Formula Vee 50th Celebration

[Kim291]

A great time was had by all. It was 100% worth the long tow. We met so many great Vee drivers and people It was very cool meeting and hanging out with Ray Caldwell, designer of the very cool D-13.

We had a blast and will always remember this great event. I have a new favorite track. This is a great momentum track. Perfect for the vees.

Looking forward to seeing a lot of you at the run-offs.

Kim Madrid

[racinray]

Can someone scan a results sheet from the Brundage Cup race? Sounds like it was a good race and congrats to Brad Stout -- I guess being away from racing for a little while didn't hurt him a bit!!

Ray

[Steve Davis]

I don't have the results from Heat 1, but Brad won with Jeremy close on his tail. Heat 2 (race 3) for even numbered cars and the Brundage cup is attached. If there is any such thing as "official" results, I never saw any.

No protests were filed as far as I know.
Can't attach here as it's too large, but you can link it at
http://www.WedgeRacing.com/2013/50th_Vee_results.pdf
Of note - the Shadowfax, driven by Mike Jackson, got tapped at T1 and went off through the sand trap and OVER the berm into the trees and such. Mike was slightly injured but was able to limp away. The car looked pretty bad at first glance, but after some study, my eye thinks it wasn't hurt too badly. Bent LR rim/flat tire and wasted nose - otherwise looked like it needed a vaccum really badly. OH... don't have results, but some guy named Oseth won the Monteposto in the absence of Mike.

Dean Curtis lost a wheel/spindle assy during Heat 1 - it came off coming onto the front straight and made it most of the way to Dean's paddock spot before stopping. Fortunately, no one was hit by the rolling dart. Several other cars off in the heats and Cup races, but nothing serious as far as I know.

4 DNS's in Brundage cup not listed (was on page 2) - Nick Galuardi, Thomas Pape, Bob Hatle and Patrick Chaffin.

Steve, FV80
PS - forgot to mention - there was a split start in the Monteposto race for the 2 VARA D-13's. Kim Madrid won and was first overall. During the FCY for Mike's incident (he was at, or very near the front at the time), the VARA cars were picked up by the pace car and the Monteposto leaders had already lapped a significant part of the field - meaning there were several "lapped by VARA, but not yet by MP" cars in front of the MP leaders. Not sure how that all played out or whether it had any impact on the results. Perhaps someone that was able to watch or actually raced and could see can chime in with more info.

[racinray]

I don't have the results from Heat 1, but Brad won with Jeremy close on his tail. Heat 2 (race 3) for even numbered cars and the Brundage cup is attached. If there is any such thing as "official" results, I never saw any.

No protests were filed as far as I know.
Can't attach here as it's too large, but you can link it at
http://www.WedgeRacing.com/2013/50th_Vee_results.pdf
Of note - the Shadowfax, driven by Mike Jackson, got tapped at T1 and went off through the sand trap and OVER the berm into the trees and such. Mike was slightly injured but was able to limp away. The car looked pretty bad at first glance, but after some study, my eye thinks it wasn't hurt too badly. Bent LR rim/flat tire and wasted nose - otherwise looked like it needed a vaccum really badly. OH... don't have results, but some guy named Oseth won the Monteposto in the absence of Mike.

Dean Curtis lost a wheel/spindle assy during Heat 1 - it came off coming onto the front straight and made it most of the way to Dean's paddock spot before stopping. Fortunately, no one was hit by the rolling dart. Several other cars off in the heats and Cup races, but nothing serious as far as I know.

4 DNS's in Brundage cup not listed (was on page 2) - Nick Galuardi, Thomas Pape, Bob Hatle and Patrick Chaffin.

Steve, FV80

Thanks Steve. Sounds like there were some exciting moments amongst a lot of great racing! Glad Mike Jackson is ok -- that sounds like quite a ride. Wish I could have been there. Congrats to Mr. Oseth for winning the Monteposto race!!

Ray

[Steve Davis]

Yep - quite an exciting race. We had a 6+ car lead pack for about 1/2 the race. Donnie Isley had his shifter break coming out of the carousel while in a close 5th - that left him stuck in 3rd and opened a gap to the top 4 for the remainder of the race.

Steve, FV80

[Mark_Silverberg]

Of note - the Shadowfax, driven by Mike Jackson, got tapped at T1 and went off through the sand trap and OVER the berm into the trees and such. Mike was slightly injured but was able to limp away. The car looked pretty bad at first glance, but after some study, my eye thinks it wasn't hurt too badly. Bent LR rim/flat tire and wasted nose - otherwise looked like it needed a vaccum really badly. OH... don't have results, but some guy named Oseth won the Monteposto in the absence of Mike.

PS - forgot to mention - there was a split start in the Monteposto race for the 2 VARA D-13's. Kim Madrid won and was first overall. During the FCY for Mike's incident (he was at, or very near the front at the time), the VARA cars were picked up by the pace car and the Monteposto leaders had already lapped a significant part of the field - meaning there were several "lapped by VARA, but not yet by MP" cars in front of the MP leaders. Not sure how that all played out or whether it had any impact on the results. Perhaps someone that was able to watch or actually raced and could see can chime in with more info.

Per Mike Jackson, he was passing a lapped car when the contact occurred. He has not looked at the car as it was sent back to Florida and Mike is on his way to VIR for the VDCA race next weekend. There is always a wide range of speeds in monoposto FV but it is rare for there to be contact between the lead drivers and a car being lapped.

I am sure that Mike will do all he can to get the Shadowfax back on track.

Lapped traffic did play a role in the Monoposo finish as I was told tha Oseth was able to pick up a tow off of traffic ahead to help stay ahead of 2nd place Ennis. I would not say that this was caused by the pace car situation as, given the size of the monoposto field and the differences in speeds ,you can start lapping cars after 3 or 4 laps (At least that was the case in 2008)

[FV90]

Any pictures of the weekend out on the 'nets?

[Kim291]

Steve is correct that the pace car did pick up Bob and I and we prob had lapped most of the monoposto vees at that point.

Bob was in the lead at that point.. Bob and I were turning at least 1 second per lap quicker times so the gap with us and Mike was pretty significant. From what I heard mike was just getting into the lapped traffic when he made contact with another vees tire and was launched.

I'm sure there may be more but that is what I heard.

Kim Madrid

[BLS]

Watching the race, Mike was in front and lapping the back of the field. There was a significant gap between Mike and 2nd at the time from what I could tell, so the incident had to be with a lapped car.

[sracing]

As one of the "odd ones" there. (Brought up 3 of the FST cars.). I want to say it was a VERY well done event and I enjoyed it very much. All the promoters deserve lots of thanks.

With only 4 cars in our race it wasn't real exciting for spectators, but our drivers all had fun.

I was able to even help a few of the FV guys keep them running and provided parts. I wish we could have more (FST) cars there, but the distance and not being a points race dampened enthusiasm a bit. But, I am glad we went..

Thanks to all who put I together,

[butch deer]

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes all weekend. What a glorius way to end 50 years in FV. My Formcar is on its way to its new home SW of Fort Worth and a new owner who I hope will enjoy it as much as I have.
Barb & I are lazing out for a few days on Hilton Head before we go back north. We watched a great Brundage cup race before we left the track. Having over 100 FV's on the same weekend brings back memories of the great racing with big fields that were common for decades. I'm still up thinking about all the friends and great memories came back as I ran into countless old buds wearever I went and it was too short as there were people there that I never got to talk to.
Like most who came it ended too fast.

[tpapem]

Thank you Anna and all of the workers and participants for the weekend! I had a blast and met many wonderful people. So glad that I made the trip. Best to all.
Tom Pape

[Amon]

Congratulations Butch on your achievement!!

Mark Farnham

[grimes34]

Suffice it to say.. there was DISPUTE! However, no protests were filed and no actions were taken. Brad won, Roger 2nd, Davis 3rd, Grenier 4th (Brundage cup). I think Brandon Abbott finished 5th, but the first 4 were in the same picture at the line.

Steve, FV80

Hay, Steve got a video of the finish from your seat? I was in the cheap seats and couldn't nutin!

[sandrunner]

Any pictures of the weekend out on the 'nets?

I have a few my wife took on Saturday. I'll be glad to post them up if no one has objections.
Of course, my boy had a wonderful time seeing all of the cars.

[lucky13]

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes all weekend. What a glorius way to end 50 years in FV. My Formcar is on its way to its new home SW of Fort Worth and a new owner who I hope will enjoy it as much as I have.
Barb & I are lazing out for a few days on Hilton Head before we go back north. We watched a great Brundage cup race before we left the track. Having over 100 FV's on the same weekend brings back memories of the great racing with big fields that were common for decades. I'm still up thinking about all the friends and great memories came back as I ran into countless old buds wearever I went and it was too short as there were people there that I never got to talk to.
Like most who came it ended too fast.

Tons of respect, Butch. What a tremendous accomplishment.

I had a really nice conversation with your wife in the cafe. My 19 year-old son REALLY enjoyed talking with her and it was cool to see the two of them talking away like two old friends! He had his usual comment after we caught up with one another later: "You meet the nicest and most interesting people at the track!"

[Sharplikestump]

Did not race, did not have a car rented, but there was no way I could stay away from this one.
Elaine and I hopped in "Schmoe", our 2004 VW Jetta diesel wagon and headed out from the mountains of CO on Good Friday, (warning each other to not slip on the ice).
Thanks to our friends, Dwight and Linda Calkins putting us up in Dallas, along with visiting other Vee friends there, it helped break up the trip. We looked around Texas for a couple more days, and then pushed on. Was great exploring Savannah, and then (with help from the Fizells, we finally found RRR). The racing was absolutely great, but for me it paled in comparison to reconnecting with so many old friends. SO many!
The event was extremely well organized, and kudos to Anne, and all involved. Same goes for the banquet, MC'ed by Tom Stefani, and Steve Knapp who was a fantastic hit as guest speaker. His story of Mario's first experience with White Castle "Sliders" had us in tears.

We are presently camping out in Donnie Isley's beautiful condo in SC, and with a major winter storm combined near zero temps in CO, I am considering changing the locks on what used to be his condo. Also need to apply some sunscreen today. Thank You, Donnie!
Before this trip is over, we will have logged well over 5,000 miles.
Would not have missed it for anything!
Mike & Elaine Palermo Jr.
Peak Performance Racing

[Pinky096]

Currently at school, but I wanted what a great time I had. I will post a link to some pictures, videos, and race recaps later today- possibly tomorrow.

[Bill Bonow]

Here is a link to a Google album of the event:

https://plus.google.com/photos/11338...CJzJs5z4jeqlBQ

[AVR_Shane]

What an event! I have to say that we, the Canadian's, really enjoyed our trip down for the birthday party. It did not come without it's challenges though. About 900 miles into our 1100 mile trip to the track, we started having major tow vehicle. We limped into the track, and made our way to a service station...turned out to be a very expensive fuel pump.
After a frustrating first half of the test day chasing "first time out this year" problems, I finally got some solid sessions in. A new track and new tires around the best drivers in the country made for a steep learning curve! On the Saturday and Sunday, I had an absolute blast on and off the track. We met lots of great people and great drivers around the track.

A few thank you's...
- Thanks to Fred Clark for helping us find a place to get our truck repaired (and for letting me by in turn 1 during the first race Sunday morning!)
- Thanks to Frank O'Hanlon for showing us some Canadian support and chasing down some "higher knowledge" around the paddock to help us get back on the track
- Big thanks to Jim Schings for helping solve engine issues Friday morning
- Thanks to Desmond Ennis for supplying slightly used slicks to use for the weekend
- Finally, a HUGE THANK YOU to all the organizers for putting on a fantastic event!!

[Rolling Stone]

Long drive from Canada but so worth it all,all those amazing vintage/modern vees in one place to look at.Damn good drivers all of you,blimey!40 vees in the last race was an amazing site from corner 5 head on.Thanx to the gentleman from SKI-Motorsports who I asked to help Shane with an electrical problem..he had it solved before he got to the car and thanx to Dietmar for the throttle cable for Peter Viccarys vintage car and for coming up with an ingenious way of fitting the cable to the pedal.Great weather and the usuall great Vee people some of the vintage/modern vees were beautiful to look at,chrome wheels,chrome this and that etc.THANK YOU USA AND ROEBLING!!!!!I loved it

[formulasuper]

"THANK YOU USA AND ROEBLING!!!!!I loved it" ...Rolling Stone

Now there's something you don't hear everyday!

[Dietmar]

(and thanx to Dietmar for the throttle cable for Peter Viccarys vintage car and for coming up with an ingenious way of fitting the cable to the pedal)

you are quite welcome. I always like to hear that something worked out. No way we would have left him hanging without a throttle cable!

Dietmar
www.quixoteracing.com

[fitfan]

congrats Kim !!

[lucky13]

I just uploaded about 300 pics from last weekend. Here is a link (I hope it works):

http://s239.photobucket.com/user/luc...99608257413225

[Diamond Level Motorsports]

Cool pictures. Thanks for posting them !

[gbmetcalf]

We loaded some photos too...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Ly...6811174&type=1

We had an awesome time!

G.

[Kim291]

Those were great pictures Brian. You have a little of everything and a lot of the Lazer. Lol. The ones with Steve Knapp are really cool.

I am glad that we met you guys it made it so fun. I had a blast with Nancy (especially on our walk to the pits that we were not supposed to be after the race) LOL.

Good luck with your new M-2. Chris was in heaven sitting in it dreaming about when his will be finished.

We need to keep in touch,
Kim Madrid
FV 291
FV 12

[gbmetcalf]

Those were great pictures Brian. You have a little of everything and a lot of the Lazer. Lol. The ones with Steve Knapp are really cool.

I am glad that we met you guys it made it so fun. I had a blast with Nancy (especially on our walk to the pits that we were not supposed to be after the race) LOL.

Good luck with your new M-2. Chris was in heaven sitting in it dreaming about when his will be finished.

We need to keep in touch,
Kim Madrid
FV 291
FV 12

You can thank Nancy for all the photos she does a great job!

G.

[lucky13]

We loaded some photos too...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Lynn-Racing-LLC/365475796811174#!/media/set/?set=a.638725572819527.1073741825.365475796811174& type=1

We had an awesome time!

G.

Great pics!

[Pinky096]

Here is the link to my blog and some onboard footage from this past weekend.

Link:http://pinkertonautosport.com/2013/0...50th-birthday/

[Kim291]

50th Vee Birthday
http://throughdanaseyes.wordpress.co...-vee-birthday/

These are my daughters pictures.

Enjoy,
Kim Madrid

[scondid]

Here is a link to a story I did in my racing column on Friday.

http://www.stargazette.com/article/2...ndage-Cup-race

Also, here is a small photo gallery we posted Saturday night. I left out some good pics that someday I'll post separately.

http://www.stargazette.com/apps/pbcs...4130060&Ref=PH

I did a preview story last week that can be found at this link.

http://www.stargazette.com/article/2...-50th-birthday

If you have trouble go to stargazette.com website. These links, however, eventually get deleted.

I raced Vees in the 1970s and did not want to miss the 50th. I also raced Formula Atlantic and have written a weekly race column for our paper since 1983. I typically cover events at Watkins Glen, including the SCCA Nationals, and also some pro events in the U.S. and abroad.

Enjoy,

Ron Levanduski

[ski-motorsports]

My thanks to Jeremy for his efforts to bring Ski Motorsports home in fourth place, but I owe him an apology for sending him out with an engine that was two years old and had nine race weekends on it. (Eric O builds them to last, thanks Eric and Sandy).

Sadly, after 33 years in FV, I must report that Ski Motorsports is moving on and all of our Vees, parts, engines, etc are now for sale.

Competing in the Honda F1600 series takes a tremendous effort in both time and funding, I would rather see our Vees in good homes where they are racing than gathering dust in our shops.

We will post some adds soon but if you have a specific interest please send me a PM or an email to info@ski-motorsports.com

Thank you to all our FV friends, it is an outstanding community and I was happy to be part of it

Paul

[Rickydel]

Steve D. said: "Dean Curtis lost a wheel/spindle assy during Heat 1 - it came off coming onto the front straight and made it most of the way to Dean's paddock spot before stopping. Fortunately, no one was hit by the rolling dart. Several other cars off in the heats and Cup races, but nothing serious as far as I know."

There was one other spindle break that I know of. I didn't get the driver's name, but his right front broke going into turn 5. The burm on the outside of the track turned into a ramp and the wheel took off, skipped off the front TOP of my enclosed trailer, cracking the fiberglass, crossed the road about 15 feet high, and came to rest against the front bumper of Dave Handy's (Sasco Sports) pick-up truck. I was yelling "watch out" as loudly and as many times as I could.
Sure did raise the heartbeats of everyone outside of turn 5.
Failure analysis showed fatigue markings outside of the grainy break.

Purple Frog said: "So if you are going to the FV 50th, stop by and talk to Tom and Nick Galuardi. Nick lives up by me and Tom lives in central Conn. Tom has been racing the same FV car for 33 plus years. Has never won a race and doesn’t care. He will run in the back of the pack and be happy dong it. The family has always camped out at the track and for 33 years Tom, his wife Donna, Nick and his sister went to the track every weekend. In the early years it was 4 of them in an old VW pickup. The one with the sides that folded down. Tom really lives by the motto any day at the track is a good day. When not racing he is a corner worker at any track that he can find work. From Atlanta to Montreal if asked , he will be there. Any other day I can call him up and ask if he wants to help me and he always says yes. Him and his wife are now retired school teachers. Nick is a new business owner. He owns a wellness center in Saratoga Springs NY. His sister Allison, is a videographer for the outfit that does all the Indy car races and others like the Rolex series. They all can spout all the names and stats, of most drivers and teams . When you stop and see them make sure you are hungry. I know they will ask you to have lunch, or dinner, or what ever once you are talking t them. It is truly a great experience and a lot of fun to just know these people. Take a few minutes as you are walking through and just say hi. These are the people keeping the dream alive. "

I DID stop by to say hello to Tom, his car and meet his son Nick. I knew Tom when I was a kid watching him race with my mom and dad in the northeast back in the 70s.
His Zeitler FV was a baby blue back then, and my parents had "Elmsford Raceway" Zinks. (Autodynamics was their first though.)