Datawiz

http://gulfcoastautocrossers.com/2009points.htm

I'm up 5 wins to 2 with 3 races to go.

Joan, Steve and I head to Lincoln, NE for the National Championship in 2 weeks. I hope we do well.

On the home front, I only have to win 1 of the next 3 races to clinch the season championship. The list of people to thank for the help is long, but Joan Clark, Steve Burger and Frank Gonzalez come to mind. Probably too soon to be celebrating, but I've won 8 of the last 9 events over 2 seasons against last year's champion.

This is my year......I hope.

Frank, with his astonishing win in a C6Z down here was an eye opener. He said I could pull it off. Thanks for the alignment settings and the support.

Short-Throw

Frank is a great driver and a fantastic communicator! He rotates his Z so much I think sometimes he forgets he's on a road course...great car control!


Mike

gonzalezfj

Glad I could help.

Get to Lincoln and give 'em hell.

Frank Gonzalez

waktasz

Hey, I could use some of that mojo! Are you planning on doing any Philly events in the future? We are at Warminster on the 30th.

V8 Juice

Frank is testing the new Hoosier Caster tire, rolls 360 degrees any direction. Takes getting used to.

gonzalezfj

Sorry, my C6Z is now set up for track use (no longer SS legal), so no more autoX for the foreseeable future.

Frank Gonzalez

gonzalezfj

Art, as long as it is from Hoosier, I'll probably give it a try...

Frank Gonzalez

Datawiz

BTW, I have to add David Lehman to the list of people to thank. He's the one who kicked me out of the nest to go try out the National Tour. With 60+ entrants in SS at Lincoln, he's guessing that I'll finish 45th and Steve Burger will finish somewhere between 20 and 25.

Dave poo-pooing the C6Z all year long just makes me try harder and harder to prove him wrong.

Hey Dave, I only needed 6/100ths of a second to out-Pax you last Sunday.

http://gulfcoastautocrossers.com/200...nt%207_pax.htm

LehmanZ06

Ok, you came within 6 hundreths of a second of me on Pax....on a basically straight ahead course with a bunch on slaloms....where the top speed on course was close to 90 mph, as my top speed was about 87 mph or so. I had to upshift to 3rd and then back down to second.

You did good out there, but to be quite honest.....that is in no way any indication of where you will finish at Nat's.

I am glad to see that you are going to Lincoln. You will have a lot of fun....so relax and enjoy yourself. Don't get your hopes up as far as trophying....it won't happen. Some superfast guys trophy their first time out, but we ain't them.

You should be happy with yourself if you finish 45th or better.....who knows......maybe if things break your way maybe in the mid 30's. But don't beat yourself up if you finish around 50th.

Remember....i suck.....and beating non-nationally competitive guys, at a local event means absolutely nothing as far as national competitiveness.

In the end...to sum it up.....we are all a bunch of idiots.

PS..stick a fork in the C6Z06, because for autox in SS....well, it's over for that car....because the fat lady has sung, and you really don't want to see her naked.

LehmanZ06

Of course....maybe you will win the whole damn thing, and Frank will get a job at Chippendales.

Could be ?

Datawiz

You suck? Yet you've won National Tour Events?

PS...Steve and Joan say the batch of Hoosiers we used last weekend sucked.

PSS...You'll never make me quit trying.

PSSS...Go back to 2007 and look at how Kidd (GT3) and Burger (C5 Z06) battled back and forth for the championship. Then look at my (C6Z) last 9 outings against Kidd (GT3). The one single loss was the month I added the adjustable sway bar. I hit every fugging cone both days. I had to relearn how to drive the car cuz it turned so much better.

I understand that none of the 3 of us are National Championship Material just yet, but "for comparision sakes only", the 3 of us are clustered together very tightly at every event (I trust that you can agree that I have similar skills to both of them), yet the C6Z is on top.

I enjoy the ribbings and greatly look forward to my first Nationals, regardless of the outcome. I wish you were racing more at Gulfcoast. 'Cuz, basically, you and your ASP car are my next benchmark target.

LehmanZ06

You better get binoculars....because i is sprinting ahead.

Ok, now seriously........Gulfcoast autocrossers is a cool site and everything....but the only thing that is going to really make you competitive...

1) Get a data logger

2) Do as many national events as possible

3) After you win your LOCAL SS championship....NEVER bring up local results again as they are kinda meaningless

and keep having fun......because we are all a bunch of idiots in parking lots, but it beats spending weekends with my Sisters-in-law, at whatever god forsaken family event is on the calendar

PS...the local courses you run (me too), are very simplistic, and not that challenging....not as many places to make mistakes. While on the other hand National type courses tend to be harder to master.

TedDBere

But David runs ASP. Even I have won National Tour events in ASP.

SS is a different animal.

There's one rule of thumb in SS, if I beat you you have to switch classes next year. It's just too humiliating to show your face again next year....

Good luck!

And that Frank guy doesn't know what a steering wheel is used for...he always uses his right foot to turn the car. We miss him up here....

LehmanZ06

Ted D Bere....hurley...hurley....

Point well taken that SS is a different animal. More set up required in ASP to be competitive, but of course not nearly the number of drivers that SS brings to the table.

However, we both know that it's who you beat, and you (Ted), ain't beaten nobody (oh..yeah you were right with Ramey, and maybe you beat him ? I can't remember.)

Winning a Tour event in SS is an accomplishment-----provided that Gary T. Braun, and a handful of top drivers appear.

But also remember that G.T. , and his Poppness used to run ASP. This year ASP has Collet, Jr., Stemler, Uyeda, Carpenter.......((and near the bottom Lehman)).

PS....I hear that Frank is actively involved in some really radical wheelchair racing at the nursing home

Glennm27

Datawiz, Best of Luck and continue to Be Safe.

As for Frank Gonzalez, he's one of those people that just loves to help everyone. He's a great guy and has helped me many, many times over the years...

I'd like to chime in too and say "Thanks Frank"

gonzalezfj

Not in a wheelchair yet, but when you and I both get there I challenge you to a couple of hot laps.

BTW, how's the itch???

Frank Gonzalez

LehmanZ06

Not too bad actually, but it always feels better when I am getting a lap dance.

And you are on about that wheelchair race. But since I am a little younger---i'll be a sport a let you put R's on your wheelchair, while I just run the "street tires"

D.Lehman

Datawiz

I wish both of you would be at Nats. That would be fun to watch.