Mid-Ohio April 2021

[Purple Frog]

Sportsfans,

Mrs Frog and I are planning on attending this prestigious event. At the moment we are camping in the "the Beast" in the heart of Amish Country in Holmes County Ohio. Mrs Frog gets to shop in the hundreds of shops along Ohio route 39, and I get to reunite with the FRP circus.

Even though it is pouring rain today (Thursday) it appears we will have great weather for the weekend.

We will try to post some the next few days about the races (not so much about the shopping). Our first surprise was that many of the trees up here don't yet have leaves. And they haven't even plowed the fields yet to plant corn, yet at home our corn is 2 feet high. It's like falling back one whole season.

Some interesting 1 Horsepower machines in the area.

[EricP]

I'm going to spectate. Car isn't ready.

How does one get in just to spectate?

[Purple Frog]

Bob Wright et al can arrange to get you in as guest.
I'll have more info when we get to the track this evening.

[Garey Guzman]

Cool! I plan to leave later today with my 13 year old. He hasn't been to the track since an event at Barber, so hopefully we'll have a quality, father/son/racetrack weekend! Looking forward to saying hi!

[Purple Frog]

It well could be the largest formula car event of the season. Something like 100+ cars entered.

The Beast , and my love/hate relationship with it:

[bzneil]

I can't wait, leaving in a couple hours. Weather looks promising, grass paddock may be a little sloppy. See you all there!

[CheckeredFlag]

Lucky you. The supps for the SCCA Majors event at Mid-Ohio in mid-May states that nonessential folks should stay home and cars entries are limited to 4 people max. No spectators or guests allowed.

[Earley Motorsports]

It is a little cool and damp at the track but we are promised better weather. The Zink Z-16 gets another try out. Hope to meet you frog.

[E1pix]

I sent a PM to you, Mike.

Have a splendid weekend.

[Purple Frog]

Geez... Mrs Frog... we aren't in Florida anymore.
It seems to have quit raining. Cold and damp and windy.
42 degrees expected first thing in the morning.
It will be interesting to see how many go out in the first sessions.
The wind will help with the drying, maybe.
We are camped next to the Eric Langbein Racing compound. Rand is just next door.
DaveW is in garage #12 next to John and Sharon LaRue.
Great to see so many purpose built racecars.

[EricP]

Welcome to Spring in Ohio. The reservoir behind the trees keeps it interesting with weather patterns but I'm confident Sat. and Sun. it will be gorgeous. I'll be up first thing Saturday. Shout if someone needs a last minute part...

[Purple Frog]

Last night I wrote a lengthy report about day 1. And just as I was ready to post it, my PC crashed and burned.
So, I'll try again now that it is over 1/2 way through day two.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday it never got above 54 (was usually in the 40s) and the wind blew like all get out.
Track temps were mostly in the 50s. Getting heat in the tires was very hard. It was sort of miserable.
This a.m. we woke to heavy frost on everything.
Today... bright and sunny... 64 with a steady breeze out of the South. A perfect race day.

It is fabulous hanging out with something like 100 purpose built race cars. For us it has been like a pleasant homecoming.

In F2000, John LaRue has been the class of the field in all the qualifiers and for all but the last lap of today's race. With 2 to go he felt the left rear of his car get crazy and pitted. Soon discovered that the wheel nut was loose. It will make you a believer in using safety pins through the axles. His beautiful car went undamaged because of a small pin. John is running in the "club" class because he is testing the new SCCA spec tire for FC. Pretty neat that Mac Clark on the pro radial got within 5/10s of John in today's race.

Last night we dined at Titos in downtown Lexington. Sort of an up-scale Mexican restaurant recommended by many. We would recommend it also.

Today Simon walked away with the F1600 win. Of note, Jonathon Lee in a Kent powered 30 year old Swift finished 3rd. Every lap Jon was 5th in Madness and then 3rd at finish. It was a fun battle to watch.

It is also pleasant to see a large S2 field. Today John Thompson (Eric Langbein Racing) won in a tight battle with Rob Sherwood.

Fast Phil Kingham did his usual in the RCFFS race. I was working a bit with Rand. There were struggles in qualifying with a faulty shifter. With a temp repair he quickly jumped from something like 11th up to 3rd. Finally finishing 5th. Today's hard charger.

[Purple Frog]

We are camped somewhere in the Amish country in NE Ohio (Walnut Creek) looking back at the last three days at Mid-Ohio.
Maybe most remarkable was the daily changing weather. One day we are worried about rain, the next day we wake up to frost, then today it was sunny and almost 80.

Lesson re-learned: Safety pins outside of axle nuts are a good thing. They saved John LaRue from expensive damage... twice.

Speaking of LaRue, he had an interesting Sunday. In qualifying he had an issue where a front axle started to loosen. John is pretty aware on the track and knew something was amiss and parked on pit lane. Then, through the lunch break he changed out the upright for the race. In the race, starting from the back of the field he charge up to second place, constantly setting the fastest lap. With 4 laps to go he was 3 seconds behind the leader and turning laps a second faster. It was looking to be an exciting finish. But with a lap or two remaining John pulled onto pit lane, not messing up the "official" F2000 race, since he was running on the new Club "spec" tire, and not the pro radial.

Mac Clark lead the F2000 race start to finish. Trent Walko was second. And, Dexter Czuba was third. Mike Varacins was certainly going to make it onto the podium, until he pitted with a rear wing failure.
In the decades old battle to see who would go home with "Mojo" the stuffed gorilla... DaveW returned to Bath Ohio with Mojo as Mark Defer, who was constantly improving from his 8 year layoff, wasn't quite up to getting past Dave this weekend.

In the Right Coast event they should just have a separate class for Phil Kingham. He strolled to another win in race 2 and race 3. But for race 2, in second was Mike Rand, who shook off the cobwebs from a winter's absence of racing to return to his old competitive self in his Honda/Crossle. Rand, deciding that 2nd overall, and 1st in the "non-Kingham class" was a great result, packed up and left for Connecticut before race 3. Race 3 showed Wayne Nicolette taking second after putting the front of his car back together after a shunt in race two. Pretty neat.

Simon Sikes again cruised to another couple of Sunday wins in F1600 in the sky blue Rice Prep car. Some billionaire out there should put the kid in an Indy-Lites car.

I walked around some and talked to the Challenge Cup Series entrants. The whole show was new to me. They look like FVees, but with sexy looking wheels and wider tires. Turns out they are on a DOT tire that can last a season or more. And basically other than that they are legal FVees. But a whole lot of them show up to their events and seem to be having the most fun in the paddock.

With 16 S2 cars present I felt like I was in pinto heaven. So many sweet sounding pintos. Sandy was present from Quicksilver to keep them all running great. In race 2 Rob Sherwood bested yesterday's winner John Thompson. Then in race three with Thompson on his way back to New Jersey, Sherwood got another win, but with Henry Payne finishing second and having the races fastest lap.

It was a tremendous weekend for spectating. We really enjoyed re-visiting another great FRP event. Next one is Barber on May 21-23. I might have to visit that one also. "Live" is so much better than watching it on Race Monitor from the comfort of your home.

[E1pix]

Great report, Thanks.

It’s so cool to me that two drivers you mention were both at my first few Runoffs in the early ‘70s, starting when I was 12. At risk of waxing, still doing this nearly 50 years on is the stuff of lives well lived.

Kudos to DW/SW, and MR. Awesome.

[EricP]

What a great group and event! I’ve raced SCCA, SVRA, PCA and watched all kinds but this was my first FRP event to see. It appeared extremely well run but also had a nice mellow feel. Not overly intense like some events can feel. I’m eager to participate.

I’ll post some pics I took when I get a minute...

[John LaRue]

Thank you for your help Mike and also for the posts on APEX to promote FC/F2000! It was good to have you back in the paddock! I was pleased with the first outing on the spec tire. There is more to learn, but the tire behaves well and looks like it will certainly give good performance and longevity.

[Purple Frog]

Interesting note from this trip to Mid-Ohio:

In the last two decades of many trips to Mid-Ohio is has always been a mad dash to get to the track for load-in. And then a quick exit to get back home. This trip we are not so rushed. After leaving the track yesterday afternoon we did a few hours at the Kingwood Center Gardens in Mansfield. It was truly stunning in full spring bloom. Being Florida kids we had never seen thousands of tulips blooming outdoors. A really nice facility all around.

For a truly high horsepower experience visit the Age of Steam Roundhouse Between Sugar Creek and Baltic Ohio.

More to see and do in Ohio than we thought.