I went to the Pontiac Nationals at National Trails on Friday (we still call them the Springnationals around here.) WOW!
Had a great time, saw a lot of great races.
I'd post some pix but it is just too hard to get a medium quality digital to fire at the precise moment that a funny car is going by at 250MPH! (Besides at that moment your vibrating a lot yourself!)
Saturday found me at Mid Ohio for the IMSA show.
Frankly, it sucked.
Now I've been going to road races for a LONG time. I was at Mid Ohio when the All American GT's were winning the IMSA races (that was THIRTY years ago!) It just isn't the same thing anymore.
It's bad enough that there is little parity in this type of racing. I mean, c'mon, if you have a field full of the same cars with the same engines on the same tires why does one guy qualify seconds faster than other guys? It's bad enough that they think endurance racing is the greatest thing ever. It's not, the field just gets spread all around and there is very little real racing, just points of drama here and there.
What really bores me is the FULL COURSE YELLOWS! Okay, they've made the racing safer, that's great. They've added gravel pits all around the track, that's great. But why is it that whenever a car goes off course into one of these gravel pits, WHY IS IT, why do we have to have a full course yellow? Why does the racing have to stop for as long as it takes to haul the car out of the gravel? Why can't the cars just be made to slow down near the scene?
I watched a race that had four full course yellows. What kind of race is that? A race that sucks that's what kind of race it was!
IMSA just doesn't fool me anymore. The cars are great but the races suck.
I've got a season pass to Mid Ohio, I can leave Sunday morning and drive right through the gate at the track stopping just long enough to get my ticket punched.
But why bother?
I'm staying home. I'll cut the grass, do some laundry and watch some races on TV. That's bound to be more exciting than going to an IMSA race.
Oh, and when I take a break I can sit on my deck and listen to a Top Fuel or Funny Car running at National Trails. Just listening to those cars from five miles away is more exciting than an IMSA race.
I must be more of an omnivore than other motorsports fans.
I am really disappointed about this.
The NHRA are right in my back yard next week. American Le Mans come to Mid Ohio (got tickets.) Car shows in Auburn, Indiana and Carlisle PA. Motorcycle club getting together for some mountain riding.
All of these events are in my region so why are they all on the same weekend?
A few weeks ago I would have told you that PINKS was developing into the best motorsports show on TV.
But after this weeks episode I wrote the host, Rich Christensen a letter.
Here it is:
Hey Rich,
ADAM RICHARDSON GOT CHEATED!
Alex Djordjevic showed up for a 10 second street car race with an 8 second race car and you guys let him get away with it.
BULL-POOPY!
You COULD have the best car show on TV but you won't if you let this happen. You need to have your tech advisors vet the prospective race cars before the show.
A participant on your show has to trust YOU first and as of right now it is obvious doing so would be a mistake. Adam showed up on your word that he would be racing against another 10 second car and you guys acted as if he had. Very few people would be able to just stop and say NO once the cameras are rolling.
Don't ruin a potentially GREAT show by letting these LIARS scam you and the other participants. It is OBVIOUS to the audience that this is happening and we will just STOP watching if it continues.
Give some of your profits to Adam Richardson. He was robbed and you were the lookout while the other guy held the gun.
Well the racing season is shaping up to be a good one. F1, MotoGP, Superbike, NASCAR and many other series are looking pretty exciting this year. The air is warming up here in Ohio and some racing has already started.
I've got to get out there and start enjoying it!
At home there are problems to solve with the coupe, maintenance to do on the truck and a new member in the stable.
I picked up an 1100cc Suzuki and plan on using it a lot this year. I intend to upgrade the horns add a windshield, replace the filter box and maybe squeeze in a glove box.
There are four more bikes in the family so group rides are in order.
While running an errand in the 560SEC one day the motor seemed to cut out momentarily.
Oh oh.
But it made the trip there and back and it made a number of other trips afterwards with no problems.
However, I went to switch parking spaces with the Frontier one day and the MB would not start. It started the next day so it got moved.
I was going to freshen up the ignition parts anyway so I went to work on it.
New cap, rotor, wires, plugs and a coil. No start. Found a new ECU at a bargain price so it went in too. No start.
So now, deviant gear head that I am, I am thinking about putting any spare hands that show up Christmas day to work.
"Hey brother! Got a minute? Let's go out to the Mercedes for a bit. Just need someone to turn it over while I check a few things. C'mon, no one will notice you are gone."
I'll let you know what the matter is as soon as I figure it out myself.
