Wow! Lots of good responses to last week’s post. I’ll get a little more in depth later this week and take a look at where I went wrong and where I went right when I jumped into Autocrossing. Then next week another look from the same perspective on the move from Autocrossing to Road Racing.
First off, I need to say a few thank yous to a bunch of people who helped me early on.
Mark and Mary Utecht for taking a chance on me and inviting me into Mayhem Racing in the mid 90s. It’s going to sound odd, but thanks Mark for always being faster than me in my own car at autocrosses – it was a great carrot. Mark got his start autocrossing a Dodge Challenger of all things!! Mark put the roll cage in my first race car – the little blue CRX. Mark helped me retrieve it from Road America after the engine let all the smoke out. Mark pushed me and others to try out Ice Racing and Rally – disciplines Mark still excels at to this day!
Mark was my crew chief for our 1994 Cen Div ITC championship season – nothing was insurmountable for him. Even when I destroyed my car two weeks before the Regional Runoffs, Mark cut the cage out of the old car, put it in a new-ish shell and we went to Putnam Park with paint still drying on the car. We went on to win the pole and the race. Amazing!
Joe Huttle, my crew chief for the 1995 season where we Road Raced the new CRX and my navigator for the LSPR where we rallied the Fiesta for the first time. Thanks to Joe for teaching me that there can be as much passion for seeing a car you built excel on track as there is driving it. Joe’s attention to detail and creativity as we worked all winter and summer long on the Honda was amazing! I’ll never forget that first outing at Brainerd in the CRX when we broke the lap record in the first session on track. Later that summer Joe and I built the engine in my crappy little garage in the middle of 100 degree temps! I’ll also never forget Joe diving under the car at the first service (l’anse?) to try figure out what happened to the side exhaust went on the Fiesta. hint: it shot out the side of the car and headed off into the woods somewhere on stage 3!
Wade Roggemann, who taught me that oval racers know more than anybody about setup! Wade helped demystify corner weights and ride heights and helped me stay positive throughout all of the adversity of the adversity of the 1995 season. Also, it was Wade who taught me that Purple was slow and Green was bad luck! 🙂
Randy Williams and Todd Freeman for taking me under their wing my first and second seasons of autocrossing. They were consistently the two fastest guys on the autocross course. But, they did it in amazingly different ways. Randy grabbed his little Sentra SE-R by the scruff of the neck and thrashed it through the course. Todd was so smooth in his CRX that I could never quite figure out how he got his car through the cones so fast. Todd and Randy ran so quickly and effortlessly and I am forever in their debt for helping me learn that everybody has their own style. They helped me understand that once you have the fundamentals down, you have to figure out what works best for you. When you do what feels right to you, fast comes along.
Tom Gloy for listening to me as a young kid and giving me the best advice. Know what you want before you ask for help! Tom graciously listened to me ramble on trying to figure out what I wanted next. He paused and said, it sounds like you have some thinking to do. Once you figure it out, call me. I was so embarassed that I had rambled on so long with him that I kept on putting off calling him back until it was way too late. But, I’ve kept that lesson with me all these years. Know why you are asking for help before you ask.
Terry Earwood for encouraging me to get back into a race car each and every time I saw him at a Skip Barber corporate one-day school. Terry pulled me aside each time I completed one of the schools and asked me if I was interested in racing in the Skip Barber Formula Mazda series. I finally did do an advanced Skip school down at Sebring. I’m so glad that Terry and the rest of the guys have landed on their feet and founded Level Up. Check it out if you have the chance.
Vaughn Gittin, Jr. for the inspiration to dive right back in to racing. He’s the nation’s leading FunHaver! Vaughn reminded me that to be successful in racing, talent alone is not enough, you have to learn how to market yourself. Vaughn is an amazingly talented driver and displays his versatility and talent with every new discipline he jumps into – Drifting, Road Racing, Ice Racing, Rally, King of Hammers and a Team Owner too! Vaughn taught me to focus on branding. He taught me that the best part of this is that you’ve got all the knowledge right there, just be yourself, but just that little bit bigger. I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it. 🙂 We’ll dig into this idea a little later on this spring.
There are many more people who helped me get started racing and then get back into racing.
The B-Spec Community. Now that I’m back racing again, I want to say a huge thanks to the whole B-Spec Community. Everybody has been so welcoming and it’s such a great group to race with! Everybody wants everybody to do well to elevate the field. It’s a amazing group of people!
Next week, mistakes and successes in getting into Autocrossing. How would I have done it differently. Maybe even a guest blogger’s take on this?