Chump Car racing live

You are (as almost always, nearly every-time, and more than occasionally) correct Ken. Especially interesting is the potential for cross-over. Partnership? Working collaboratively?? Sharing resources??? Interesting concepts huh.

I do not think there was a car in the extra class either, though I did see a picture of one with IT markings somewhere.
 
The potential for cross-over is there and is huge. I got into racing after doing the 24 hours of LeMons (the series after which the Chump Car series is modeled..) at Thunderhill last year! It suckered me in with the promise of cheap racing, and then made me realize club racing isn't actually that much more expensive, as I assumed it would be.
 
Ken,

Well stated. I believe, in most endeavorers, that it is better to work with "competitor organizations" to increase the size of the pie, than to work against them, to grab a larger (percentage) share of a shrinking pie.

Chumpcar may be that "entry level drug" to get them into Conference and other forms of road racing.

Dan
 
I just got the word from Adam on the turn 11 incident. He was driving the little yellow PIR safety truck down the back straight and as he entered the turn, he was braking on the dry line, but had to stay right which took him onto the damp part of the track. He spun the truck. The only damage was to his pride, thank goodness. Surprise!

Bryan said he has in car footage of Adams spin...
 
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This past weekend was my first ChumpCar race. I'm not convinced that the cost of building a reliable ChumpCar race car is all that much cheaper than a mid-pack ITA or ITB car. Much of the cost is in the safety gear (cage, seat, harness, etc.) anyway. The base price of the ChumpCar candidate car is supposed to be no more than $500 and I think a typical base car for ITA or ITB or even early Miata is probably $1500 - $2500, before turning it into a race car.

The car I drove (for all of 6 laps) was a collosal POS MGB that did around around 70 slow laps on Saturday and didn't start on Sunday. Conference and SCCA would never let that car on the track, LOL.
 
Its not WHAT you paid for it, the $500.00 value is what is it worth. If you were to do an internet search for a car, given the current condition it is in, that is the baseline value. You can put used parts on it to go to the dollar limit. Using Erics car as an example, if it was worth $400.00 because it had a blown engine and $400.00 was a fair price you could put a $100.00 used engine in it. This rule is pushed to the max, just look at some of the cars out there this weekend. A Datsun 1600 roadster with a KA24DE and 5 speed?? Come on. They said they paid $150 for the engine. I find that a bit hard to believe for a solid runner, AND the transmission. But who really cares right. They had a blast.
 
there was a car like my ita car out there from Minnesota e30 Eta motor (low revvin high tq) they had coil overs, i want coil overs on my car :( lol. they now have a list of known approved vehicles so even if you paid more for it if its on the list its ok. it looked like alot of people had a lot of fun. i was entertained watching the people who knew how to pass passing people who had no idea
 
Grandpa Pettybone sez: "More important question is can it be put on the big screen at the ICSCC banquet??????"

Fats sez: Negative. This unsanctioned action is not relevant to the ICSCC environment. Besides, do you suppose that we would get any out-takes from other Conference teams?

It's a Dover thing now. I hit things. You get hit. And... well Trunk Monkey just got a little dizzy... this time.

Don't mess with my Trunk Monkey sm.jpg

There'll be plenty more opportunities. Wait for it.
 
The car in the extra class was a sunday replacement for our crown vic. We lost 3rd and 4th gear about 1.5 hours into the race on Saturday. So, we pulled it into 2nd and did a test. It was kinda like "how many licks to the center of a tootsie pop?" Well, you can hammer a crown vic in second gear for 7 hours before the head gaskets go away, if anyone was wondering. 200 laps. So, Party Girl went out with us on Sunday as the lone "EC" entry. We won the class handily.
 
The car in the extra class was a sunday replacement for our crown vic. We lost 3rd and 4th gear about 1.5 hours into the race on Saturday. So, we pulled it into 2nd and did a test. It was kinda like "how many licks to the center of a tootsie pop?" Well, you can hammer a crown vic in second gear for 7 hours before the head gaskets go away, if anyone was wondering. 200 laps. So, Party Girl went out with us on Sunday as the lone "EC" entry. We won the class handily.

Way to go, Tim!
 
I ran my old stock car Scirocco and had a blast! we got 2nd saturday and 1st Sunday! I was thinking the Party girl would fit right in as a chumpcar.
Thanks to all the ICSCC workers and drivers that make time thing happen!
Hank
 
Grandpa Pettybone sez: "More important question is can it be put on the big screen at the ICSCC banquet??????"

Fats sez: Negative. This unsanctioned action is not relevant to the ICSCC environment. Besides, do you suppose that we would get any out-takes from other Conference teams?

It's a Dover thing now. I hit things. You get hit. And... well Trunk Monkey just got a little dizzy... this time.


There'll be plenty more opportunities. Wait for it.

Adam and I have just been waiting for JC to jump on this. JC has been after Adam for a time now. Adam figures he will be rubbing his hands in glee, just itching to get his hands on the footage.
 
Thanks for the link, Bill.

Here's a picture of my team's car doing what it did best over the weekend, LOL:
http://pdxsports.smugmug.com/Racing/2010-ChumpCar/14484075_RZGgT#1075761948_ZiSwT-A-LB

Bill, it is a spectacle and I hope to try it again (and maybe get more more than 6 laps). I think a 4-cylinder Japanese car (e.g., Civic, CRX, Miata, etc.) is perfect for these races. Simple and reliable seems to be the key. It'd be great to see you out there.

Also, ChumpCar has a class for "regular" race cars like ours that don't need to adhere to the $500 rule. I don't know how many of these cars we had at the Portland race. While I think the racing would be better driving a race car like ours (vs a $500 crap can), I'd be concerned about the risk of damage. Many of the drivers have little or no wheel-to-wheel racing experience and the disparity in driver skill in these races seems to be pretty high.
 
Is it true that they pay for cornerworkers by invite and have only one per turn? THAT's what I find concerning ...
 
It is true that the event could enjoy more non-driving participants. Don't be concerned, be involved.

I'll ask around to find out if someone can put your name on a list for April if you would like, Bonnie. They have a 7hr+7hr scheduled for April 9+10, and their Halloween-ish date looks to be 18hrs. Same offer to anyone. Send me a note, and I'll pass it on. tpfd@comcast.net

Recruit, recruit, recruit. If this doesn't grab a few of 'em, then we're just not very good at it are we?

It's a different flavoured ouperation, but one that may not be hounestly judged until placed into the envirounment, and taking a real feel, taste, smell. We can all learn aboot how much we might otherwise be limited by.

An aside... How many folks play at the ice racing rink? And how 'whacky' are those guys?
 
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