Some of you know that I've
been sending out BK Racing Updates for quite some
time now, but unless you've been around since early 2000 you probably don't
realize this is the end of my seventh year as the self-appointed chronicler
(that means "reporter" for you Floridians <g>) of our efforts. If you're
really curious and/or a masochist, you can find all my musings on our
website (http://www.b-k-racing.com/Results/results_index.htm).
Feel free to
browse the site (not just the race results) and tell us what you think, but
one common denominator in all those articles is they focus primarily about
how BK Racing did at various events.
For a number of reasons, this article will be different. First of all, my
role in the Fourteenth American Road Race of Champions Presented by
Grassroots Motorsports (the ARRC by GRM) was much bigger than just driving.
Second, via the magic of the online registration system I will be sending
this report to all participants at the 2007 ARRC by GRM as well as my
regular distribution list (so some of you will get multiple copies). Third
(and most important), our racing weekend sucked!
Bad news first. During Friday morning's first qualifying session I'd run
back-to-back 1:34's (which was decent considering we were still using the
tires we'd run at Roebling Road a month earlier) and was coming down the
back straight on my fourth hot lap. As I came over the rise at Turn Nine
at
almost 160 mph I was greeted by a cloud of dust and what seemed like a
parking lot full of stock cars. Ends up a car had just broken a
transmission, which caused those following him to scatter and check up at
the fastest part of the race track. When I arrived maybe three seconds
later (probably just as the yellow flags were coming out at Nine) at a
closing speed of about 100 miles per hour (imagine driving into your garage
at 80), I nailed the brakes and steered to the only open spot on the track I
could see. Unfortunately the faster car following me ALSO committed to the
same spot, tagged me in the left rear, and then I spun into the concrete
wall on driver's left. The impact shortened Cuervo's rear end by about two
feet, but after the dust cleared I re-cranked the engine, drove back to our
paddock space, surveyed the damage, said some REALLY nasty words, and threw
the car cover over it.
I know it's a euphemism that's overused on TV, but it really was "just one
of them racin' deals." We're covering almost a football field each second
at 155 mph, and the whole thing from start to finish lasted maybe four
seconds. Later that afternoon I talked to the guys at Turn Ten and they
still weren't even sure what all had happened - "a car came slowly over the
hill, there was a big cloud of dust with cars spinning everywhere, then when
the dust finally settled all the cars had driven off!" We probably could
have gotten Cuervo back together and there were MANY offers of assistance,
but with everything else I had going on over the weekend I decided my
driving activities were over. What I HAVE learned, however, is that when
we
have extra crew available (like we did this weekend) we'll put a person at
Turn Ten with a radio.
= = = = = = = = =
And now from the Atlanta Region Competition Director's point of view:
In 1994, after twenty-four years at Road Atlanta, the SCCA's National
Championship event (the Runoffs) was kidnapped by Yankee carpet-baggers and
moved to Mid-Ohio. To fill the gap on the track's calendar the Atlanta
Region resurrected an historic name, the American Road Race of Champions,
and invited most of the regional-only classes to a single event to determine
the "National champions" in each of those classes. Grassroots Motorsports
magazine was involved in those early versions of the event, and I'm very
pleased they have agreed to partner with us again.
Although the event primarily consisted of Improved Touring cars in the early
years, we've added other regional-only classes like ASR, SPO/U, CF, and CFC
over the years. We were also among the first to recognize Spec Miata, so
when that class became eligible for the Runoffs we modified our rules to
include regional-only Spec Miatas as well. And when the BoD decided to
recognize thirty classes for National competition yet only invite the top
twenty-four to participate at the Runoffs, the concept of the ARRC by GRM
changed to "the National Championship event for those classes not invited to
race at the Runoffs."
The results are out on MyLaps.com
(http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=265565)
and the various
forums are filled with comments on the event, so I'm not going to go into
detail with individual race results. We were also the topic of discussions
on the weekly radio show, Shifting Gears (go to
http://www.racinboys.com/home/video_list
and click on the 11/14/07 segments)
and I thought they presented a balanced view of the weekend. In the early
years of the event we had about 150 total participants and this year 294
cars turned a wheel in competition for the ARRC by GRM Championship races.
Add in the 110+ cars for Friday afternoon's Pro-IT and the Three Hour Enduro
on Sunday, and we had over 400 hundred cars on track over the weekend. The
racing was intense throughout the entire field in almost all the races, and
this event has truly become one of the top destination events on the SCCA
calendar. Our goal is to say to those that will be heading to Topeka next
year for the Runoffs, "Don't you wish you'd finished outside the top
twenty-four so you could come back to Road Atlanta?" <g>
As well as this event went overall, I'm expecting the revived partnership
with Grassroots Motorsports to increase visibility of the event even more in
the future. And just as there is no perfect lap in racing, there also is
no
perfect event. The items on my short list of things to improve for 2008:
- arrange to use the Pro Paddock as well as the Club Paddock
- arrange to start parking rigs earlier on Wednesday afternoon
- add an extra run group to Thursday's Test Day
- do everything possible to ensure all groups get to run all their laps
- increase available manpower on Friday (I've got a novel approach for
this)
- provide scrutiny in the Tech Shed for all classes
- make sure we have enough to feed everyone at the evening parties
- bring Scott Conway and Greg Creamer back, plus add a Victory Circle
announcer
I/we are ALWAYS looking for ways to make the event better and we're having a
Race Board meeting on Monday, 11/19, to discuss what we did right and what
we can improve. If you have suggestions, send them to me (at both this and
the "EdwardAlan.Kummer" address) so I'll be able to compile them before
tomorrow night's meeting. Your input is valuable to us.
After all is said and done, I've EXTREMELY proud of the job done by the
Atlanta Region SCCA & friends. I'm just honored they allow me to be a part
of it.
See y'all at the track...
Butch Kummer
Atlanta Region Competition Director
ARRC by GRM Committee Chairman
