Great Lakes News
By John Graber
Published: June 12, 2006
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Beaver Run – June 10-11, 2006
Well, I’m not going to talk about a certain aspect of the weekend which was awesome again because I don’t want to jinx us. I assume you all know what it is and certainly hope it continues throughout the season.
Anyway, Beaver Run was a great success for the Region and for Time Trials group. Dave Royce’s hair gel was in place Sunday night, prior to his venture on the track in Jeff Mishtawy’s Cobalt, so the event was ruled a success. Without a doubt we had the most open track time of any event this year. I requested a smaller run group considering the relatively short track and the fact we were beyond capacity at Putnam. Dave gave it to us and we all benefited! In fact, I felt lonely on several occasions until I saw Clifton or Shane in my rearview mirror. We’ve got an unofficial award for the weekend to Jason Lakomiak for running the most consistent times of the weekend. Sunday’s best session times were all within .18 seconds of one another. And a special kudos goes out to Charlie Mason for reaching deep and running his best time of the weekend in the fourth session Sunday, taking the top honors in TTD. We’ll be reviewing Charley’s classification form for compliance in the near future. And don’t forget E-Diddy who brought his big new rig and ran is little tiny Miata for one session in TT. We also had a great track announcer on Sunday. Most of you were in your cars, but during our sessions he was up there calling out our cars and names and really laying it on thick. Hopefully we can get him to the next event.
It’s great now that most drivers know one another and have developed some friendly competition and friendships. The times have continued to get better, and the level of driving has increased as well. Overall, our race control incidents are down and everything is running fairly smoothly. Also, the grid system is really working well and I thank everyone for getting to the grid early and getting yourselves in the best spot for your car and your times. I’m expecting to follow the same procedure for Mid Ohio utilizing three or four lines to grid and release fast to slow. We ran Sunday morning once again side by side for a lap and I received more positive comments. We didn’t do it at Mid Ohio in April, so I’m planning on doing that Sunday morning as it seems to be the best time for everyone.
We’re at that time of year when I need to spend more of my time meeting and reviewing cars and their classifications. My goal is to simply be fair, so please don’t take it personally if I send you and e-mail or stop by and dig into your vehicle. It’s the part of the job I don’t really enjoy, but it’s a necessary evil. Remember, unlike the race classes, changes in class are retroactive and will change past event results.
I’m sure I sound like a broken record, but I need to touch one more time on the National Championships. You need to have completed five events in order to participate, and you need to remember that Friday’s are not official events. Considering we’ve had several cars break and several others never record and official time, I’d make sure you plan well. Expectations are for both Mid Ohio events to sell out early as well as the July Autobahn crossover event. Greg Greenbaum has rented a 40’x40’ tent for our download sessions, class review and meetings, so we’re going big for TT at MO. If you haven’t already signed up you need to do it soon! I’ve also attached the driver profile form for you to complete if you desire. The Nasa TT website has several driver profiles up already and many more to come this week. Mark Freemal did a great job taking a bunch of pictures, so all I need is a little personal information. Check out the websites and if anyone has any questions, please feel free to call or e-mail. See you soon.
John
