucker factor with running with "wings and things" , I even had an Atlantic paste me once from behind (didn't even buy me a drink) but I am still running.

Also, we get 15 cars we get our OWN RUN GROUP. At this point I can add up at least a third of that already excited about the concept, before we even "floated the question".

If you don't want to run, don't. At the same time don't rain on everyone else's parade.

[hardingfv32]

No rain, just fog. I'll run, but you will have to supply the cars.

Fontana is not Sears. We are talking about a 1+ mile straight. Marco Andretti will be in an FA, so this should be a top notch car.

Brian

[DerElf]

Yeah, well the "Fog of Racing" can put a damper on a lot of things long before they get started. Let's not kill this before it gets started. I hear nothing but doom and Gloom from Cal Club but I keep seeing good cars going south into a "Black Hole" of Formula Vees, never to be seen again.

I think that you guys just need a little taste of Good Ole American Racer rubber (and some friendly competition from the Wine Country boys) to get you enthused about racing again.

BTW, NORTH can mean "Great White North" as well! You hoser up in ICSCC run ARs, bring 'em down to the desert and let's RACE doggone it!

[Geoff]

Well, being a Cal Club guy, I'm forced to be the sole rep on this topic. Blake talked with those of us there (I think there was 5 guys with Vees from Cal Club present) at Fontana. We all thought this is a great idea. So it seems like we have agreement.

Interstingly enough, Larry Payton approached TCRA who said that if we could guarantee 15 cars over something like six races, they would give us a 2k payback for awards, but I don't know about their activity level up North.

While not on topic, I typically only run Nationals, not because I think I'm fast enough, but because I like the grouping, and Cal Club can't change it! There's at least three folks down South, who won't run regionals. Of course, if we run a Challenge, those three folks won't run that either, as they are periennial National/Runoffs competitiors who only run Regionals if they occur the same weekend as a National. I'm also aware we have a bunch of missing Vees down here that don't run, but I just really don't understand why.

Look, I think it's fair to state, Cal Club does not want Vees to show up, we just screw things up for the fast guys and don't really get enough cars to pay the bills (we leave that to SM and Pro 7). I can think of at least 5 Vees that don't come out and run with us, primarily because they don't want to run with S2s, DSRs, CSRs, etc. I do love racing Vees, so I tell everyone down here to run Nationals, Regionals just aren't worth it.

Yes, the run group mix at Fontana was a nightmare. There are passing zones at Fontana, but when a fast open wheeler comes by, they want by now and don't really care what "zone" you're in. I had two FMs pass me, one on each side, then they immediately hit each other and spun right in front of me. I had brake problems on Saturday, hit a tire wall in turn 3 and took out two Mazdas that had just passed me (managed to do the same thing to Blake at the start of the race Saturday - sorry Blake!). Part of that problem of course, is coming off the banking they want by as they go into turn 3, and they don't care if there's room to do it or not. It's true, a FA coming by into the braking zone at turn 3 (my Mychron told me the transition was 110 to 43) was pretty interesting.

Geoff

[btatum]

See my post else where. We will get this done. I will work on the guys from Northern Ca if the southern Cal guys start talking this up. There has to be at least ten guys in the the south land that want to race their formula vees. In the mean time lets not defeat oursleves before we ever start. If we work on this enough time in advance then it can work. Also I will have some more annoucements on this as things get firmed up.
As far as the tires goes we need to take the lead from the Stick and Ball guys. When we go to your park we play by your rules and we you come to our park you play by our rules. Simple as that.
I had a good time down in the south land and ya the run group was not ideal but I did not let that take away from my fun. The people were nice the track is cool and Cal Club did a good job putting the event on considering their staffing levels. The workers and club officials were very supportive and they seemed to like the fact that they had a good turn out of FVs.

[sweenrace]

come on already......are you trying to kill me here....i havent raced since septemeber....i need a fix.....who won....who didnt.....who was fast....what was new ;D

[Geoff]

Ian,

Let me give ya a fix, even though it wasn't a good weekend for me...

I think Blake won both days. Dick was 2nd Saturday, Mark Fischer was 3rd. On Sunday, don't know the order, wasn't there, so can't speak to it.

Blake got up to speed fast, Dick has been there before and looked fast. I'd never driven it (and you could tell by what I was doing out there, driving like a maniac, ask Blake, he'll tell ya). Mark Fischer did pretty well on three year old tires (bricks I tell ya) and felt pretty good for his second race back since the big pileup in Phoenix. Kevin will be fast, I guess he's new, but he's gonna be quick. We've got a couple SOCAL newcomers in Mike Devlin, who unfortunately punched a rod out of his block on Sunday, and Dennis Allen (Adams Aero) who took a bad ride out of Turn 16 on Sunday also. Larry Payton hasn't brought it out but once, but he has a new 2000 Protoform, that should be pretty good. So, we're looking forward to some better racing down here.

I gotta say though, on Saturday for 2 laps, Blake, Dick and I were in a drafting duel going down the front to turn 3, and that was an absolute blast, I have to admit! I was as close as I would dare get to Blake, and my data said 110, so I was pretty amped up (can you say, "I like my new Mysterion"). When my throttle started sticking (Kevin, you know who you are) after getting tossed off course in Turn 10, I was madder than hell, only cause I was having so much fun drafting!!!

The real answer, Ian, you gotta get back on that horse, that's the only fix that's gonna work for you (how bout Willow Springs February 26, 27?)!

Geoff

[DerElf]

Of course you like your new Mysterian.

Everybody likes Mysterians.

[GregM]

I had a blast as well, and the FV's put out a surprising top speed going into T3, faster than I would'a guessed. In that group, the Atlantics weren't the problem, the Atlantics were for the most part, pretty d**n cordial. The FM's were, shall we say, FM's. As in Freakin' Maniacs.

I can say that racing in the wet conditions on slicks is an experience savored, not to be overdone, and when you keep it on track, pass a FM on rains in the infield and take another on the banking, racin' just don't get much better than that.

As for blasting past on the straight, it's better to do it there than in T3-T18.

As I posted elswehere some time back, we're going to have to learn to get along, learn to race side-by-jowl, without contact, and without interfering with the class races within the run group. Otherwise all groups will shrink and SFR will be a CalClub clone, a desert in the open wheel ranks.

I think you guys should do this Challenge, perhaps try to get some real race cars on the tracks down south. God knows there's a bunch of sorta-race cars down there.

[Geoff]

Sorry Marty, I can drive a Mysterian, I just can't spell it!

Some thoughts on the Challenge and issues to work around. If I count every Vee I'm aware of down here (those that I've raced with at some point), I get 10, total. Of those, 2 are full-on National competitors, and 1 won't run SCCA. So the issue becomes how to get the National guys out for races, do we plan the Challenge schedule around some National double events? As far as tires, I've run ARs before and like them, I don't mind having that as the spec tire, although I can't speak for everyone on that topic. It seems like the approach of "when in Rome do as the Romans do," would work though.

If I were king for a day and could plan this thing, I'd want (my opinion) one race each at Thunderhill, Laguna, Buttonwillow and Willow Springs (not necessarily in that order). The question, how to build that schedule and stay clear of the Runoffs?

Geoff

[btatum]

I have already talked to Jeff McColluoch from CALClub. He is working on the date. I will bring this up at the board SF region Board meeting on 2-21, and work with our Comp director on how to set this up. Looking at the schedule we have a double regional at Laguna the first weekend of October. This is probably the best date because it is after the runoffs and we can get the national guys to come out and play. It is also the shortest tow for the SoCal people. The down side is that Laguna is not as much fun in a Vee as Thunderhill is but that is like saying you had bad sex (no such thing). Stay tuned more developments are on the way.
Geoff, I need you to personnely contact every FV guy you know down south and get them exicted over this. That includes Mark Edwards.
Greg, do you think the FF people would be interested in such a challenge?