FF Showcase National June Sprints Roll Call

[TimW]

All:

A little over 3 weeks until the Thursday test day for the Sprints and the 3rd Showcase National. Pertinent links below:

Event Website

Schedule

Online Registration

Entry Booklet & Supps (PDF)

Online Registrant List

Registered Drivers (as of 6/14/10):

Reid Hazelton, Van Dieman RF92
Scott Rubenzer, Citation
Marc Blanc, Swift DB6
Allen Wheatcroft, Van Dieman RF98
Jeremy Treadway, Swift DB6
Dan Layton, Van Dieman RF98/00
Russ Ruedisueli, Van Dieman RF99
John Butkovich, Swift DB1
Doug Stout, Swift DB1
Wes Allen, Piper DF2
Robert Albani, Van Dieman RF00
Jacques Dresang, AAR Eagle DGF
John Luxon, Piper DF2
Bill Valet, Swift DB6
David Livingston, Swift DB3/89
Jim Lee, Swift DB1
Mike Scanlan, Swift DB6
Mark Davison, Swift DB1
Forrest Hull, Van Dieman RF98
Tim Kautz, Piper
Tim Wise, Swift DB6
Art Foster, Van Dieman RF00

Anyone else? Chime in here and I'll update the list.

See you in 3 weeks.

Tim

[swiftdrivr]

I registered today. Got my parts, and help is coming, so I should have better luck than with the MO race. At least I've seen this track before. Anyone know if we will have a split start?---Jim

[mblanc]

I thought the split starts in both races at the SiameseCAT National at RA were handled well, and also worked very well. The FE's had their race, and FF had theirs, no mixing of fast FF in the back of the other group at the start, and our race wasn't affected by slow guys, starting slow, which can happen.

That event also had the foresight to be scheduled with a split-start.


Would you support a split? and what do we need to do to get it done?
Has it been requested since this is a 'FF Showcase National'?

With the number of FC and FF, I would love to have a split, though I haven't taken the time to compare FE vs FC times, and what would happen with lapping.

[reidhazelton]

+1 for a split, and we have a large group so there would be a lot of ff mixed in the back of fc.

[TimW]

Has it been requested since this is a 'FF Showcase National'?

No, I did not inquire about that with the region originally. But I can (and will).

Last year, the lead group for Fords was separated by midpack continentals so there never really ended up being a race for the lead in Fords...

Best bumper sticker I saw at Mid Ohio last week: "How's my driving? Call 1-800-MID-PACK"

[stonebridge20]

[QUOTE]

Last year, the lead group for Fords was separated by midpack continentals so there never really ended up being a race for the lead in Fords...

Holy crap,.........We agree on something!

[Allen_W]

I support a split start. I agree with Marc that the split start at the Double National worked well.

I think the fast FC's do 2:13's or 2:14's while the fast FE's do 2:16's or 2:17's.

[TimW]

No, I did not inquire about that with the region originally. But I can (and will).

Ok, so it appears that it was a rookie organizing mistake on my part to not request a split start when I first contacted the region before the supps were approved. I'm now in email communication with the SOM & other region officials to see what we can do before the big weekend.

More the come.

Tim

[reidhazelton]

At other nationals, serveral times, a split start has been requested on Saturday and they have approved that. Seems there should be pleanty of time to get it worked out. Thanks for doing so Tim.

[TimW]

We're up to 21 registered and baring any issues I should be #22 now it appears. Anyone else coming?

Split start is 'under consideration' at this time. Will update when I know more.

Tim

[Mike Scanlan]

I was the 21st entry over the weekend. Any other Honda entries going to make it?

[ric baribeault]

Steve O is trying, but it'll be tight

[DLayton]

I think there could be four of us in all: Mike Scanlan & Tim Wise in DB-6s; my Van Diemen and Oseth's Citation.

Dan

[Gokart Mozart]

So we'll have Fords, Hondas, and a car that will be running points, Stewart Warner gauges, period-correct 1978 shocks and club tires until qualifying...I hope we're grading this parody business on a bell curve!

I'll try to stop by and meet everyone during the course of the weekend, as it is my first in the open-wheel ranks. Best of luck to everyone in advance!

Respectfully Yours,

Jacques N. Dresang

[TimW]

Welcome Jacques!

We'll finalize the location of the drawing in the next few days, but that should be a good spot to meet up.

Tim

[TimW]

We're up to 24 cars each, FF & FC for the sprints this coming week. Art Foster, Tim Kautz & myself are the recent additions.

We will do the contingency raffle at 10:00a at Impound on Saturday, during the last few minutes of the 30 minute hold after qualifying. Please be present to win.

I will have ApexSpeed decals with me for anyone who would like them.

See you guys in less than a week.

Tim

[mblanc]

Do we know where impound is going to be?

At the Cat it was a little of a cluster, as they would do a slow escort of cars all the way down the hill to the RA center (pre race tech location) for weighing and impound.



Any word on our split start?

[TimW]

Do we know where impound is going to be?

According to the map in the June Sprints entry & parking booklet (http://junesprints.com/2010/PDF/2010EntryBook.pdf) its in the normal spot just inside the track from pit out behind the 'pro' transporter spots, adjacent to paddock spot 35. See page 22 of the above PDF.

Any word on our split start?

The last communication i heard from the chief steward was that it was under consideration. I reached out to him again this past week but have not gotten a response yet. I suspect he's a little busy. Will follow up again this week.

Tim

[Matt King]

Do we know where impound is going to be?

The new weight shed and tech garages are complete, so I would guess they will use them for the Sprints. They are located up at the south end of the paddock alongside the hill.

[TimW]

Regarding the split start for the Sprints, I have learned it will be discussed at the drivers meeting. From the schedule, our meeting is at noon Friday:

12:00 PM Drivers Meeting groups 2,3,4,7 & 9 In Room Behind Paddock Medical

If you support a split start this weekend, please be at the drivers meeting and voice your support. I don’t know the criteria upon which the split start will be approved, but more people there asking and voicing their support for it won’t hurt the process for sure.

Tim

[TimW]

And then there were 22...I've updated the list above.

Reminder on the Drivers Meeting regarding split start. Please voice your opinion, for or against, at this meeting with the Stewards.

Tim

[CDS]

We are here now with our support trailer. We are on the corner just after you drive under the Kohler Bridge. There were a lot of cars in the new tech barn today, don't know if they have rented it out or what.

[Gokart Mozart]

Unfortunately I had to scratch my entry for the weekend. We've been climbing a mountain restoring this beast, and unfortunately many issues came to light in the past 24 hours. Best of luck to everyone!

[mblanc]

Stop by and say hi anyway,

should be a great weekend,

[Tim FF19]

Per the SCCA website:

Chicago Region WeatherTech June Sprints

06/25/2010
The biggest Club Racing National event of the season happens at Road America



I'll bet all the Runoffs competitors may take issue with that statement!

So who's fast in FF?

[DMac]

Official Q1 timing:

http://www.scca.com/documents/Club_E...20Qual%201.pdf

[Allen_W]

Thanks to a situation I'd rather not get into I got the chance to watch the Ford/Continental race. Your top finishers:

1. Treadway 2:22.9
2. Hazleton 2:23.5
3. Valet 2:24.8
4. Rubenzer 2:25.1
5. Foster 2:25.1
6. Livingston 2:26.7
7. Hull 2:27.2
8. Albani 2:26.7
9. Davison 2:27.0
10. Scanlan 2:27.4

It sounded like engine trouble for Kautz, who fell back from second when it went sour. Reid had a really great race -- congratulations to the podium finishers. Treadway is really, really fast, carrying ungodly speed through five -- it appeared that he gave up on working his way through the FC field at a certain point, just to be sure. Some great battles through the field. Good show for east coast drivers.

I believe the race was flagged early, not sure what happened.

The FC battle was a nail biter, with Niki Coello eating into Revere Greist's lead and finally overtaking him in the exit of turn 5, I believe on the last lap. Amazing pass.

On the other hand, I myself am not this weekend a fan of Continentals.

Anyway, Ford guys, it was a blast to stick around and get to see what one of our races looks like.

[Jon Jeffords]

Results are up:

http://www.scca.com/documents/Club_E...%20Results.pdf

Some rambling observations:

- Not much of a split start; seemed like the front runners were into the back of the FC field in no time.
- Treadway was on big rear tires. Hazelton and Rubenzer were on skinnies. Can't recall what size Valet was using.
- Kautz' motor started misfiring badly around halfway through the race. It must have occurred suddenly after he passed the pit entrance, as we saw him do a U-turn to exit the track and enter the pits going the wrong way. Car came back out on track a short time later (this time going in the correct direction!), but still misfiring badly.
- Apparently no one has informed Reid Hazelton that RF-92's are not worthy of a podium. And a 2:23.6 fast time as well. Did I hear someone say it has a monoshock front?

[cooleyjb]

Kautz made a U-turn to go the wrong way down pits? I can't imagine he did that or that the stewards let it happen.

Isn't that like a cardinal No-No.

[Allen_W]

- Apparently no one has informed Reid Hazelton that RF-92's are not worthy of a podium. And a 2:23.6 fast time as well. Did I hear someone say it has a monoshock front?

It does indeed.

Basically keeping pace with Treadway, a brilliant performance, a lot of fun to watch. I think this monoshock thing has been mentioned to him, but Reid apparently isn't going for it.

I didn't think they did split the field . . . did they? Didn't look like it on the pace lap . . . Early on, FCs separated the three leaders in FF, which to my mind argues in favor of a split with these classes.

[Bill Valet]

Reid drove the hell out of that car. Well deserved 2nd place finish to him! We had a good battle for a few laps with a continental making things interesting for the both of us early on. It was good to be able to keep pace with Tim and Reid for a few laps on cold tires before I was unable to keep pace, we really need to figure these tires out.

The race was checkered early due to carnage all around the track. Cars off at Canada, turn 3, another before the kink, another after the kink, another at 14 I believe, too many to remember. It would have taken a while to clean it all up, so I think short of black flagging the session and doing a 2 lap shootout it was the right decision.

Treadway again checked out after putting some continentals in between himself and Tim and really used the traffic to his advantage. Of course being at least half a second faster than anyone else doesn't hurt either

Once again a great event at Road America and I know we're all looking forward to the Runoffs in a few months time!

Congrats again to Jeremy and Reid for great drives this weekend.

I'll go through the video of the race and post something later on tonight for you guys.

As a side note, Jeremy is running in the FA race this weekend and put the car on the outside pole if I remember correctly. He promptly jumped in his FF and won the race. Heck of a driver if you ask me.

-Bill Valet

[Bill Valet]

Oh, and I was on the larger rear goodyears.

Jeremy decided to hang back a hundred yards or so from the continental field and have a dedicated FC and FF start. The stewards did not grant us a split start.

-Bill Valet

[Allen_W]

Jeremy decided to hang back a hundred yards or so from the continental field and have a dedicated FC and FF start. The stewards did not grant us a split start.

-Bill Valet

And yet you guys were all over the FC's right off the bat . . . Congratulations on the podium and a great run, Bill. It was a good race to watch, and you east coast boys showed your speed.

[Dennis Valet]

A quick look at the video showed the fords catching the Continentals by turn 5, despite the self imposed split start.

[Dennis Valet]

Didn't take too many pictures this weekend, tried to enjoy it as much as possible


Album

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...prints%202010/





Reid showing how you run a 2:23 lap











Pit stop speed competition

[Tom Valet]

Allen, looked like you and the car were given a nasty ride into the wall so we were glad to hear that you are ok but very sorry that you were unable to start the race.

My favorite part of the weekend: at the end of Q1 the track announcer had Mike Scanlan and the Honda in P2 behind Treadway. At first we were like, oh man, nice job Mike but there goes any chances you had of getting a bigger restrictor. But Mike knew right away it had to be a mistake and then we had a good laugh about it.

Mike is driving back today, I am sure he will give a full report when he gets home. All I will say is this: there were 3 Honda technicians there for the 3 Honda FF cars. Honda's level of commitment is incredible. And there was absolutely no politicing (is that a word?) by the Honda engineers. Mike was pitted next to us and we had many long converations with the Honda guys. They were not complaining about the restrictor size, they were not lobbying for a bigger plate, they were just there to help and to enjoy being part of the whole race scene. Of course they want to be running near the front, but to their credit they are leaving it entirely up to the racers and SCCA to decide what needs to be done at least from what I saw.

[cooleyjb]

Allen, looked like you and the car were given a nasty ride into the wall so we were glad to hear that you are ok but very sorry that you were unable to start the race.

I just saw in-car of the incident. I'm glad Allen's okay. REALLY poor move on the FC's part to dive inside of him at the kink. Even worse that it was during qualifying when positions weren't at stake.

[Allen_W]

Thanks, Tom.

I almost packed up, not real happy about what went on out there and thinking it would be too hard to watch when I really wanted to be in the Sprints. I'm glad I stayed, as the race was really enjoyable to see. The runoffs should really be something.

The #2 car looked far from slow Top 10 in that field is moving. What a great group of drivers I got to see by sticking around.

[Bill Valet]

Heres a clip of the first few laps. Pardon the shoddy editing, apparently my brother is way better at this than I am!

http://www.vimeo.com/12902108

Continentals really got in between and made things interesting. Even if I was able to keep the draft for a few more laps I don't think I could have stayed with Reid, he simply was fantastic this weekend.

Allen, I forget who I was talking to on Saturday but I mentioned to them that in qualifying (mostly Q1 where we weren't gridded according to the previous sessions times) the continentals were overly aggressive. I don't understand the need to dive bomb on a qualifying lap. If you're going underneath me (dive bombing or not) you've lost the fast lap. Why take unnecessary risks when the laps already toast? The session is 25 minutes long, if you can't get past me on the straight, then don't ruin my lap too. There is time to give it another go. Several times a continental bullied their way in from SEVERAL car lengths back under heavy braking. There also seems to be a general mentality that qualifying is racing. It's not. I think this should be addressed during the drivers meeting if this group is together again.

Anyway, enjoy the video!

-Bill Valet

[Brad Ellingson]

Allen,

Glad to see you stuck around. Wanted to get a chance to talk to you again, but we got a little busy. Hope to see you out again soon.