April 2011 Thunderhill Download
Willows, CA (April 16-17, 2011) —
Post Event Email Letter to SE30 Group by Scott Neville

Hey Everyone!

I'm a little later than I wanted getting this download out. There was so much going on on this race weekend it's hard to capture it all in words....but you can see from all the text below that I tried. It was an "epic" racing weekend...that's for sure!

Friday Night Casa Ramos:  My personal weekend starting on a great note at Casa Ramos Friday night when I strolled into the bar I was immediately greeted by the always lovely Sara Zwain who gave me a hug and said her and husband Tony had already bought me a frosty margarita!  My frozen treat was waiting for me at our big group table.  Nice, I thought to myself, this weekend is starting off just right!  We had a table for 20 reserved for the NorCal SE30 crowd.  We all had a ball at dinner!  I'm afraid I now look forward to Casa Ramos with all my racing buddies as much (or more) than actually racing!

At our table, I sat next to Tommy O, Robert Lamb and Bill Shawhan all veteran racers who have started the 2011 season with us.   It was fun getting to know them all better during the evening.  Tommy O goes back to NASA Pro7 days and Bill is a former Formula Ford racer and Robert a former Thunder Roaster racer.   It was great to also sit next to one of NorCal SE30 charter members,  Ron Harness, fresh back from the far east on business with this weekend being his first race of the season (I should note that Ron qualified 5th on Saturday...apparently he had not gotten too rusty off from his season hiatus!).  Other NorCal SE30 folks at our table included Greg Peterson, Donny "Hollywood" Edwards, Bennett McMicking, Steve Ferrario, Walter Ford, Tony and Sara Zwain, and Ted Hill.  Gary and Jenny Rieger were at a nearby table as were NASA officials Geoff Mohler and Will Faules. Jim Bucha couldn't make it as he had a bad headache and needed to crawl under a rock back at his motel. Forgive me if I've left anyone out...margaritas and middle age do have an impact on ones memory!

Our NorCal points leader (and BBQ CZAR) Brad McClure showed up a bit later and joined in on what can only be described as  "rollicking merriment"  with the chief impresario of good will and cheer being, of course, the one-and-only Donny Edwards.  By this time most folks had finished dinner and were still ordering drinks.  Always the magnanimous host, Donny started buying rounds tequila shots (the good stuff... Patrón!)  for both Brad and Steve Ferrario.  About the 4th round (I lost count) Steve downed his shot and was surprised (more like shocked) to discover it was filled with only water...he was looking at his glass with a WTF? expression on his face.  Come to find out Donny got the glasses mixed up and gave Steve his shot glass filled with only water and not the one with the real booze in it!  Donny...always the competitor, was looking to supply two of our fastest competitors with a nice Saturday morning Casa Ramos hangover!  Classic Donny at work!  I wish everyone could have seen the look on Donny's face when he was caught with the swicheroo!  There were big laughs all around the restaurant!

Weather and Racing Format: The weekend weather was cool in the 70's and partly cloudy...and, for the first time this season, no rain in the forecast!  NASA added an interesting and fun twist to our racing, that being a one-hour "petite" enduro on Sunday with the grid position determined by Saturday's race finish.  Our enduro included a mandatory pit stop with a driver exit and entry and no re-fueling.

Saturday Qualifying: We had 28 SE30s out for Saturday's qualifying.  Tommy O qualified on Saturday's pole with a very quick 207.13.  Traffic played a big role with the other racers and most didn't get a clean lap in the qual session.  Loren Trefethen secured P2 with a 2:08.65 and Greg Peterson P3 clocked a 2:09.04.  Most (including me) were disappointed by our qual times, again not finding a clean lap to let loose in.

Saturday Race: Steve Ferrario's #93 car died during the warm up lap as his alternator crapped out...he pulled to on to one of the inner access roads and got to watch the race from his car seat.  Everyone made it through our usual F1-like standing start...but Turn 2 was a surprise for me.  Behind me two cars made contact and the #29 car of Gary Rieger left the pavement at the entrance to the turn and, with zero traction, ventured straight into my left quarter panel.  My race was ended as was Gary's.  There were no other casualties during the race.  Tommy O held off Loren Trefethen and Brad McClure to finish 1st.  Check out the NASA GoPro video of the race with the link below.  Great work from NASA, in particular Geoff Mohler and Will Faules.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnZ_165F_p8

Saturday Post Race:  Gary was bummed that he hit me and was very apologetic and offered to help pay for the repairs to my car.  He gave me a new tire (mine was cut) and $150 in "Tim Barber Bucks" that he had won (to get my car aligned at the track). This went along way on getting me back on track the next day. He said when he and Andy hit, it forced his steering to the left causing him to go off into the dirt. I believe him when he said he wouldn't be so crazy as to attempt a pass in the dirt.  I will say this....I've raced pretty hard with Gary in the past and he's always been clean with me. I have no hard feelings towards Gary and have zero reservations about racing with him again. He and I are square with everything and have shook hands on it.  Done deal so let's move on and do some more racing!

Saturday BBQ and #44 Car Repairs:  The NorCal SE30 racers-friends BBQ was held after Saturday's race.  It was great by all accounts.  I was kind of distracted and admittedly bummed about the condition of my car and didn't feel very social.  My car didn't look very fixable for Sunday's race with a crunched quarter panel, a cut tire, bent tie rods and a bent strut housing and strut.  But I was uplifted by the can-do philosophy of the NorCal SE30 racers!  Jim Bucha gave me a new tie rod set and Rick and Matt Row installed it for me.  Joe and Eric Deck worked on the rear quarter panel and pulled it out really well using ratchet tie straps attached to Joe's Range Rover. Derek Welch, Rick and Matt installed a replacement strut housing and strut lent to me from future SE30 racer Jeff Baxman.  We worked on my car until about 11:30 pm.  We unfortunately pissed off some corner workers trying to get to sleep who got tired of listened to all the hammering the Deck Bros Body and Fender crew were doing.

Sunday Morning Enduro Prep: NASA pulled a surprising switch with an inverted grid from yesterday's grid.  I thought at first that Steve Ferrario would have the poll and I would be in P2 with my DNF on the first lap.  Not so...Steve was not put in P1 because he didn't take the green flag so he was he put in the back.  This left me on pole provided I could get my car finished.  This all depended on Tim Barber and his mobile alignment rack.  Around 9:30am I went looking for Tim but his compound was empty.  I parked my car in front of his set-up and looked around for him...he was nowhere to be found.  I went back to our paddock and asked around.  Tommy O said he and a bunch of folks (including Tim and Donny) put on a epic bender at Casa Ramos and that Tim was likely asleep in his trailer and I should go wake him up.  I went down and knocked a few times but got zero response.  I found Donny and mentioned it to him and he promptly went to Tim's trailer and loudly slammed his ramp door up and down a few times.  When I got there about 10 minutes later Tim was out working on my car looking none the worse for a supposed "epic" evening at Casa Ramos.  Tim got my car aligned and ready to race in his usual professional manner.  If he had a hangover I sure couldn't tell!  Nice to have youth on your side...a reported drink-fest like that would certainly put me in the Willows General emergency room these days!  I brought back my car to my paddock spot to the minor frenzy of SE30 racers putting the final touches on their cars...fuel checks, radio checks, cool suits checks, tire pressure checks, lug nuts checks etc.  We hit the grid...me on pole with 27 other SE30s behind me!

Sunday Petite Enduro 11:05-12:05: It was pretty cool leading all 28 SE30s on the warm-up lap and even cooler waiting for the green flag to drop...behind me about 4,000 horsepower cumulatively revving up in anticipation of the green flag drop and a full hour of racing.  My plan was to get out in front and haul ass and try to  build up a gap then find a pit window after an anticipated full course yellow (FCY) figuring, since we had about 70 cars in the enduro, surely a timely FCY would ensue!  Some racers took a different tack...get one lap in, hit the pits and get their mandatory stop done.  Tommy O was one of those with the first lap pit plan....not sure how many other folks pitted this way.    I got a good start and I quickly developed a decent gap...by the time I hit the starter's stand on lap 1, the next nearest E30 was rounding Turn 15.  It was weird driving all by myself, lap after lap.  Jeff Lepper was the first to challenge me but he did an off-road in Turn 9 and put a hole in his oil pan.  He was coming fast and I don't think I would have been able to hold him off....I was admittedly a little relieved seeing the cloud of blue smoke billowing out his front grill and him pulling off at the exit of Turn 10. About ¾'s into the race, my pit helper Russ kept waving at me to pit so I decided to make the next lap my stop.  But that plan changed with a FCY...the pace car came out.  I was near the end of the congo line and was trying to figure out the cause of the FCY ...no wrecks that I could see...when I topped Turn 9 I saw a corner worker pull a piece of debris just before Turn 10. Ahhh... I thought to myself...surely they will go green now that the course is clear.  I threw the dice and ducked into pit lane only to watch the pace car go around for another lap!  Dammit! I goofed and lost my lead and had to go out for the extra lap without doing my pit stop.  In the end the top 10 Enduro finishers were Tommy O (winner) followed by Donny Edwards (Team SpeedTrapp), Brad McClure (Team BTM), Andy Chittum, Robert Lamb, Scott Neville, Derek Welch, Steve Ferrario,  Greg Peterson, and Matt Row (nice work rookie!).

Race Contingencies and Gifts:

North Bay Bavarian Pole $100 Position: Tommy O won a cool Ben Franklin for setting the fastest pole of the weekend with a very fast 2:07.129.

Point Six Fast Race Lap $100 Award: Tommy O won another Ben Franklin for setting the fastest race lap in Sunday's race with a 2:07.413.

Evil Genius Racing $100 Hard Charger Award: Will Faules and Geoff Mohler selected "yours truly" for the EGHCA for me getting my car repaired and back racing on Sunday.  The thing is, I couldn't have done it without the help from everyone (namely Gary Rieger, Rick & Matt Row, Derek Welch, Jim Bucha, Joe & Eric Deck and Jeff Baxman).  Because this was a group effort I am going to donate my Ben Franklin to the Teen Driving Clinic Fund at Thunderhill.  Thanks guys!

AIM Tire $100 Gift Certificate:  The driver who finished 10th on Saturday won the $100 gift certificate to AIM Tire...that driver was Derek Welch!

Anarchy Eyewear Sunglasses: The winners of the coolest shade in the paddock go to 20th place for both days.  Dee Jay Riley was 20th on Saturday and Ted Hill on 20th Sunday.  See Greg Peterson for you new shades! Wear 'em proudly boys!

Trefethen Wineries Fine Wine: Fine wine donated by Loren Trefethen went to 5th place finishers on Saturday and Sunday.  Those racers are Donny Edwards and Robert Lamb.

Pro Racing Simulator Race Winners: Tommy O gathers up two hours of SIM time (like he really needs it) for his two first place wins.

Pro Racing Simulator Race Hard Chargers: Saturday's Hard Charger (most positions gained during the race) goes to (according to my ciphering) Derek Welch (P20 F10) for Saturday and for Sunday Tommy O (P25? F1).

TFB Performance $75 Coupons: Went to 15th position for Saturday and Sunday.  That would be Robert Lamb and Frank Bushman.

GPR Parts Coupons BMW Parts: Went to those racers finishing 9th and 21st both days.  Those racers are Ron Harness, Rick Row and Greg Peterson and Bryan "Lightning" McQueen.  See Steve Ferrario about picking up your coupons.

Driven Karting Coupons: Donny, Will and I forgot to make an assignment for the Driven Karting Coupons.  I'm going to make an "managers choice" here and award one to Matt Row for his strong enduro finish and his lap times improvement (he did a 2:09.xx on Sunday).  The other racer that I think deserves it Steve Ferrario since his car died on the warm-up lap and he missed Saturday's race.

Chops Fine Dining $100 Gift Card: This was going to the racer who finished ahead of me in Saturday's race.  The racer that gets to go to one of Sacramento's nicest restaurants is Rick Row!

If we add up all the contingencies for the weekend (including Toyo Bucks) we're looking at about $2,150 in weekend prizes.  A big thanks to all our sponsors and supporters.

This is a long-winded email so I should sign off.  I'll have the usual pre-race info coming out shortly.

Cheers,
Scott (Scoot) Neville
NorCal SE30 Region Director

Tommy Olivier "Tommy O" leads Donny Edwards and Ted Hill in Turn 10
Got Blue Milk Photo

SE30 Racers and Friends BBQ Action
Bennett McMicking Photo

Spec Miata racers Laura and Dean Thomas with SE30 Rookie Glenn Kent (center)
Bennett McMicking Photo

SE30 Racers and Friends BBQ Action
Bennett McMicking Photo



SE30 Racers and Friends BBQ Action
Bennett McMicking Photo

Saturday Nightime Strut Repairs on the #44 SE30
Bennett McMicking Photo

Matt and Rick Row Turning Wrenches on Scott Neville's #44 SE30
Bennett McMicking Photo