Friday July 6 Morning: Tim and I load up #47 and head up to Willow Springs for some testing. We arrive mid day and find that quite a few other people have the same idea. Fortunately, Tim reserved a garage for the weekend so we have a nice place to unload our stuff. First order of the day is to run the car with the new tires so we can Heat Cycle them. This process is done to cure the tires so that they last longer and heat up properly in future uses. Tim takes the car out and runs a few hard laps to build maximum heat in them, then brings the car in so we can remove the wheels and let the tires cure for 24 hours. We throw the old tires on the car and I take it out for a few laps, Tim leans in the window before I go out and suggests that I give them 4-5 laps to warm up. It’s quite a strange feeling to be in a race car again after a 13 month Sabbatical. For the first few laps, everything feels familiar but not quite right, especially since this is a car that I’ve never driven. I do immediately take note that the seat pad that I’ve hastily installed doesn’t raise me quite enough and my right arm isn’t able to hold the steering wheel properly due to the side supports digging into my underarms and cutting off my circulation. On right hand turns like Turn 2, 8 and 9, I’m steering with only my left arm while my right arm is unable to reach the steering wheel. I also notice that although the car sticks nicely all over the track, the back end is very nervous over the high speed Turn 8 sweeper. After 5 laps at a conservative pace, I pull into the pits and suggest to Tim that we soften the rear suspension to which he agrees as well. We spend the next few hours in the garage playing with the setup, fixing a minor oil overflow problem and my seating position. Porsche 944 Turbo vs Mazda RX7 Turbo II: Compared to the Porsche 944, the Mazda RX7 has tremendously more low end power but runs out of power towards the higher ranges. But where the power is instantaneous like a V8 in the Mazda, the Porsche’s turbolag requires a bit more attention. For example, in Turn 3 (a sharp uphill left turn), the Porsche almost requires three feet to drive properly as you’re braking, shifting and keeping up the boost all at the same time. But once the Porsche’s boost is up, watch out! On the other hand, the Mazda needs none of this, just brake, shift and stand on the throttle again, power comes instantly. The 275mm wide tires on the Porsche really provide unbelievable grip and confidence where the Mazda’s 245mm tires cry for more footprint. At the limit, I found both cars to be very predictable with the Mazda being a bit more gentle than the Porsche. The gigantic Wilwood brakes on the Mazda (aftermarket of course) are impressive. I practically had to peel my eyeballs off the front windshield a few times after braking and almost accidently smoked a set of front tires. Keep in mind that these comparisons are done over a year apart with the Porsche’s behaviour purely by memory. Furthermore, both cars have been modified so this comparison does not apply directly to their street counterparts and as is typical of race cars, they are constantly undergoing upgrades.Friday July 6 Evening: A few more of our friends arrive to set up camp and the number of cars wearing RealRide Racing decals grows.

Evan shows up in the ITE Mazda RX7, Don and Andy (both of whom have spent the day next door at Streets of Willow) bring their ITA Honda CRX’s, Miguel in his ITA Golf and Justin shows up with his ASC car complaining that he has no brakes again. Tim and Pablo our engine builder, spend the rest of the evening helping him. Meanwhile, realizing that I am no help to them, I take Pablo’s beach cruiser and ride a lap around the track with Justin’s girlfriend Amanda on another bicycle alongside. Let me tell you, doing a lap around the track on a bicycle is quite different than in a race car as you really notice all the inclines and surface changes. I think it took me twenty minutes but for once, I’m finally able to take Turn 8 and 9 flat out without flinching.Saturday July 7th Sprint Races: Our garage is instantly the most popular place at the track as we’ve set up an Evaporative Fan (Swamp Cooler) and the temperature inside is a good ten degrees cooler. Tim and I spend the day crewing for his dad who is running the sprint races. Benny and Ulysses show up about mid day complaining that the car has no boost. On the up side, Justin now has brakes and is weaving in and out of traffic again as he blasts down the track. Unfortunately, he tries a three car pass and ends up driving off the track where he ruptures his oil pan and blows his new engine. Evan is running very quickly in the morning but as the day goes on, his fuel pressure is dropping and by the end of the day, his car is in the garage with Pablo underneath wrenching on it. I help Tim’s dad with the sprint races while Tim helps Benny with #46.
James is relatively new to racing but has proven himself to be quite a good driver by gradually dropping his lap times every session and consistently finishing well. In fact, in his first season of racing, he’s already in the Top 5 standings in NASA’s Super Unlimited Points. Unfortunately, by early afternoon, #46 is loaded up on the trailer and done for the weekend. Over the past few months, Ulysses and I have had a wager between Crew Chiefs (I normally Crew Chief on #47 when not driving, while he Crew Chiefs on #46 full-time), and I remind him that his debt just increased another notch. I’m already thinking of ways to make him pay for his debt... maybe have him wash all the cars on the team wearing a dress at the track.Shameless “Claim to Fame”: Little does anybody know but the term Tri-Tip originated from the Santa Barbara area. Butchers from other parts of the country used the same cut and had different names for it, but those names never stuck. I grew up in the Santa Barbara area and was friends with the daughter of the local butcher who claimed to invent the name Tri-Tip. So everytime you eat Tri-Tip, I can claim partial fame for this... heh heh... And if you’ve never had Tri-Tip, you don’t know what you’re missing! Saturday July 7th Endurance Race: Paul and his fiance Tabitha show up to help crew for us during the enduro. We spend a few minutes rehearsing pit stops and everybody has an assigned duty and it’s sequence. Paul had just completed his first NASA HPDE (High Performance Drivers Education) School earlier this year and is quite serious about going racing so he’s taking every opportunity to learn about racing. He’s now in the market for a budget race car and is considering a Pro-7 with a trailer so if there are any Pro-7 drivers out there who want to give him some advice, stop by our Message Board. A couple of hours before the start of the enduro, NASA hosts a great Tri-Tip BBQ catered by John’s Cafe. The entire team in professional looking Pennyweb/RealRide Racing uniforms, heads over for dinner and sits down with Ryan, the Regional Director of NASA-LA Region. Everybody is having a great time bench racing when I overhear the announcer call the cars to Pre-Grid. Now you would think that sitting next to the Regional Director would assure that you won’t miss any announcements. But as it turns out, Ryan is driving the last stint in his team so he’s relaxing... Dohhh!!!! So suddenly we’re rushing around trying to get the car fueled while Tim is getting suited up. We’re supposed to start on the front row on the outside but while the officials are letting the cars out onto the track for their warmup lap, we’re still scrambling around in the garage getting Tim strapped in. So much for looking professional and prepared! To make matters worse, it’s starting to rain. Finally, we get the car out onto the track and end up being the absolute last car on the track. Ahead of us is a huge pack of Camaro/Mustang Challenge (CMC) cars that are running a separate sprint race for the first 30 minutes. Then a minute ahead of them is the actual pack that we’re supposed to be in. Just as the cars come around for the green flag, the entire track suffers a power outage which kills the transponder timing system. The officials bring all the cars back in which gives me an opportunity to appeal our starting position with the officials. I run all the way to pre-grid and argue our case to Dave, the Endurance Race Director. He agrees to let us back up front and I tell Tim to move forward over the radio. Unfortunately, Dave doesn’t have time to tell the other grid officials who unknowingly stop us from proceeding. Now I have to run all the way to the back of the grid and verbally tell the grid official that we have permission. Just as I’m about to explain our situation, the power comes back and they let all the cars back out. So after all that work, we’re exactly where we started... in the very back! It’s now 7:15PM, it’s raining and it’s getting dark. The lead cars get the green and we have to wait another minute before our pack comes by. As our pack exits the last turn, I look at the starter’s tower and I SWEAR that I see him waving a green flag. Day Wireless (www.DayWireless.com) provides us with these great radios which are very useful for racing (Shameless plug, but it’s really a great tool for racing. Give them a call if you want to rent radios for racing). So I yell over the radio: “Green, Green, Green, we’re Green!”. Tim naturally punches it but the rest of the field is still slowly rumbling as they don’t see a green flag. Everybody in the pits nearby looks over at me and wonder where I saw the green. “I swear it was green!” I say, as I squint to see the GREEN PIT WALL behind the starter stand! Oh well.... hope nobody caught that. “Not a chance” Evan says, “... that was a pretty obvious one, you’re busted!”.
We go two more laps and Tim is black flagged for a LEAKING GAS CAP. Hmmm.... wonder if that was a diplomatic way of punishing us. Three minutes into the race and we’re already three laps behind the leaders. Back out on the track, Tim is passing cars like they’re standing still. We’re gaining on the leaders again and everything is looking good. Then twenty minutes into the race, Tim radios that he’s coming in because something’s rattling around in the back of the car. He pulls into the pits and tells me it could be the seat back brace rattling around so I run around to the back of the car and open up the rear hatch to find that the new wide angle lens from the video camera is now in multiple pieces on the rear deck. I spend a few seconds and retrieve all the pieces before closing the hatch. Then Tim tells me to add another quart of oil as the Oil Pressure Gauge is fluctuating. Unfortunately, there’s a hose connected to the oil filler cap and I can’t get it off. Paul and I struggle for a few minutes, meanwhile, I can hear cars buzzing by us on the track nearby.... Damn! Twenty minutes into the race and we’re already six or seven laps down. James hands us a screw driver to undo the hose and we finally add the oil. It takes us a few more minutes to reattach the hose but soon Tim is sent back out. As he rejoins the race, I hear the announcer call out the running order of the cars. He stops after about fifteen cars, we don’t hear our name.... Damn! Twenty five minutes into the race and we’re probably dead last! Tim radios that the oil pressure is fine now. He runs fast lap times and starts unlapping himself, but we have a long way to go. Thirty minutes into the race, I’m going to drive in ninety minutes, suddenly I have a realization. It’s been thirteen months since I’ve last driven. Those of you who race will agree that racing is quite a physically demanding sport. When I drove the five laps yesterday, it seemed like I was in the car forever. Not only is my return to racing going to be an hour long, but it’s also going to be in pitch black darkness. Suddenly, this doesn’t seem as fun anymore. Heck, I’m getting exhausted just watching Tim out on the track. With five minutes left in Tim’s stint, we’ve slowly made our way back up the grid. It’s still a long way to go but we’ve unlapped ourselves a few times thanks to the blazing pace that Tim is running. I tell John that he’s up in five minutes and everybody gets ready for our first scheduled pitstop. A few laps later, Tim pulls into the pits and the entire team goes to work as rehearsed. Tabitha holds out the pit stall marker pole so Tim knows where to stop. Paul helps Tim get out so he can refuel while James works as Fireman. Then Tabitha cleans the windows while Paul helps John get back in as I check the oil. The entire pitstop is flawless, which is about the first thing that has worked well all evening. Pretty soon, John is back out on the track, ten gallons of fuel in the tank. I tell Tim that he needs to take over as Crew Chief since I’m up next, but he doesn’t want to. Besides, I hate being Crew Chief but apparently he does as well, so I try to use the “But I stink at it...” excuse, which he doesn’t buy. We spend the next few minutes passing the headset back and forth like children until Paul realizes that he’s working with a pair idiots and decides to take over as Crew Chief. Meanwhile John is out on the track running a great pace. He’s keeping the car out of trouble and turning good lap times in the dark. Thirty minutes into John’s stint, Paul leans over and tells me to get suited up. A few minutes later, I return from the garage with my fire suit on and do my radio check with Paul. Kenny Rumbaugh who races a 4.0 Liter Porsche 914/6 in the Porsche Cup comes over to harrass us for a few minutes. If you’ve been to the Los Angeles Street Race, you’ll recognize Kenny’s silver monster complete with outrageous flares and huge wing. Besides being a great guy both on and off the track, Kenny is a pretty hardcore racer who would do anything for a seat. He practices his best negotiation skills to get a seat in the car “Okay Tim, I’ll buy all the fuel and a set of tires... alright, here’s my last offer... the fuel, the tires, dinner and... ”. Tim has this look on his face like he’s considering the deal. Only trouble is, I’m the last seat available. I quickly put my helmet on and head over to the pit wall before Tim changes his mind. Paul and Tabitha have now taken over all the pit management. They give me the three minute sign as they tell John the same over the radio. A few laps later, John pulls the car into the pits and the exact same pitting procedure is performed. As Tim and James are refueling the car, John tells me to be careful at Turn 2 where a lot of rocks have been thrown onto the track. He also warns me that the front brake rotors are warped so the entire car vibrates badly under braking. I give him the thumbs up (with my helmet on and race cars buzzing nearby, hand signals work better than yelling) and wait for Paul to give the signal to get into the car.
Finally Paul signals me that it’s safe to go over the wall so I jump into the car so that he can buckle me in. I had instructed him to make sure the belts would be tight so he really wrenched them down. “Too Tight! Too Tight!” I yell between short breaths... I guess Paul was one of those kids who really paid attention in class, unlike the rest of us! A few seconds later, I pull out of the pits and take my first lap in the dark. Besides the first lap excursion, the rest of my session goes smoothly. I finally find the shift knob and throw it over to the right side of the floor where it rolls around unti it finally gets trapped near the battery box.
For the rest of my stint, I drive without the shift knob which is unnoticeable after a while. But I can tell how much I need to workout as it’s more physical than I remember it. The new seat pad that James put together for me helps a lot as I can now steer with my right arm. Once I get up to speed, only three cars pass me during my stint: The Vision Motorsports 550+hp Porsche 911 Turbo, Jeff and Marty’s KBS Kitchen Supply Porsche 993 3.8L, and a modified BMW M3 Racer. Meanwhile, I take the conservative approach at night as I really want to bring the car home unscratched. We had bolted these powerful headlights on the car which worked well for the straightaways. But at some point, one of them had gotten damaged so there wasn’t much illumination to the right side. Unfortunately, this is also the side that is the most important as Willow Springs Raceway’s fastest turns are high speed right handers. Nothing is quite as bad as the poor guys in the Spec Truck (Tube-framed V8 racers with fiberglass truck bodies) who didn’t bolt on enough lighting. At one point, I come up behind the spec truck and notice that he’s driving halfway off the track before he realizes it. Kind of like driving by Braile! As soon as I get around him, he’s glued to my back bumper trying to use my tailights as his guide. This would continue until the next turn where I would gain enough ground that he would be in the dark again. In a bigger race, I would deliberately drive a weird line to knock his rythm off, but I already feel bad for them so I just drive normal. Having the powerful lights also helps when coming up on slower cars as you practically light up their interiors from behind, there’s no question that you’re back there. I also get a dose of my own medicine when the three fastest cars come up behind me and suddenly I’m bathed in light. It’s especially eerie as the lights make distances deceiving and you don’t know if the car behind you is right on your back bumper or half a straightaway back.It seems like I’ve been driving forever and I’m wondering how much longer it’s going to be when Paul announces that I have 30 minutes to go. That’s an eternity when your eyes are bleary, your muscles are aching, you’re dying for some water, your ears are ringing and the half inch of fireproof material you’re wearing is now cooking you alive. The next fifteen minutes feel like hours and the last fifteen feel like days. But with Paul’s announcements every fifteen minutes, then every five minutes, and finally every minute are the most helpful as I’m able to gauge my pace. On my last lap, I pass the Spec Truck one last time with it’s right wheels practically off the road as the driver searches for the track. All the finishing cars are sent to Post Race Impound, though it’s a formality in this case as nobody inspects the cars. At the awards ceremony, we find out that we finish fifth in class. Not quite enough to unlap ourselves from the Toyota of Ryan, Gus and Jerry, but still a finish that we’re quite happy with as the first and second place Porsches are completely out of our league. Sunday July 8th Sprint Race: I wake up feeling like I’d been thrown inside a blender the night before. Every muscle in my body is aching and I can hardly move. To make matters worse, my calves each have a bruise the size of a grapefruit from rubbing against the base of the aluminium race seat. Tim and I spend the day crewing for James. About mid-day, Evan loses all his fuel pressure and despite Pablo, Tim his best efforts, the car is loaded onto the trailer before the sprint race. James finishes a respectable third in class for the sprint race hence adding several more points to his Championship run. With Tim and Benny both sitting out on the sprint races this weekend, neither of them get points for the Super Unlimited Championship. My first time back in the car after over a year really showed how rusty I really am. I was concerned that I would be significantly slower than John and Tim but they’ve assured me that I wasn’t off the pace by any significant amount. I think they’re just being nice to me. Most importantly, I brought the car home unscathed. As Jerry, my co-driver at the 1999 Los Angeles Street Race and Saleen Race Team crew member, once told me: “To finish first, you must first finish”. See you all at the races RealRide/Pennyweb