I nominate Froggy for a few racing commentator gigs! Who knows where this can lead. Ron Howard and Fox Sports missed the boat.
Perhaps the SCCA mag can use some of this stuff!!
I nominate Froggy for a few racing commentator gigs! Who knows where this can lead. Ron Howard and Fox Sports missed the boat.
Perhaps the SCCA mag can use some of this stuff!!
GCR 3.9.2.F
F. Invited Runoffs Classes
All National classes are invited to the Runoffs.A class needs to have 10 drivers turn a wheel during the event to have a National Champion.
1. A class with a minimum of 10 qualified drivers entered who have participated in at least one on track session at the current year’s Runoffs will name a National Champion.
2. A class with fewer than 10 qualified drivers entered who have participated in at least one on track session at the current year’s Runoffs may race as a supplemental class, but will not name a National Champion.
(emphasis added)
Terry
Sportsfans.
If you love formula car racing, then you would love watching the FA/FB qualifying late this afternoon.
Fast loud cars doing their thing. can't help but get excited.
With all the rain today, and only a few groups running before FB in the dry, my guess is that the track was pretty green. They just couldn't dial it up. Some guys just got stuck in traffic at the wrong time. But, mostly i believe the track was just slow.
That takes nothing away from Hill's showing. Ever since he put the new aero in front of his rear wheels, and i called him the Grandfather of FB, he has been on his game.
Whatever the conditions he has been fast. This makes for interesting scenerios for race day. It might not be who is fastest in the best of conditions, but who figures out the conditions when the race starts.
Brandon had some sort of major issue at T5, and limped up to T6. Maybe a shifter issue? It wasn't long before he was back in the fray. He lost at least two possible laps.
And Loshak didn't turn many laps with his streamliner.
FV qualifying was green for the whole session. The track was completely green. They were the first out on the drying track.
Hopefully tomorrow will be dry.
Re: 2013 Runoffs
Hopefully, the PF will be a part of the speedcast broadcasts !
"An analog man living in a digital world"
Good Morning from Road America.
It's raining, it's pouring, there is lightning.
Tuesday's qualifying is starting to look real important for many classes.
Wow! That is very different than what was forecasted last night!Originally Posted by Purple Frog
Good Morning from Road America.
It's raining, it's pouring, there is lightning.
Tuesday's qualifying is starting to look real important for many classes.
Ray
The plan for today is to shorten each qualifier a few minutes so that the track will be done by 4ish. Then they are trying to get all the cars and drivers to line up on the front straight for a photo. The photo is supposed to be shot from a helicopter hovering overhead. For years I have been hearing about all the secret black choppers that the SCCA uses. This will be our first chance to glimpse one not on a secret ops mission.
We'll see how that plays out. Herding 600 racecars... Should have some entertainment value.
The 50th Anniversary party is scheduled for early this evening. Rather large circus tent between T5 and T12.
I didn't buy a lotto ticket in South Carolina, so i guess I'll have to hang out here a few more days.
A big shout out and thank you to the Wren-Dixon Hardware Eporium! I know of at least two cars that are now bolted together with new hardware from Wisconsin's version of McMaster-Carr.
rain
Perhaps someone should escort Rand off of the premises. Rain has followed him around this year, no?
Rand said today that anywhere the Frog went this year, it rained...
Let's get this straight. If you don't have your butts in beautiful Wisconsin, you hardly have a clue about what is going on. So now that i've typed that, I'll go go with the rest of the story...
FF/FC qualifier was basically a washout.
FV/F500 qualifier was a washout.
Then the sun came out.
What a frek'in honor it was to sit next to Coop during the FA/FB qualifier today. The guy is magic with words. Coop is Coop like no other. He was adlibbing a commentary as the session was going on live in front of us at T5. Real time. I'm not saying he would put Rob Howden out of busness, but Coop is on the ball. The dude loves the sport. As I said before, if you love formula car racing, watching that qualifier is a complete thrill. Those cars just are so impressive.
Somehow, an hour or so after a downpour (with hail), even if the track seems to dry, it is not fast for FB cars. Two days in a row. At the same time it doesn't seem to slow down the front of the FA field. I'm guessing the hugh tunnels in the FAs make any surface better than what a flat bottom car experiences.
For the most part the weather sucks. I know the Elkhart Lake Chamber of Commerce will now have a bounty on my head, so be it. So... we have to deal with it. And tomorrow when the FBs race, it is going to be real interesting. It is pouring buckets right now. (11:00 pm) So, what is the track going to be like in the morning?
Let's take a moment to praise Jeremy Hill. He is seriously in the hunt, and in a VD conversion. I'm sitting next to Coop today, and he says, "Look at Jeremy, that guy is turning those laps with no assisted shifting, only a little blipper on the throttle pedal."
Hugh respect. Jeremy told me a few days ago I shouldn't call him the grandfather of FB. I might give him that point. But in 2005, when 1000cc bike motors were legal in FC, he got the royal shaft. All of the Apexspeed world spoke up for him, to no avail. But soon FB was a reality. He is the reason so many saw the prospect of jamming a bike motor in a tube frame chassis and having large fun. So... if he isn't the Grandfather, I will conceed and call him the "father of FB".You gotta love the effort he has brought to Road America this year. He put his car on the dyno today to tune in the max HP, and he was laughing after the qualifier about how he went slower. He will be back to Tuesday's setup when they roll off grid in the morning.
At the 50th celebration tonight i had the honor to sit near Brandon Dixon. He soon left to go back to work on the car. But, while he was there he was telling of his connection to the Runoffs since the early 70s. For the record Brandon was like 4 years old when he attended his first Runoffs. His dad was a big fan, and the whole family was hanging out and camping at T5 at Road Atlanta. Brandon said tonight something to the effect that he has to like pinch himself occasionly because he can't believe he is running for a national championship at the Runoffs. He says a few years back it seemed so distant to be a participant. Now he is racing at the Runoffs like he watched as a kid, and even better, his father is here as part of the team. (Go War Eagles, or is it Tigers?, or Plainsmen?)
The 50th celebration tonight was pretty cool. Well done by Topeka. Lots of deservered attention to 50 years of champions. A great video explaining Racer magazine's top 10 Runoffs stories. Mike Sauce's band rocks. It was pretty amazing how large the crowd was. and also how appreciative they were of some of the history that defines the Runoffs.
On the surface Terry Ozmet's idea to get everyone to park their cars on the front straight for a group photo seemed a bit over ambitious. But, hold your horses. Racers bought in to the project and made it happen. And within less than an hour, about 600 cars were parked on the pit straight with the drivers in their suits standing alongside. Yeah, it was getting humid, and it was cutting into happy hour, but as it unfolded i think everyone realized this really was a "big deal". and they got into the spirit. It was an impressive sight to see the whole straight blanketed with cars parked bumper-to-bumper. Tonight, at the banquet, we saw a few early releases of the photos from the chopper. Pretty impressive. Let's face it, you might piss and moan about certain aspects of the whole Runoffs deal... but it is still the only true national championship for road racing. Quite a legacy. It was nice to see recent Champions such as Tim Kautz, and Brandon Dixon take the time to be in attendence at the 50th banquet while they were honoring many from an earlier time. Sort of wraps the whole burrito together.
Tomorrow my guys (FF and FV) sit around on their hands waiting for Saturday. But, be sure we will be in the T5 stands, with race monitor turned on our phones, watching the FB race.
pictures?
Last edited by Purple Frog; 02.15.14 at 4:19 PM.
We were hanging out in Rand's paddock watching the parade of cars going out to line up for the chopper shot... and up drives Eric Skirmits in what looks like a SRF. He yells to Rand, "Watch this." Then proceeds to peel off two black rubber stripes about 40 feet long. Obviously not your father's SRF.
Later at the banquet we see the new proposed Ford motor for SRF. Something like 135 HP at the wheels... With a restrictor, could this be the replacement for the Kent in FF? It's already in English Formula Ford.
Other random shots.
Last edited by Purple Frog; 02.15.14 at 4:19 PM.
Just for the record the chopper was not painted flat black.
Jason Byers said this is his last event in the Atlantic. The car is already sold. and he is going back to his FF Crossle.
Last edited by Purple Frog; 02.15.14 at 4:19 PM.
It is 8 am, and raining.
Grand Pooh Bah:
Would that overhead cam motor be extinct (in terms of Ford production models) by the time it would be implemented into FF? Regardless, it that would still be better than a carb'ed Kent.
"The winner ain't the one with the fastest car, it's the one who refuses to lose." - Dale Earnhardt Sr.
they never should have let the F2000CS staff on the premises if they wanted to have good weather the way our weather played out this year in the series.
Kevin Firlein Autosport,Inc.
Runoffs 1 Gold 3 Silver 3 bronze, 8 Divisional , 6 Regional Champs , 3x Drivers of the year awards
Loshak makes it exciting
Loshak was late to grid and started from the back of the field. Then turning the fastest laps from the get go, ran the whole field down passing into 1st place on the last lap. Exciting stuff.
He was on hand grooved intermediates (see picture) while the other leaders were on full rains. Even in the opening laps it was obvious on the two uphills (out of T5 and T14) we could see he was out accelerating everyone. Visibly faster in a straight line.
Congratulations! Also a triple crown winner.
Last edited by Purple Frog; 02.15.14 at 4:18 PM.
I'd pay a few bucks to have Mr. Frog and Mr. Coop doing the commenting live. We have the technology!
We could start some neat rumors based on this picture...
Last edited by Purple Frog; 02.15.14 at 4:18 PM.
Hummmmmm! Very interesting.We could start some neat rumors based on this picture...
Scott Woodruff
83 RT5 Ralt/Scooteria Suzuki Formula S
(former) F440/F5/FF/FC/FA
65 FFR Cobra Roadster 4.6 DOHC
Sandy's got electronic valves coming out next year, cams are obsolete along with your car, if you want to follow the flow, maybe u can run it in a parking lot,LOL maybe you can get into opera, Met-KenCen, unless u have the bucks
......
Just throwing that out there with no meaning, ..... enjoying the show on the 'Cast' !!!!!
Last edited by Modo; 09.20.13 at 12:55 PM.
Is it possible to view SpeedcastTV in full screen mode (on a PC/laptop)?
I don't see any icons for that on the web page.
Racer Russ
Palm Coast, FL
Have almost fullscreen Russ, say Hi Russ, page-zoom got it on 150% I think, re-center and 'away we go' (Fat guy in Miami, Gleason for the Young'ens)
that would be Explorer commands, sorry Mozilla, other goobers, yea, I'm old fashoined, I like AOl and I'm an Engineer, reason being is that I could reach my wife globally back in the 90's
Last edited by Modo; 09.20.13 at 1:26 PM.
Shenanigans Begin
The FF family has been very peaceful all week. Now that it is Friday, the 'off day', the bored are starting their old tricks. This morning, out of the blue, Kautz protested Rand for illegal aero. Caused a big stink. Claiming it was an illegal rollhoop fairing, and if not a fairing it is at least bodywork that is above the maximum height rule. Tim was unaware that Rand was running under the pre-86 rules in the GCR.
Anyway, look at the pictures and make your own decision...
Rand just says he is supporting the Wisconsin economy and that all his mods were purchased locally. He was mumbling something about it being a 75 Crossle version of a rollhoop fairing.
Last edited by Purple Frog; 02.15.14 at 4:18 PM.
Feeling confident, is he?
Scott Woodruff
83 RT5 Ralt/Scooteria Suzuki Formula S
(former) F440/F5/FF/FC/FA
65 FFR Cobra Roadster 4.6 DOHC
Dual purpose / race car - grocery getter
"An analog man living in a digital world"
Make sure u scrutinize the top ten in the SM, 'may not b all driver', spossed too B !!!!
SCCA should give medals to all the safety workers who were out on track during that SM race. There were some INSANE situations there with cars going around safety vehicles and workers.
Matt King
FV19 Citation XTC-41
CenDiv-Milwaukee
KEEP THE KINK!
You do kind of raise an eyebrow when a SM driver thanks his engine builder on the podium. #maynotreallybeaspecclass.
Matt King
FV19 Citation XTC-41
CenDiv-Milwaukee
KEEP THE KINK!
Second that, don't stop the race .... careful guys/gals, always thought the corner workers had more fun than us, and they are there!!!!!!!
Spec just means basket full of the same part numbers. It's Spec Miata not Same Miata.
speedcast has an expand icon to full screen in the lower right, like youtube.
i digress.. watching the FB race online was entertaining, especially the part where they commented that Loshak forgetting his helmet and hans in the scramble to put on intermediates was akin to forgetting to put on your pants. Great drive through the field! speedcast is doing a wonderful job with the broadcast for those of us stuck elsewhere.
i didn't hear anymore about his exit from pit lane while the light was red after the field had departed on the pace lap.. i assume that is not going to take away his championship?
good luck to all who are there.
mikey
Lighten up Mikey, he beat u from Monday to today!!!! save the Grid Crap!!
So Kev, where would be with the RT4, I'm a fan, especially your dad!!,
I'm banking on top 5, with the RT4, being a mid-atlantic formula car enthusiast,
Last edited by Modo; 09.20.13 at 3:23 PM.
ummm get a clue modo, i'm not even there. so no, he did not beat me. simply curious if racer politics will challenge his run to the flag. personally, would not want it to.
The Atlantic Race
The Atlantic race was real exciting for 5 laps. Even on Lap 5 through T5 there was a train of 5 racing as close as i had ever seen Atlantics race. Keith and Sadat were side-by-side into 5 a few times.
Once Sedat broke a few more feet ahead, he was able to drive a less defensive line into T5 and the party was over. He went ahead and walked the dog.
The Yelkin family has been racing for somewhere over 30 years and this is their first national championship.
I think Keith Grant brought half the spectators just with his family.
Last edited by Purple Frog; 02.15.14 at 4:18 PM.
Hold on there- is that a bottle of wine with a screw off cap? Can't hardly support the local economy with ripple. Or is that Boone's Farm?
GCR Compliant?
Just remind him to check his car for decals very closely. No Rule 20 here buddy!!The FF family has been very peaceful all week. Now that it is Friday, the 'off day', the bored are starting their old tricks. This morning, out of the blue, Kautz protested Rand for illegal aero. Caused a big stink. Claiming it was an illegal rollhoop fairing, and if not a fairing it is at least bodywork that is above the maximum height rule. Tim was unaware that Rand was running under the pre-86 rules in the GCR.
They need to have a chat with the top 5-7 cars for going 2-3 wide thru turn 1 with waved yellows and a safety vehicle on track.SCCA should give medals to all the safety workers who were out on track during that SM race. There were some INSANE situations there with cars going around safety vehicles and workers.
John,
Mike's club racing decals were so old they looked liked round spoke wheels. And he didn't even have one on the nose.
We had to put the Saferacer ones on. Luckily they were free or he might have gone home.
You and Dave should have done FC, even if on the pro tires.
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