Downshift
The Newsletter of the Chattanooga Region
Sports Car Club of America
 
 

Chattanooga Region, SCCA won the Medium Region First Place Region Achievement Award for 2003. It was presented at the National Convention in Kansas City in February. This is the third, First Place Region Achievement Award we have received in a row, and the fourth in five years. Unfortunately I wasn't there to receive it for the Region (little medical problem kept me away) and no one was able to substitute for me on fairly short notice.

The presentation cited programs, support of charities, leadership, increase in membership and publicity. We had a good variety of programs with Solo I, Road Rally, ClubRally and RallyCross events, including a Divisional Road Rally. And good support of Solo I and Club Racing. We gave $1600 to the Alzhimers Assn. and $750 worth of toys to T. C. Thompson Children’s Hospital.

On the leadership end of things, we take care of business, pay our bills on time (thanks Gerald), and participate in leadership of the division (Steve Tompkins is both Secretary and Solo I Steward for the Southeast Division, Mike Strawbridge is Division ClubRally Steward, and I try to do my part as a board member with SEDIV). Our contributions to the revised Performance Rally Safety Program received recognition by the SCCA Board of Directors.

In four years we had a 147% increase in membership, and this despite losing the Speed Freakz program. This moved us from the small region group to medium sized region. And the activities and accomplishments of our members were publicized as never before. Gail submitted all the articles published in newspapers, websites, etc. to Topeka. Credit for this activity goes almost 100% to the efforts of Ruthie Cartlidge! Her writing talent, energy and initiative have been a huge boost for Chattanooga Region. She has earned the respect of sports editors in the local papers. Certainly her work played a huge part in our getting this Award.

That's a lot of Positive - now for just a bit of negative. I have talked a lot about the need for more of our members to step up to support our programs, but maybe not talked long or convincingly enough. We have now had to reschedule an event due to lack of support. The Solo II scheduled for April 4 was put off until April 25 purely because we didn't have enough people committed to run the event. The conflicting personal schedules of some of the usual hard workers got in the way. But there should be enough backup workers to take care of these situations. The real shame is that we have so many members with the ability to make great contributions. Here’s where we still need help.

Billy Miller, Solo II Chair, and Assistant Travis Fitzgerald need help in Timing, Safety Stewardship, and backup in Tech and Registration (a critical position given the present legal climate). More general help is needed too - van driving, course marking, etc. Dave Brooks and Ken Blain, RallyCross Co-chairs, needed more help from Safety Stewards, course setup, Tech, Timing and general help. And we need some members to organize Region Road Rallies.

But maybe things are looking up already: Tom Shirley has made the commitment to work Timing for most of the rest of the Solo II season. Tom is a very experienced member, holding most officer positions in the club at one time or another, including RE. But someone is going to have to instruct him in how to use the new timing system. On the opposite end of the experience scale, Josh Aslinger has stepped up to help out in both the Solo II program and in RallyCross, and Jamie Hamilton will try to work organizing a Road Rally into her busy schedule.

How about some others to follow their example? Dave Hester will be doing a Safety Steward School on May 2 at an East Tennessee Region Solo II. I hope several of our members will attend the school to become Stewards. I hope we can develop some depth at all the critical positions.

Bill Perry

Upcoming Events

General Membership

Meetings

Tuesdays 7 PM

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May 4th

Holiday Trav-L-Park

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June 1st

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July 6th

Alzheimer’s Assoc.

Solo II

Sunday, April 25th

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May 23rd

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June 13th

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July 11th

Well, where to start? I guess the beginning . . . Trey Commander held a great event on March 21st & 22nd at Talladega Grand Prix Raceway in Anniston, AL. The real adventure came later that weekend. The Chattanooga Region was well-represented: Brian Flanagan in his WRX, Billy Miller in his yellow 325is, Joshua Morgan in his white 325e, David McDaniel in his blue Miata M, not to leave out me and Tiff in the silver 318is. With as much fun as we were all having, there were not many disasters. Josh overheated his car and threw all of his belts. It took him no time to get things back together and on the track again. The fast tight course was hard on tires, especially on Billy’s. And by the end of Sunday both of my left tires had seen the end of their days. Billy finished Saturday driving Dave’s Miata and my BMW on Sunday. There was lots of car swapping: Tiffany managed to drive the Miata and spin Brian’s WRX a couple of times, literally. Brian not only shared his car on the course, but also his car parts when another driver managed to butcher his radiator hose. Billy then took Brian’s in order to make it home safely.

This is where the real story begins. It is Sunday evening and it is time to start home. Brian is pulling a trailer, Tiffany and I are towing a car dolly, and Billy and Josh are following in their cars. We decide to stop for dinner at Pizza Hut and then go on home to Chattanooga. A few miles into the trip home I noticed things falling away from Brian’s trailer. I call Brian telling him we should stop and check his lug nuts. He wasn’t too worried and suggested waiting until we stopped for dinner. I insisted we stop at the nearest gas station so I could fill up. We were all amazed to find Brian’s back left wheel totally lacking lug nuts. Unfortunately, there was no borrowing from his other wheels because the lug nut key needed was in Chattanooga. Needless to say, things like this always happen at the most inopportune times: 20 minutes before AutoZone closes. We found some lug nuts just in time, so we headed on to dinner.

I hadn’t been feeling to well the whole weekend and ended up sick after eating. We swapped some drivers and all got in ours cars, except Brian. His misfortunes continued. His keys were locked in the truck. I managed to break in and retrieve them fairly quickly and we headed off to get on the main road. A few seconds later, Tiffany called, quite upset at Billy for not giving her the heads up on some very temperamental brakes on the 325is. She managed to barely avoid coming head to head with our 318is at the first red light on our second attempt home.

As we approached Fort Payne, AL, Josh asked us to pull over again because he was worried about his own lug nuts. His were fine, but three of Brian’s were on the ground. While they tightened up the remaining lug nuts again, I decided to turn on the 318’s headlights so that other drivers could better see us. While doing this, I forgot to lock the steering wheel back so we had to pull off once again on the side of the cold, dark interstate. But, the steering lock was not working. So, with a lot of frustration and a little bit of rope we managed to tie it off. In the meantime, Brian noticed that while his lug nuts didn’t manage to stay on his wheels, a box of muffins stayed on his trailer the whole trip. As a joke he throws the “demon muffins,” but the wind catches them and they come right back for a last attack, barely missing him. Brian has us all breathless with laughter as he runs from the box with fingers crossed screaming “Away demon muffins! Away!” We headed home, once again. We decide to stop one last time to check on things. As we pull off the side of the interstate, Josh’s 325e backfires unbelievably loudly. Luckily, we were still able to make it home. We found ourselves home and safe in Chattanooga just a few minutes before 12am, ending a very long and exciting trip home.

By Travis Fitzgerald

 
It’s not certain exactly what Dave McDaniel is doing in this picture, but Travis Fitzgerald begged me to run it.

The Editor

Solo II Points Championship 2004

If you enjoyed March Madness then you’re going to love this year’s Solo2 Points Championship, where at any point and time anyone could take over the #1 spot.

Anyone can join in this cutthroat competition. All you need to do is participate in the Chattanooga Region SCCA Solo II events. That simple! The Solo II point system makes everyone equal no matter what type of car you race.

Be sure to join in soon because the tournament is already underway and the first events points have been written in the books. You’ll be able to check out your standing in the championship at anytime on Chattanooga Region Website.

Also, remember that you’ll be able to compete in up to 3 events out of region and get points for them.

March 7th Solo II Report
By Eric Crutchfield

The Auto Cross on March 7th was a blast. The weather was great, the sun was supposed to shine all day, AND IT DID. It was a perfect weekend for some racing; which was a relief after all the other not so good weekends we’ve been having.

. I got there pretty early to help with what ever I could, so they had me run around and do some various tasks, which I didn’t mind. It is always good to volunteer, besides what else is there to do on a Sunday morning? So, we got the track and everything else done, then some cars started arriving and tech started.

Since this was my second Auto Cross I decided to walk the track a couple of times to see how it was laid out. The first section of the track was pretty fast, with some long turns and a little strait away, maybe 40 yards. Then the second part of the track was very technical part with many sharp turns and virtually no strait sections.

After it was all said and done the day went very smoothly. There were no major problems, and everyone got all their runs in a timely manner. I think the only problem was when I knocked down some cones and a corner worker ran out on the track directly in front of me. It was a little scary but no one was hurt. It just goes to show you should always pay attention whether you’re a driver or a corner worker, because you do not know what is going to happen.

As for results, Tony Armour got 1st, Joe Garingan got 2nd, and Ryan Thompson got 3rd overall. I got 3rd to last and 6th in my class (SM), which wasn’t too bad. I mean, I was in a $500 dollar VW golf, and I still had a really fun time. Other results can be found on the Region Website. Well I hope to all of you at the next Autocross.

Eeyore Rides Again!!!
The Report From 100 Aker Wood
By Mike Strawbridge

This adventure began 30 years ago when I was 13 and read an article in Hot Rod magazine about a race on logging roads in central Missouri. I said I wanted to do that when I grew up.

I still don’t consider myself grown up, but this year I finally fulfilled my goal of driving at the 100 Aker Wood Rally, SCCA’s national ClubRally Championship. Actual work toward this goal began in December when I made a deal to get a roll cage installed it the RallyCross Jeep. Will Perry of Rivergate Racing did a beautiful job with the cage. I got lots of compliments on it at both Park Expose’s. I got everything ready for tech day on Feb 7 and Richard Crowell gave it the OK. The next day I sanded down the ugly red brown paint and prepped it for a quick color change to fleet white. The next several evenings were spent putting on the decals and number plates. Now it looked like a race car.

On Wednesday, we loaded my dad’s truck and hooked up the trailer. I picked up my Co Driver, made a last minute service crew recruitment (getting my son Scott excused from school) and Eeyore and Pooh were headed for the 100 Aker Wood.

We arrived in Salem on Thursday and were greeted by the friendly registration Staff at Dent County Motors. I unloaded the Jeep as Stewart got us a place in line for tech. Tech was quick and easy. Eeyore – now a seed 7 after his finish in 2003 – and Pooh were strapped to the roll bar. They looked excited.

Friday morning we headed for Ellington. The whole town turned out to see the cars parked on Main Street. We decided to check out Baker Auto Parts store just down from Baker Hardware, next to Baker Bakery. Our wiper blades were a little weak in the drizzle so I though I would pick up a new pair, and they had some.

Stage one was the reverse of last year so the bridge jump was at the beginning of the stage instead of the end. The jump was fun but I soon found out why people questioned the Jeep as my rally vehicle of choice. With my right foot to the floor the speedometer would not pass 80. Will said Stinky was doing 105 on the same section.

County roads in Missouri have names like K and Y rather than real names or numbers. So, at the end of Stage One, we headed out looking for road QZ on the transit. Luckily the odometer was dead on as we soon figured out QZ was not a road name but the beginning of the Quiet Zone, and the turn that came up at the specified mileage was where we were supposed to be after all. We made it to the start of the Stage Two on time, but just barely. As we took a short cut through a creek bed, some boys on their bicycles cheered us on.

The next stages were fun. We got to go across low water bridges, creeks with no bridges, cattle crossings and dodge the boulders thrown in our path by the cars in front of us. Just like last year the locals were in their yards to cheer us on as we sped by. On the long straight sections we gave them more time to wave at us than the other cars did.

We ended up with a big delay about midday as one of the cars that started behind us hit a tree really hard. Then the next car hit another tree to avoid the wrecked car. We had to wait for the ambulance to get repositioned after taking care of the injured drivers. The delay allowed some extra time to socialize with other teams and with the sweep crew, who were also driving a Jeep. Unfortunately, we went into darkness because of the delay, and since most people had left their lights with their service crews, we transited the stage.

The last night stage proved to be very fast, much faster for the cars than for the Jeep, as we were topped out for a very long time. Near the end of the stage I saw lights closing in behind me fast and I moved over for a much faster 400HP Monza to pass me cleanly on the straight.

After a short transit back to Salem, I was very happy to have finished my first performance rally as a driver. I was no threat to Marcus Grundholm but I finished. The proved very durable. All we had to do was refuel at each service.

Saturday dawned cold and windy. I made a quick trip to the car wash to prepare for Park Expose on the town Square. Also, after conversations with some of the other drivers about the twitchy handling at speed and the low top speed, I raised the tire pressure and removed the rear sway bar.

Park Expose downtown was fun as we got lots of questions about the Jeep. As I expected, many people said, “Hey I have one of those. I could race too.”

At breakfast, Stuart made Pooh his own copy of the route book. Pooh and his route book got lots of attention from the interviewer at the start line.

Based on our slow pace from the day before, we were started last. We did not realize unto the last minute that we were also started behind the car damaged in the accident. Well, about two miles into the first stage we caught the car. His rear view mirror must have been broken also, because he never seemed to see us. The roads were too narrow to get by without contact even though we tried hard and suffered a broken windshield in the process. At the next time control, Stuart negotiated changing our start order.

The yumps and cattle crossings were great fun in the Jeep as it flew very flat and landed smoothly. I began to look forward to anything in the route book that said “rough”. The low water bridges were great fun, but maybe not for everyone. We passed the leading G2 car on its roof at one of the bridges.

We were disappointed to have to transit another stage, this time due to a local that was driving the wrong way on course and did not care about the road closure. Again, service consisted of only refueling the Jeep and our selves. Our crew, Scott, Janice and Stuart’s Dad, Bill did a great job of being there for us. Janice managed to get a few of her pictures posted on Rally America’s web site.

We hit another delay about dusk. We pulled out a HAM radio to monitor the net and heard that a rally car with a broken ball joint blocked the stage road. Knowing that Stinky had a tendency to break ball joints we held our breath waiting to hear the car number. Sure enough we heard it was Bailey who was out and being moved to a safe position before we could resume racing. All we could do was honk and waive as we passed Randy, standing by his broken car. We were more determined than ever to make it to the end.

The last night stage was the same as the previous night. This time there was a Subaru starting one minute behind us. At just past the halfway point I could see his lights as we exited the long straights. When things got tight or rough, I would pull out some distance, but when we topped out at 80 he was likely doing 130. We stayed well ahead of him until the last two miles where the road really opened up. Knowing he would catch me on the next straight, I slowed and moved over to let him pass. We finished a few seconds behind him.

Once the results were totaled, we were not the slowest finisher but close. I was very happy to have finished without any damage to the Jeep.

Thanks to all who made this event possible. Will Perry for getting the cage done in time; Carl for loaning me the driver suit and Terratrip computer; Dad for loaning me his truck to tow and for painting the Jeep just days before the event; Scott Dobler’s Mom for providing us a place to stay Wednesday night. Special thanks to Stuart Wood for co driving and Janice Strawbridge, Scott Strawbridge, and Bill Wood for crewing.

A Message From Mike Dickerson to Bill Perry

I would like to thank you and your members for their patience while we’ve learned the capabilities and nuances of our new software system. Please extend my gratitude on your websites, in your newsletters and at meetings.

Also, please ask your members about the following: We are aware that many spouse memberships are getting two issues of Sports Car. This is very simple to fix. Please ask your affected members to send me an e-mail, or give me a call to fix the problem. Thanks again, everyone! As always, I am a phone call or e-mail away!

Best regards,
Michael E. Dickerson, Manager of Region Services
Sports Car Club of America,
PO Box 19400, Topeka, KS 66619
800.770.2055, ext . 358 mdickerson@scca.com
785.852.7158 Direct
785.232.721