June Sprints Tidbits

[kcoulter]

Some brief updates on next weekend's June Sprints:

- Thanks to Eric Prill and Con Peplowski - we will have live timing and scoring for the June Sprints, beginning with practice on Friday morning. The web address is http://www.livetiming.net/SCCA/club/livetiming.asp.

- The June Sprints will be televised - GoRacingTV.com will be taping all of the races for later broadcast via their website.

- There will be a live radio broadcast on WLS AM 890 out of Chicago from 8-9AM on Saturday morning (like last year).

We'd like to thank everyone who made the above possible. However, we REALLY thank you - the competitors. Without you, we have no race.

[Doug Carter]

Great that live timing worked all weekend EXCEPT for the races. Does anyone have any results for FV?

[hardingfv32-1]

1 Michael Varicins
2 Chris Jennerjahn
3 Brian Jennerjahn
4 Bruce Livermore

Brad Stout went out early... I wonder if Bruce punted him off again!

Brian

[Matt King]

I was standing in Turn 5 during the race, so I didn't see what happened to Stout, but it wasn't Livermore. Stout was swapping positions 2-3-4 for most of the race with the Jennerjahns. Livermore was a ways back from them.

[hardingfv32-1]

I kind of figured that from the live timing. I was just hoping to motivate Bruce into posting a race weekend summary.

Did a F500 help Varicins break away at the start or was he able to do that on his own? He seemed to take a lead and maintain it without help of a drafting partner.

Brian

[Matt King]

There were a couple of 500s between Varacins and the other Vees at the start, but it looked like the three-way battle for 2-3-4 early in the race held those guys up while he checked out.

[brian]

Congrats to Michael and his dad. A more deserving team does not exist. Great guys, if you ever have a chance to say hi, do so.

[cendiv37]

First, congratulations to Mike Varacins on a well deserved and long sought after June Sprints win. His luck at the Sprints has been no better than his luck at the Runoff's. He's definitely at the top of his game.

Sorry Brian, I did not punt Brad off this year (or last year, technically, though I definitely got in his way when I spun in front of him...) Brad spun on his own this year and put it into the concrete on the inside exiting 12.

As for me this year, thanks to a F500 gridded a row ahead of me who would not pull off or raise his hand when his car was unable to keep up with the field coming up out of 12 on the pace lap, I never got close to Brad, Brian and Chris, let alone Mike. If I read the Mylaps data correctly, I gained a total of 1.1 seconds on Chris through the race and lost 3.3 seconds to Mike. The problem was I started about 8 seconds behind them and never got a whiff of a draft all day.

It will be a few weeks before I can think about this race without turning beet red again. I have never been so angry in a race car. The starter should never have thrown the green. My guess is that the starter thought he was seeing the whole field when in fact more than 1/3 of us (including 13 of the 18 Vee's) were still out of his view down the hill.

Once the green came out and we could pass the offending 500, a couple other slow 500's took away ANY small chance I might have had to catch the leaders over the next couple laps. I do NOT understand why the chief stewards don't like split starts. I do not understand why we have to put up with 500 drivers that are 15-20 seconds a lap slower than the 500 front runners at "National" races.

With 20-20 hindsight, I know I should have passed the 500 as soon as we got out of 14 and hoped the starter would wave off the start rather than penalize me (and any others who would have followed). At the drivers meetings (one per race group), they'd made a huge deal about not passing or getting out of line before the green and that was still ringing in my ears as we fell back further and further from the rest of the field.

I hope I at least gave the fans at 5 good value for their entertainment $

Still burning up inside...
Thankfully I didn't let them put a GoRacingTV camera on my car. It would have taken a lot of editing to make that video family friendly.

[hardingfv32-1]

If I remember correctly, Road America is a very long and boring lap without a drafting partner.

Would you short cut at turn 5 if the green was not dropped? Otherwise I can understand why the starter might be hesitant not to through the green.

Brian

[cendiv37]

No they don't short cut at 5 so it would have meant another whole pace lap. However, I've had starts waved off for a lot less "misalignment" of the field, even at RA.

OK, enough venting. Time to get over it and prepare for the Cat.

I suppose some might find RA "boring" without a drafting partner. I never have. It takes a different kind of mindset and paying attention to details to go fast there, especially when on your own. I think I also enjoy the sense of "going somewhere" I get while completing a lap.

[problemchild]

From a driving experience, RA is much better without a drafting partner. You can attack the very challenging corners and have fun. IMO, it sure beats "riding" in a pack like stock cars at Talledaga. Unfortunately, being by yourself at RA usually means you are having a bad day ....... or a really great day!

[Matt King]

The Kink is never boring, especially when someone a car length ahead of you decides the entrance is a heavy braking zone.

[Speedsport]

Brian / Bruce,

Thanks for the kind words. My dad and I certainly worked hard for this one...we were joking that it seemed like we were putting more effort into this race then we had done for all the other past run-offs. I must say though - I didn't think that top spot on the podium was so high - I almost tripped and fell on the way down. But it's a nice view from up there! Maybe my luck is changing....

Again,

Thanks!

Michael Varacins

[cendiv37]

someone a car length ahead of you decides the entrance [to the kink] is a heavy braking zone.

That would be one of those 500's that are 15-20 seconds off the pace at RA... nuf said

being by yourself at RA usually means you are having a bad day [me]....... or a really great day![Mike]

[CSatterley]

Not sure if anyone posted this, but this site has a tv style coverage of the June Sprints race.
http://videos.goracingtv.com/featured_l ... reset=true