Great job at VIR by TJR National Irrationals

[cdh]

Bobo and Sy scored big points this weekend at VIR, nice job guys (and to you regional racers too, need reports!)

Stories at sb.com

[JonMiller]

Gerardo likes to put big gaps between himself and the rest of the field. A whole .007 second gap!

Nice win Bobo!

[jcraige]

Fantastic job by Sy, Michael, several rookies, and the star of the weekend, Bobo. Also Chris Weldon had a great race in the rain to finish P2.

On a lighter note, if you miss the braking point by several number boards in turn #1, you can in fact make it to North Carolina in an R/T 2000. It's nice there. The locals bought me a Coke, wished me well, and sent me back to Virginia.

[macdod]

Is that not the most frustrating "off" in the Series? Espeially if it's wet.


It's like, "Oops I'm off! I'll just put the kettle on for some tea and watch the beautiful spring Virginian contryside go by. What a beautiful pasture, the color green, the long wet grass perfect for grazing...GRAZING! Holy shit, Cows! Where are the cows! This steering wheel feels like my PlayStation console! Oh my god I hope I don't see any godamn cows!

[jcraige]

Counting, normally one of my strong suits (look Ma, No Hands!!), was evidently a problem for me.

[Pork Chop Willie]

It was the WORST RACE WEEKEND EVER! O.k. So maybe VIR is a fantastic track and we generally had good weather. And Sy and Peter did really great in the Nationals and Bobo is well on his way to winning the thing with some beautiful driving. And MJAmok got a 2:11:00 on his way to second and third place finishes. And everyone else seemed to be going fast and having fun. Who cares! I had my two worst finishes ever, one of which included five off track excursions in one race! No, it was worse than that. I ran into poor Murray in the first race (I was passing some other guy on the inside into turn one and missed my brake marker. They are giving me 100% responsibility, which is OUTRAGEOUS. I was flying in at full lock up; smoke billowing from all four corners of the car. Don't you think Murray should have seen this crazy mother coming and gotten the hell out of the way!?--Murray, I'm sorry!). Then, THEN, I'm trying to make a plane to get out of this place, doing 85 thru the quaint town of Roxboro and some cop with a radar gun has the friggin nerve to point out that the speed limit was considerably less than I was going. ...Ah, well. When do I get to try again...?

[sydude]

After a ten hour drive with 3 of my maniacal kids (plus Petey) going nuts in the back of the car, I finally get home (teetering on the edge of sanity) from a great weekend at VIR. I’ve learned that I have more courage going side by side into a corner at 100mph with a 17 year old kid that doesn’t think he can die, than in trying to take three 5 year old boys to pee in a gas station bathroom.

Here’s a mini-review of our (emotional roller-coaster ride of a) weekend:

In qualifying #1, Peter and I hooked up to kick some juvenile butt, instead we got in each others way and went no where. Back in the pits, I find out that I qualified 14th (#$@%!!!). I’m now ready to commit Hara-kiri and I see that Gerardo (in 7th) is thinking of joining me. The ‘I suck’ feeling then lasts for the rest of the day, and I think of quitting racing about 63 times before I go to sleep. Peter has a much better time of it and is actually pretty happy as he’s right with Gerardo and Matt V.

The next day, In race #1, the old adage ‘youth is wasted on the young’ is proven as fact as I watch these rocket-ship fast yet incredibly dumb kids either take each other out or go off the road by driving on the same puddle lap after lap. So a good start by me and a few good passes, coupled with some unintended help from my youthful yet more than slightly over exuberant competitors, and I’m up to 4th. About 5 laps before the end I see Dark Helmet coming up quickly from behind, and as I turn into turn 17 (which I thought I was pretty fast in) he’s at least 8 car lengths behind. At the exit, he’s right on me. Huh? I don’t think Gerardo is human. I don’t even bother trying to defend, and tuck in right behind. I was happy to get sucked along in his wake for a while (1/4 of a lap before he lost me) and I was plenty happy at that point to give up 4th. But I had faith in my fellow competitors, yes I did, and one of them came through again right in front of me and took himself off. Back to 4th. Peter unfortunately gets caught in the middle of too much trouble and has an awful day. Soon out comes the checkered flag, and racing for me is again the greatest thing in the world. Quit? What was I thinking? Peter, though, thinks about quitting 43 times till he gets in the car for Q2.

Q2 comes around and Peter and I are kicking butt all through the session while it’s wet, both staying solidly in the top 5. In the last lap, half of the crazy kids go fearless on a drying track and blow me into 12th. Gerardo takes pole with a ridiculously fast lap, and Peter has a good run to 10th. I want to quit again. But we race the next day, and I count on the kids to make good for me once again and get me out of this awful mood.

Starting 12th, I’ve got Peter right in front of me and we both get a good start. We pick off a couple of guys going into one, and get by a couple more down by the end of L1. Juan Pablo Sanchez Lopez, who has tripled this weekend and has evidently used up all of Telmex money in one go, passes me out of 17, and has a run on Peter on the outside into 1. As JPSL has thoroughly pissed us all off this weekend with his weaving and blocking antics, I decide to give him some grief and helped Peter block him out. I tap Peter a little too hard going into T1 though, and almost spin him out. Whoa, a close one. But the job was done on Pablo, who we’re all convinced is Sergio Perez but a year older and with a new name.

What followed over the next 6 or 7 laps was the incredible experience of passing and re-passing over and over again with these Nationals kids, who race so hard but so cleanly. We were passing each other everywhere. It’s unbelievable how much you can learn by doing a Nationals event. Gerardo & Peter, thanks for talking me into it.

With two to go, I’m up to 8th after Matt Varsha takes 7th away (pretty easily I should add) from me. I can see 5th, 6th and 7th right in front of me and they are all coming into my clutches, and I smell blood. So harder I push, goddammit, as there is no glory in finishing 8th. I must pass more! I make ground quickly, buuuuuut I push it a little too hard through 11 and I drive into the tire wall lightly. DOINK. Laughing my ass off, I reverse out and rejoin. With 1+ lap to go, I see someone just ahead of me and I’m pushing as hard as I can to pass this guy, probably for what’s going to be DFL minus 1. At the top of the esses I find out that the front wings in an RT car actually work, when my now-wingless car pushed so hard that I almost had the earliest turn-in in history for turn 10. The chase over, I finish the race in 15th (yes! I’m not DFL!) but with a smile you couldn’t rip off with a pair of pliers. The word quit is out of the vocabulary again. So much fun. Videos & pictures to be posted shortly.

It was so great to see the Greists and the Juicy regulars, and also Skippy deserves credit for running a fantastic weekend. It would have been amazing to have all of the Master’ Nationals guys there too, though.

S

PS - Bill/Jim/Donald- you guys are hysterical!

[macdod]

Jim,

I think your problem is the the numbers "go down" as 5,4,3,2,1 rather than up. May I recommend taping the definitions of "acending" vs. "decending" to the dashboard for reference. If nothing else you'll have something to read during your road trip.

Congrats to Peter and Sy BTW!

[jcraige]

I forgot to add Peter to the original post. I was a real joy to watch the former "Regionals" give these guys one hell of a run. You had the biggest chering section at the place. Hats off again.

Congrats to Skippy as well. Excellent weekend. One of the best. Cars, atmosphere, what was that that Nick-Nick said.. "Attitude!!" that's it. Great time.

Ta-Ta for now. Off to my "fun with numbers" class.

[kwlorentzen]

Originally Posted by sydude

With two to go, I’m up to 8th after Matt Varsha takes 7th away (pretty easily I should add) from me. I can see 5th, 6th and 7th right in front of me and they are all coming into my clutches, and I smell blood. So harder I push, goddammit, as there is no glory in finishing 8th. I must pass more! I make ground quickly, buuuuuut I push it a little too hard through 11 and I drive into the tire wall lightly. DOINK. Laughing my ass off, I reverse out and rejoin. With 1+ lap to go, I see someone just ahead of me and I’m pushing as hard as I can to pass this guy, probably for what’s going to be DFL minus 1. At the top of the esses I find out that the front wings in an RT car actually work, when my now-wingless car pushed so hard that I almost had the earliest turn-in in history for turn 10. The chase over, I finish the race in 15th (yes! I’m not DFL!) but with a smile you couldn’t rip off with a pair of pliers. The word quit is out of the vocabulary again. So much fun. Videos & pictures to be posted shortly.

Sy,
A very entertaining race report to read. After watching the video of your incident in a past year at VIR I can sooooo see you laughing hystarically after a goofy off like that!

Good job! Way to save the car!

P.S. please teach me

[sydude]

Shoot, I forgot to congratulate Cole Nelson (cdub nelson 18) for winning the second race. Cole's a great kid and drove a killer race. It was his first win of many (but hopefully none of which he'll get from me!).

BTW, I keep mentioning this (who can forget it?) but he's the one that drove the R/T into the river at the end of the escape road at LRP last July. Pictures here and here.

[Gerardo]

Thanks guys,

Cole Nelson and Jordy Vorrath were awesome on Sunday. Can you believe how far Sy has come since last year's Jello Brain demonstration? He still has a few loose screws in his head, but alot fewer than the nut and bolt department at Home Depot or Lowes.

Crashing is a bummer, but one of the most insanely funny moments of the weekend was Matt Varsha going off into the wet grass at Turn 3 at 20 mph, only to hit the tires at what felt like 25mph. Just before impact, he threw his hands up into the air in frustration, and from what I hear, earned the sympathetic adoration of the crowd watching from the deck in the fan area.

Peter Ludwig put in a good showing on Sunday, as did Sy both days despite his off in Race 2. Watch for Peter and Matt Varsha to be very quick at Lime Rock coming up in a couple of weeks.

[jcraige]

The Varsha "touchdown" was a classic.

There was a monetary "Awww" from the crowd when he went off, followed by a "Noooo!" as the car kept going on the wet grass towards the tires, followed by a laugh as the touchdown signal was raised, followed by a round of cheers as he slammed it into reverse, backed it out, and got on with business.


Dude, you got style.

[kwlorentzen]

Any pictures?

[sydude]

Originally Posted by kwlorentzen

Any pictures?

Tons. All of the pictures we took on our camera plus Todd and Rick Roso's pictures are up on the Skippy site. Here's the link to the picture album:

http://formuladodge.com/photos/67486/index.html