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October 2003
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RESULTS, RESULTS, RESULTS - DID I WIN? The local autocross season ended as the leaves (more on that subject later) turned their gorgeous fall colors. Autocrossing well into October? Who’da thunk it? But, true, ExpoPark did see the last two events of 2003 transpire on a couple of unusually warm (factor out the hurricane-force winds on the 19th) days. Heck, maybe if the mild El Nino-inspired weather continues we should schedule a thanksgiving weekend autocross. The turkey-trot? Whatever. Back to business, the October 5 event saw Rukavina design a course for which he was geared horribly wrong. That’s his excuse – what’s yours? As usual, it was fast where it looked slow and slow where it looked fast. Go figure. Results from the 5th: A Production 1st Darrell Schamp Mustang (Five liters of tire-spinning torque) 59.273 2nd John Shaffer Mustang 1:00.458 B Production 1st Tim Helms Fiero 56.518 2nd Tom Masterson Porsche 911 1:01.254 3rd Ed Austin Mazda RX-7 1:02.642 4th Charlie Mann Mazda RX-7 1:04.644 B Sedan 1st Zach Gilmor Ford Contour 59.794 (new chassis set-up; tire pressures in the 40’s) C Production 1st James Weinzettel Honda CRX 55.368 2nd James Rowan Honda CRX 58.729 3rd Jim Messick VW Golf 1:00.220 4th John Woodcock Nissan 1:03.029 5th James Campbell Honda 1:07.163 C Sedan 1st Galen Smith VW Scirocco 1:01.072 2nd Drew Lovel Nissan 1:01.852 (darned close!) 3rd Luke Atwell Geo Prism 1:03.925 Prepared 3 1st David Thurston Plymouth Conquest 1:00.935 GT-3 1st Gary Wolf Saab Aero 51.347 FAST TIME OF THE DAY (VERY FAST!) 2nd David Venema BMW 52.547 3rd Rein Gillstrom BMW 320I 55.345 4th Bob Morin Toyota Celica 57.354 5th Greg Rice Toyota Celica 58.378 (Note: The entire class was in the 50’s!) GT-2 1st Clint Houge Mazda RX-3 54.465 2nd Rick Cummings Mercury Capri 56.185 3rd Derrick Anderson Nissan 1:01.710 GT-1 1st Adam Johnson Mustang Cobra (you know, the GOOD one!) 55.862 2nd Bob Stevenson Mustang 55.877 (.015 seconds is about 16 inches!!!) 3rd Jerry Rukavina Camaro 56.292 4th Steve Nutter Maverick 56.728 5th Kent Yoder Camaro 57.476 6th Dennis Figarelle Camaro 1:01.351 7th Kelly Rolfe Camaro 1:01.672 8th Jeff Yoder Camaro 1:04.972 Just another day in paradise! Then October 19th’s wind experiment! Jeeze! It just blew and blew ‘til we were blue and blue! Turned all the local leaves into a moving low-friction carpet, knocked out the timing lights repeatedly, and even knocked pylons over! Masterson’s Porsche course (that he ran in a little Honda) challenged us all (well, especially Clint, who nearly had to be sedated when he DNF’d three times in a row!) with sweepers, close proximity gates, and lots of second gear action. A fence post on the NW backstretch challenged one driver dead-center in the nose. The wind was raw but times kept dropping all day for most competitors. A nice ending point for a fantastic season. This year saw absolutely stellar events, and this one, at “only” 30 entrants, was the lowest attendance all year. Wow! Great memories, and fuel for bench racing all winter long. Yeah, just wait ‘til next year. You’ll see. 19th results: A Production 1st Darrell Schamp Mustang 1:02.219 B Production 1st Tim Helms Fiero 59.201 2nd Bob Morin Mustang 1:03.192 3rd Ed Austin Mazda RX-7 1:07.284 4th Paul Heppner Mazda RX-7 1:07.436 5th Helen Morin Mustang 1:16. B Sedan 1st Zach Gilmore Ford Contour 1:03.332 C Production 1st John Weinzettel Honda CRX 56.322 2nd James Rowan Honda CRX 57.418 3rd Jim Messick VW Golf 1:02.717 4th Kimberly Keough Honda CRX 1:03.465 (Beginner, too!) 5th Kyle Figarelle Porsche 944 1:03.882 6th James Campbell Honda 1:04.932 7th Drew Lovel Nissan 1:07.281 C Sedan 1st Galen Smith VW Scirocco 1:02.217 2nd Tom Masterson Honda Civic 1:11.612 3rd Colter Cummings Toyota No times Prepared 3 1st Greg Madsen Porsche 1:01.205 2nd David Thurston Plymouth Conquest 1:03.500 GT-3 1st Gary Wolf Saab Aero 53.197 FAST TIME OF THE DAY – AGAIN! Well done! 2nd Greg Rice Toyota Celica 58.295 GT-2 1st Clint Houge Mazda RX-3 58.369 ( Only ¾ inch, or .001 second behind Rukavina) 2nd Rick Cummings Mercury Capri 59.891 3rd Derrick Anderson Datsun 240Z 1:02.974 4th Travis Cummings Mercury Capri 1:19.240 GT-1 1st Steve Nutter Maverick 57.887 (! No, make that !!!!!) 2nd Bob Stevenson Mustang 57.977 3rd Jerry Rukavina Camaro 58.368 4th Kent Yoder Camaro 1:00.653 5th Jeff Yoder Camaro 1:05.195 The end. GREAT EXPECTATIONS Here’s the deal. This is a fast-moving and dynamic sport that demands change. So do your part in the off-season to uphold a long tradition of wintertime “improvements” to your car. See if you can’t find some overpriced shiny high-tech trinket that you can add to the car to make it “better”. Man, there’s just nothing like the thrill of spending thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in the off season only to discover next year that it actually slowed you down a bunch. Now that’s racin’! We expect you to improve your car to the point where it may not run at all, if you really care about the traditions of this sport. We’re all in this together; we’re pullin’ for you. You can do it. Or, on a slightly more serious note, since the season is over, you may want to consider the following storage tips for your car if you will not be using it until next season. Whether stored outside or inside, consider: A thorough wash and wax is nice to ward off weather and sun. Car covers or tarps are often very, very bad ideas in this windy climate because they just become moisture traps and wind-driven whips that destroy the exterior finish. Not good. Keep away from trees that dump needles or leaves into unreachable places to start more rust. Strongly consider removing the battery and the seat belts. The battery will fare better indoors in a dry place, and sunlight deteriorates belts and harnesses. Throw a blanket over the dash and seats to avoid UV rot. Toss in some insect and rodent repellant if you have critters around. Either fill the fuel tank all the way or fully empty the fuel system (including the carb). Change oil and filter in the engine to keep acids out. Flush and bleed the brakes (brake fluid absorbs water vapor and does not have a very long service life). Replenish the coolant and make certain you have sufficient anti-freeze protection; you do not want a deep freeze to crack anything. Put the darn thing in the safest spot you can find at your location, and use your own judgment as to leaving it on wheels and tires or jacking it up and putting it on stands, with security more of a priority than anything else. Tires are attacked by sunlight and ozone, but if you do not have a set of storage tires you may choose to leave the tires on the car so suspension stuff doesn’t get stolen. I think you get the idea. Go for the wheel locks, too. Resist the temptation to start it up every now and then to “keep things moving”. Even prolonged no-load operation just builds up water and acids in the engine because you just can’t put enough heat into the engine to do any damn good. Just make vroom noises if you must! You might want to slowly trickle some light motor oil or Marvel Mystery oil down the intake (NOT on MAF’s!) as you shut things off for the last time just to make certain the cylinder walls have s good oil film there to protect things against surface rust. There are many, many other more complicated and effective ways to do all of this, but these cheap and easy tips ought to at least help. Now go dust off your skis. PARTY? DID YOU SAY PARTY? Yup, we will have our annual awards party in early 2004. Watch for information as the date and site are finalized. If you have any “special” awards to give, you ought to begin working on them well in advance. It takes time to be funny and sarcastic in a dignified way. VOTE, DAMNIT! If you have not yet voted for SCCA Region Director, please vote for John Martinson. John has done a super job for us over the years and is just the kind of experience we need at the helm now. Thanks. But there will apparently be no local voting this fall. Not one single solitary rule change (probably a good thing) nor one single solitary officer nomination (bad thing) has been received, hence no election. So next year will see a season with a truncated schedule of a maximum of one event per month. Period. One might think that a club of over 70 smart, energetic, dedicated car freaks might be able to develop and support and encourage more of our fine colleagues to step up to the plate of leadership. One might think. It’s good work with good people for good reasons and with great rewards. Hello? Are you in there? WHAT PART OF SPORT DO THEY NOT UNDERSTAND? Just a chance here to vent a bit. Apparently in the minds of sports writers and sports reporters, if it doesn’t contain the word “ball”, it isn’t a sport. If we had a nickel for every event notice or event result that was totally ignored by the media; of if we got paid every time “autocross” has turned into “motocross” by the time it went to print, we could all retire. Stupidity? Intolerance? Too many other sports? Lazy? Just no media car types? Who knows, but it is frustrating to watch and read about relatively irrelevant ball sports elsewhere when hundreds of Montana car folks enjoy motorsports (which my intolerant spell-check has just identified as not even a word!!) on a regular basis, yet remain apparently invisible. But we love ya! NEXT MEETING Thursday, October 30 at the 10th avenue Hardees restaurant at 7:30 PM. Be there! For more information, call Ed Austin at 452-1135 or Jerry Rukavina at 761-4357. LOST AND FOUND After the last event, a blue “Moose Tracks” had was found in the downwind pit area. Yours? Want it back? Call Jerry at 761-4357. POINTS TO PONDER If you plan to fail and you succeed, which have you done? Where do you go if you’re addicted to counseling? If a parsley farmer gets sued, can they garnish his wages? Why do you point to your wrist when you ask for the time, but you don’t point to your crotch when you want to know where the bathroom is? Don’t honesty and accuracy count for anything? Why not just call hemorrhoids asteroids instead? What cruel bastard put the “s” in the word lisp? |