The 6 Heuers of Kartrrera PanOlympia

I think it safe to say there wasn't a single team in this event that didn't want to win, I also feel every team had equal opportunity to do so. This event was about having fun and raising money for the workers fund, those where and will remain the main two reasons behind this event. Even in an event that is meant to be fun we as competitors will always take it to the next level. If one teams strategy worked and another's didn't that is racing.

My team had a Kart with a broken hinge on the brake pedal that caused the pedal to hang-up on the bracket the holds the fairing making the rear brake drag. We drove that kart the best we could for the first two hours. I could've requested that we switch out the kart for another but I didn't want to. It was either our second or third kart that was tail happy another thing we had to overcome.

When we had the first re-fuel stop and kart change we told the track workers about this kart. Once the refuel and kart swap was done Strike & Destroy took the wheel of this kart and turned laps almost a full second fast than we did...talk about having a ringer putting a guy out there that has more laps than all 60 competitors combined, lets call that what it is. I don't think a single person complained about Tony racing with us at all I know none of my team mates did.

This was a blast I can't wait to do it again. Maybe we can have a couple of four hour enduros and then take this to the next level, 12 hours! I am all for it and if this idea takes off I will work on posters to promote it and work to get a sponsor(s). But the bottom line will be to raise money for the workers fund and have a blast doing it!

I too am a little sore in the neck from this race!
 
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his was a blast I can't wait to do it again. Maybe we can have a couple of four hour enduros and then take this to the next level, 12 hours! I am all for it and if this idea takes off I will work on posters to promote it and work to get a sponsor(s). But the bottom line will be to raise money for the workers fund and have a blast doing it!

I'd be all over that! I cant remember the last time I had so much fun, why not turn it up to eleven! (or, I guess that would be twelve)

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On behalf of all the volunteers I would like to thank each and everyone for organizing and entering this event, and for the donation to the worker fund. That was a very class act.

It was a geat time, and we even had people come up from Portland just to watch and laugh and oh ya laugh some more. (General consensus was that Race Control gets a sputter button.)

Just throwing a thought out there though.........
A couple of 4 hr enduros maybe with a twist.
If Walker could make the pit entrance work both ways, how about after the 2 hour refuelling, the next 2 hours go reverse course.
Talk about leveling the playing field. (right brain..... left brain..... type of thing)

See you all at the IRDC Enduro.

Once again with Thanks,
Lynn Rimmer
ICSCC ROD Director
 
They're not small issues actually, we put a lot of thought into things, and it depends upon your perspective what's better.

In fact, the response to eliminating the mandatory stint lengths was overwhelmingly positive, and the kart issues were as even distributed as could be reasonably expected and still resemble a bona fide race.

At least that's the consistent feedback I have gotten from people that were there.

Our team got a bad kart that cost us a bunch of laps. We were bummed out but hey that’s racing. That’s the way it goes. Roger Penske does not like it any more then I do. But he knows that it is part of it. The fastest guys were fastest because they were smooth. My two fastest guys happen to be young and one has never been in a race car.
They both were very smooth and clean (Ask Curtis). That is way they were fast. Pat and Randy were both very fast.

The no mandatory stint rule was fantastic. It eliminated and congestion in the pits and allow teams to pit if held up or maybe catch a caution. Just like big time racing :D

I am 50 years old. I have type II diabetes, arthritic closure in my neck due to cracked vertebrae from a car wreck long ago. I have not walked my usual 30 minutes per day since November. I made 30 minutes no problem. I too am still a bit sore but getting better.

Randy is right once past 15-20 mark you could go 1 hour.
We might try that next year.

It was great fun trading jokes and jabs with many teams EPR in particular. I only saw one person complaining and he was not a ICSCC racer. Even then it was brief.

Keep it the way it is or was. I saw nothing but smiles and high fives when it was over.

Wes take this as a joke as it is meant to be one.
Checkers is equal and fair with short stints. :p
 
Heck, The Pros from Dover team had one member who could only do 10 minute stints. He was very surprised. He had originally suggested that 20 minute stints would be best. He ended up only doing three stints total. He wasn't alone on the team. I think they ended up doing over 20 driver changes over the six hours. But everyone on the team had a huge grin at the end despite finishing last and over 30 laps down to the winners. I think leaving the stint length up to the teams was a good thing. Endurance racing is all about strategy. Since we are not in charge of things mechanically, driver changes and driving ability are the major variables under our control. Great fun, even if I was only spectating.

Rob
 
FWIW, our team had a mechanical as well, it was a broken throttle cable. Had to do a cart switcharoo and got a pig that plowed. Didn't matter to us, we just wanted to have fun, and have fun we did :D:D

I'm proud of all of you, good blokes one and all :p

RP
 
Like Rod said, our first cart was great, the one we switched to was a tractor, the third had acceleration issues (you can hear it from my GoPro camera, took a bit for the engine to take off after the go pedal was pushed). We watched our lap times get slower and the folks behind us catch up on lap count. That is one of the things that made this event FUN. Overcoming inequities.

The folks at APEX did a fantastic job. The drivers did a fantastic job, the spectators had a blast. The workers got a boost. I can't stop talking about it.

If anyone wants to whine they make tours with cheese for that.

Rod and Randy, you guys are more than great. Next time I hope I can stick around longer and at least buy you all a beer.
 
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Overall - I think the promoters and facility did a great job. Within the context of a fundraising event that involved recreational karting, the outing hit all of its goals: raise money, and let the participant go home with a bunch of fun memories of the event. On those grounds, hats-off!

If nothing changes for next year, it will still be a good time. However, to make it more accessible and fair to all, it would be great if the stint-length was reconsidered. We had two folks on our team that just couldn't take more than about 15-20 minutes, and I saw plenty of red-faces on other teams as well. We had a mix of seasoned road-racers and non-(active) racers. We had a huge age-span across the grid as well. Sure, if you are in great shape, and/or are an experienced kart "racer", getting beyond 15-20 minutes to 30, 45, and beyond is do-able. However, as an inclusive event for all backgrounds, wouldn't it make more sense to not turn the winning strategy into an iron-man contest?

We all know why Walker preferred 15-minute stints, and mandatory neck-brace changes, along with the other pit-stop rules - it was to add an element of variability into the overall race, in which the top drivers on each team are within a half-second of each other (one notable exception, which IMO, should not be repeated next year). Shorter stints will also increase the perceived pace of the event.

The karts are the karts - inverting the assigned kart at each fuel-stop is an excellent solution to a difficult problem. Our team also experienced a lot of, uh, variability across the equipment, and did have to swap out our last kart. We did have one glitch in that process, and I'm not sure if other teams swapping karts had this problem as well: we had an extra long lap (104 seconds) after the kart change, even thought the pit-stop at the swap was about 10-seconds. I'll bet this has something to do with re-assigning the new kart's transponder to our team.

Again - I had a great time at a fun, well-run event. Looking forward to the next one.

-Bruce
 
Gail Fetterman has around 100 pictures that she took during the event and is wondering if anyone is interested in them or if there is some place to post them. She doesn't do much in the way of posting, so I think she would be more comfortable sending a disk to some one and let them post them someplace. Any takers?

Rob
 
It appears that everyone had a great time in this event. Hats off to the folks at Apex and to Randy and Rod for putting this together. Thank you to "BRW" for opening your team to me. Thank you to everyone who drove for racing hard and clean. This event was the the most competitive and well-driven race I've had the pleasure to be a part of. Thank you to everyone for allowing me to drive with you all. (even though I am not a member of your group) It meant a lot to me to get to take part in a race with such quality drivers.

What an amazing set of fast laps there were put up, especially in the last session. Thank you to whoever ran the 29.3 for that bit of perspective. To see someone run that fast on such limited track time reminds me of just how much work I have ahead of me if I ever want to race for real. Whoever drove the 40 at the end of the race, you were incredibly difficult to get by. I think you were the hardest kart I've ever dealt with besides Ben (red white and blue helmet that drove friday night) because you were so fast and very clean. The laps I was behind you were some of the most fun laps I've driven there. If you only knew how many times I yelled in my helmet "How the heck am I supposed to get past this guy!" Congrats to the winning team, well deserved. You had a consistantly fast bunch of guys. Corner workers, even though I don't know you personally, I know how important those who work at the tracks are. Thank you for all you do. This really was the most fun I have had at Apex in almost 300 races. You were a great bunch of folks to drive with both in the race and leading up to it. I am very thankful to have gotten to meet so many of you and be a part of your race. I only wish I could do it again sometime, but unfortunately won't happen as I am leaving Washington. I hope you all had as much fun as I did and that you will come out to Apex again. Good luck in your upcoming seasons this year. Please drive hard, have fun and above all be safe.

Thanks again,
Tony Severson
 
I'd like to post photos of the event on our website. I would appreciate it if those of you that took photos could burn them to a CD and send them to me at:

7960 Center St SW
Tumwater, WA 98501

Walker Armstrong
Apex Karting, Inc.
 
I havent gotten around to posting. Im not exactly sure why, but i think it was a combination of lazyness, and lazyness.

I had a great time at the event! It made me want to get out there racing with you all, all the more. And indeed i will some day.

That last stint was an amazing one. I was trying SO damn hard to catch up and take p4 in the final standings. But alas, i pushed a little too hard going into 5b and had to lock them up to avoid collision with the kart in front of me. even if i had passed him, we still would have been a lap down, but just for my own satisfaction, i wanted to pass him :)

To Tony, i had a FANTASTIC time with you in the last stint. was probably one of the most nail biting experiences i have ever had in a kart. Another goal of mine was to actually put some distance between you and I before the end of the race, but you are an incredible kart driver and kept right on my tail. It finally got to the point where i was just like "ALRIGHT ALREADY! JUST GO!" and i pointed you by.

To everyone. Thank you so much for allowing outsiders into this event. I had so much fun, even my girlfriend though she only watched, enjoyed being around everyone that was so enthusiastic about the race. I look forward to another event some day!

Thank you to all, and to all a good night!
 
I had a great time as well. I look forward to doing it again.

I'll be at Infineon on the 19th and 20th, then Thunderhill the 21st and 22nd. I had the black helmet. :)

To Tony,

Good luck in your next endeavor. Officership is an incredible experience. Should you ever have the opportunity to lead our nation's youth in combat, as a person who has been there and done that, I wish you God's Speed and a safe return. If I can be helpful to that end, do not hesistate to ask.

Cheers,

Trevor
 
Hey Tony, you replaced my old fat ass on team BWR, and with your speed my guys sure as heck didn't miss me at all! Thank you for being there and filling in, and I look forward to meeting you soon. Maybe our team could gather down there again soon and hook up with you?
I hear this was a great time Scott, and I'm sorry I missed it, but I look forward to the next one. Pat has convinced me that 45 minutes is not that hard, so our team will give it a shot next time for sure.

Wes
 
Hey Tony, you replaced my old fat ass on team BWR, and with your speed my guys sure as heck didn't miss me at all! Thank you for being there and filling in, and I look forward to meeting you soon. Maybe our team could gather down there again soon and hook up with you?
I hear this was a great time Scott, and I'm sorry I missed it, but I look forward to the next one. Pat has convinced me that 45 minutes is not that hard, so our team will give it a shot next time for sure.

Wes

Good Wes! I am an old guy and I made it I am sure you can to. Sure its not as easy as driving an M3 but what is?

Will miss you next year Tony. In practices you helped anyone interested. Good luck in the future and thanks for serving our country. When do you leave? If before or your back up this way I have a pit pass with you name on it.
 
Wes,

Though I am glad to have gotten to race, I'm sorry you missed it. It was indeed a blast. Hopefully you will be in the next one. I look forward to meeting you as well. I will be at Pacific Raceway on March 7th to meet up with Bruce and spend the day at the track. I am leaving for Nebraska that night after we are done at the track. Before then I will be at Apex running all day this Sunday (Feb 22) and Friday Mar 6th. I would love to drive some more with the guys from BWR if you can make it down. If anyone else from the event can come those days, I'd love to see any of you again. I'm pretty open schedule wise leading up to the 7th so if there is a day someone wants to race, just post it on here and I can meet you there. Thanks again to everyone in the event, especially BWR.

Tony Severson

(By the way BWR guys, I am still sporting the green stickers on my helmet. I have no intention of taking them off until I have to.)
 
Possibly next Friday for me Tony, I'll see how it goes earlier in the week. I will be at PR with Bruce doing my co-chair enduro thing, so I look forward to meeting you then.
Nebraska leads to where eventuallly?

Wes
 
Friday my old roomate from Nebraska (Rick) who drives dirt track will be there so it would be fun to have other races of a different kind there also. He has also become pretty interested in your organization through this forum and all the stories I've shared. From Nebraska I will be headed to Georgia for Officer Candidate School and then job training. (Signal Corps) From there I am headed to Kuwait for a year. I'm trying to go to Afganistan instead because the unit I'm with now will be there. Then maybe I could come back to Washington for a while also. Hope to see some folks again soon.

Tony
 
Well Tony, if I don't see you before you leave, good luck and God speed wherever you end up. My dad served 27 years in the Army, including 3+ years in Europe in WWII and 18 months in Korea, so I grew up military, and it just never leaves you. You guys are definitely my heroes...
 
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