In-Car Video - 1st Stint in 2009 25 Hours of Thunderhill

[GarySheehan]

question: was there any one school that fully prepared you to drive that "scary" subie? or did schools only take you so far, and then it was just sheer talent that just got the rest of the way there on your own?

because i've done very well at numerous schools, i'm one sponsor shy of finishing a car (a 1970 road race A-frame), but I don't know if I can handle its 700hp. the bbc will definitely make it a victim through turns, but it will also make it untouchable on the straights (i'm told). obviously, nothing's stock, and it's designed for road racing. but again, i have this gnawing question in my mind, will i be able to handle it.

because the real question is: do these schools come anywhere close to the "400hp" they claim. they feel more like "260hp". and i'm about to get into a proven 700hp if i ever find a sponsor to put a cage on the car, get the wiring, and a few select parts.

Schools pretty much teach you the basic theory of auto racing and help you apply that theory. Nothing can prepare you for a big jump in performance other than getting in the seat in the higher performance car and working your way up to the capabilities of that car.

HP is HP. Your right foot will tell the engine how much to produce. Go easy on the throttle and slowly work your way in. Driving down the straights with a bazillion horsepower is easy. Braking and carrying speed through the corner is the tough part. Applying throttle at the apex is the fun part. Tread lightly.

What other racing experience do you have? Why are you building this particular car? What are your racing goals?

[gizmo]

My dad and I were building it as a father son thing before he died. A conniving fabricator prevented the dream from becoming a reality.

I driven a late-model stock car on asphalt, i have very limited time behind a whelen modified on asphalt, i placed in the 98th percentile among 20,000 drivers at a national autocross in a car i had never driven until that day, and i've got about 24 hours worth of wheel time behind a kart (1 of which had 32hp (i went with ra64t (the guy above))). i continually excel in a stock car, and i continually struggle with the karts. (i run fairly close to the "pro karters" but there's just something about the kart that i don't understand when i should if i want to go faster; i got into karts because the driver that won the autocross races them avidly).

most of the classroom experience did not come with wheeltime, although the classes were conducted by fairly successful professional drivers. I've also been to those "racing experience" programs, which were fun, but offer nothing in the way of driving instruction (or anything really).

the car was supposed to be just a way for my dad and i to run the horsepower they run in the cup series without the budget, and the only tracks close enough to allow that with the money we could get was the NASA american iron extreme division. so we'd run it there. have no idea how the car would fair, given the heavy distrobution of weight toward the nose, but the car has as many modifications as the rules will allow, so it's hard to say if anyone there is making the same horsepower and if that or handling will be the overriding factor come the checkered flag.

that's not to say i wouldn't like to make a career out of racing, but i lack the money to do it; and i doubt i'd find a way to break into it without an opportunity like driver-x.

a 1/3 mile oval is fun to drive, but you can't enjoy the car the same way you could running it wide open with more space. but it sure is a test of skill; it's like trying to drive a train without the cars being connected and the ability to switch a car from one traintracks to another and within the same traintrack change poistion of cars on that traintrack (if that makees sense).

then again, i might just sell the thing if it ever gets finished, since it was something dad and i were supposed to do and now it's just not the same without him.

[Bodder]

Gary I noticed you giving a lot of hand signals during the first stint video. Some of them were waves, others pointing the car behind you as to which direction it should pass you and at 7:24 you even seem to have a "what the hell man" hand motion. I guess my questions are the hand signals standard practice in many races, or different types? Do most drivers do them and do you look for them when passing or just passed?

[GarySheehan]

Gary I noticed you giving a lot of hand signals during the first stint video. Some of them were waves, others pointing the car behind you as to which direction it should pass you and at 7:24 you even seem to have a "what the hell man" hand motion. I guess my questions are the hand signals standard practice in many races, or different types? Do most drivers do them and do you look for them when passing or just passed?

These endurance races put many classes of cars out on the track at the same time. Straight line and cornering speeds can be drastically different. So you never really know if the guys you are coming up on are aware of you or how quickly you can go. If someone obviously gets out of my way by moving off the racing line for me, it makes my job significantly easier, so I give them a "thank you" wave just to let them know I appreciate it.

On the other hand, if I see a faster classed car coming up on me, I'll point on what side I want them to pass me on and where. This let's the other driver know I'm aware of them and let's them know I am collaborating with them on a pass. Makes the process more simple, faster and safer.

Stuff like this makes endurance racing easy. But many times I come up on drivers in cars that should be significantly faster than they are, and utterly unaware of what's going on around them. This happened at 7:27 in the video that you referenced, where the driver of that blue car came over on me twice, taking the racetrack away that I wanted to occupy. Had he been aware of what was going on around him, I could've made that pass 3 corners earlier without any drama. Sometimes I just get frustrated and vent with a WTF hand gesture. I don't know if he sees it or not, it's just something I do. Occasionally the "one finger salute" will make an appearance as well. That one is universal in all racing series.

Gary