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See ya at the track... |
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BK RACING
- PATHWAY TO THE HIGH BANKS
Our latest
adventure started out down at the Moroso National in January. I was crewing
for Chris Ingle's T-1 effort when this guy comes up, identifies himself as a
Corvette enthusiast and asks "What's the difference between 'T-1' and 'G-1'?"
Chris immediately dismissed the guy as an ankle-biter and went back to getting
the car ready, but I wasn't busy at the moment (and it was raining) so I took
some time to explain the differences between the production-based T-1 class
and the purpose-built GT-1 cars. I used Chris' car as an example of the
former and pointed him in the direction of Bob Ruman's TransAm Corvette as an
example of the latter, then got back to work on the car and figured I'd never
see him again.
A couple
of hours later he comes back with more questions. Ends up he had been
successful in business, had always wanted to race, didn't know how to get
started and wasn't sure what class he wanted to start with or where he wanted
to end up. He did know he needed a license and was aware of the February SCCA
drivers' school at Savannah, but he wanted to do that in something closer to
what he would eventually end up racing. Since he's 6'4", he was pretty sure
he needed something bigger than a Spec Miata. It was still raining and we
were done for the day, so I put on my "teacher" hat and took the first step
down the path.
To keep it
(somewhat) short, Brian Tuttle ended up renting Chris' car for the Feb 11-13
drivers' school and did well. He also rented Chris' car (with B.K. Racing
providing track support) for the Sebring SARRC race the end of February where
he also did well, turning laps at 1:15.0 vs. a 1:13.3 track record. He
successfully completed the 3-day Panoz Driving school at Sebring last week and
as I write this is participating in the Panoz support race for the Twelve
Hours of Sebring. At the end of that he hopes to have his National license.
In his spare time he has also been on a "fact finding tour" to understand the
various series available. We paddocked next to Phil Simms TransAm Corvette at
the SARRC race and he picked Phil's brain most of the weekend (not that it
took all three days <g>). He also attended the Homestead GrandAm weekend as a
guest of the series, met Johnny Rutherford and Rick Mears, then spent some
time with Jim France to understand the direction of that series.
After the
Panoz race the next step is to drive the B.K. Racing Corvette (Lucifer) on a
test day at Little Talladega, then on to a Regional/National at Texas World
Speedway April 2,3. After that we'll go back to Homestead for the American GT
weekend April 8-10, then take a month off (maybe) before doing the Daytona
National the first weekend in May. We picked the Homestead and Daytona events
because they are stops on the GrandAm series ("NASCAR's Road Racing Series")
and he wants experience on those tracks. Oh yeah - last week he ordered a
Riley/Pontiac (sister to the car that won the Daytona Rolex 24 this year) that
should be here by May 7. His target is the Paul Revere 250 that runs at
Daytona the night of June 30 (and has the Pepsi 400 as a support race).
No
paralysis by analysis here!
Asking
basic questions in January, drivers' school and first SARRC race in a T-1
Corvette in February, Panoz school and race series in March, three races in a
GT-1 Corvette in April and May, assemble a team, test and run the GrandAm race
at Daytona in June. Whew!
I'm not
sure what (if any) part
B.K. Racing will play after the Daytona National, but it oughta be fun
watching this story unfold. Right now I'm just glad he happened to stop by
our paddock spot at Moroso. To coin a phrase - the racing gods work in
mysterious ways.
See y'all
at the track...
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