[GuySS]

Chuck, you have now had time to wind down from the BBORR. Give us the details on your "rookie" experience. Even if I could only work it, it was good to see someone I knew out there.

[98_1LE]

It was good seeing you again Guy.

What a week. On the way down to BBORR I got pulled over for 75 in a 70. The nice trooper let me off with a verbal warning, and gave us better directions to where we were going. I drove the speed limit the rest of the trip.

We got there Tuesday night, and I died about 8:30 PM. Wednesday my dad, who is navigator, slept in, so I went and checked in. I didn't realize that registration was at the other end of the course, 65 miles away, and missed the rookie school. No problem as it was offered the next day. I got signed up and the car passed tech. I forgot glasses, and since my dad was wearing my closed face helmet, and I the open, I bought a $10 pair of Dale Earnhardt tinted goggles to pass.

Thursday we had a brisket burrito for breakfast as this was all that was available besides gas station food. We signed him up, took the rookie school, and did the practice sessions. This was an 8 mile stretch of another highway, which was closed. It was pretty technical with changing radius turns, a long straight ending in a tight turn, etc. My instructor signed off on me after one run. I was a little tense and not quite as smooth as I should have been, but not bad. The next run my dad rode. At the end of the straight I braked a little late, so the turn was not optimal, and there were plenty of hard things to hit if you blew it (this is in the desert in west Texas 20 miles from Mexico ). I gathered the car up, and we decided to call it a day (I think dad was a tad shook up). Because it was hot, the ac was run for these runs. It cuts off at WOT or above 4500 rpm (which is in the low 130 range). It is pretty cool cruising down the highway at 130 with the ac on. We ate Mexican, and drank beer.

Friday we got to sleep in, and drove the road a couple more times, and had burritos for lunch. Then we went to navigator school, and the drivers meeting. I put 5 gallons of 101 octane unleaded in, and filled up with pump 92. We ate Mexican, again, and I washed the car.

Saturday morning we had to be at the park by 6 am, so we were up at 5. I did not sleep at all. We ate a sausage and egg burrito. The morning went pretty well at first, as they got us lined up in grid correctly before 7:30. We were supposed to start at 8, but did not until about 10. There was a deer killed on the road the night before, and 10# buzzards were hungry. Rumor has it they mess a windshield up pretty well. When we were getting close, we strapped in and finally pulled up to the line. It was a strange tree with no stage lights, four ambers that were .400 apart, and a final green at the bottom. The timing starts when the green light pops. I tried to anticipate the green, which results in a massive bog. It recovered and I shifted at 5500. We quickly got up to 135 indicated, which according to our GPS (on the practice run) was 138. I am not allowed to exceed 140mph, and trying to average 125. The course is 59 miles each way, and has 60 turns. I pass the first of 10 RADAR traps, which has digital display reading 137. I had the cruise set, and kept hitting resume to make sure I did not go too fast. I used sixth a little, but it is really straining to hold 135. The first part was relatively straight, but the last 18 miles is pretty technical. There is one point where you go up a steep mountain, the after it crests it goes left, then reduces to a right with an ~8’ drop off. Extreme caution required. I was a wimp and went trough it at 90. We finished this leg 14 seconds slow according to dads timing, which would prove very accurate in the results.

3 more gallons of 101 were added, and topped off with pump 92. It used a half tank in 59 miles. I did not try to calculate mileage as we had driven in town. On the return trip, we had to make up time. My dad was pushing me from the start, so I made it up in the first 25 miles (the most technical part). Shifting at 6300 got us up to speed, and I used fourth a few times to get off a blind corner that I over slowed for. Sixth was not used. I set the cruise at 128 for a while, and got lost on course, then he realized we were 30 seconds fast. I slowed to 110 to scrub some time, We are not allowed to go below 95, and I should have slowed to that speed (or slightly above). I sped back up to 125 after a bit (blame the greedy speed devil in me). We didn’t have enough markers logged towards the finish, and got lost on course again. Dad intuitively thought we should slow down; I chose not to. We round a corner and see the finish. He yells that we are about ten seconds fast. I stand on the brakes trying to get down to ~98. We crossed the line 8 seconds fast according to our watch. I should have listened. His timing proved extremely close to the official results.

The car ran cool, and never lost any oil pressure. Oil was Mobil 1 5w40 SUV formula. Tire pressures were 34 front and 32 rear “warm” (short easy street drive). Outside temps for racing was in the 70’s and pleasant. We entered the hand timer class, which means all we used was a chart with landmarks, times, and distances, plus a stop watch. A GPS has to be hard mounted, and I don’t want to drill holes in the dash. We need to find out if a suction cup mount will pass tech.

We went to a party in the park, and ate a brisket burrito. We filled up with gas (6.5 mpg on course), went to the hotel and slept, showered, and off to the dinner/awards banquet. My stupid car would not start (crank but not fire), so another competitor was nice enough to give us a ride. The food was great, steak, shrimp, veggies, and cobbler. Yummy! The banquet was way better than I expected. They really put on a great event. They handed out trophies, and during the awards passed out results. We finished fourth of twelve in the 125 class. We averaged 125.264 mph over the 118 mile course. We walked back to the hotel, and were pulled over by a state trooper. He asked if we were with the road race, and was said we were. He asked why we were walking, and I replied that it was because my car broke down. He said he thought it might have been that we had been drinking and were doing the right thing. I said no. I think he was going to offer a ride if we weren’t in front of our hotel, and was very polite.

This morning we left for the 6 hour drive home. It was a lot of run. We met a lot of great people, and everyone was nice. We learned a lot, and hope to trophy next time we run highway 285. It was really impressive how close some people were to their target times/speeds. There is a LOT more to this than we thought.