Runoffs 2007 pg2

The road to the Runoffs was a difficult one...even more difficult for the last 42 Hours ;)

As posted to the Evolution Forum...

<CJ steps on to his Soapbox> So first of all I’d like to apologize for not updating you on our wonderful experience so far, but since I’m a racer I’ve got a thousand excuses as to why

Well we left Friday night less than 24 hours after VIP finished reassembling both Marty and my cars. In my case the car came from Dulles Autobody with the paint still drying and without an engine, tranny or transfer case. Great thanks to Marti and the crew at VIP as well as Linh and the team at DAB. Cruising down the highway a few hours and the sparks begin…no not the good kind like in a boxing match…the kind that fly off of bearings when the grease has caught on fire. Marty’s right front trailer bearing had decided that it wasn’t coming with us to Topeka. A quick stop off the side of the highway and Marty’s trailer is now a trike…we figure three tires can carry the weight of one Evo. Well we were right, but the question really is can it do it on Two? So a few hours later we try that out…when the left front bearing shows us that smoke can be as entertaining as sparks. So Marty cruises all the way to AMS’ huge new facility in West Chicago with a new version of a car chariot. We were very lucky to have the world renowned Mitsu engineers available to go to town on the trailer and before we knew it that chariot had 800WHP…no really, they fixed it up good as new. Martin, Mark and Ivan helped us with some quick last minute items and we were off…once again at 10pm, but this time heading for Topeka for real.

We drove almost all night stopping for a few hours rest about three hours from the track. Up bright and early to knock that last bit out and arrive ahead of schedule…well that was the plan and we all know what happens to the best laid plans. So about five minutes later Marty comes over the radio and says he thinks he has an RV tire going down. I check it out and yup…left inside tire is flapping in the wind. The only problem is that in Iowa they don’t believe in shoulders…so he has to creep along, tire parts a kimbo. We finally get to an exit and pull of in to the only available area…which happens to be just below the Iowa State Trooper Barracks. All sleepy eyed and all we beat the heck out of the double wheeled beast. Without a spare we figure...if the trailer could peg leg why not the RV. So with one left rear tire off we go…oh but not so fast. The little patch Marty had to pull in to happened to be softer as he tried to pull out and got completely dug in to the muddy turf. We thought..ok minor set back as I have a monster truck with a huge WARN winch on the front and about 20k lbs of ballast. So I hook it up and hit the go button..he starts to come out pretty easy, but then ends up pulled on an angle since my truck is up on the highway. So reposition the truck a bit and hit the winch go button again and as if scripted by a divine power much more devious than I, the winch dies. Zilch, nuttin, nada… Just about that time Trooper Fife stops by to see why we are axle deep on his lawn. A little discussion later he is on his way and I’m disconnecting my truck to pull the behemoth and its chariot from the clutches of the muddy trooper turf. A little 4 wheel action and FREEDOM! Hook back up and we’re on our way again.

On the road and planning a still early arrival Marty hits me on the radio and asks me to pull up along side and check the single tire. I pull up and tell him on the radio that the tire isn’t bulging and looks good…without any exaggeration and as if just to spit in my eye the devious power that must be named Murphy (as in the Law) the single tire explodes in one of the most spectacular rubber, steel and foam particle explosions that have ever graced the highways of Iowa. Marty did a great job controlling that beast as it ground the wheel in to the pavement. On to the near non-existent Iowa shoulder we went. Ok..we were thinking…we’ve been here before. If the trailer can run on not only 3 but 2 wheels why can’t the RV..right? So all there is to it is to pull a right side wheel off and throw it on the left and at a minimum at least drive it off the next exit. So off comes the good tire to go on the now tireless side. While Marty installs the tire on the other side nearest the high speed traffic, I opt for the safer side and check the pressure on the one remaining tire only to find out it has 21psi in it. For those of you that aren’t familiar with trailer and RV tires they hold like 80psi depending on the weight of the unit. So out comes the nitrogen tank…up to 80 psi and wait…the valve is leaking like crazy. Easy fix we thought as I have a valve kit in the race trailer. Out with the old in with the new… refill and as soon as I got to 40psi…it let go again. Hmm…still not sure what the problem was but regardless we’re stuck.

A quick call to AAA with Marty’s fancy RV membership and after about an hour serial murderer Elvis shows up and makes quick work mounting a spare and replacing the entire valve stem on the other tire. Yeah, Elvis didn’t talk and we surely thought he took this job just to meet people he could filet up on the side of the highway, but he was good at fixing tires. Up and away we go only about four hours later. So ~42 hours, 2 wheel bearings, 3 tires and one winch later we roll in to Heartland Park Topeka at about 4pm local.

So on to what you came here for… Monday starts out a rainy mess, not that big of deal but I’ve never put a tire on this track and there is no practice just qualification. By mid-afternoon the track had dried up and we went out for our first and only stint for the day. Normally it is a 20min session so I figured I’d get some laps in more as practice than anything…at least figure out where to turn left and where to turn right. Well SCCA must know our boy Murphy since they decided to split the qual session in to T1 and T2 so each got 10mins. Ouch I just lost most of my practice time… Needless to say I got 5 laps and posted a horrible qual time, but there is always tomorrow I was thinking. Marty ran a very respectable 1:52 on old scuff tires with a heavy fuel load.

After quals someone told me that I had a small smoke cloud following me so I checked it out and it turns out to be the transfer case axle seal on the side of the car that was damaged at Pocono the month before. I tried everything I could to fix the seal with RTV etc. since the dealer had to order the part and it wouldn’t be in until Weds Morn. The RTV ended up not panning out and as if it wasn’t enough…when I started the car it was pissing coolant out the rear of the block.. I was close to putting it on the trailer at this point, especially after we’d both had like 5 hours of sleep since Thursday.

Marty went out for the second qual which he used as another practice and learned some of the new turns that had been added to the track since last year. He ran in the same laptime area as the previous session.

Weds was set to be the best qual day as we were first up in the cool morning air. It wasn’t to be for me since the car still awaited the seal and some means of keeping the green fluid inside the engine. Marty was on better tires and was looking to lay down a quick lap, but once again he only got 10mins and the shortened time frame didn’t allow him time to get in to a rhythm, but was still able to put him in to the 1:51 area.

I spent the day putting my ride back together with a new seal from the local mitsu dealer and some fancy epoxy to seal up the two right side freeze plugs that I believe at least one of which was the leaky culprit.

So the stage is set for Marty to give it one last shot to overcome these new very tricky turns and for me to keep the car together and learn that track as I lay down a respectable qual lap all within a single 20min session at 3:20CT today. Stay tuned as I will update you whenever this crappy HPT WIFI network lets me connect…see I told you racers always have plenty of excuses

**VR4orceCJ** · Oct 12, 2007, 12:36 AM

The morning started with a chill in the air unlike the warmer days that had preceded it. We were scheduled for a 3:20C qualification and both Marty and I had unfinished business here. After running through our checklists setting up the cars it was Go Time. Having had some serious issues earlier in the week I just wanted to have a clean run and return with a running car. Marty on the other hand wanted to move deep in to the field and made the necessary adjustments to his car and mind set to do so.

So we roll out on to the grid…then roll off in previous qualifying order. I was lined up behind STI and decided to try and follow him for a lap to see what kind of line he was running. As a reminder up to this point I’ve had 5 laps lifetime on this track..so call this a qualification was a stretch for me. I wound up the car and halfway through the first lap realized I need by this Subie as it was holding me up. I grabbed a gear and took a hard run on the back straight and sailed off. I layed down some decent laps, but could feel that I really was seat of the pants driving in a reactionary mode rather than attacking the course with precision. The precision is what comes with practice, which Marty and I got very little of ? .

In the end I pulled out a 1:52.72 on my 3rd lap (8th lap ever on the track) and Marty dropped more than 3 secs off his time down to a 1:48.62 a great jump that puts him in the mix of things.

On Sunday at just shy of 11am Central we roll off, Marty in 14th and I in 22nd. Mike Santos is just in front of Marty in 13th so they should be able to work together to pickoff the field in front. Bill Z. (WTZ) put his Evo in the trailer in favor of the much quicker (on this handling track) Pontiac Solstice GXP, which GM has setup as a ringer for this class.

Marty had a visit from the Speed Channel Staff and had a segment taped, so look forward to seeing him on TV when they finally air this race.

Stay tuned! I’ll update as soon as this wonderful “Free” wireless Internet gets working.

**VR4orceCJ** · Oct 15, 2007, 05:31 PM

So FINALLY Sunday arrived... For the last month plus Marty and I, along with our sponsors, have worked endlessly to prep these cars for this one day. My car was seriously damaged in a high speed crash at Pocono Raceway and needed all kinds of work. The paint on my #58 car was still drying as we put it in the trailer for Topeka so it was no where near sorted or even tested. Marty's #34 had just had the tranny bolted up and it needed plenty of sorting as well.

The weather was good...dry and pretty cool. Final touches to the cars and we lined them up. Marty qualed 14th and I 22nd...I'll leave Marty's race for him to describe as I never saw him after the start. So we roll out on to the track two by two, I'm on the outside. We do two warm-up laps and then come down the front straight for the green..right about then all hell breaks loose...everyone is looking for a hole to jam their car and move forward. I loop around the outside following the F-body Camaro in front of me...we move forward but then everyone stacks up trying to make it through turn 1. I gained a few spots and by turn three things started to clear up...well just a little.

I hammered along battling with a Subie that I cleared and then since I was unfamiliar with the track plowed the front end off the track since I took a 3rd gear turn in 4th gear (thus going to fast). I was able to keep it under control and used that right foot to power through a little grass and rejoin (maybe I'll get a little Speed Channel coverage for my improvised rally driving). I lost four spots in the process. Over the next several laps I moved my way back up and picked off cars one by one... an F-body, Lotus and M3...the Subie had a bit of his own bad luck and planted his car in to a tire wall. In the end I finished up 18th, which is at least eight slots lower than my orginial goal, but honestly I was glad to make the race after everything we went through

I'm sure there was more, but I just got home after a 20 hour straight drive.

I attached a few pics of our paddock spaces and one of Marty being interviewed by Speed Channel... We should all be so proud, our own little Marty is going to be a big TV star

I'll be sure to post the date and time they will be airing our race.