FF - SCCA Runoffs 2013

[Steve Bamford]

your car is fine, so are you, You just lost to a faster car.

Aero on the 92 VD is not the same as Tim's car...a lot more air to push unfortunatley.

[Mike B]

I will post the in-car (It actually worked!) when I get some time early in the week. It was a good, hard race.

That will be more exciting that the Speedcast broadcast!

[Jnovak]

Congrats to both Tim and Reid for one of the greatest a runoffs races ever. Can't wait to see the in car videos.

A very special kudos to Reid who did not actually race this season due to limited bucks. The Runoffs was his FIRST complete race this year.

Reid is the TOTAL definition of the low bucks club racer who races at the front on nothing but talent and hard work.

Congrats on a phenomenal effort Reid!

[RussMcB]

your car is fine, so are you... <snip>

My vote for 2013 Racing Understatement of the Year. :-)

That race battle was awesome.

[thunderracing91]

.

[Steve Bamford]

More fun to be the underdog isn't?......maybe not? Lol

I think the cars were even around the entire track, Reid faster in some places & Tim in others. Watching the race I don't believe Reid would have been able to draft past Tim before the finish line if Tim lead the last corner as he was not able to on any previous lap. He had to make the move before The last corner which he did.

Reid's story is great because he was the underdog but if you gave him the choice new or old car I can bet what he would pick.

[TimH]

I will post the in-car (It actually worked!) when I get some time early in the week. It was a good, hard race.

Anxiously waiting..

[swiftdrivr]

Any way you look at it, Reid did a heck of a job with what he had. I really wish the Carbir thing had given him the chance to run the 1600-Pro series. That would have been cool to watch. Can't take anything away from Tim, though. What good is winning if the competition isn't tough. Nice job by all.

[Tom Valet]

Congrats Reid, really great race, so happy for you after mechanical issues in past few years, you really showed just how good a driver you are with that race.

[Dave Woodmancy]

I've seen some epic FF races over the years. This one was right up there. Congrats to Tim on the win, and hats off to Reid on an amazing drive.

[KevinFirlein]

I raced for years as the underdog in FA with my vintage 83 RT4. It is *not* more fun. Its just nagging your head against the wall but competitive pride keeps you doing it. In 98 A friend had the winning car from 96-97 in the paddock basically showing off that he bought it, we wasn't running. I offered him my car, trailer, plus $3k just for warm up and the race because I figured I had a better shot winning from last then starting from my normal spot. He said no.

[thunderracing91]

.

[KevinFirlein]

I did run up front and have the medals to prove it. I would still rather have had the better car

[thunderracing91]

.

[reidhazelton]

What a great race. Congratulations to Tim. Reid, you drove an amazing race in the monoshock - my neighbors wonder why I was yelling at my laptop, "Go Reid." Fantastic job guys! That was so much fun to watch.

Thank you Wheaties. Much appreciated. I think I could hear you yelling as I came out of T14.

[reidhazelton]

I am horse- from scream'in at the 'puter - Formula F at its finest up front - Tim: This is what was expected from a now three (3) time Champion and you did NOT disappoint - car control stamina, etc - Reid: it is absolutely amazing how great you did in all facets of the race -- and even more than evidenced by the well deserved kudos from Tim in Victory Lane - My sincere and heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS -WELL DONE

Thank you EJ. Tim is a classy guy through and through and no one should be surprised with his interview. He's a racer, and appreciates a good FF duel as much as anyone.

[reidhazelton]

Aero on the 92 VD is not the same as Tim's car...a lot more air to push unfortunatley.

Yup. The aero work they have done on the car is impressive. It leaves a very small wake, very Vestal like. The wake my car leaves would let Tim close up on me by about the end of the first 3rd of the straight.

[reidhazelton]

Congrats to both Tim and Reid for one of the greatest a runoffs races ever. Can't wait to see the in car videos.

A very special kudos to Reid who did not actually race this season due to limited bucks. The Runoffs was his FIRST complete race this year.

Reid is the TOTAL definition of the low bucks club racer who races at the front on nothing but talent and hard work.

Congrats on a phenomenal effort Reid!

Thank you very much Jay. I take that as a real compliment. I look at it as just doing the best I can with what I have to work with, like we all do. Really, thank you Jay - it means a lot to me.

And you're an alright guy too.

[reidhazelton]

I think the cars were even around the entire track, Reid faster in some places & Tim in others. Watching the race I don't believe Reid would have been able to draft past Tim before the finish line if Tim lead the last corner as he was not able to on any previous lap. He had to make the move before The last corner which he did.

Reid's story is great because he was the underdog but if you gave him the choice new or old car I can bet what he would pick.

Thank you Steve. You are exactly right. At the end of a lap, we were really even when we were running together. I tried to pass Tim a few times on the straights but I would pull out and immediately stop gaining on him. I had to tuck back in. Under braking was the only place I could get in front. And right again in respect to that I had to be in front going into 14. No way would I be able to beat the Honda up the hill. Had I blocked him on the inside harder I think he still would have had the power to climb the hill on my left.

And yes, I would take a newer car in a heartbeat. It is rare that I pass anyone, running at the front, in the middle of the straightaways at RA.

[reidhazelton]

I raced for years as the underdog in FA with my vintage 83 RT4. It is *not* more fun. Its just nagging your head against the wall but competitive pride keeps you doing it. In 98 A friend had the winning car from 96-97 in the paddock basically showing off that he bought it, we wasn't running. I offered him my car, trailer, plus $3k just for warm up and the race because I figured I had a better shot winning from last then starting from my normal spot. He said no.

While it can be very frustrating, it can be more rewarding at times, but we all know what kind of equipment we would have if we had our way. It takes a total package to win; driver, car, crew, and luck. Tim is very good at obtaining those 4 parts.

[M.Sauce]

Reid- Great job in the race. It just goes to show that where there is a will there is a way. Tim another great performance to add to many others.Great seeing all FF guys at the party Thursday. Thanks to all for the kind words.
I only wish I had been racing too.

[reidhazelton]

As I get time I will post more about the week. A lot of people I need to thank, and some neat stories that don't always make apexspeed.

So, to start, I will explain how I qualified for the Runoffs to begin with as many people have asked because they have not seen me out this year. This is what Jay was talking about when he said this was my first real race of the year, and actually it was my only one since the Runoffs last year. Anyway, one way to qualify, was to "turn a wheel in any official session of a Majors event at three separate Majors". That is what I did, one lap in the first session of each major and then went straight home. One, it was hard to be there and not race so I didn't want to hang around, two, I wanted to keep time off of the engine, and three, it was a heck of a lot cheaper.

More to come...

[reidhazelton]

First off, Paul, that guy is flat out awesome. Here is why: On Tuesday he offered me one of their fully tricked gearboxes to use for the week. He understood the whole “dance with the girl that got you to the party” thing but just said he wanted to offer the option. I told him I really appreciated the offer but I would need to think about it. I consulted Bruce Lindstand, he said “Do it. Do it.” Walking back I saw Gibby and asked him. In typical Gibby fashion he informed me “If they did that, consider that a big compliment. Those guys build a no bull**** box. You do it”. After telling Paul let’s do it, we realized none of the gears I had for my 10/31 would work with his 13/36. This seemed to be the unclearable hurdle. Having to spend about $1k on gears (Paul even said he would offer me them at cost) just was not possible for me. It was really hard to tell Paul, but he was very understanding and thanked me for even considering something like that mid-week. Little did I know Paul was not done trying to help me out. That night he tore down the box he had in case he could find a 10/31 cwp in the pits. That guy must have walked 10 miles looking for one but came up empty handed. It seemed we were again, dead in the water.

Feeling like I just gave up a great opportunity I went to take a shower and on the way back I saw Scotty Segars. I asked him if he had any gears he would be willing to lend and he acted as if I just asked a question that didn’t need asking. Scotty is that kind of guy, if you need it and he can help I don’t think there is anything that would stop him from doing so. He had every gear I needed and asked for absolutely nothing in return. Steven Foster (look for him next year in FF) was the owner of the gears and was equally generous about handing them over to a schlump he never even met before. These are the kind of guys that make the racing community something very special. Gears in hand, I went and told Paul and he didn’t waste a second in getting to work. He was cooking some rice and beans, or maybe it was Bangers and Mash, who knows what Brits eat anyway….but he shut down his stove and jumped right to work. He stayed until 12:30a on a cold, cold night helping me not only put the box in, but put the car back together as well. At 7a Thursday morning he was back up to put the gears in. That guy really worked his butt off for me.

To skip ahead a little, after the race Paul was one of the first people I saw in the Winners Circle. I walked up to thank him and saw that he had the glassy-eyes going and he was pretty choked up. He was fighting back some emotions and had a hard time getting words out. I then realized that this was not just a marketing/business decision to get a WRD box in my car, but something he was really personally invested in. He had not known me for more than 3 days and was routing for me almost as much as I was routing for myself. The guy really, really cared. This has made me a WRD customer for life and I have a very large appreciation for the passion and dedication they put into racing. I can not say enough about whet they did for me during the week.


So to Paul, Scotty, and Steven; thank you guys for helping me in ways that anyone other than you would consider above and beyond. It's guys like you that make racing a community, and not just an activity.

[Allen_W]

First off, Paul, that guy is flat out awesome. Here is why: On Tuesday he offered me one of their fully tricked gearboxes to use for the week. He understood the whole “dance with the girl that got you to the party” thing but just said he wanted to offer the option. I told him I really appreciated the offer but I would need to think about it. I consulted Bruce Lindstand, . . . I saw Scotty Segars. . . . It's guys like you that make racing a community, and not just an activity.

Well said, Reid. It is guys like you and these guys and the people we race with and Nick and so many others that make me miss FF so much. (And, yes, it was at T14 that I was really hollering . . . that was me.)

[Jnovak]

Great stuff Reid. This is what the best of amateur racing is all about. Other racers see talent and actually want to help. You have earned all this help, Reid, because of all that you have accomplished with so little budget. There is zero doubt in my mind that you will be a National Champion and it will be sooner rather that later.

[Scotty Segers]

Reid, you are welcome. As the late great Rob StClair once said to me when I needed a part and he didn't even know who I was "you are a racer aren't you"?
Reid you are a racer and a friend.

Scotty

[Frank C]

Congratulations to Tim and Reid for a great race which was driven hard but right. Thanks to you Reid for a wonderful story about your week and those who were so willling to help. I am sure it makes us all feel really good.
- Frank Chambers

[reidhazelton]

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/39078475

Here is the link to the post race interviews.

The champagne made the ink run (really, not joke) on my list of people to thank. So those I left out were:

• My parents and my Brother.
• My best friend since middle school, Ken Jones, who drives 6 hours to come to every race he can.
• My girlfriend who took a few days off of med school to come and support me.
• All the FF competitors. It really is a great class, with some really great people. I don't know of a class that has this many people that I really admire and look up to not only as racers, but also as human beings.
• The workers. Really, those men and women are just nuts. To come out and spend a week of vacation standing in the awful weather we always have, rather than laying on the beach is pretty special. Also, looking around at the 50th party I did not see more than 5 workers under the age of 30. We really need to be thankful for the workers we have because in 10-15 years I see this being a huge problem for SCCA.

After watching the race coverage I need to thank Tim for not only a great, hard, and close race but for the very kind words. It means a lot and helps take some off some of the sting. He's a pretty classy guy even if he is a trophy hog.

[reidhazelton]

It seemed to get lost in the early-week story lines, but Jeffery (as his Dad calls him) really came alive this year. Not sure if it was all the effort and testing they have put in, or that he had a growth spurt and can actually get the gas pedal all the way to the floor now. Since the first session of the June Sprints they have found about 4 seconds at RA. That kind of thing usually doesn't happen. I remeber when he first showed up at the Cat National with John Taylors Reynard. No one really knew who he was, and Marc Blanc said it pretty well. "I was going to go over and help the kid out, but then I saw he was running 26's....and well...guess he doesn't really need it."

In the first session he was second quickest, just behind Tim, and ahead of myself. Needless to say, I was pretty surprised he was P2. On the radio I heard I was P3 and assumed it was Tim and Lou I was behind.

In the race, he caught up to me and Tim when we were battling. There were two times when Grape Juice had a wheel inside of me and I was unsure if I could trust him to know when it is, and is not, his corner. Obviously, as everyone say, he was clean. We went side by side through T5 and T6, he gave me room and knew I was there even though he could not see me. I'll race side by side with him any day. Just like Tim, he raced me the way I raced him and you can not ask for more than that. Hanging around Scott Rubenzer seems to have really rubbed off.

Enjoy that podium, Jeffery, you earned the hell out of it. Keep at it and at Mid Ohio in 2016 you can spray champagne like the big boys and girls.

PS. "Grape Juice" comes from a Super Tour race at Blackhawk last year where he podium and they didn't give him champagne, but rather a bottle of grape juice because he was underage. You all feel free to use that next time you see him, he loves it!

[marshall9]

Well said Reid. Class as always.

I have big shoes to fill. My RF92 is all the talk out here right now, as it gets it's frame up.........A lot of car for the money. Thank you for putting on a great show, and for elevating our chassis to near DB1 fame. I see these mono shock cars becoming more of the car to have , in light of the development of yours. The Piper is a work of art for sure, but for us non-pro, club guys, that want to run up front, for 50 K less, the 92 is a viable alternative. I can run the car 5 years, with 50K.

[Daryl DeArman]

We went side by side through T5 and T6, he gave me room and knew I was there even though he could not see me. I'll race side by side with him any day. Just like Tim, he raced me the way I raced him and you can not ask for more than that.

Not much better than people who can race fast, hard and clean!

[jgrooms]

That really was a great race. 3 time FF champion ... not too many guys can say that! There has been a lot of talk about the age of Reid's car but let's not forget that Tim's car is not exactly new. 1997 I believe. Tim and his group have done a tremendous amount of work to keep his car current, reliable, strong, (Fuhs), and competitive and looking so terrific that we are fooled into thinking it is a current chassis. I would love to see Tim in a 2013 chassis.

I don't know how many National Championships the Piper chassis has earned at this point, but it is pretty impressive that Don Sievenpiper designed and built a car that still has the speed and longevity of Tim's.

It was also great to see how even the Honda and the Ford seem to be. I didn't study the lap charts but I believe there were points in the race where we had 4 Hondas and 4 Fords in the top 8.

Now I need to figure out a way to get to Laguna for 2014!

Thanks again to all the guys in the FF race for providing such an entertaining afternoon.

John

[swiftdrivr]

Ah-hemm,
I believe someone said something about posting some in-car video?

[reidhazelton]

Ah-hemm,
I believe someone said something about posting some in-car video?

Geeze.

My video editing skills (if you can even call them that) and lack of software is making it hard to crop off the last few laps so I have something I can post to youtube. I used Windows Movie Maker but it killed the video quality.

[swiftdrivr]

I suspect your skills exceed mine there too. I haven't had much luck when I tried it myself. I will be patient [weird words from racers! We aren't supposed to be patient, are we?]

[reidhazelton]

I am uploading it to YouTube now. It says 657 minutes....and it's 30% done. So maybe by 2014 I'll have something up. Sigh.....

[racerdad2]

Find a 13 year old to do your editing & uploading

[reidhazelton]

Finally....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPmLC1yOBYw

[-pru-]

Finally....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPmLC1yOBYw

Thanks for the video...Congrats to both you and Tim; great duel.

The head shake at the sums it up; you did everything possible to take the win.

I am likley not alone in saying that "your time will come".

[swiftdrivr]

Awesome driving Reid. Thanks for posting. I hope to see some video from your WIN in the 2015 runoffs. You certainly have the talent.
BTW: Love the way the camera shot showed Tim in your mirrors when he was behind you. That was close, clean racing, by two really talented RACERS.