Also some good news is that Zane's lap counter is paid off and we're starting to get some dollars in the club kitty. As of this writing we have $55 saved up. The bad news is we don't know what to do with it. We don't need to buy prizes as I'm going to solicit the manufactuers for prizes at the end of the summer to give out to the guys who attend the majority of the races. Some have suggested we just buy some pizza and soda for one of the races. But so far we have not decided what to do with the bucks. One item that is probably going to be used with the money is that the newsletter will be mailed to you. So I will be getting in touch with you on your address. Have any other ideas, let Paul and me know!
Racing has been pretty tight and thick with Paul domainating the mains. Qualifying has been another picture with 6 different top qualifiers in 9 races. Good showings by Jason, Dave and a real shocker with Rod from Globe grabbing the top spot at the race at Zane's. But that's not all that surprizing considering how competitive a racer he is. Congrats to all of you. But let's see some good running in the main guys! And that brings us to this month's tech tip:
TECH TIP The biggest mistake I see during a race is driver error. It doesn't matter how well you prepare your car with the latest trick stuff or whatever, if you keep desloting you will not do well. Let's say the average lap time at Zane's track is 4.0 seconds and your car can only do a 4.2. That means it will take the driver who can do a 4.0 second lap 20 laps to lap you. That is a long time provided he doesn't deslot. So if you drive consistent you can stay in the picture. The average deslot cost a driver 4 to 5 seconds for the marshalls to get the car back in. If the 4.0 driver deslots he will not lap you in that heat. But if you deslot he will lap you right away!
So even if you car is .2 seconds slower you can still win by driving clean. The idea is to not make mistakes. You must concentrate on your car and not worry about the others. You must also note what lane you are on and what problem spots that lane has and to avoid crashing there. Another thing to keep in mind is to beware of who is a slow marshall and to make sure you do not crash there. But remember it is not his fault as you were the one who came out! Don't yell as that may make him take longer! Practice will make you more consistent. Arrive early and get your knowledge of the track and your setup before the crowd gets there. How do you expect to do well when you haven't even practiced on the bad lanes?
One last note. If you are on a bad lane do not try to keep up with a faster driver who is on a good lane. A tactic Pros use is to get a novice to speed up on a bad lane so they come out. That pretty much takes you out of the picture as you go a lap down. That way when you get to the good lanes you are behind instead of on the same lap or even ahead. This pressures you into trying to catch up right away and if you deslot on the good lane it's all over. Drive you own race and avoid mistakes. Try to set a goal of doing an 8 minute consi or semi without deslotting. If you come out, don't freak out, remember where and what you did and don't do it again. A reasonable goal is to get less than 6 deslots in a 8 minute consi. Maybe I'll try to write down the # of deslots racers do in a heat if you want me to and I can tell you at the end of the race. Good luck!
SUMMER SCHEDULE:
June 16th Zane's
June 30th Paul's
July 14th Zane's
July 28th Paul's
Aug 11th Zane's
Aug 25th Paul's
Sept 8th Zane's
Sept 22nd Paul's
*This schedule is subject to change. Marty is in the process of moving into a new home and has indicated that he may be constructing a "long" track for us to race on! Sounds great and maybe we can get around to running some faster cars such as Tomy Super G+ Super Stock or even Restricted Open. Dave is also in the planning stages for his track so things are heating up, right along with the summer temps! Stay tuned !
Jason and I just got back from the HOPRA Nationals held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I wish I could give you great news on how we smoked em but that was not the case. Due to some mixups in the way they ran the races we were unable to help each other and both of us just missed making the moveup from our heats. That is no excuse but we had a great time. We learned a lot of new things mainly dealing with the Tomy Super G+ and I will be coming out with a tip sheet of things we were told. It was a lot of stuff. Jason's Super Stock was very quick and he just missed. I wished I could have pitted for him as the 2 racers who were ahead ended up going to the main event and they only beat Jason by just a few sections!
We roomed with the California group (John Cukras and Mike Low) and it looks like we are going to form a good relationship with them. Hopefully soon they will have some more races that we can attend and for the money this is the cheapest way to get out of state for a race. It really ends up just costing food, gas, room and entry fee. So it's a good deal. I'll keep in touch with John Cukras on their schedule. John hinted that they will be having a "biggie" in the fall and another "SpringNational" in the spring. Their races are a lot of fun and the prizes John gave out were more than we got at the Nats.
On the subject of prizes. I will be soliciting from the manufactuers around August for prizes to give out at the races. There won't be any championship or anything. Probably a raffle or something. Everyone who has been racing with us on a consistent basis will get something. My goal is to get enough prizes to makeup for ALL the entry fee you would have paid. I did this once before and most people were happy with it. The problem may be that I've seen that the manufactuers are giving less and less away so I'll try my best to make it up. The last time I did this Paul was nice enough to paint up some bodies to give away to make up for any shortfalls. We didn't have any that time but I might need his help this time.
I was able to meet with Dan Gunderson who is the new product manager for Tyco. I was able to get out of him that the 96 lineup for Tyco cars will include NASCAR SuperTrucks! He also said we will see more of the "European" releases of the F1 cars. Plus I was able to get him to say that he would support our racing effort. Hope it works out.