Runoffs Fun

[Kilroy Kinloch]

Hello all, hope all is well!

Still recovering from my first Runoff's. And yes I did run off. Cool track. 15 in classs. I have never experienced the old schedule, this one seemed to work pretty well.

Congrats to all. Paul, Scott and Joel had some tough things happen. The front 6-7 were pretty tight to start. 5-10 more cars would be a good show for the spectators. I hope the schedule will allow some old friends to reappear.

Cornbread and I lodged in Elkhart Lake. Had a ball. Good people, good food, good live music. The whole experience was fun. We will be back next year.

One more congrats to Patrick Linn. Hard Charger with two half-cars in one

Hope to see lots of FE's at the ARRC. We will have chilli and cornbread to start.

Later,

TK

[Carl Przyborowski]

It's good to see someone finally start something about the Run-Offs. I agree that Road America is a great venue and our car performs well there. I was disappointed though with the small 15 car field. With some usual expected attrition, the remaining cars got lost on the sprawling four mile circuit. And the focus of the televised coverage was on the FM race as it needed to be considering the lack of close competition in our class except for a few two car battles for portions of the race. Fortunately for me, I had a good time going at it for most of the race with my One Formula Racing teammate Mat Cutter even though we were both off the pace of the leaders.

I recall having something around twenty two to twenty five FE cars at Road America for the June Sprints a few years ago. Now that was a field that provided lots of action for everyone involved and a nice viewing for the spectators. Back then, it was also nice to have the representation we had from other parts of the country, like the northeast, Florida, and elsewhere. I'm not really aware of what is keeping many of those people away, but it would nice to know. At the Run-Offs, six of the cars were from the group that usually runs our Cen-Div events and another three were from OVR. That left only six cars representing the rest of the country. I believe we only had one car from any area west of us, that being from Colorado.

Any thoughts or ideas?

[Dan Aleckson]

8 days of travel time 4 there 4 back and a whole lot of fuel did it once to RA it was about 7k in expenses and a lot of time for one race no thanks Dan

[Keith Carter]

The Pro series took a lot of people away by causing them to focus their budget on one series or the other. If you look at the number of cars before and after the pro FE series started, it makes sense. We weren't there due to not making their new point requirements because of some hard luck at the Sprints and only racing two more race weekends after that due to budget. The new point requirements for the Runoffs in an attempt more "exclusive" again to try and make it appealing to the people who once participated. I don't believe those people will ever come back so it just slimmed the fields down more. A combination of that and I think people are just tired of RA for both the Sprints and Runoffs. It's a great track, but a high HP track for two of the jewels of the crown keep the "have nots" away in the money classes (I'm not talking about FE or SRF here) so that could be why the overall numbers are low. How many FCs were there? 10? That's less than a typical CenDiv event.

[mikey]

Well I just bought my FE and I don't even have an SCCA license so I figure I'm 2 years out from a run-offs. A bit surprised by the $7K figure, that certainly is a lot of money to spend on just one race, especially when I doubt I will be able to keep up with the kids. But who knows, it's something to do on my bucket list and I'm sure I'll eventually campaign the car. I certainly enjoy RA, spent some HPDE time there in Corvettes over the years. But my move from MI to FL has kept me away from that track for some time now.

-mikey

[SStadel]

Just when I thought I'd have a quiet easy night at home, Carl makes me think, again!! I looked at how many FE's qualified to enter the Runoffs (20). Out of that 20, 15 showed up. That's a 75% participation in the Runoffs for qualified drivers. I'm far too busy (or lazy) to see how that stacks up with the rest of the classes in SCCA, but it doesn't sound bad. All 6 CenDiv drivers that qualified showed up. That's great! I realize there is a Pro Series that takes away from National racing, but I'm not unhappy with 15 entrants. I was concerned earlier that we would only have 10-11. I'm wondering if this has more to do with the state of National racing than it does with Road America or the Runoffs for that matter. Although I was a strong proponent of shortening the time required to attend the Runoffs, I'm a bit ambivalent now. We could have gone home Thursday, but stayed to celebrate Denny's podium finish and watch a couple of races on Friday. Pretty much spent a week regardless, but I'm not unhappy about that either.

I was concerned with having our three qualys in less than 24 hours, especially since we were running 4 cars, but as a testament to these cars we had no issues and didn't even stay too late on Tuesday night. Already I'm looking forward to next year and I think we can get an honest 10 cars minimum at every CenDiv National. I'd love to see them all attend the Runoffs as well, but can certainly understand not everyone being able to to have the time or budget.

Being selfish, I hope Joe doesn't sell his car and stays in FE! I also hope Marshall has time to come back, Keith has better luck and qualifies and one or both of the Brians decides to get a car and run the season. I might even come out of my self-imposed exile and run again, but I honestly hope I won't have a car available for myself. I'm not sure how many other classes have as many racers talking about next year and running their class, but there is a ton of talk about FE and some very serious tire kickers! Time to get guitarist Jeff Beck back in a car as well!

My hat's off to Patrick for a great win, Denny for a great season and fine podium finish, Steve for a helluva drive after a disastrous first lap to get back to 4th, Carl for some great drives (especially that 2nd at Gingerman!) and resurrecting his driving career after a lot going on the last couple of years with selling his business and of course to Mat, who after a rough start in the class in 2011, showed great gains this year. I really think you'll be a force next year.

I feel that we'll have some of the best racing in the country next year in FE in CenDiv. Can't wait to see you all then!

[Dan Aleckson]

Mikey Most of the 7k was gas from california we have to mt, ranges to go over sierras and the rockies 2400/ miles one way and that was when gas was 2yrs ago 2.65 a gallon its now 4.10 here .we spent 3000,00 on gas acouple yrs ago when we went when you live close its a lot easier... Dan

[Carl Przyborowski]

Steve:

You make a good point about fifteen 2012 Run-Off participants from a total of twenty qualifiers. Actually, that seems solid especially considering those that may be unable to participate due to the same logistics challenges expressed by Dan Aleckson. I thought there would have been more qualifiers considering the number of divisions they could come from. I guess I am not fully aware of how the other locales are representied in our class, although Erik did speak about the concentration of cars in the midwest when he visited the One Formula camp at the Run-Offs.

We are in a good position here in the midwest. According to my count, we have eight solid regulars here in the Cen-Div with another two uncommited rental program cars that you have in the One Formula stable, plus the two you have in house that are currently availabe for sale. If we keep all of the cars here, that would make for a potential of twelve cars for any given Cen-Div race. Of course, that would depend on what results from the large number of lookers showing interest.

In my opinion, there is no better racing opportunity for the price than the FE car. And you have always been a great advocate for the car and class by helping others who come your way with their questions and seeking advice.

[ste]

Being my first year in this class, I had an absolute blast. The cars are challenging in that no matter how fast you go, it seems like there is always a little more grip available (the guys at the front of the field may see it differently). Either way, they're a lot of fun.

I met a lot of great new people along the way, and while this is not a cheap hobby, the spec class keeps some of it under control.

As for the runoffs, a poor start by me where I spent too much time looking in my mirrors led to a few people getting by. Just as I thought I was going to get back in the groove I got absolutely clobbered in turn 8 by a car that had lost control coming down the hill.

If I can figure out how to post a video clip, it's a real testament to the strength of the front suspension on these cars. (PM me if anyone has tips)

Again, thanks to all that I met and raced with this year, hoping to be back for another try in 2013.

Steve Grundahl

[iamuwere]

Steve, upload to vimeo (or youtube if you feel compelled) and then just get the link to the video and post here.

[MAC Racing]

This years runoffs was a nice end to a good season. I spent most of the season struggling with self induced problems creating an ill handling car. The end of the season with that figured out the car finally became fun to drive. At the runoffs I ran my fastest time in the FE and had a great race with Carl. We passed each other back and forth a number of times in the race and really were never more than a few car lengths from each other the entire time.

The new runoffs schedule was nice since we had a relatively easy time with the cars. I stuck around a few extra days to watch other races and just have a good time.

The entire year was a good time, my team-mates Carl, Steve and Denny were all great to race with and learn from. Steve and One Formula along with Dana, Dave, Gary, Brian and Dennis helped make the season fun and the race weekends much nicer. The other drivers and crew in FE were friendly and always willing to chat and talk shop. The entire year was positive and its all these things that made that happen. I am happy to be in a FE in Cen Div and hopefully next year will only see more drivers and more great racing.

Mat

[ste]

Turn 8 excitement

https://vimeo.com/50270128

[Keith Carter]

Wow! I think that was Tyler Hunter. It looks like something may have been broken the way his car was heading toward the outside of the track. It didn't even look like a dive bomb overly optimistic move. The parts did go flying!!

We missed being out there with you guys! I'm thinking we're going to have to definitely make an effort to do the 50th next year!

[Eric Cruz]

Hope to see lots of FE's at the ARRC. We will have chilli and cornbread to start.

Later,

TK

Hey Tilden,
I'm planning to be there... My understanding is that this picture was sent to your wife's phone from a mystery attendee at the Runoffs. Come out to Goblins Go at VIR and play next month and I'll tell you who her stalker is...

Cheers,
Eric

[Kilroy Kinloch]

Hello, hello,

It is funny how a little chilli makes everyone want more cornbread. We will have a bunch for the ARRC. Everyone invited.

2013 Majors......One formula come down to VIR......we go to Mid-Ohio.....?

Come one, come all to the ARRC.
One of the most laid back races of the year.


Later,

TK

[iamuwere]

So what is the majors plan? Wasn't that part of WWII or something?

[Messenger Racing]

Steve,
Thanks for posting the video - that is a testament to the strength of these cars. Let us know if you post the whole video - the more the better. Good luck next year.

Anybody else with some in car to share for those geographically challenged?

JM

[MAC Racing]

Here is my in car of the start to T8. It gets single file from there for a few laps.

http://s375.photobucket.com/albums/o...T8Incident.mp4

This is Carls, the same time frame.

http://s375.photobucket.com/albums/o...T8Carlview.mp4

Mat