Treadway wins the Sprints

[stonebridge20]

Disclaimer: I have been Jeremy's engineer for 12 years so this "report" may sound a little like a "proud pappa" story.

We unloaded Wednesday afternoon never seeing Road America before. RA is going to make a fantastic place for the Runoffs in 09. Anyway,... the 2 test sessions on Thursday really let us know how far off we were on gearing and setup. Setup was pretty good but gearing was another story. Pretty much after every session came a gear change and more track knowledge for Jeremy. Every session we got quicker and closer to the bar that was being set by Coello and Tim Kautz. We were told by a grizzly old FF crew chief that "when you see 2:22 on the watch,come in your there" Well these days you need to see 2:21 on the watch as Coello set that mark in final qualifing! Jeremy shaved time in every session we did from the first test session on Thursday up to final qualifing. The grid was set from final qualifing as it was the best conditions of the weekend. Coello first with a 21:8 Kautz in second with a 22:1 and Jeremy with a 22:2 . 3/4's through final qualifing it was looking like it would be a dog fight for the race until Jeremy came on the radio to report that the engine "didn't sound too good". I could here the rods rattling over the radio! At 11 am we started the engine swap as the sump and oil filter was full of what used to be a set of rod bearings. As we buttoned up on the engine swap with a valve adjustment, carb tune and timing check (with no visable timing marks on the spare engine, yes you can find TDC with a goodyear 160 as a degree wheel!) the very unknown spare engine was ready to go with an hour to spare. We kept an eye on the sky as it looked like "Treadway weather" as Art Foster called it, was on the way. Race time was set for 4:20 and the schedule was running late. I think we rolled off the VERY sunny grid at 5:15 at which point the sky opened up at 5:16. One BIG cloud dumped what must have been 1" of water in about a minute. As the field came up to the green, the full course yellow came out and I headed to the trailer for the rains. After dropping the rains in pit lane I re-headed back to the trailer for the intermediates Jeremy called for over the radio. As I was on my way back to the trailer for the intermediates on the worlds slowest golfcart, Jeremy followed the car infront of him (the only one he could see due to the amount of spray) into pit lane thinking they black flagged the race. JT radioed me to tell me he was "in". Me still on the world's slowest golfcart half way across the paddock started yelling at him to go back out which he did in DFL place! By the time I get back to pit lane with the intermediates, I don't know WTF is going on as the FCY is still out on lap 2. At this point NOBODY in pit lane knows what is happening including the officials. Seems the starter didn't like the way the field was bunched and instead of throwing the green at the start, he put the FCY out on his own ? So now that I'm back in pit lane with every freakin tire we have and Jeremy in what I think is dead last place, the starter throws the green to a field that has spread out all the way back to Canada corner. How do I know this? Because that's where Jeremy is when I start yelling GREEN GREEN GREEN which he replys to as "what did you say" At that point I start yelling GREEN GREEN GREEN I don't know how times and kept yelling it until he came up the front strait about a full minute after Coello had already went past the green. As it turned out, Coello wasn't even the FF leader as he spun on one of the "pace laps" and rejoined in third. Now I'm a little more than just confused so I head to the closest Icard I could find and it happens to be one of the nicest guys you could find at a racetrack, Art Foster Sr. Art calms me down a bit as both of us are clunking our heads together trying to see the Icard at the same time. At this point all I can do as an engineer is get on the radio every time Jeremy comes past and say "great job, keep it up!" I get NO response from Jeremy as he's on a mission and not saying a word! I decide to give him gap times to first place but the stop watch has suffered through an anger management session with the crew chief and the the pit wall a few laps prior and is in a million pieces now. I do the old one onethousand two onethousand thing and come up with a rough estimate that if Jeremy keeps the pace he's on, He's gonna win the damn race by a mile if my lap count is anywhere close. With 3 laps to go and a 30 second lead (which I'm now calm enough to figure out and tell Jeremy) he want's to start chit chatting on the radio! He got the 30 second lead he wanted and now all he was doing is maintaining the lead and telling me about all the exciting passes he made. I'm yelling at him to SLOW DOWN but he won't! The track started to dry with 3 laps to go and Rubenzer and Coello put on a good show for second place but the damage was already done by Jeremy. There are guys that are exceptional in the rain but Treadway is just plain magic when it's wet. I would put him against the best in the world on a wet track. In the end Jeremy came from 21st ? starting spot to 5th overall and a 32 second gap back to Rubenzer in second and Coello another 3 seconds back in third.
I think in the dry it would have been a GREAT race between Jeremy, Coello and Tim Kautz. With the amount of time Jeremy found in every session over the weekend, I would have put my money on Jeremy even in the dry. The "Vegas line" come September probably won't be paying much on Treadway and if it rains in Kansas, keep your money in your pocket!

Mike Agnifilo

[Kevin Berry]

Congrats to JT But Mike I know you are a great mechanic but you need to quit that job and become a writer and make real money ........Congrats again to JT KB

[Mike Scanlan]

None of this comes as a surprise to us in the NE. JT lapped a pretty good FF field in full wet conditions this Spring at NHIS. Nice job Mike and Jeremey. Mike, are you really coming to the Glen?

[cooleyjb]

Any way you can fill in the gap on how he went all they way up the field. Fast lap shows him 2 seconds slower than 2nd and 3rd yet he came from over a minute back. I'm guessing that the rain had something to do with this discrepancy. An impressive run.

[Jon Jeffords]

I watched the FF race through the rain and hail in Turn 5. The deluge of rain during the warmup lap caused the field to get strung way out, which didn't improve much during the pace-car-less full course yellow laps. By the time the green was dropped, the field was a mess.

After the race, I spoke with a handful of seasoned spectators who were scattered around the track. Everyone single one of them, including myself, thought that Rubinzer won! It was so chaotic on the track with the disparity in speeds and poor visability, none of us were aware of Treadway's charge and eventual overtaking for first place. Sounds like we missed a good race!

[stonebridge20]

Any way you can fill in the gap on how he went all they way up the field. Fast lap shows him 2 seconds slower than 2nd and 3rd yet he came from over a minute back. I'm guessing that the rain had something to do with this discrepancy. An impressive run.

Joe, The lap times in the results make things look very interesting. I can't give accurate lap times as our Robic was turned to pulp on the pit wall and while doing our fuel sample in tech the master switch was turned off so we lost all data. When I did the first one onethousand two onethousand on lap 5 or 6 Jeremy was 30 seconds behind Coello who I thought was leading at the time. The next lap Jeremy was 15 seconds behind Coello. My guess is that Jeremy was about 15 seconds a lap faster in the wet than Rubenzer and Coello as he had about 30 seconds on them at lap 11 when there was a dry line starting on the front strait. By that time (lap 11 of 13) Jeremy was in maintain mode and I was trying not to pee myself. I think Jeremy passed Coello and Rubenzer around the outside of the carrousel on lap 8 or 9. I may be wrong but he did say over the radio that he passed them like they were tied to a stump somewhere. Rubenzer and Coello were in a good fight for second place which I think they thought was for the win for the last few laps. With a dry line in about 1/4 the track and Jeremy no where in site, they laid down those 2:44's on the last lap of the race. I think the confusion of who won the race was because of the fact that Jeremy is just so damn fast in the rain that nobody could imagine a FF on slicks in those conditions could go as fast as he did. It was one of the best "come back" races I have ever seen and I still can't quite believe it.

[stonebridge20]

Congrats to JT But Mike I know you are a great mechanic but you need to quit that job and become a writer and make real money ........Congrats again to JT KB

Kevin, writers need to know how to spell which I don't do worth a crap and the feeling of watching JT come up that RA strait to the checker after the weekend we had was worth more than any "real money"

[RussMcB]

Congratulations, Mike. Thanks for the great write up. Very entertaining.

I could imagine you rushing back and forth from pit road to paddock in "the world's slowest golf cart". Priceless!

[johnd]

That spare motor is no slug. It's actually a tad stronger than the other one.

Good job on cleaning out the oil lines and sump. Better job on checking the timing.

For JT this was a magic moment I'm sure. Best of luck for the remainder of the season, and especially in KS.

Curtis, you're the man!



John D.

[BWC54]

Disclaimer: I have been Jeremy's engineer for 12 years so this "report" may sound a little like a "proud pappa" story.

What chassis was he in?

[rick payne_75]

Swift DB6 and Goodyears according to results

[bhayes]

Congrats to Jeremy and Mike. I saw their hard work with the engine change, as they were paddocked just a couple of spots down from me. And I saw Jeremy absolutely blow by me in the rain during the race. I thought for sure he had switched to rain tires the way he was moving in the rain. Awesome job by both driver and crew.

And thanks for letting me borrow the coil wire Saturday.

[mblanc]

Congratulations Jeremy and Mike,

Well told race story, and it sounds like ours, and many others, not having rains on pit lane, since it's SUNNY out, and not knowing whats going on on pit lane, nor the race track.

Who would have thought THAT race would go the distance, with everybody on slicks, in THOSE conditions? It was indeed extremely treacherous between T12/T13, and really wet the entire race into T5 and the kink to Canada. I can't be the only one that thought they were going to crash during the first slow pace lap, when the safety car was still out. I don't think it was the the tires, it was the floorpan that was hydroplaning,

The explanation on the lap times makes complete sense.

You would think the bridge or black flag station would have had a "rain light" sign.
Scary catching cars towards Canada corner with no light on.

And Congrats to the rest of the field for nobody going off bad, and shortening a very interesting race.

So how big was the Hail?

[lenhart05]

hail was 1/4"+ It didn't last very long.


Mylaps is now updated and shows the lap chart. Pretty wild looking.

On our end of the grid, the old Gemini was looking good as it went from 35th to 18th overall in 5 laps until the engine blew. Oh!

[roadracer]

Did the officials ever give a reason why the start was not delayed - typically 15 minutes - to give drivers the option to change tires for the conditions? It seems strange that they would start the race with the entire field on slicks given the wet conditions and a large field of cars. It has happened several times at other tracks over the years. Thanks!

[CenDiv4]

Mike, great read! Congrats on your race.

Our FV race started with rain hitting our visors on the pace lap and doing the same thing. It did not rain as hard as the FF race though. After our race when we were loading up on Sunday we were pelted with 1/4" hail that was ridiculous!

[thewarehouse]

I was spectating at Corner 12. No hail, but a total washout for the first few laps! Was there a full course double yellow? They were showing double yellow at 12 but with no pace car nobody knew what was happening at the other corners. Was anybody passing in those first few laps?

Great fun to watch, and a great job by all in staying on the track at 12 .

Jp

[mblanc]

Did the officials ever give a reason why the start was not delayed - typically 15 minutes - to give drivers the option to change tires for the conditions? It seems strange that they would start the race with the entire field on slicks given the wet conditions and a large field of cars.

To give the officials the benefit of the doubt, they were up against the end of the day schedule cutoff, the schedule was behind already, and this storm blew up long AFTER the field had left the front straight, First rain drops I remember were approaching T5, and not raining hard until kink. They probably they didn't know how bad it was in T12. I couldn't believe how bad it was there,

A full course immediately instead of a green was a good call, and that's assuming they threw it because of the weather, not because of a poor looking grid coming to the flag. If they only threw it because of the lousy grid, it was a bad call, conditions were bad enough the track shouldn't have been green that first lap.

Another lap or two of yellow sure wouldn't have hurt, as there was still extreme amounts of water on the track.

What I do wish they would have done though at the very least, was sent the safety car back out, to bring the group back to some sort of semblance of an organized start. There were several LARGE breaks in the group, with some guys not remotely keeping up on the FCYellow laps, so when they threw the green, the field was spread out dramatically, giving those who started near the front a distinct advantage. This was not the officials fault, but they sure could have remedied that.

Yeah yeah, I know, if you want to start up front, then Qual up there, but you shouldn't have to be an extra 1/2 mile behind, just because a couple different somebodys don't want to keep up on the pace lap, and then the FCY lap. The pace car sent out again for one more lap would have solved that. I didn't stop, or drive through, but and had not gotten to T13 before the green came.

Again, the timing couldn't have been worse considering the weather,


Officials not deciding to bring us in? could argue either way,
Officials deciding to start FCY? good job.
Officials not regrouping with the pace car? bad job.
Drivers not keeping up with the competitors in front of them during pace/FCY? extra bad job.

[thunderracing91]

My problem was I had a mazda that couldnt keep up with the front pack during the double yellow. Should have brought everybody in pit road to get all the cars back on grid and go from there.......It was kind of odd to have a guy go around you in 12 at full speed and here I am on a double yellow?

Andrew