|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Speed World Challenge GT race Round 3 at Miller Mtrspt Park, SLC Utah as seen through the Woodhouse Windshield. 5/19/07 I owe an apology. No Long Beach round 2 report, OK you didn’t even notice didja. Long Beach had some good World Challenge racing in it. The politics, smack downs and all around controversy, that was the real story. It’s too late though, I can’t go back there and give you all the dirt. Oh, OK maybe a little, lets just say a couple of prominent drivers took some tarnish off of the word “professional” when the swinging began. Since this took place in front of half the GT paddock they did not reach bloody nose status before being pulled apart. There wasn’t even a race yet! Brings back memories of last year when I went over to bury the hatchet with Lou G, and if this scene is foreign to you, then you have not raced with Lou, everyone who has can provide their own version of a scene from the Sopranos. So folks, yes, violence is acceptable, that is if you are willing to pay for it. Fines start at $1000 and go up. World Challenge is looking good for a profit this year. I won’t even get a chance to tell you about the DQ after the race, (that’s “disqualification” for those not into the text message lingo.) I know it’s mean but I have to leave you hang on this. If you need more detail, go to the discussion page on www.world-challenge.com . It’s Miller time, Miller Motorsports Park, 30 minutes west of Salt Lake City, a real eye popper of a facility, all 97 million worth. The track is an Allan Wilson, his Crown Jewel as he puts it. Never noticed that many beautiful transporters lined up so neatly as this weekend, with ALMS, World Challenge, F-BMW, Star-Mazda, Porsche Cup, IMSA lites all running. Probably the only time this year, but…….. I got to drive the #13 Kicker/Dodge Viper Competition Coupe. I have to admit, I am a steering wheel druggie. Dang that felt so good. Loved it even with teammate Jeff Courtney, the young punk; taking me to school in the practice sessions. Neither one of us are much good at the qualifying game tho. We eked out a 15th and 16th place grid. It’s bloody hell for an old guy, the game never stays the same, the pole time got squeezed nearly three seconds below last year. I love every one of these drivers and their teams (well almost) but when it comes to competing, they do anything including asking Chip Herr to date their lesbian sister to get in front of you. So there we are, game day, 9:45 AM. On the grid, a 30mph wind is finishing flapping the flags of the girls who have just scurried over the wall. Time to launch; the tension is huge, my clutch leg quivers as I mentally process the next couple of moves that will mandate a flawless departure, refusing the memories of the many that weren’t. The Whelen start lights all blink to the lit position and we know in 3 to 10 seconds when they go out, the game begins. A cacophony of engines thrumming at launch rpm, above the thrumming sound of 27 engines, one becomes prominent, out of the right of my helmet I see the Pilgrim Cadillac jump forward and stop, “what the….” My leg begins to release, a knee jerk, but no release. As I try to process what just happened, Andy, our pro, the finest, just did a booboo, jumped too soon, but now the light really does go out, time becomes frozen, why am I not releasing, aaaargh, let the clutch out, it is taking forever, I know that light has been out for a month, finally, the engine pulls down and the tires hook; no spin, way good. Andy’s jump must have broken the concentration of all in earshot. My laggard start compared well. The beautiful Red and White Viper of Rich Marziale grew bigger instantly. Second gear came as his door slid by and approaching corner one, the Corvette in front of him was disappearing in the passenger window. I’m stoked; I was getting a grudgingly narrow band of asphalt on the left edge of the track, a half a tire hanging in the gravel while competitors shared the rest of the 40 foot wide tarmac. As corner one arrives, James Sofranos and his Porsche spotted the same eye in the needle I was threading and jumped into it as the car herd was in deceleration prepping for the 70 mph corner one. Many of you know, we Vipers are now non-ABS and I am in the midst of my first severe panic stop. Let’s just say I flunked. Smoke rolls off the fronts as I lock em up in the over 100mph area, must’ve jumped that pedal fastern a fly gets on fresh laid cow dung. Touched the back of Sofranos, so lightly though that no marks were found later, while at the same time somebody was up my back side leaving scratches. No time to ponder, car warfare was all around; I recall Mike McCann going in three wide for corner two, who did what? I can’t tell ya, I was too busy with Mikes’ car sliding across the track backwards, I think anyway; since the dust didn’t make that clear, while also attempting to find a path around the other cars that reminded you of those zig zag ground fireworks you light for your kids. The brake lock up reported in; both front tires were emitting a thump thump. Just peachy Bob, (under my breath.) Good fortune allowed us through all the gravel, err square rocks, as I tucked to the back side of Lime Green #17 Viper, Rob Foster. Rob is doing a heck of a driving job this year. Dan Fiffick and crew are giving him and Mike McCann some reliable fast cars to wheel.. Rob makes it around the James Sofranos blue Porsche leaving me a Porsche bumper to watch for two laps. I get by at corner six to realize a gap has opened up. I can’t close it. But on my tail is pure excitement. Brian Kubinski in his black Corvette, clearly a faster car, key word here, car. And if you picked up on that you are well on your way to understanding the psyche of all race drivers. 29 out of 30 think they are unquestionably more skilled than any in the field. Brian is all over my aa…..uh, back side lap after lap. He reminds me of one of those phoo phoo dogs when the door bell rings: Uhhuh uhhuh, bounce bounce, yap yap, uhhuh uhhuh, bounce bounce yap yap. Gaad, driving me nuts, dives to one side then the other charging at every corner. I am impressed with the car, killing me on the slower corners, but he is charging into, instead of out, on the corners allowing me to stay in front in spite of his power advantage. Oh and maybe I should share this, I was cheating, well legally actually. Remember that 30 mph wind? There happened to be two high speed turns where our cars would face right into the wind half way through the corner. I could charge in over my head and let that extra air speed forgive my sins as the down force stuck the car to the ground giving me a temporary two car length stretch on that rabid Corvette. Brian is but one of two black Corvettes behind me with anxiety overtures. Another driven by Tomy Drissi obviously trained in the same military attack school has now swapped places with Brian and taking the uh huh bounce bounce game to new heights. As I learned from teammate Jeff Courtney after the race, Tomy smoked through a corner allowing Jeff to pass then comes back immediately to thump him in the buttocks. Apparently the officials ran out of patience and blessed him with a stop and go for this and other superior driving tactics. The Kubinski black Corvette retired early as well from mechanical issues, hmm, coulda had a V10. So to cap this rant: This day, this track, things came pretty close to right, 5 Vipers finished in the top ten, about the amount of the field they represent, Tommy Archer narrowly squeeked out the lead with the Porsche of Randy Probst in tow and Lou G, our drama queen in 3rd. The Lawson Caddie did well, finishing up there, for Andy P., rough day after that jump at the start. Naykid Racing is getting strong along with a lot of great runs by all Viper brethren. Woodhouse Performance put two Vipers in the top ten, thanks team, Rick Maxwell Ashley Wick, Eddie Martin, Erik Messley, Nancy Shanno, Delayne Hunt, Andrea Fornal, Steve Woodhouse flawless prep. SPEED broadcast time is: Sunday, May 27; GT - 5:00 p.m.
Eastern Time Video hi lites of the race are on our sponsor websites, see below.. Remember these fine companies they make this possible. Kenda Tires - a leading manufacturer for specialty and automotive tires. www.kendausa.com ProMPI – 20,000 items with your name on em. www.prompi.com MPI Coin – Specialists in coin products. www.mpicoin.com Kicker Car Stereo – the world leader in high-performance mobile audio gear. www.kicker.com. Badger Tire and Wheel – A leading Distributor/Manufacturer/Assembler of recreational trailer products. www.badgercomponents.com Karavan Trailers – manufacturer of private label boat, watercraft, utility, snowmobile and other recreational trailers. www.karavantrailers.com Forester Signs – Custom designed vinyl graphics, signs & banners. www.forestersigns.com JG Wheel – www.jgwheel.com Go here to get the entire race results: Series Website: www.world-challenge.com Speed Channel’s Website: www.speedtv.com | | |
| THE WOODHOUSE WINDSHIELD REPORT: SEBRING INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY SPEED World Challenge GT Series SCCA Pro-Racing A warped race report by Bob Woodhouse, Woodhouse Performance
Sebring International Raceway
Sebring, Florida March 17, 2007
What’s Changed: So the question is, can the passion stay in the story if you’re telling it from the sidelines? Heck, I don’t know, read this, then tell me. But let’s drop the race story for a moment. The last time I wrote you was late 2006, at Laguna Seca, the finals, my last race. “OK old man, get out of the car and put your hands on your head”, a criminal act I sometimes think, this not driving thing. Aaargh! People close to me are happy that I made good on the promise. Not that I am too old, yeah right, you never are, but I had to stop before I got so mad at Lou Gigliotti that I might kill him. No, no, no, just kidding, really I was, funny though huh? Lou belongs in this sport, we need him in order to maintain series leadership in controversy and color as opposed to other reality shows. Alas, I digress.
Since last year, the Woodhouse Race team has changed, the Dodge SRT-4 running in the Touring Car series has been sold, replaced with a second Dodge Viper Competition Coupe. New crew members are on board to compliment Rick and Nancy who were the keys to last years GT Crew of the Year award.
So two Vipers, two drivers, Brian Smith and Jeff Courtney and a new year as a team owner. Race teams tend to always be awash in uncertainty from year to year with their funding. So what will it take to overcome that? If I could make dreams come true we would have sponsors falling over each other to be on our program.
Providing a sponsor more value than he is writing checks for, that might be where we start. To dull the pain of no steering wheel in hand, I’m turning to help young Woodhouse Performance marketing director Delayne Hunt (any body is young by my standard) and others to bring our road racing to a higher level of appeal for both fan and sponsor. Sounds like BS doesn’t it? Could be, but we have a few fooled, this phenomenal group of sponsors we now have, KendaUSA.com , ProMPI.com and MPICoin.com as well as Badger Components, Kicker.com, and KaravanTrailers.com.
RE: The “higher level:”
Take the Air Cannon, OK; T-shirt cannon, what a hoot, we bombed the crowd at the pre-race starting line with 150 T-shirts branded with sponsor websites promising video hi-lites of the race. Once aware of our antics, a portion of the 100,000 fans came to the fence to watch the four attractive ladies fling white cotton, hey, hey, I said nothing here that would take your mind to the gutter, if it did, you did it. Now when this crowd lets loose of it’s beer bottles and starts typing in the dot coms we left them on the back of those shirts, oh lordie, “We got us a Convoy” (from the song by CW McCall).
Politics update: In an attempt to equalize competition during the off months, SCCA determined that it would reduce the performance of the top performing race cars, Viper, Porsche, Cadillac, Corvette, this is done through the addition of weight and/or increasing the air intake restriction. Let me say as I wipe the tear from my eye that we Dodge Vipers received our ample helping. Ten percent more restrictor and an increase in weight to 3200 pounds, the heaviest of any GT competitor. Those street stock ABS brakes we had. No longer allowed. (Apparently ABS is for sissies.)
Do not be surprised that eight of the top-10 qualifying positions were GM products and Tommy was our highest qualifying Viper in the ninth slot. Apparently the winter months left plenty of time for the Corvette and Cadillac teams to stew over getting their butt handed to ‘em so they came with a new level of performance (more engine) despite their restriction increases. Now that the playing field is tilted, either SCCA will act to rectify, or a spiral of expensive upgrades is about to take place. Lets ask for benevolent good judgment on the part of our SCCA scrutineering, and soon please.
The race:
When a race starts in a down pour and the track ends dry through 20 laps there is bound to be an abundance of drama; wow, do we have cool video for you.
Our drivers, Brian Smith and Jeff Courtney qualified 14th and 19th respectively and finished ninth and 11th but a lot happened “on the way to the office” as they say.
Lap one, Brian gets tapped in the rear at corner seven sending him off to the inside of the turn, he works his way back up the ladder until mid-race when the forward momentum seems to go stagnant, probably tire temperature from the charge. Then full coarse yellow ensues allowing tire cool down that opened up the chance to move on up. Brian had been dogging the back of the Viper of Rookie Jason Daskalos and on the last lap Jason gets wide in corner 12, slides off the outside, does a “ballet academy 10” pirouette back onto the track facing Brian nose to nose. This all in seconds and Brian makes one of the best nanno-second decisions of his career to come away with only a partial nose removal job, thus allowing him to finish one spot down from Tommy Archer. Our Jeff “Mr. Smooth” Courtney brought home the next Viper finish of 11th. Overall a good day given the hand we were dealt.
Tommy Archer, our 8th place finisher, being either “the” or one of “the best drivers” in the series gives you a reference of how the competition adjustments effected the Dodge contingent.
Mike McCann, our other strength for a top finish had some difficulty with what appeared to be corner 12. On corner exit he caught some thrown up sand with the outside rear initiating a 150 degree rotation that was impeded by the inside tire wall leaving a changed look to the front and back of his beautiful yellow and white machine. It appeared an oil cooler was ruptured and Mike called it a day.
CLICK HERE to watch race highlights from the Woodhouse Performance Dodge Viper
Please remember all this happens because of these fine companies:
ProMPI – Your one stop shop for Promotional Items www.prompi.com MPI Coin – Specializes in distribution and marketing of coin products. www.mpicoin.com Kicker Car Stereo –KICKER is the world leader in high-performance mobile audio gear. www.kicker.com. Badger Tire and Wheel – A leading Distributor/Manufacturer/Assembler of recreational trailer products. www.badgercomponents.com Kenda Tires - Kenda is a leading tire and tube manufacturer for specialty and automotive tires. www.kendausa.com Karavan Trailers – Equipment manufacturer of private label boat, watercraft, utility, snowmobile and other recreational trailers. www.karavantrailers.com Forester Signs – Forester Signs is a company that makes Custom designed vinyl graphics, signs & banners. www.forestersigns.com JG Wheel – www.jgwheel.com Go here to get the entire race results: Series Website: www.world-challenge.com Speed Channel’s Website: www.speedtv.com | | |
| Laguna Seca, Ca, Round 10 9/22/06 the 2006 Speed World Challenge GT Championships It’s race 10 at Laguna Seca, it’s the SPEED World Challenge Finals. The piranha tank is frothing, minnows are scarce. Teams whisper strategy, engines curiously get friskier, chassis tuning more creative, and when you think there’s nothing left, the cars get faster. This is good ole boy racing, right? No pressure. Think that? Then you need to get to a World Challenge race. The 2005 lap record got broken by 21 of the 34 race cars in the GT field. The finish line separated the first and second car by .03 second. In spite of being 1.5 seconds quicker than last year, the Woodhouse Performance /Kicker /Dodge Viper Competition Coupe #13 qualified 11th. Dodge Viper fans if this were an old western, it would have been called a “Bad day at Black Rock”. Dodge came into this final round leading in manufacturers points, and left it, the 2006 Championship to Porsche with Cadillac in 3rd. What a scrap it was, this game of strategy, of preparation, of chance, of risk, of skill. Dodge did not have the fastest cars here, after practice and qualifying we were behind the Corvettes, Cads and Porsches. Our biggest gun, and best finish was Tommy Archer. He started 8th and finished 6th albeit with a wounded suspension.. The standing start found me staring at the back of Andy Pigrims’ 9th gridded Caddy when the lights went out. You usually can’t catch Andy napping but something kept him there. When the light went out, our #13 Woodhouse Auto Family Viper slid up between him and the pit wall accelerating up the hill. As we came side by side the power in our snake began to falter. Geez of all the times to pick for an engine gremlin, this wasn’t it. On again off again like a light switch instead of a throttle we ended up at the #2 turn about where we started. click here. If I turned left the engine would kill, then back to life as the wheel straightened. I radio’d crew chief Rick about this alien presence. Not that he could wave his wand but I needed a friend to talk to, Oprah wasn’t handy. So deal with it. Each left turn the strategy was; go in till she quits, then wiggle, then charge out. We were struggling for momentum when the full coarse yellow came out. “OK, Rick, lets get this re-start right” Right, heck, we nailed it, he sounded like NASCAR… “green green green” he yells and I punch the throttle while the brake lights are lit on the Lawson AXA Porsche in the windshield. A smile builds, as the acceleration advantage catapults me past two cars heading under the bridge toward the start finish line. In front of me are the #16 Caddie and the #5 Red Tommy Archer Viper. The lane I am in narrows as the cars bend left under the starter bridge. Room, plenty, a foot more than needed to get through when O’Connell, the #16 Caddy sees me coming, he moves left, I am beside him. Like squeezing a hazelnut with a pair of pliers. Pop, with nowhere to go the front of the car jumps two feet into the air as the concrete and Cadillac jaws squeeze sending shards of body flying. It was like the gates of hell exploded under the front end. Due to the forward speed (about 100 mph) the cars had no option but to continue on. Click here. From this point forward I struggle to make sense of all this. I’m feeling like a low flying water fowl above an outdoor Ducks Unlimited Convention: An engine that chooses when it wants to run. A suspension that is handling erratically after the nutcracker special and I can’t get Rick to answer the radio. Flinging the car off the outside of every corner now; elevating myself to idiot status. Note to self: “Get a grip”. In the midst of note, I discover a disconnected ear plug cord. Conveniently a full coarse yellow allows me to drive with one knee to get re-plugged just in time to hear Rick, in a highly motivated voice, tell me to get my undeniably ignorant self to the pits and pronto. It takes him 30 seconds to replace the left front tire that was flat due to rim damage on the concrete wall. Back out we go with but one of the three issues left. This time it takes one straight-away for that problem, the engine dyeing, to manifest itself. No amount of steering and shaking will revive her and I roll dead stick to the inside of turn three. Relegated to spectator status I sit buckled in watching a bit of the race flashes across the turn in front of me. 20 minutes have gone by now and every five or so I try the starter. This time it fires. Fans have placed themselves along the inside fence observing the fate of the #13 Viper. When it fired I could hear their screams. Cool, I’m with ya on that one. It ran long enough to get back to the pits where Rick tugged on all things electrical until he discovered and plugged in a loose connector. Out we go again. Four laps left. Rick says “Keep your eyes on your mirrors, you have leaders behind you.” Not to worry the car was all it needed to be, they advanced no ground. Our team goal was to bring back a top ten for the year. We finished 7th. Eight finishes were top ten, four top 5 and a podium. We get to say we finished all ten. Race teams get asked to vote for the crew of the year. In the TC series congratulations go to the hard working 3R team. In the GT Series, Rick and Nancy, our little crew on the #13 Viper Competition Coupe received the honors. A more meaningful recognition you could not bestow. Nancy is still flushed with excitement. Some of the hard working, caring folks that support this: Woodhouse Auto Family we deliver nationwide. 800 889 1893 www.woodhouse.com Kicker livin loud. www.kicker.com Dodge Motorsports www.dodge.com Charity of choice www.alexslemonade.com More info at www.speedtv.com or www.world-challenge.com broadcast time Saturday, October 28, TC at 1 and GT at 2 p.m. Eastern on SPEED Bless you all. bobwoodhouse@woodhouse.com | | |
| Road Atlanta Round 9 of the SPEED World Challenge TC Race Report Through the Windshield of the Woodhouse/Kicker/Viosport/Alex’s Lemonade Dodge SRT-4 by Brian Smith WE WON!!!! Okay it was only the practice session, but it sure felt good to the team to be on top of the charts. Obviously the practice sessions went well for us. We made many significant changes during practice to get the car to accommodate the high speed corners and the somewhat user friendly curbs. We made a change for qualifying that we thought would help us gain a few tenths. Instead it cost us a few tenths and we qualified a disappointing 10th. However, we knew the car would be strong for the race so optimism was high that we could get the top three finish that slipped through our hands at Road America. Race day was a perfect day for racing … pleasantly warm and sunshine. With a significant amount of friends and family around it was an enjoyable day. On to the race. With the normal pre-race activities completed (which we had our favorite flag girl Danielle back) we lined up for the standing start in the outside line in the 10th position. After Road America and Mosport this front stretch looked like it was an eight lane highway with plenty of room to maneuver. The only catch at Road Atlanta is turn 1. You can enter four or so wide but you probably will not exit the corner with everyone still on the pavement (if you were the driver you should probably have made a note of this). Also, when something goes wrong the outside car tends to be the loser. Oh, and it is a fast corner … minimum speed of 90 mph. I figured everyone would head to the inside which is the conventional thinking at Rd. Atl. So, as usual I planned on going were everyone would not be going … the outside. I had another great start pulling several cars. Either I need to switch to drag racing or a lot of people were sleeping. I did head for the outside because nobody was there. As we entered turn 1 it appeared we were up to 5th or 6th (hard to count exactly when you are driving at the same time). I was about to pull beside the Tindol Mazda and Acura running side by side and thought about tucking in behind them for the remainder of turn 1. However, greed obtained the best of me and I decided I wanted those two extra positions to be up to 3rd or 4th. Remember that comment about not being on the outside too long? Well half way up the hill I hit the loose stuff on the outside and the rear of the car stepped out into a slide. This slide became larger when the rear tires went over the curb and into the dirt. Luckily I did not spin. I just slid for a long time watching out the windshield as all the cars that I had passed and a few others passed me. I settled down and by lap 10 was back up to 8th place with the 4th fastest race lap. I felt confident that we could still obtain our top 3 finish as we were running a comfortable pace and catching the cars in front. However, luck struck us again. On lap 11 of 27 the engine temp started to climb and I could smell some coolant. For the remainder of the race the engine temperature continued to climb and the power steadily decreased (7 seconds a lap slower by the end of the race). In addition the fluid we were losing was going under the car making the car a touch too loose. We soldiered on to finish 11th. We head to Laguna in California in a couple of weeks for the final race of the season and hopefully a win. We are also in the process of obtaining partners for next year so if you know of companies that would be interested in an affordable marketing tool let us know. Remember to go online at www.woodhouse.com to purchase your next vehicle no matter where you live, upgrade your car stereo system or purchase your SRT with Kicker products (www.kicker.com), utilize Viosport (www.viosport.com) for your affordable rugged wearable video needs, visit www.turnonetrackevents.com for corporate and track day events and consider supporting www.alexslemonade.com in their fight against children’s cancer. | | |
| Road Atlanta, Sept 29, Braselton, Ga. Round 9 of the 2006 SPEED World Challenge GT race as seen through the Woodhouse Windshield The Place This is totally wrong, a select number of male species in the human race have a desire to come as close to killing themselves as possible, then live on the thrill of telling others about it. (Do I fit here?). Road Atlanta, a road racing fantasy for thousands of drivers due to its ability to exploit the phenomena just described. It receives credit for the endorphins still in my bloodstream a day later. Thrilling and dangerous, yes, but throughout the week the old-timers emphasized: “this is a “cake” course since they took out the big hill and put in a corner approaching turn 12. The old coarse took real men!” OK, whatever, my aww-S… meter was pegged plenty of times, can’t say it was missed. To be at Rd. Atlanta in the fall sunshine and cool air, to be part of the IMSA governed Petite Le Mans show, to witness the increase of 60% in ticket sales, it was all good. To be part of both the Touring Car (driver Brian Smith writes the TC story for you) and the Grand Touring Series of World Challenge is “living”, meant in the vernacular of Steve McQueen “racing is life, all else is waiting” something like that. The Politics One race to go to decide the championship for the 2006 season. The pressure is on, going into this round Porsche was leading the manufacturers championship by one point followed by Dodge. Cadillac has every intention of ripping it from the grasp of either. At Atlanta the intent was apparent, instead of their usual two car team there were three, with their all year guy, Andy Pilgrim who everybody loves, then Ron Fellows and Mad Max Angelleli, fondly (or not) called Max the Axe. At this writing however Dodge is now leading, (hold the applause for one more race). You feel the posturing, the tension in gatherings and the sobriety of the drivers and team owners, whether Porsche, Cadillac, Dodge, or Corvette.. It is pull out all the stops, make everything count. Lead driver in the Dodge Viper camp, Tommy Archer was concerned by his ability to qualify even close to what he speculated the competition was capable of if pushed. It turns out he had plenty to worry about even though he killed everybody with his pole time. On that bonsai lap he found pieces of race track to run on that didn’t exist. There is an overwhelming depth of preparation that goes into each car before it hits race start. Alignments are scrutinized by 100ths of an inch, corner weights are within 10#’s, engine oil is low friction, fuel tanks filled to only that needed to get to the end. Some creative interpretation gets used as well, we can’t talk about that can we. Hey, over there, not here, we passed post race tech with flying colors, we are grateful we even get the chance to be teched. It was rewarding to see Brian Smith in the #13 Dodge/Kicker/Woodhouse Auto Family SRT-4 post the quickest practice time of the week-end for TC and to have the other #13, Dodge/Kicker/Woodhouse Auto Family Viper Comp Coupe post the second quickest in GT practice times. Counts for nothing though. The SRT-4 received it’s reward by having the power reduced for the balance of the week-end. And so you know, his 11th place finish was also done with a wounded engine. The Race Waaaaiting; aaargh, excruciating, all day you think about nothing else but the race, you wish it were under way, finally it is 4:15, time to suit up. I drive the car to pre-grid. Most drivers don’t, letting their crew chief do this, they walk out and wait along the safety rail visiting with each other. For me, I want to be alone, just Rick for the next ½ hour, I can reflect and be calm. I watch the others out the windshield, they look classy in their driving suits, fidgety, looks of anxiety, mannerisms show, scratching an itch that isn’t there, putting on the dark sunglasses then pulling them off, anticipating the big show, finally the ear plugs and helmets go on and the crew chiefs help them to their seats. On track and assembling for the start, Rick warns me, “there will be no one minute board, the lights will come and go out as soon as the cars settle”. That they did…. catching me in a confused state with launch procedure. Somehow I managed to turn the pit speed limiter on and fumbled through turn one before thumbing it back off. Five of my fellow competitors are probably still trying to thank me for that. Into the S’s in the valley, I was ticked at myself for that lack of intellect and tried making things worse by attempting a pass there on the Yellow Vette of Doug Petersen. Patience prevailed and I got by on the inside of him at corner 6. Corner seven is the beginning of the long straight and you can find out how well you did that corner by who got to the other end first, it so happened the corner was good to me and at the end of the straight we managed to get back a couple more spaces leaving us one car back from our original 10th grid spot. As the race settled in on lap four, Mike McCann and I were in a Porsche 997 sandwich with the AXA team of Lawson Aschenbach and Ricardo Imory on both sides. We couldn’t shake em or overtake em. They were faster in the slow corners of 5 and 7 and we got it back on the high speed down hill of corner 12. Lap 18 McCann Viper gets by the Lawson AXA Porsche, then the Lou G Corvette leaving me watching the Porsche and Vette do battle three car lengths in front. “The Pass”, here is what all the ruckuss was about (Coolest Move of the Race): Coming out of turn 7 Lawson sticks his nose inside Lou making a side by side dual the entire straight. I am stoked, these two have their hands full with each other but if I stick my car to the inside coming over that 160 mph hill, Lou (a smart racer) will forget about Lawson and close the door to the corner. So with throttle foot buried I stay behind Lawson till waiting longer would end up involving corner workers. Then yank left, across their back sides to the inside. I see a Yellow Corvette disappear past the passenger window and a clear corner appear in the windshield, well actually part track and part grass by the time I slid up to 10b. Gee that went well, two for the price of one. Lou had to remind me he was not that impressed by putting his nose on the back of my quarter, then again square between the tallights on the way out of 10b. Finishing 4th was a blessing since that pass put us into 6th but the misfortune of Mike spinning at corner 5 and Sofranos losing his suspension gave up a couple spots. Gratefully accepted. Tommy had a really great race finishing 2nd behind Andy Pilgrim. He did Cadillac battle the whole way with some of it respectfully done, some not (referring to the Cad team here.) His show had everyone on their feet and yelling at the end as he passed Ron Fellows 100 yards from the finish line in turn 12.. Remember the people that make this possible and deserve your support: www.woodhouse.com Woodhouse Auto Family Kicker www.kicker.com livin loud. Dodge Motorsports www.dodge.com feel good about yourself, check out www.alexslemonade.com Also look for the Woodhouse Auto Family/Kicker/Dodge SRT-4 story authored by driver Brian Smith, if you do not get his report e-mail him at brian@full-lock.com Find more info at www.speedtv.com or www.world-challenge.com Race will show on SPEED at 3pm GT and 2pm TC est. Oct. 14th Sat. bobwoodhouse@woodhouse.com 
| | |
|
Lifetime