| Nashville Superspeedway |
 |
 |
| Nashville Superspeedway |
|
|
|
From the 95 ITC perspective, there is not a lot to report. If you snoozed at the start of the ITC/ITB race, you missed mine as I was knocked out in the bus stop on lap one.
I entered the test day and am thankful for it as I would have probably been lost during the race. I found the track challenging, testing some skills that are not needed at most other tracks. I also got to do some tuning on the engine. Due to the low number of entries at the test day, we got lots of track time, more than advertised. ITC had a good field of 7 cars, two CRXs Will and Ruthie) , two Civics (Kelly and Chuck), two Datsun 510s and a lone VW Sirocco. Four of the seven cars were from Chattanooga Region. I qualified fifth ahead of Kelly Atkins and Ruthie Cartlidge. In the 7 lap qualifying race, the ITC field pretty much finished where they started relative to the other ITC cars. An ITB VW broke during the qualifier and started at the back of the pack. He was involved in the bus stop crash as he made his dash to the front. I figured the dash into Turn 1 would be the place for problems, but we all got through there cleanly (it might be a different story when the race groups are full). The entrance to Turn 1 is the fastest part of the course using part of the oval, and Turn 1 is a slow 2nd gear turn. I managed to out brake the Datsuns into turn 1 but was unable to hold the position through the next several turns leading out on the oval's back straight. Two ITB VWs passed me on the back straight, the second one being the car mentioned before. The first VW spun entering the bust stop turn and was collected by the second. The first VW was pushed into my path leaving me no where to go. Kelly was hot on my bumper and he also had no where to go. Race and season over for the 95 ITC. Ruthie managed to stay out of the mess and motored on to a fourth place finish, the best of the Chattanooga ITC entries as Will suffered two flat tires from bent rims. The weekend went well with a few minor glitches attributed to being at a facility for the first time. The corner workers, especially at the bus stop were great. The track employees were very customer oriented. Thanks to the Perrys for there hospitality and thanks to everyone who helped me load up the race car after the wreck, especially Joe Clayburn. -- Chuck Fullgraf
|
|
2006 Races September July April Feburary
|
|
I was just a tad apprehensive about roadracing at Nashville Speedway, Just couldn't imagine 15- 20 drivers behaving going into turn 2 through the walls. For that reason, I volunteered to work corners Friday during test day to check out the carnage and how people were avoiding it. GOOD NEWS! It never happened. Not to say there weren't plenty of spins. Rain, new track, and um, interesting lines meant plenty of OOOPS! Even our Chattanooga folks were not immune. (Nice save(s) Chuck ;^. ) Great thing was No One hit anything!! Bill mentioned with close to 60 spins, we didn't have to call out a single wrecker! (Can't do that at Road Atlanta!!) Saturday practice, Dainton Brooks and I were the only 2 A/Sedans. Did I mention we were ahead of Dainton at the end of practice??
Sunday I decided all we needed to do was finish and I would have my races in for my national license, but after Road Atlanta, I knew this was my last chance for this year (no time to get license before SIC), so I was going to take it easy and stay out of trouble. Green flag must have caught the Corvette in front of Dainton out, because he bogged and we were able to go around on the outside into 1. WOO WOO! 1st hole shot!! Great part, we were able to lead the WHOLE 1st lap!! Big WOO WOO!!! After 5 laps and the adrenaline easing off, it dawned on me we needed to finish, so I backed off a tad to be sure we did. 22 laps seemed like a bunch, but after being lapped a couple of times by the BIG cars, we managed 20 laps, (which really went by fast) and 2nd in class. Jumped us from 8th to 5th in SARRC points, had a lap faster than Class leader, even lead him a lap, and got in our 4th race for National license, all in all a GREAT weekend! Thanks to Linda, Vesa, Theresa and all the workers that made 1st SCCA race at Nashville Speedway a success! Now, On to The SIC! -- Dave Hester
Friday, registration opened half-hour earlier, but when I got there the “express line” for pre-registered drivers was the longest busiest and slowest. There has to be a way to make this process more agile…just a thought.
Sunday, For the qualifying race I switched the rear tires to the front and after a very intense seven laps race I still had the pole but this time I was sixth overall. For the race I didn’t touch the car tire wise, at the end of the warming lap, the pace car gets in the pits, I get super ready…full adrenaline, check the mirror for the last time, we are perfectly aligned, ready…?! No green flag. So the pole sitter of the group led us to a second pace lap. This time yes green, had a real fast start but at the entrance of turn two a yellow SRF did not see me coming and pull his car in front of mine causing contact and damage on both parties. Even though it was his fault and my car had more damage than his I wasn’t going to say anything but he started a protest. At the end he lost the protest and got penalized. I had a great weekend despite the incident. From all the tracks I have run so far this is the most demanding on the car and the driver. Great facility but it will be nice to see rumble stripes next year. See you at the SIC. -- Efren Ormaza |
||
September 11, 2006
