Well, what can I say? Impressive day, impressive indeed. Me and a different friend (Frank) went up this time, and I was fortunate to catch some z's before arriving.

Upon arrival, he signed the waiver for his bracelet, and we cruised to the spot we previously occupied yesterday, right next to Matt's (speedracer33) car. Spoke to John (#88 1987 Civic Si) from RoadRaceGear.com about the day's earlier event's and got some real positive feedback on the Honda-Challenge practice runs.

From there we toured the ECHC paddock, and met some great guys. First off was Richard Floyd and his #90 1986 Integra LS. Even though the car is not a great go-getter, you have to admire his attitude of "a willingness to learn, regardless of type of car."

Next up was Corey Jacobs in his #20 1993 Honda Prelude VTEC. Didn't get to meet him but did enjoy checking out his car.

A white ITR caught my attention next, and I walked over to videotape. As I swung around the rear-end with my camera, low and behold I was blessed to see the greatly revered "speed dimples." True to form, the car indeed was owned and driven by #71, Warren ****. Introduced myself briefly, and moved on.

I arrived next at the #145 2002 RSX Type-S. I unfortunately forgot the driver's name, but we did chat briefly. Amazing to see that new of a car in the line-up. He even had a roll-cage installed the week earlier. Oh well, guess he'll be the owner of it for a while to come. He wasn't to happy with the performance of the 4th Gen Integra/RSX series, but felt that it would prove positive in the race later that afternoon. If not, it was off to auction block for the car.

I came around to the front of our paddock to see the #13 5th Gen Honda Civic Coupe. Unfortunately was not able to meet the driver but impressive car, non-the-less.

Then the infamous #78 Integra GSR, our own Karl Shultz's car was next. I must say, I do admire the faux wood look the front strut bar is sporting. Guarenteed some extra down-force in those hard turns. I'm also trying to determine if the use of Tarheel Blue contributes to his runs as well. There's something in the manual about that.................

Briefly scoped out #42 Honda CRX (Adam Richmond) and #28 Integra Type-R (Jon Starnes) before heading back to some shade.

In other news, the 4th Gen Civic hatchback with ITR drivetrain WAS running again, however failed to compete in the day's events.

Matt was asked to participate in a group shot with some "models" in front of his car. I swear they pulled most of them from the either the local nursing home or pre-school.

ECHC Qualifying: Qualifying went real great for most of the driver's. After green flag, Matt did pull in to pits, but turns out he was just letting everyone pass, so he could have some space to work with. Nice going Matt!

For qualifying, there was a total of 20 cars running. No major mis-haps what-so-ever, just some good clean runs. Giles and Shultz seemed to be joined at the neck for part of it, I swear.

Almost towards the end, the #11 Honda Civic (who was plagued with electrical gremlins throughout the day) was coming out of the pits, and I don't know of Giles saw him as he came down the front stretch, but from my angle contact was inevitable, which could have been a problem. Giles did pass the Civic on the outside heading into turn #1 however, and disaster was avoided.

At that point, it was time for lunch.

Qualifying Results:
<u>Class</u> <u>Name</u> <u>Best Time</u>
H1 Jack Harris 01.53.002
H1 Tom Stewart 01.53.094
H2 Jon Starnes 01.53.474
H4 Alex Muresan 01.54.333
H3 Karl Shultz 01.55.757
H2 Corey Jacobs 01.55.888
H3 Scott Giles 01.56.119
H2 Alex Radcliffe 01.56.877
H3 Chris Brinson 01.56.925
H3 Karl Shultz (do not know why he was twice on the list) 01.57.107
H1 Eric Rosen 01.57.328
H4 Adam Richman 01.57.970
H1 Blake Meredith 01.58.160
H2 Warren **** 01.59.065
H4 Lyonel Kent 01.59.069
H5 Matt Bookler 02.00.315
H4 David Skultety 02.00.731
H1 Todd Reid 02.00.807
H5 John Whitaker 02.01.648
H5 Richard Floyd 02.02.487
H5 Ken Buchel 02.04.064

ECHC Race: At approximately 4:58 PM, EST, the green flag went out and the ECHC was underway. Immediately Jack Harris in his red Civic hatchback did pull away. Turn one arrived fast for the mass of the group, and all of us held our breaths as Lyonel Kent in his 1995 Civic coupe locked up brakes, but managed to keep the car in tight formation. Turn 1 was completed with no contact, and all of us at the fence, include r2x and elsye cheered.

Jack Harris continued to pull away from the rest of the crowd the whole way, amazing us all by this feat. I don't know exactly what he was packing, but it sure was putting him on top. 2nd-8ish or so was changing every lap. Stewart in his 99 Civic Si was working his way up the line, after starting in LAST position, due to a late arrival at the track. For whatever reason, he failed to make the grid, and only after the cars had moved passed Turn #2, beyond our field of vision, did he hit the course. He did make it to the group before the pace car pulled in, but again, he was dead last. More on that later.

Matt did tell me some of the vehicles at about mid-field lined up incorrectly when pairing up for the green flag, but I'm sure in the heat of the moment, with adrenaline pumping, there was nothing to do but sit tight and ride out the pace lap.

We were all impressed with a brief battle between Giles and Kent as they arrived at Turn #1. Giles did pass Kent on the inside right in front of us, but had to step on the brakes later than normal. Giles's line did take him outside of the apex for Turn #1, and Kent was able to grab it on the inside, and pass Giles up, claiming his spot again. After they appeared on the other side of the tree-line, Giles had pulled ahead.

We had quite a bit of smoke coming up in mid-track where turning was quite sharp, but again, no contact.

Stewart in his Si amazingly walked the whole pack, and on the final lap, did pass Harris, claiming first spot. After watching Harris walk the crowd for the majority of the 12 laps, it was quite a sight to see Stewart slowly reeling him in, and taking the lead.

There were a couple of lost spots, and Shultz did find his way further back in the pack than he would have liked, but as for a reason, I could not see.

The end of the race did prove interesting as Stewart took the checkered, with Harris close behind. Due to the unusual nature of a couple of cars finishing, I'll refrain from details on that issue, and let those parties share if they wish.

Race Results
<u>Position</u> <u>Class</u> <u>Name</u> <u>Best Time</u> <u>Laps</u>
1 H1 Tom Stewart 01.52.248 12
2 H1 Jack Harris 01.52.668 12
3 H2 Corey Jacobs 01.54.440 12
4 H2 Alex Ratcliffe 01.54.776 12
5 H3 Scott Giles 01.54.841 12
6 H4 Lyonel Kent 01.57.455 12
7 H4 Adam Richman 01.58.826 12
8 H5 Matt Bookler 02.00.723 12
9 H4 David Skultety 02.01.361 12
10 H5 Richard Floyd 02.00.875 12
11 H5 John Whitaker 02.01.351 12
12 H3 Karl Shultz 01.57.472 11 (no gas)
13 H3 Chris Brinson 01.56.894 11 (don't ask)
14 H5 Ken Buchel 02.02.512 11
15 H2 Warren **** 01.59.008 9 (busted camber plate/corded tire)
16 H1 Todd Reid 02.10.142 6 (failed injector)
DNF H1 Blake Meredith 02.00.460 3 (ITR engine blew previous day)
DNF H2 Jon Starnes 01.57.420 1 (transmission)
DNF H4 Alex Muresan 00.00.000 0 (oil leak)

These results were official as of the time I left CMP, which was approximately 2 1/2 hours ago. At that time, Tom Stewart's win was being protested, due to illegal modifications, including 12-pt. cage, lexan windows, and brake resevoirs. Matt does believe the protest will be upheld, handing the win to #1 Jack Harris in his 1992 Civic hatchback. After all, the winning Civic Si was originally a Speed-Vision car, and far speced above what ECHC had in mind.

When my battery's charge up, I will finish adding the qualifying numbers. I will not be at CMP tomorrow, so unfortunately will not be able to keep you folks up-to-date. I do hope this has been somewhat helpful, in keeping most of the members tuned in. How wonderful it'd be to have this on Speed Channel, but that take's time.

It was a great weekend (my portion of it) and after watching some amazing racing, I do indeed plan to participate in the ECHC by next year. See most of you folks at Hyper Fest at Summit Point.

Thanks to Matt and John tremendously for putting up with my newbie self and fielding all of my questions. It was a pleasure meeting you guys and learning the ropes of a NASA event. To the other's, wish I could have engaged in conversation, but I guess I prefered to remain out of the way of most people. I didn't want to get in anyone's way at one of the most important events of the year.

Here's to the East Coast Honda-Challenge for 2002!

My sincere apologies for the formatting of the results, I don't have access to a scanner and it's quite hard to compose it legibly on here. I do not have pictures of the events, only video footage. It will take some time to get that up though, as I do not know how. I'll have to look around, find someone who can help.


[Modified by drumsy, 9:36 PM 4/20/2002]


[Modified by drumsy, 9:55 PM 4/20/2002]

 

Drumsy rocks nads!!!

Congrats to all for pulling off the first (of many, I hope) ECHC race

 

Drumsy: Wow, outstanding writeup. Many thanks. And a last lap pass for first place. Sounds like a great race. Congrats to all involved!

 

That Prelude was definately mean. Even though he had started in 5th place, after one lap, he had pulled to 2nd.

The video is impressive, I wish it was a digital camera so you guys could see it. I'll see what I can jury-rig though.

 

find someone with a digital capture card and upload that!

 

Good job Jacobs

why wasn't Eric Rosen included in the race results?

 

Eric Rosen didn't run in this race....sorry man.

 

Kick *** info for those of us who couldn't be there - thank you so much Daniel!

Hope everything is ok with all broken cars. And I especially hope that Rosen's car makes it out tomorrow to reprazent... wagons kick ***!

PS- great job Yack and Corey and Bookler and... well, dammit, great job EVERYBODY!!!

Jon
who raises his Rolling Rock to Giles / Shultz for putting it together, and Cobettos / Politis / etc for making it happen, and EVERY COMPETITOR for being out there doing it wonderfully

 

just curious...not mad or anything

 

Great reporting job! Actually got the blood pumping

-231, who can't wait to hear the stories.

 

Not in Blacksburg it isnt, which is close to the track.

 

Blacksburg is close to Kershaw, SC?

 

Uh... CMP is in Kershaw, South Carolina.

That's about 240 miles from VA Tech / Blacksburg VA according to Mapquest.

Perhaps you were thinking of a different track?

Jon

 

Just got home.. for now, I will say... What a weekend! I'm beat.

 

My bad guys! Thought it was at VIR.

 

its ok guys, Rguy is an engineer here at Tech, not quite up to par with the Marketing Management majors

Brian
-who is pointing and laughing at the "first-year"

 

Drumsy pretty much summed up Saturday's race. As for me (Starnes #28), first lap I broke the 3rd/4th gear transmission fork and basically done for the weekend. From memory for Sunday's race (can't remember everyone's places), but everyone had fun and made it to the paddock in one piece.
1st - Jack Harris -H1
2nd - Blake Merridith - H1

1st - Alex Ratcliffe - H2
2nd - Warren **** - H2 (ask Warren and Corey why the 2nd & 3rd places)
3rd - Corey Jacobs - H2

1st - Scott Giles - H3
2nd - Chris Brinson - H3
3rd - Karl Shultz - H3

1st- Alex Muresan - H4
2nd - Adam Richman - H4
3rd - Lyonel Kint - H4

1st - The Bookler - H5

 

OK...I'll tell. Yes, Corey was black flagged because he didn't have his gloves on. Warren thought they were black flagging him (qualfying session, his weld broke holding his muffler on, so he thought the "fix" didn't work), so Warren came in as well. I guess as the old saying goes..."**** happens", but the bottom line was everyone had fun and everyone left the track in one piece.

 

Corey : Lugs tq'ed?
Morgan: check!
Corey : window net up?
Morgan: check!
Corey : crotch belt tight?
Morgan: check!
Corey : shoes tied?
Morgan: check!
Corey : Ok, Im ready.....

A few minutes pass

Corey( radios in) : Morgan, is there a pair of driving gloves on the beer cooler?
Morgann : DOHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bryan


[Modified by BryanSprinkel, 10:55 PM 4/21/2002]

 

The event was a dream come true for a whole lot of us. Good clean racing among competent drivers. The environment of the race was really cool, with all of us hanging out with each other for most of the weekend. The driving - even the "dreaded" standing start - was clean.

As soon as I unpack the cooler, I'll raise a Sam Adams to everyone who came out to run in the series. We put on one HELL of a show and will keep doing it.

--Karl, who is really, really happy with how this weekend came out

 

Just sitting back, drinking a home brew, reflecting on the weekend.

Pretty much, if you:
A) have a Honda/Acura race car, and
B) Did not enter this race because you thought it would be lame,

then YOU are a loser. This series is going to be absolutely increadible. Tom Fowler has already pledged to be at the next one at Summit Point with his ITS Prelude.

Scott, Karl: What you guys just pulled off may be unprecedented. Word is going to leak out how good this was and the series is going to explode. It would not shock me in the least if the last race of the season had 40 cars entered.

I'm going to bed now.

Matt, who really wished he had an H-anything car....

 

Hmm...and here I am thinking I may be able to get in there in 2004... That's a long ways away!

 

ROFLMAO.

Things people will change for the next race...
1. Karl will have 1 more gallon of gas in his car
2. Jacobs will have a checklist on the dashboard, or at least his crew will
3. Warren will not come in for his competition's black flag

LOL, sounds like everyone had a blast though. Good to hear that everyone came through in one piece!

 

Karl and Scott, major kudos for the tremendous effort to make this happen. You guys with NASA put on a very memorable event. Several thumbs up.

I am happy to have the pleasure of all the fun stories that have come from this, the first starting within 10 minutes of getting there - Alex, absolutely hillarious - (and unbelievably fast too)!!! I cannot wait to see Jon and Todd at full song at the next event - I think that was the only part that I wished were different. A very fun time guys and major thanks to Pete and David for the awesome hookup on timesheets and such.

Although not ECHC related but friends of the challenge (or simply a big statement for NASA's intructor core), I gotta mention: Shugg's absolute clinic in American Iron and Jim Pantas' win in American Iron Extreme. Big thumbs there too!

I have a lot to learn and I am glad to be schooling with this crowd!

Peace and hope everyone made it home safely.

 

OMG! That was great!!! He simply walked away from a Superformance Cobra today. A car that has more power, less weight, better brakes, and Hoosiers (A.I. has a spec tire of Toyo RA-1). Un-freakin-real driving Mr. Shugg!

George: the gloves are a required safety item. They had to black flag Corey.