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Still Racing After All
These Years (2000 Wrap-up) by Butch Kummer
At the end of each racing season I
take some time to reflect on how things went the previous twelve months and establish
goals for the upcoming year. After finishing second in the SCCA’s 1999 road racing
series for regional drivers, I had decided to move up and attempt to qualify for and
participate in their National Championship event (aka - the Runoffs). As longtime readers
may remember, my original goal last November was to finish in the top ten of GT-1 drivers
in the Southeast Division (thus earning the invitation), qualify in the top twenty at the
Runoffs and finish in the top ten in the championship race. Granted the playing field
tilted somewhat as the 2000 season went along, but we ended up accomplishing what I’d
hoped to do.
I’ve summarized our weekends
below, but that chart only begins to tell the story of this season for BK Racing, LLC. We
qualified for the Runoffs with a 15-year old car and an engine I built in my shop at home
(if SCCA had a "Club GT-1" class we would have won it hands down), then finished
eighth at the Runoffs with what was essentially a brand new car. In addition, we also ran
enough Solo I events (kinda like NCCC high-speed) to bring the GT-1 championship back to
Woodstock after it’s one year sojourn in the Big Easy. Along the way, we officially
broke or set the Solo I class records at Beech, Peach State & VIR, broke the overall
Solo I track record at Talladega and unofficially broke the GT-1 road racing track record
at Kershaw. Although some of my NCCC years running out of the Florida Region were pretty
decent, I’d have to say this was the most successful racing season I’ve had
since I first started autocrossing way back in 1972!
Although it runs the risk of
sounding like a NASCAR winner’s circle interview, you’ll notice I use
"we" and "our" a lot in the previous paragraph. That because
there’s no way I could have had a year like this one without a LOT of help from
family & friends. First on the list has to be Harriett, my life partner and best
friend. Not only does she understand how important racing is to me and encourage me when
times are tough, she also originated the plan to have Johnny Miller build the new race
car. Mike Hearn from Birmingham, Mike Eakin from Tallahassee and Eric Bartel (from Home
Depot) crewed for me at a number of events this year, as did Corvette Atlanta members Eric
Roberts and Charlie Johnson (including the Runoffs). I’ve also appreciated the
support and positive comments from multiple Corvette Atlanta members when we’ve run
into each other (not literally) at various events this season. Finally, Donnie Parks even
made a special trip to the house the night before we left for Mid-Ohio to deliver the
"official" NCCC track map and discuss the various corners from a Corvette
drivers’ perspective. It might sound corny, but:
"Thanks guys –
there’s no way it would have happened without you."
Shifting gears to the 2001 season,
the goal is to again qualify for the Runoffs, but this time finish on the podium and get
to thank everyone on national TV. As I’ve written before, the car is easily capable
so I need to either get up to speed personally or put an ad in the newsletter for a new
driver. And although we might run selected Solo I and/or NCCC events as test sessions, the
focus of the new year will be road racing events that lead to the National Championship.
As before, I’ll keep you posted as the year progresses.
See you at the track…
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