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Post by Calvin on Jan 13, 2014 13:31:05 GMT -5
Its story time! Have you ever raced competitively? If so you might have some great stories. So the question is, what is the silliest thing(s) that has happen to you or have seen while racing? I'll let some you guys start it off, and I'll tell a few of mine from Kart racing.  Exaggeration is allowed.  |
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Post by SteveK51 on Jan 13, 2014 14:34:30 GMT -5
I had a pretty funny moment this past year. We had a kart race at the Nashville Fairgrounds, and the roadcourse involved part of the 1/2-mile banked track and the shorter Legends track in the infield, with chicanes on the front and backstretch with cones and hay bales. So I brought two karts, one for me and one for a buddy. We get to the feature, where he's starting up front and I'm in the back after blowing an engine in the heat race. A few laps in and he's leading and I'm about 30' behind in 4th. He clips the haybale chicane on the frontstretch, wedging an orange cone under the side panel of his kart. He drug it for half a lap, then he reached down, pulled it out, and threw it over his shoulder. So here I come and his cone is tumbling down the track, and I have to maneuver around it. Then for the next 5 laps or so, the cone's in the middle of the track, forcing the racing groove to either side. When the race was over we just laughed at the absurdity of the moment, and how this is the sort of incident that inspired Super Mario Kart  |
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Post by Chris on Jan 13, 2014 14:36:50 GMT -5
After taking the Skip Barber course at Riverside Raceway, it was my first experience going extremely fast in a 66 Shelby GT350 at 180mph on the back stretch, I thought I would get in my canyon racer 76 Mustang II, yeah it passed tech, and do the same, I managed to smack the turn 9 wall doing a bit of body damage to the left rear... the cost of towing it from Riverside to Woodland Hills taught me a lesson...Stupid Stunt!!! Chris
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Post by hurtubise56 on Jan 13, 2014 14:54:34 GMT -5
Not sure if these are funny or just dumb, but here goes: I learned the hard way not to be too eager to unbuckle after a wreck! Twice! The first time, I got on the gas coming out of turn two on 1/4 mile track racing my dirt late model in about 1981, got sideways and went over another cars front wheel, which tossed me in the air and turned me into the wall, not too hard a hit. After I watched one of the back markers go by me under the yellow, I decided to get out to check for right front suspension damage. I unbuckled my belts, dropped the window net and had just started to lift up in the seat when I heard a car coming. I looked out the right side window and saw the same back marker coming straight at me in the loose stuff, wheels cranked hard left, no sign of braking! I ducked back down and waited for the hit, which fortunately never came. I guess he hadn't seen the yellow and did another lap under power, probably the only time he ever passed anyone! 2nd time, I tried to go low under a spinning car on a different track, got into a puddle on the inside of the turn and ended up sliding straight into him, again, not a hard hit. Same thing, I watched cars go by under the yellow, unbuckled and started to get out only to hear a car coming full-bore and then BANG, I got knocked around in the car and found myself on the very outside of the turn, with another car buried under the back of mine! I cut my ankle and he was shaken up, but after getting towed in, we only had a flat right rear, got it changed and got back out to finish 12th. Only damage to the car itself was a small dent on the INSIDE of the right frame rail, in FRONT of the rear axle. My crewman said the guy hit me so hard it stood my car on its nose, he thought I was going over! Very lucky that time! Now, unless I see fire or smell gas, I'll wait until I'm SURE everything is slowed down!
Brian
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Post by Calvin on Jan 13, 2014 14:57:09 GMT -5
In 2003 there was a Kart race in Clarkston Washington right next to the Snake river....it was a typical street race with hay bails and stuff.....well it was about half way thru the 15 lap race - I was leading and I turned to go down the long straight and I came up and past a 1990 Buick Century....... It was a Grandpa and Grandma going about 20mph with Karts going by at 50mph - its beyond me how in the heck they got on to the track because it was all blocked off. Which turned into a red flag and mayhem with the track workers trying to get the Buick off the track....it also screwed over my race as I had a huge lead at the time - but still won after the resart....2nd place burned up a clutch and I was on my way.  |
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Post by Calvin on Jan 13, 2014 15:02:54 GMT -5
I heard a car coming. I looked out the right side window and saw the same back marker coming straight at me in the loose stuff, wheels cranked hard left, no sign of braking! I ducked back down and waited for the hit, I would have been thinking, what would Mel Kenyon do? |
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Post by hurtubise56 on Jan 13, 2014 15:14:02 GMT -5
I think we did the same thing, my results were just better!
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Post by mjjracer on Jan 13, 2014 15:20:05 GMT -5
Well, I'm not the racer you guys are, but at the first driving school I attended I had a bit of a problem. See, I'm a big ol' boy at 6'3", 260 and their XL drivers suit gave up and cried uncle. So, believe it or not, they let me run in my shorts and t-shirt! Can you imagine that? Things were different 20+ years ago.
Anyway, the lead instructor Rick Titus (son of Jerry) says something to the effect of:" Well, like my buddy A.J. would say 'Just don't catch faaar!'".
Maybe you had to be there.
MJ
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Post by SteveK51 on Jan 13, 2014 15:41:45 GMT -5
Then there was this incident as well that I was on track for. I had no idea why they stopped the race at the time:
(some audible expletives from spectators)
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Post by Patrick on Jan 13, 2014 16:12:42 GMT -5
Santa Vaca! My little goof is nothing compared to these. I was at my SCCA Driver's School at Riverside in my FC Lotus, convinced I was the next John Surtees. As I approached turn 7, a decreasing radius turn, I did a great gilhooley beneath the crest of the turn. Coming up and over the crest was two other formulas and I said to myself, 'Get ready to be hit.". I closed my eyes and nothing happened. To add to my embarrassment I then killed the engine and gently rolled onto the infield. DUH!  Patrick |
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Post by indycals on Jan 13, 2014 18:15:30 GMT -5
I pulled a 'Rick Mears - Indy 78'.*
Back in 2002 I did Driving 101 (now the Mario Andretti Driving School) where we got to lap Nashville Speedway in an Indy car. There were two sessions, for a total of fourteen laps. First session went off without a hitch. Second session.... I forgot to buckle my helmet. Everytime I got up to about 160mph, the helmet would start lifting and I'd have to slow down and pull it back down. Still had a blast, but that kept me from doing a full 160mph lap.
*Rick forgot to buckle his helmet at the start of the 1978 Indy 500.
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Post by johnwebster on Jan 16, 2014 1:17:15 GMT -5
I went to Jim Russell school at Watkins Glen in 1973.
Watkins Glen had hosted a rock concert about two weeks earlier and the area was still littered with trash. The organizers had hired a commune to clean the area up and they were living on site in a couple of very large teepees.
The first morning was devoted to classroom discussion of how to drive through a corner.
The afternoon was devoted to learning how to stop , start and change gears in Lotus 61 Formula Fords. Start down the main straight at the pit entrance, accellerate through the gears, slow down for the right hander and return through the pit lane.
The next morning was a repeat except we were allowed to enter the right hander at X number of rpm before braking and returning. Every couple of times around the entering speed would be increased by a couple of hundred rpm. The tachs had telltales on them which the instructors checked after every run.
On one run I came through the right hander to find the guy in front of me had spun out exiting the corner. On the next run I came through the right hander to find the new guy in front of me had spun out exiting the corner.
The driving school was halted while the instructors persuaded the naked commune members standing on the bank above the exit of the right hander to disperse.
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Post by hurtubise56 on Jan 16, 2014 9:36:26 GMT -5
Obviously you had a MUCH higher concentration level than your fellow students!
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Post by harveythedog2 on Jan 16, 2014 11:17:53 GMT -5
Does street racing count?
Around 1982 I was driving to BGSU to spend the weekend with my buddies.
I had a sweet 1969 Firebird and for some reason this punk thought his 81 Camaro was faster than me. Next thing you know we are racing side by side down the on ramp to I75. (Only made for one car at a time) I nipped him at the bottom and proceeded to stay on the throttle and so did he. The next thing I knew I was doing 137mph and leaving him in the dust and made the 12 mile trip in 7 minutes. I wouldn't call this stunt silly but rather down right stupid. I am lucky I didn't kill myself or some innocent person as we were weaving in and out of traffic like crazy. My Firebird did not have power steering or brakes so I was litrally standing with both feet on the brakes trying to slow down at the off ramp. Makes me cringe to this day how utterly stupid it was but true story. Young & dumb.
Stu
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Post by jamesharvey on Jan 16, 2014 11:30:26 GMT -5
These are just great stories. I was running a GP Sprite at Mid Ohio in the early '60s and was having trouble with a rear half shaft coming loose. My crew (one guy) and I worked on it after practice and races on Saturday. Sure enough it came loose during Sunday's race. I barreled into the pits, jumped out of the car, yelled at him to get the tools, and after a quick repair/tightening was ready to go again. I got back into the car, buckled in, fired up and blasted off. As I pulled away I looked in my review mirrors to see my friend standing there covered with mud, water, and flying grass all over him thanks to my spinning the rear wheel in the pit area grass. Dumb move on my part, not so funny to him at the time, but wonderfully so 50 years later. Unfortunately, he died that next New Year's and I am grateful to you for causing me to remember him fondly today.
Jim
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Post by Patrick on Jan 16, 2014 13:02:47 GMT -5
Fun story, Jim. As you state, 50 years later...
Patrick
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rick
Hot Shoe
Posts: 142
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Post by rick on Jan 16, 2014 13:34:03 GMT -5
 Placerville Speedway 2003, first car out to qualify. Banged off the cushion with about 10 lbs of air in the right rear tire. Track conditions dictated more like 14 lbs of air. No I didn't save it. -Rick |
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Post by indy on Jan 16, 2014 15:12:29 GMT -5
As a teenager, after getting the racing bug at the 500, I'd always wanted to do the 3 day Skip Barber class and their racing seasons but I never had the $3k budget for the class (much less anything else). Best so far is when I got two 10 lap driving sessions around Texas Motor Speedway in old Cup cars in 2000 for a college graduation gift. Before we drove, they took us around the track a 15 passenger van at what felt like over 100mph (no seatbelts mind you). In the drivers meeting, they said they wanted you to tailgate the guy in front of you in the turns, like 1 foot off their bumper. They joked about it being like the way we normally drove but I remember thinking that I'd given up that kind of high-risk behavior a few years previous being 22 then.
I hadn't thought it all through I guess because I was caught off guard when I got hard into the first turn the g-forces hit me more than I was expecting. And the first time I caught a guy in the turns I left a huge gap between our cars and the instructor kept motioning to me to get up closer and closer to him. It was fun though, I got good at hitting the governor on corner exit (150-160mph top speed) and backing off just ever so slightly holding the throttle at the top RPM where the engine would run smooth and just kiss the governor. I worked hard on being smooth and the instructor let me start holding the throttle past the corner entry marker (where you were supposed to let off) and picking up the throttle before that marker, too. I need to find my VHS from that day - pretty sunset that night as we were driving.
Jordan
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Post by mjjracer on Jan 16, 2014 18:12:45 GMT -5
Placerville Speedway 2003, first car out to qualify. Banged off the cushion with about 10 lbs of air in the right rear tire. Track conditions dictated more like 14 lbs of air. No I didn't save it. -Rick Looks like more than a "Tommy Tipover" resulted! Great pic. Rick, I've been wanting to tell you how pumped I am about Petaluma this year. Great schedule (no late-models??), I am really looking forward to the CRA event - I saw that on the USAC website before I saw your schedule and got really jazzed. Big fan of the Demon and Rip Williams. Don't know how you did it but sure glad you did.  MJ |
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Post by 11rowsof3 on Jan 29, 2014 6:46:50 GMT -5
Not as funny as scary now (with all the concussion talk in the news). Back in 1998 racing karts here in Central Indiana (this was actually at Speedcreek in Lapel) I got hit by a kart with a stuck throttle that had skipped a corner... it knocked me over the tire barrier and head-on upside down into a telephone pole outside the track. I sat down perfectly next to a nice lady in her lawn chaor. SCARY, right? No - I was okay with it, knew I was fine right away, kart needed lots of repairs. HERE is the scary part (funny then)... remember, I thought I had hopped right out of the car? Nope - a few days later a fellow racer brought me the tape of the crash. No, my head hung limp in the car for two laps under caution, completely knocked out. The EMT's came over and were helping me but didn't see that I was out I guess as they were walking over? Anyway, never had signs of a concussion, headaches. etc - but it freaks me out that I was out and didn't recall or remember. It's like I hit, remember it and thought I was fine. racers... we ain't right. |
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Post by Patrick on Jan 29, 2014 12:20:35 GMT -5
Say, why don't we get together at Petaluna one time? I live in Sonoma and it would be great to kick back at the lil' circle track for a fun night of laid back racing. PM if interested.
Patrick
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Post by mjjracer on Jan 29, 2014 19:11:34 GMT -5
Say, why don't we get together at Petaluna one time? I live in Sonoma and it would be great to kick back at the lil' circle track for a fun night of laid back racing. PM if interested. Patrick I was just thinking the same thing this last week. Sending a PM. MJ |
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rick
Hot Shoe
Posts: 142
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Post by rick on Jan 29, 2014 19:52:11 GMT -5
Hey Mark,
Glad to hear that you are pumped for the upcoming season. Look forward to seeing you at Petaluma Speedway. If you and Patrick want to get together with any other board members for a night of sprint car action let me know and I'll set you up with some tickets.
-Rick
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