For the car/racing fans...

[RHenriksen]

Looks like a lot of fun. I raced SRF for a few years in SCCA, and did the NASA 25 hour three times.

TAM, never knew you were a m/c racer! I did a season of endurance racing in CMRA on a 600.Planning on flipping my street GSXR750 for a track bike soon

[The Annoyed Man]

Looks like a lot of fun. I raced SRF for a few years in SCCA, and did the NASA 25 hour three times.

TAM, never knew you were a m/c racer! I did a season of endurance racing in CMRA on a 600.Planning on flipping my street GSXR750 for a track bike soon

I held an active license from 1985-1990, and quit when my wife was pregnant with my son. The GSXR was still a fairly recently released model right before I stopped racing in 1990. The most advanced bike I raced on was a 1986 FZ750 with a ex-factory motor toward the end. But most of the time I ran a modified 1983 GPz750.

I never seemed to be the guy that the photographer caught with his knee firmly on the pavement, although I used to wear out my knee skids pretty regularly. Oh well.....

Entering turn 7A at Riverside

Setting up for turn 4 at Willow Springs

Entering turn 6 at Riverside

The stuff I did was strictly low budget compared to car racing. Heck, it was low budget compared to a lot of bike racing even back then. I had a 2nd part time job in a motorcycle accessory shop at the time, and I got big discounts on supplies and suspension components. I got discounted tires from Dunlop, and later on Michelin slicks when I started running those. And I had a friend who was the parts manager at Yoshimura at the time, and I got very good prices on exhaust systems, carbs, and piston kits from them.

It was fun while it lasted, but even if I could go back in time, I'm not sure I'd do it again. I spent a lot of money I could have used more wisely.

[PUCKER]

TAM - No regrets...that's how you have to look at it! Looks like a blast!

When I first got into track days with Corvettes a few years ago I thought about taking my Ducati Monster 1100 out and having fun with it...then I remembered what it's like when you "run out of talent" in a car...I translated that into "motorcyle-ese" and decided that visions of me bouncing (too fat to slide LOL!) off the track where not pretty...so I stayed in a cage! Raced motorcross when I was in high school..that was fun...aerial contact never was though...crazy stuff!

[ShootDontTalk]

I rode a hot rod Vespa for a short time. We put some nitromethane in them. Life was exciting. Especially so when the city would "resurface" the streets by spraying on sticky tar and covering it with loose gravel. About six of us came "roaring" down the street with a tank loaded with nitro/gas mix but we forgot about the gravel. The guy in the lead laid his Vespa down and slid on his bottom through the red light. I about died laughing until I saw his...er...hind-parts.

I knew there was something weird about you guys. Riding motorcycles!!!

[PUCKER]

Speaking of motorcycles...you want a good laugh??? Cue the circus music...I present to you the "Bear/Gorilla on a tiny circus motorcycle!"

No, seriously, it's my pit bike, fits in the trailer perfectly, it's street legal, great for hauling fuel jugs around, I've actually ridden it to work (where speed limit is 35'ish - I've had it to a WHOPPING 43 MPH DOWNHILL!)...oh, I'm currently running 110 race fuel (same as the car) due to NO ETHANOL (had a fuel degradation issue - this solved it!)...it's a Honda Ruckus 50cc...

[The Annoyed Man]

I did a season of endurance racing in CMRA on a 600.

I rode with the (now defunct) ARRA, and Willow Springs was our home track, although for a couple of years we ran frequently at the old Riverside Int'l Raceway.......until they turned it into a housing development or some such. Anyway, we had one race weekend a month, pretty much year 'round. I think we might have taken December off....don't remember for sure. I ran the Tech Inspection station for ARRA, and one year my crew and I provided tech inspection for the WERA 24 hour at Willow. Here's an old video I found on Youtube of a race day at Willow in 1986, my second season. For whatever reason, I don't see myself in any of those races, but a lot of the guys I raced with are there - some of whom went on to become quite famous - Doug Polen, Earl Roloff, Chuck Graves, Kenny Kopecky ( a REALLY nice guy), and so on. Anyway, I was strictly a back of the pack rider, so I would have only stood out for being really low in the points. Others back then who went on to be reasonably well known nationally but who were just club racers then included the Erion brothers and others. Kevin Erion flipped me the bird once as he passed me because he didn't like my line. I laughed with him about it afterwards in the pits. I have a lot of fun memories from those days, but they will stay in the past.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=XY2Wb_nDB80[/youtube]

TAM - No regrets...that's how you have to look at it! Looks like a blast!

When I first got into track days with Corvettes a few years ago I thought about taking my Ducati Monster 1100 out and having fun with it...then I remembered what it's like when you "run out of talent" in a car...I translated that into "motorcyle-ese" and decided that visions of me bouncing (too fat to slide LOL!) off the track where not pretty...so I stayed in a cage! Raced motorcross when I was in high school..that was fun...aerial contact never was though...crazy stuff!

Reminds me of two things......

1) We self-deprecatingly thought of it as running out of track before we ran out of talent. Wives and girlfriends thought of it as running out of brains before we ran out of track..... and....

2) When I was still active, Kevin Schwantz was still riding for Team Yoshimura. He crashed in practice at Mid-Ohio at near top speed on a long straightaway. A corner worker ran up to do a quick assessment as he was laying there on the pavement and asked him, "Do you know what day of the week it is?" Schwantz replied, "Well it was Saturday when I crashed, but as long as I slid, it might be Sunday now."

[PUCKER]

The #13 Manufacturing News Monte Carlo GT-2 is loaded up! Hooking up to the coach and heading out tomorrow to the SCCA National Runoffs at Daytona International Speedway....fingers crossed....yahooooo!!!!!

And to keep it somewhat CHL-related, yes, I will be packing at least one pistol the whole way...other than when I am piloting #13.

[Rex B]

Bob Wolff we probably have some mutual friends.
Wayne Hill, Jack Marr?

[PUCKER]

I do not recognize those names, only my 2nd year at this.

[PUCKER]

Setup in the paddock as of last night.

I'm on Twitter. Well, at least @MfgNewsRacing13 is...follow along.

[PUCKER]

Top 10 finish!! Thank you to my crew and Gregg Rodgers at Pinnacle Autosports!!

[Rex B]

Congrats! You guys got the first race of the weekend.

If anyone is interested, live video at http://www.scca.com/live
B-Spec is just starting. Slowest cars, factory stock, great racing

[The Annoyed Man]

Top 10 finish!! Thank you to my crew and Gregg Rodgers at Pinnacle Autosports!!

Congratulations!

[PUCKER]

Thank you!

First time for me to run Daytona, gotta tell you, it's a gut check! 170+ on the tri-oval and then slowing down to 60 to make the first turn...especially when your brakes are going towards the end of the race...whew!!

[PUCKER]

Video of my 3rd practice, also my 3rd time on track...things get interesting at 18:30 coming out of the bus stop, felt a little bobble, unbeknownst to me, I had a rapidly deflating right rear tire, measured 5-6 psi back in the paddock, should've been 32 hot!! So, the undeterred idiot that I am, after the spin I go for another lap to self-diagnose...feel even more bobble, decide that it will not "self heal" so I call it a session and retire...smart move, albeit a little late!

http://youtu.be/3mkFxSjvgSg