In about 7 days I will be ON-TRACK again.

Every couple of hours I do a micro self assessment and find that I'm wound that much tighter than I was just a couple of hours ago.

I've called just about everybody I can, with little more to say other than how excited I am. Victor and Scott Z. understood best.

Lot's has to happen still before the big day, and unforseen difficulties are still a possibility, but there's time enough that such fears are easily brushed aside for now.

I'm wasting time considering the mental approach to take. Do I race in survival mode - putting out just enough for victory (yeah, I do assume this) while conserving the car, or just going ***** out like I normally do? Will I be able to shift into the zone fluidly, or will I struggle with the basics and drive like a clod? How much work will be required to recover to where I left off last year? Does my butt look to small now that I've lost 20lbs?

It seems kinda silly to think about where my head will be on race day inasmuch as I usually just find it where it happens to be, and concious mental effort is clumsy and ineffective at best.

Scott, who, now that he's posted on H-T, has called just about everybody..."Damn, I'm so excited"...time....moving.....slowly.....work..... ack.....I'm about literally living thru each moment fixated on next weekend....it's like being a little kid with Christmas on the way....

 

Scott-

You have got to start writing for money for someone, somewhere....

 

I'm just trying to "represent" the west coast as best I know how...

Scott, who is REALLY INTERESTED in these rumors that SCCA is looking at a National class for cars like mine...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18CXr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Scott-

You have got to start writing for money for someone, somewhere.... </TD></TR></TABLE>
I agree, Peter Egan ain't got nothing on you!!

 

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I've called just about everybody I can, with little more to say other than how excited I am. Victor and Scott Z. understood best.
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You didn't call me!

See you at the Rose Cup Scott, John and I are working out our plans to get down there. Let me know if you need any thing from Seattle!

Nash - who feels slighted that he didn't get a call from Scott

 

Nash,

By the time I got to your name on my list I was no longer able to speak and all you would have heard on the other end was gurgling and drooling.

Scott, who needs someone from Seattle to post up some Restaurant recomendations for a H-T traveller who'll be visiting soon...and let me know what your plans are...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RR98ITR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Scott, who needs someone from Seattle to post up some Restaurant recomendations for a H-T traveller who'll be visiting soon...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I hear McDonalds has a new breakfast sandwich. [mumblecoughbastardcoughsniffle]

Good luck at the Rose thingy. I think I'm starting to catch a cold.

John -- who checked messages, and noted strangely enough that Scott didn't call me either... and now I know just where I rank

 

Scott, what the hell are you talking about? If you aren't racing to win, you are just lapping & that ain't racing!

 

Mike,

I'm most definitely racing to win...but exactly where I am in relation to what it takes to win is what I don't know yet.

Most of my wins have not been closely fought, and if my ongoing development pays like it's supposed to I will be rewarded with a little bit more of that kind of winning.

This will sound different to different people. To some a win is a win, whether you fought hard for it, walked away with it, or took it by default. I would rather win a tough fight in general terms - but right now the racer inside me is telling me that I simply need to win.

My philosophy is guided by some of my childhood instruction thru Niki Lauda's first book. I strongly believe that real racing includes the brain work and car development that takes place between and before races.

It's important to win right now too because of my desire to deliver whatever modest benefit I can to those who've helped me out.

All of this might be characterized as pressure, and judged as unneccessary and detrimental to the enjoyment of racing. There is some truth to that, and I have ancient experience that supports such a judgement. But racing is a big thing, with many angles, and complex relations in our psychology makes easy answers inadequate, and it is NOT without pressure if winning is your goal.

From many years ago I can pick out a week in which I rode twice. Once was a race day at Washougal where as I drove in the gate I was already in a bad mood anticipating a day of crashing and failure. I was very frustrated with my results at the time and was screwing myself into the ground with my attitude. Later that next week I was out practicing with friends and they remarked that I was a completely different rider - brilliant in fact. "Why couldn't I ride like that on race day" they asked.

I've reflected back on that many times thru the years, and looked for signs that I'd learned some lesson. About 10 years ago I crashed out of a Dual Slalom run at a Norba race reinjuring my bad knee, and as I sat down at the bottom of the hill later thought to myself that I hadn't learned much.

The next year at one of Eric Eatons Outrageous races in the Olympic Mountains I made the breakthru I knew I needed. I found somehow a critical amount of patience that I'd been lacking. I found it quite deliberately - the year before I'd run one of Erics races and took a chance on a pass that had no chance in hell of working and I ate a nasty stump with (what else?) my bad knee. So this next year I consciously restrained myself and only took advantage of the most reasonable opportunities. I found great success in this approach, and it encouraged me in recognizing my strengths and playing to maximize them.

The car racing is a bit different obviously. But the psychological factors are not much different. We are all on guard against threats to our enjoyment, but this effort is somewhat futile. Racing is alot of work, and a huge investment of time. The desire to win will usually overwrite the desire to have a good time. Racing is no more about enjoyment in the moment than lapping really, and so that leaves the value of the results and the size of the investment as the real differences.

One of the biggest problems with what I'm saying about cars is that simply buying speed with money is ignoble. Sure you still have to drive the car, but it's not the most sporting way to win. That said, this is the way it is - even in Spec Cars.

We made the first of the steps that lead in this direction when we started running race tires, race springs, and actually driving fast. The workload went up and we accepted it in return for a payoff. We got out of our cars after a session and judged ourselves more satisfied.

Yada-Yada-Yada, it's now a race car, I spend alot of time on it, Not winning is nearly unthinkable, and I'm telling myself that I've never had it so good.

Scott, who says it IS racing, and I've got to move forward to the next race and not backward...

 

Hey Scott...

I'm glad there's light at the end of the why-can't-it-be-me jonesin' tunnel! I'm looking forward to hanging with John, Nash et al in the stands. Budget $$ aren't there this year to race for the Roses, but I'll expect you to be on the TCMC podium again this year.

What about the support race for the CART race? What's going on this year? Was that an option?

Greg~who needs to score a vehicle permit for the CART races


speaking of which - if you want to hang out during Friday's CART practice or come down for qualifying on saturday, let me know... I'll get you a chalet pass.

 

Greg,

The CART Support race (for SCCA types) is Pro Spec Miata. They expect about 20 serious out of town entries, and maybe 20 locals. If I was super rich, hell even modestly rich, I'd be looking for a rental, or I'd try to build one in just 1 week.

Are you not on the pdxracer list?

No podium ceremony for me this year - Spec Racer Ford is the Trophy Race this time.

I don't know if I'll go to the track at all on CART weekend - the humanity you know.

Scott, who see's light at the end of the tunnel...I must have left my lights on....

 

SRF is boring...

Come down this weekend and warm up by watching us Conference goobers manage the chicane for the first time this year... Hell, I have a questionable car that is lop-sided and I have no idea if the engine will hang on! Should be worth your time...

I got an Ice-Vest standing by for what might be a precursor to the T-Hill event. Hopefully it won't be 90 degrees....

 

Take it realllly slow during practice. Build it up.
You're rusty. You have to be. No amount of video games or sitting in the car in the garage making "vroom vroom" sounds and visualizing is a substitute for seat time. And the LAST thing you want is to let your rustyness cause you to ball up your car in practice.

Then, after the rust is rattled off, move into "Come on out and get your whoopin'" mode (shamelessly stolen from the Holyfield ESPN commercial).
At least this is how I approach things after a layoff.

 

I have a sedentary desk job that's easy enough, but it can be somewhat unfulfilling during the lulls, or even the busy-work times.

Im finding out that I need the stress of a problem I work towards solving. I need to feel accomplishment in improving something, or myself, in order to be tired and sleep soundly.

Racing the car (auto-x in my case) provides an endless supply of problems and challenges. What more could a guy ask for?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bulldog_RS20 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Come down this weekend and warm up by watching us Conference goobers manage the chicane for the first time this year... Hell, I have a questionable car that is lop-sided and I have no idea if the engine will hang on! Should be worth your time...
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Good luck this weekend. Let me know how things go. I wish I could come down this weekend and watch it blow... ur...I mean... go , but we're helping Kyle move his chit to his new place. See you boys next weekend.

PS. Where is Rose Cup Crew check-in? The same place as last year? Hours? We'll be coming in Saturday morning.

 

John,

The supps say at the track - which would normally mean the trailer on the entry road. Unless it's really at the Expo - but there would probably be a sign for that. I'll tell you Friday night for sure. They'll probably be open by 7am on Saturday. Are you guys already on Victor's list, or should I put you on mine?

Scott, who thinks that's gonna be one hell of a long weekend...

 

I believe it is at the Expo center like last year. They are on my list. Thanks guys

Victor Penner

 

 

103.7 De-*******-grees today! On the deck, probably 130... set up was a bitch.

How greasy can a track get? Stay tuned. I'd much rather have rain.

Scott... I could use a crew designator at the RC's. If you have an extra freebe, please put me on your list.

Thanks John. It'll be a interesting weekend. So how important is that radiator fan again? Hopefully, it'll cool down to the upper 80's by the race.

Greg

 

I'm surprised that so many of you racers are so cerebral about it. I've read about Ayrton Senna and Niki Lauda being like that, like their racing is more of a mental challenge than a physical one, but I haven't seen many other people like that. Then again, maybe I just don't know enough serious race drivers...

RR, when you said you're interested in a possible SCCA Nationals class for "cars like yours", what exactly is a "car like yours?"

This is a question for the pros/sponsored fellas, as you said RR, I'm assuming that status puts pressure on you to win, not just to have fun. Are you racing as a career or a hobby though? While winning makes sponsors happy, and consequently provides you with more money/products from them, to you though (don't tell them this) they're just easing the burden of having to pay so much for your expensive entertainment. I mean, maybe I'm just too inexperienced, but I always thought, hey, if say Kumho sponsored me and gives me free tires, that's cool, it's one less thing I'd have to buy. Yet if they decided to kick me off "the list," no big deal, I'm just back to where I was before. My situation hasn't gotten worse really, it just isn't as good. And whichever way it is, I'm still having a great time.
On the other side of the spectrum, if racing is your job, well...I dunno, that doesn't sound like so much fun. Having had a job in the areas of a few of my hobbies, I'm now a firm advocate of keeping the two separate. Somehow the "Having to do it" takes the fun out of the "Wanting to do it and liking it."
I guess the only other option here is that maybe for some of you your hobby isn't driving *****-to-the-walls on a track, but rather it's the winning. I guess that's a hobby, seems like an odd one to have, but hey, to each his own. If winning is what matters (and I can't say this for sure, because I'm NEVER "in it just to win", I'm more of a "have fun however it goes" kinda guy), then you'd have to do whatever is necessary to achieve that. If having sponsors is necessary to a constant supply of R-compound tires or track brake pads or something, and you think those are necessary for winning, then I guess you'd try to do whatever you can to keep those sponsors. Of course, the best way to keep the sponsors would be to win, which is the primary goal in the first place... Damn, talk about circular logic...

Anyway, sorry for ranting, I just enjoy seeing some other people contemplating the Zen of Driving...

 

You must not know enough racers - most of the ones I know are relatively cerebral (though in fairness some are less, and some not hardly at all).

Car like mine - Integra Type R prepared (more or less) to Speed World Challenge Touring Car specs.

I'm an SCCA Regional driver who races as a hobby out of his own pocket with an invaluable bit of help and guidance from Scott Zellner at King Motorsports (the Mugen Importer).

I've learned the same lessons about keeping career and hobby seperate. Unfortunately I'm deeply uninterested in my career in comparison to my hobby, and it's testing my maturity to its limit (and I'm old enough to know better than to have problems like this). I currently think life inside the zone of passion is the more appealing choice - if only it was a simple choice.

My desire to win is motivated from within and not from without. Victor is apparently worried that I'm taking next weekend too seriously and while that's not an unfounded concern, I'm not going to take it too seriously. I LOVE going to the track, and I LOVE racing - it's fun, no doubt about that.

For me it's not winning per se - it's doing it well, very well. The score matters in a different way and for different purposes. I want to earn the respect of the best race car drivers I know and be accepted as one of them, and ultimately I want to be regarded as one of the best they know, and simultaneously be generally regarded as a good guy, not arrogant or unpleasant. This is the life I've tried to live thru all of the lives I've lived in this life.

Scott, who knows that it's just a silly little race car game, and how important can it really be in the scope of the life of a luminous being? But that's what I do as who I am....

 

I'm an East Coast guy, and I think you're on the West Coast, so I know for a fact I haven't ever met you. Are you actually 73? If so, what are you worried about a career for, retire already and be done with it, then you won't have to be concerned with any conflict between passion and pointless drivel. Unless of course that's necessary for you to continue racing.

If you are indeed on the West side of the world, that's a shame, you sound like someone I (as well as many others around here) could learn a lot from and would really get along with.

As far as "how important can it really be?"...you should know by know that if it's important to you, that's all that matters, heh heh. I know makeup and choosing the "right outfit for my mood" sure isn't important to me, but to my girlfriend.... Who am I to decided what's important enough for anyone else other than myself? Importance is an individual decision, though I'm sure you know that.

 

Funny, the actual act of racing a car is something I put almost zero thought into day to day. I don't spend my winters "with the Joneses" and I don't spend down weekends wishing I was at the track.

In fact, this winter I found myself glad to not be racing...a bit of relaxation from the stress of getting the car ready, getting the tools loaded up, bolting some whatever onto the race car. Winter...and the last couple months...have been a welcome rest for me.

Of course now I'm thinking about my next race in early July, and all the rust I have to shake off. And the new suspension. And the work involved. All of a sudden I look to the next race weekend with a certain amount of trepidation...do I really want to put myself through all that, just to do something like be 2 seconds slower than I was 2 years ago?

Sorry. Kind of rambling. I guess I'm just struggling with the downsides of this little addiction we all have...and I'm wondering why I'm not hanging out with the Joneses right now.

 

A little withdrawal maybe, Karl? Heh heh

 

Well, maybe I'm not exactly 73.

Our country is sooo big it does make it hard to play cars with all the friends I've made on this board. I went out to the track today to watch Greg qualify and in talking afterwards I mentioned that I don't know where the money is going to come from for the trip to California later this year. He said he doesn't know either.

Racing? Important? Not? I'm pretty sure it's both.

Karl appears to be high centered on the rock of politics and he's teetering back and forth between important and not - and either is better than where he is now.

Karl - bail on the politics, consolidate your domestic operations a bit if you must during a short break, and then put your freak back on.

Here's my discovery of the day - CHEAP RENTAL KARTS ROOLZ!

I went out to Pat's Acres - our local real outdoor kart track - and did three 12 minute sessions on a nearly empty track. At $20 per session for a 45mph Honda centrifugal 5hp(?), I think I found the counterbalancing value to the rest of my GFCP habit.

I was within just a couple of laps driving on the tire and realizing that with the exception of some rough edges I still have it. You guys that were lecturing me a month or so ago about how much more demanding of skill in the conservation of momentum your puny ITC cars are can BITE ME! Nothing demands such skill like these lowly karts. I am compelled to acknowledge that I've got alot of improvement to make - but I've found a great teacher.

I bought one of those Rib Guards - not cheap at almost $200 - but well worth it. My back and ribs are among the few parts of my body not bruised and exhausted. Banging curbs and launching is way more violent in the kart than it is in my car. It was so great being able to push past 100% in large chunks without any concerns about financial apocalypse. I went off a handful of times and had one full spin. I never purposely abused the hardware, but I took off all the safeties. There is one extremely rough corner that is extremely difficult to drive thru fast - and the feedback thru the wheel was incredible. I don't even want to think about a shifter kart.

Scott, who's new problem is deciding when to return... tomorrow?....maybe Monday?....or Tuesday (after my quarterly performance / comedic irony review)?....ah, maybe I'll be ok till Rose Cups now....