06-25-2006, 12:16 AM
(copy & paste from rr-ax.com, i'm too lazy to change any of it)
Good be out there and see lots of familiar faces - but we didnt fare so well
We had some difficulty in the first few hours of the race, and we had to put after ~90 min because our first driver was getting dehydrated and exhausted. After we got another of the drivers in we started really making up time on the track, and in the pits as other cars were coming in and we can go ~2:45-3:00 on a fuel fill (22 gallons) and up to 3rd in class and on the same lap as the other ITA cars. We got driver number 3 in, and within 2 laps he got hit by a damn spec miata twice coming into turn 5 in the left rear, and hit him so hard that it knocked the radiator out of its mount - we got him in, put another radiator in it, fired it up and it wouldnt even hold an idle and sounded like a lawnmower - pretty sure the head gasket blew. First time that our team has had a DNF, so we loaded up, cooked dinner on the grill then went down to the carousel with some beers.
Kirk & Co was there with their ITB car, looked like they had a tangle with a spec miata early in the race but they were running strong when I left around 9pm.... Blaney's team was there but they were in an out of the pits all day and I think they finally called it a race around the time I left, unfortunate because every year that I've crewed (I think I'm on my 5th?) they have a DNF.... Payton Wilson was leading the overall in an ITS RX7 and that thing was hauling ass. There was a grand-am cup ITR (Radial Tire) out but both halfshafts blew up within the first 3 hours. The car leading ITA for most of the race (VW Golf - I think an A2 chassis?) rolled in turn 10 and folded the whole car up like an accordian, it was pretty damn ugly and the driver went to the hospital. There seemed to be a lot of cars blowing up and dropping out this year, even though the weather was very cool for this race - 80's most of the day and cooling down in the afternoon.
RJ - looking forward to next year already
Good be out there and see lots of familiar faces - but we didnt fare so well
We had some difficulty in the first few hours of the race, and we had to put after ~90 min because our first driver was getting dehydrated and exhausted. After we got another of the drivers in we started really making up time on the track, and in the pits as other cars were coming in and we can go ~2:45-3:00 on a fuel fill (22 gallons) and up to 3rd in class and on the same lap as the other ITA cars. We got driver number 3 in, and within 2 laps he got hit by a damn spec miata twice coming into turn 5 in the left rear, and hit him so hard that it knocked the radiator out of its mount - we got him in, put another radiator in it, fired it up and it wouldnt even hold an idle and sounded like a lawnmower - pretty sure the head gasket blew. First time that our team has had a DNF, so we loaded up, cooked dinner on the grill then went down to the carousel with some beers.
Kirk & Co was there with their ITB car, looked like they had a tangle with a spec miata early in the race but they were running strong when I left around 9pm.... Blaney's team was there but they were in an out of the pits all day and I think they finally called it a race around the time I left, unfortunate because every year that I've crewed (I think I'm on my 5th?) they have a DNF.... Payton Wilson was leading the overall in an ITS RX7 and that thing was hauling ass. There was a grand-am cup ITR (Radial Tire) out but both halfshafts blew up within the first 3 hours. The car leading ITA for most of the race (VW Golf - I think an A2 chassis?) rolled in turn 10 and folded the whole car up like an accordian, it was pretty damn ugly and the driver went to the hospital. There seemed to be a lot of cars blowing up and dropping out this year, even though the weather was very cool for this race - 80's most of the day and cooling down in the afternoon.
RJ - looking forward to next year already