1. The good - Drivers who were familiar with the track, knew how to drive, were professional on-course, and drove well (COM drivers & some BMW & Audi and non-local guys too).
2. The bad - Drivers who had very little or no experience, that were slow but seemed very safe (ie: too terrified to be fast).
3. The ugly - Drivers who had some previous experience but had no idea how to drive safely, let alone at NHMS (early apex at every corner, especially T1...yikes!)
Congratulations to all who finished or at least attempted to finish. I believe Dave Guertin's team won their class - cool! The Gnomes completed an engine swap overnight between day 1 & day 2, and finished the race.
The Amish rotary team had tons of fun, lots of promise, and some mechanical issues. The Amish may not know how to make a good clutch, but the newest Amish broad sure knew how to weld one solid.
There were so many awesome moments our team had together, but perhaps the funniest was when we received our first (and only) black-flag penalty for driving. This was in the rain on the afternoon of day 2. Fast Freddy was pulled in, and the LeMons crew weren't sure what to say or what kind of penalty to apply. They had never before black flagged someone for driving too fast. The story we heard was that the corner workers were scared, that the car was seemingly out of control but in control all at once. Fred never put a wheel off or hit anything. He was just driving too fast & loose in the rain. At the time, we'd lost the clutch (for a second time at this event), and had welded the clutch disc to the pressure plate, so the car was stuck in 3rd gear the whole time. The judges seemed ready to let us go right back out, but in the end we took an apology tour around the paddock. Fred sat in the car with a megaphone while the rest of the team pushed the car around the garages. On the megaphone was Fred:"I'm sorry for driving too fast in the rain......in third gear.....without a clutch........I had no idea the corner workers at NHMS are a bunch of girls...."
Hilarious and all in good fun!
Also, what is the real story about the People's Curse? I've heard some disturbing rumors. I was in the car during that whole process and missed it, and my team wasn't paying much attention either. Anyway, I heard something about them calling the cops? Talk about taking things a bit too seriously!!
Flying Chickens team, I’ll try to clarify the “situation” around the People’s Curse…
). Anyway, given what probably seemed like aggressive driving (we lapped some cars ever 4 or 5 laps), a stupid little car (seriously, no one likes Miatas, especially ones with stickers on them), and FTD’s both days, people probably didn’t really like us. It also didn’t help that I hit (brushed gently) a Mustang in T3 as he turned into me (probably partially my fault as I wasn’t completely done passing prior to corner entry, but he had NO IDEA that I was there even though I was behind/beside him for a full lap). I had nowhere to go at the apex of 3 (wall on inside, Mustang on outside…the Mustang was softer) – but I don’t think that really mattered since the People’s Curse votes had been submitted by then. Either way, Leos was FURIOUS that we got the penalty – in his opinion the Mustang should have known I was there…it was funny to watch him argue with the Lemons guys and fail (we had to color a picture of a car before going back out because we were “driving like babies”).
Bravo for driving away! What a bunch of..crap!
