FF drivers to the 40th at RA

Trout and I are registered, almost packed and will hit the road the Monday after SRP. 2000 miles in 3 days, then 3 days of racing on a new circuit, then a flight home from Chicago. Trout has to drive back here alone cause I can't afford that much time off, and if my business partner finds out where I've been he'll walk away shaking his head! Funny how non-racers just 'don't get it.'
Last count there were over 220 cars entered between national, regional, vintage and CF. i hear there are over 100 cars in regional/CF! Oh boy...
 
From the talk, sounds like Chicago region will actually ALLOW a split start for that 100 + grid of CF/FF, Wes.

Enjoy the Saturday night part :)
 
I hope to shout they will allow a split start, or better yet 2 groups. Can't imagine how much fun it would be to hit T1 in the middle of 99 other cars!
Video cam will be on for sure...
 
Yes strange. SCCA does not follow FIA recommendations for starting fields. I didn't know they still allow 25 cars per mile of track.

From some Apex posts I guess Road America has seen (in its hay day) fields of 90 plus FF's.
 
With over 100 cars on the list I'm happy they are splitting the group. I like large grids, but that's just a little too large, you know?
Thanks Keith, but I'm packed and ready to roll out soon, so I'll make do with the one I have. I'm sure I can do a hand held paddock walk and then the on board stuff of course. Maybe I can make all of it into a long vid and make my youtube debut!
Thanks for the offer.
 
They did as planned! Looks like Wes and Trout made the massive tow from Spokane to Road America in time to drive in the BIG qual session this afternoon!

NINETY SIX car qual grid. Larry Bangert is 20th, Bob Posner is 65th, Wes Tipton is 86th and Trout Roberts is 94th. Bet they'll improve with some track time tomorrow. They are up against guys with massive amounts of track time at RA and, many just coming off the June Sprints races.

http://www.eformulacarnews.com/news_info.php?n=5829

The FF SCCA National qual session had 75 cars on course. I'm sure Trout and Wes aren't elligable for that. But Larry Bangert and Bob Posner are. They qual'd 41st and 66th respectively.
 
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Gotta say I am proud of our NW guys. Im also really proud of my dad for making the trek! Of course, It'll help a ton for the the Runoffs in the vees.
 
Just got off the phone with my dad. Sounds like an amazing weekend with a ton of ex-national champions. Last night around sunset they had a photo taken with over 200 fords on the front straight. Pretty cool.
 
Yes amazing scene with over 200 FF's. Here's a low shot with Rand and Beeler (the organizers) standing at the front. There were shots taken from the roof of a building that are even more impressive but not posted any where yet.

The other amazing thing is, the 96 cars made it through yesterdays qual session with ZERO of the famous black flags at Road America. All are playing nice :) So far.
 
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Yes amazing scene with over 200 FF's. Here's a low shot with Rand and Beeler (the organizers) standing at the front. There were shots taken from the roof of a building that are even more impressive but not posted any where yet.

The other amazing thing is, the 96 cars made it through yesterdays qual session with ZERO of the famous black flags at Road America. All are playing nice :) So far.

Awesome photo. I would love to be there. Dad also mentioned that everyone was really watching out for one another on the track.
 
Well it's over and I bet our guys have some great stories to tell when they get home.

NINETY-NINE cars took the green flag in the FF/CFF restricted regional:

1. Dave Livingston FF

30th Larry Bangert CFF

37th Bob Posner CFF

61st Wes Tipton CFF

71st Trout Roberts CFF

88 cars took the checkered flag. Good showing guys :)
 
Add to that list Rodney Jessen 4th in CFF, 14th over all. I suspect the Mark Keller who finished 15th overall is probably our Mark Keller too.

Well done to everyone who made the trip!
 
Yes it's over 4 miles of track but, with 99 cars out there, finishing the race is a 'well done'! Especially for 'our group' that doesn't race there on a regular bases. RA can eat you up in a hurry if you're not careful.

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I wasn't sure of some of the names. Didn't mean to leave out any of our Northwest guys.
 
Don't forget John Hill who ran brother Ralphs club ford in the FF race because of over subscription in the CF race. He was 14th with 3 laps to go and putting a pass on two cars at once when the first car started to spin and the second car hit his brakes, collecting John up in the mess. It was starting to rain and John was running faster than the cars in front of him.
 
I actually finished 60th out of 100 cars, and 33 out of 60 CF's. Trout was 10 spots back, and Bob Posner was 8 spots ahead. Even a 4 mile track is pretty much full with that many cars, and the regional FF's were a total pain in the ass with their passing under yellow and passing anywhere and everywhere, including the kink!
The track is totally awesome, and the kink is totally scary. It looks pretty tame in video, but it's not! The wall on drivers left is only 4 or 5 feet away at full tilt, so your apex has to be dead on every lap.
We had a Crossle upside down in T1 after 5 laps, and broken cars in almost every other corner. So they black flagged us and we sat in the pits for maybe 15 minutes while they cleaned up the mess, and then we played for another 7 laps. I had 4 cars up my gearbox and another 4 or 5 right in front of me the entire race, and it was the most fun I've had in years!
I did notice that the turn crews were not that friendly, and didn't come close to comparing with our folks. Half of the turn station personnel didn't even wave after our sessions, which really disappointed me. It got better each day, but still didn't touch our Conference workers and their enthusiasm.
It takes at least 2 week-ends to figure out that track, so we all need to go back again soon and run with only 30 or 40 cars!
I do have video of the race, and if I can figure it all out I will post a link soon.
 
Oh BTW Rich, most of us NW guys are on the right side of the photo, in the second and third rows from the wall and toward the back. The large photo they displayed at the party Saturday night showed us all pretty clearly. I doubt we'll ever see that many fords together again in one place so that shot will be framed and on my wall real soon!
Almost to a man they were a great bunch of gentlemen, in the paddock at least! On track it was every man for himself as usual.
The temp in WI when I flew out this morning was maybe 78 with low humidity. Just before we hit Sea-Tac at 5:30 the pilot tells us it's 94 and will be worse later in the week! I wanna go back...
Congrats to Rodney, Mark, Larry and Bob. We all had good races, and we all survived to talk about it!
Sounds like the Pro3 guys had a ball in Edmonton as well. What a week-end for Conference eh?
 
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