hi guys!

wow! first gotta say that NASA IN/OH put on a GREAT event!!!! ran very smoothly and on time! big , especially considering that the event was basically SOLD OUT!

saturday went OK, for me, i guess. i think i just wasn't "in the groove" for some reason.... i qualified pretty poorly (lots of traffic, and i never hit my stride). i did have a very good standing start (thanks to K20A2 powa!). got ahead of Jon in the white S2000 and stayed there for a bit; behind us, coming down thru T7, the red S2000 lost control and Andrew Zimmerman had non-avoidable contact with the S2000 as it was spinning out. the S2000's nose was torn up pretty good; Andrew's front wheel was smashed into a "D" shape (totalled the Volk) and his race was done. the race continued, and Jon's white S2000 slipped by under braking (i think maybe in T1) and then he crept away. thats how the race finished for me (6th place). a kinda poor showing by me; just plain old non-inspired driving. not the car's fault; my fault; i kinda felt like i let old number #11 down a bit on saturday.....

by qualifying time on sunday, i had decided it was time to "take off the skirt". i was going to really DRIVE the car and really try to stretch and keep up with the leaders.... either that, or i was prepared to do some terra-forming on the trackout portions on the damn racetrack!!!!

i qualified better; at least more respectably (i think a 1:06.2). still, in ECHC company, it meant i was 6th on the grid again. i got another really good standing start (gotta luv that K20A2 mota); things happened really really fast at the first turn, but i think i beat Jon in the white S2000 into T1, and almost had Helms in the Hondaworks car. almost. he outbroke me and slipped in front of me. Curpier went into a spin in the vicinity of T2, and i ducked off track to the inside 4 wheels off to avoid the mayhem. came back on right on Helm's ***. apparently, right behind us (i didn't particularly have time to be looking in my rearview mirror as i was traversing the rutted dirt/grass/berms/stakes at 80mph) the 4 door H4 civic (driven by Brent?) spun and Trevor Mellville (1991 white H4 Prelude) crashed heavily into the 4 door Civic. major damage to both cars.... the 4 door civic was smashed and resting in between T1 and T2 right on the track; the Prelude was smashed and resting in the cutoff to the left of T1/T2. both drivers seemed OK and walking around. Yellow flags ensued and the pacecar came out for many laps (7? 8? or maybe 9?). the pacecar went in and the single file restart was on! i got another really strong start, and the battle was joined! Kevin Helms and i fought and fought; for several laps it was totally up in the air; we went side-by-side a couple times. within about 3 laps, we were already lapping cars. for those of you not there, you must remember there were ALOT of cars in our heat. i think maybe 40-45??? once we were into traffic, we were INTO traffic. i mean, like, rush hour on I95 around Baltimore-Washington, except at about 130+ mph! you'd look ahead and see nothing but clumps of Miatas/Neons/Civics as far as the eye could see. you'd work thru traffic as fast as humanly possible, all the while protecting because you were being attacked from behind (in my case, by a particularly well-driven white S2000 ), and at the same time, trying to attack the car directly ahead of you. the traffic never ended; i'd have to say, by about the 5th or 6th lap, it seemed fairly evenly dispersed around the track. in this manner, the race continued for 30 mins.... at one point, Helms lost it big time after the kink into T10; i avoided him and passed; he somehow got it turned around at high speed in the dirt and was on my *** bigtime. he then fought and fought and fought. i'd put as much distance as i could from the exit of T7 to T10. then up the hill and onto the front straight and down into T1 (he would eat me up in the brake zones and most of the tight stuff). we went side-by-side a bunch of times. very big to Kevin for very close super clean racing. we never touched, although i did end up mowing down quite a few defenseless yellow poles (smashed my blue airfilter to smithereens and smashed out both my corner marker lights!!!!! ). i eventually started to sneak away (not sure why or how; most probably either helms caught traffic wrong, or maybe he was tied up fighting with Jon in the S2000). about this time, Curpier caught up and very aggressively passed me in T7 (i was almost surprised; i didn't even think a pass could be made there! i gave him room and he went by). i chased and he steadily caught Chris D and passed him. the last two laps, i could see Chris's red hatch up in front, and i tried to close. i think i crept up a bit, but it was too late, white flag was out and race ended like that..... i finished 4th with a 1:05.5; even though it was "only" a 4th, i was very very satisfied with it

afterwards, the USTCC head guy (Jeff M.) was over and asked if i wanted to race in Group C with the USTCC guys. he said he would take care of all fees, but that i would have to start in the back.... i said "why not!". we took off my smoked R tires, and put on my backup street tires (Yoko 032). they are about 4+ yrs old and have about 10k street miles on them; still had good tread tho!

it was a rolling start, and i started last (i think 30th? 34th? something ridiculous like that!). i was like a shark thru a school of guppies, man! i passed and passed and passed. the tires were shrieking in protest, but the engine was singing a battle song!!!!!

i caught up and passed the 2nd place USTCC (turbo audi). he had qualified 12th. i kept moving up, and could see way ahead (about a full straightaway) the USTCC leader (blue Grand Am Cobalt). i couldn't catch him; i really tried, but the tires were melted down; i did continue to move up (finished 7th!!!!!!). and did a best time of 1:06.5 on my street tires!!!! hahahahaha!

what a great way to end the weekend!


had lots of fun, and looking forward to Summit Point soon!!!!!!




Modified by Todd Reid at 5:11 AM 6/13/2006

 

I love your reports, so full of excitement!

 

Excellent read. I love how you added on a "why not" race at the end of the event.

 

Nice write up Todd. I would have loved to watch you race in Group C but as you know I had a long weekend and was rather tired. 1.06 on street tires Wow. Oh by the way thanks for bringing the extra re-drilled rotors and thanks for helping me test fit them Saturday Night. It is always a pleasure to race with all you ECHC guys.

 

It was rather impressive watching Todd make his way around in the Group C race.

Thanks again for making the weekend a great one.

 

Todd, I gotta say you definitely turned it up on Sunday! Awesome job! Congrats!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">and did a best time of 1:06.5 on my street tires!!!! hahahahaha!</TD></TR></TABLE>

you suck!