Atlanta . . .

I’ve waited a while to post about our week in Atlanta; I needed a little time to think about it (and yes, cool down). After reviewing video, watching it on SPEED, and seeing all the photos, here’s my view of things.

Things were improving with the car—after each session in practice Vesko would download the data and make small changes in the map. The changes were enough that while the car was still not as fast as the other GT cars (don’t believe everything you hear on TV!), it was closer to being competitive. Vesko had more confidence in the car and was driving it hard, big Vesko style. It seemed to handle well, the first half of the track is more technical and the car was on pace for that section. The second half is a very long straight, and the other cars could easily get past the Evo in that section.

The race started cleanly, with the Evo picking up a few spots. I had noticed in grid that Rich Marziale, who had had an amazing qualifying session, was at the back of the grid. It did make me wonder about the state of the small privateer teams. The thought crossed my mind that we don’t have a chance against big money. Rich was d’qed in tech for having his wing about a millimeter too high. In my short time with WC, I’ve noticed there seems to be a discrepancy in how the cars are teched. We’ve had battles over our battery placement, but I noticed that the Porches have their batteries in the front bumper. Not a legal (or safe) place by my interpretations. That’s a small example of our challenges, but telling of the situation.

Back to the race. . . Vesko was hanging in the battle well. He could make up some ground in the first half of the lap and hang on during the second. By the time he made the front straight the cars behind would be catching him. He used the “one move per corner rule”, by moving into the corner early on Mike Davis, gave him a little bump. That caused the officials to get on the radio with me and tell me to “Warn my driver to pay attention, since he almost caused an accident.” That’s laughable to anyone who’s been on track with Vesko. (I really hate it when we’re all out driving and after the session he says something to me like “ Why’d you miss your apex on turn 10?” How does he do that?) I refrained from responding to the radio. Davis was able to catch the Evo at the beginning of the back section and rather than passing him, he gave him a punt. The car stalled and he had trouble getting it going again.

Back in the battles he once again protected his line against the Remington Cadillac driven by McCann. This got him blacked flagged. I was on the radio protesting, and trying to talk with Vesko. Unfortunately, we were experiencing some technical difficulties with the radios, which made this a challenge. SCCA heard my complaint, but said he had to come in for a stop-n-go anyway. Needless to say this takes away any chance of being in the race. He did come in for the penalty; he had no other choice that left us to appeal after the race.

I downloaded our video and gave the card to the officials. I went over to appeal and an SCCA official said, “Well you saw what he did!” I responded that I had seen a legal move, protecting his line, and that a car is allowed one move. He replied “One move per race?” We asked to be shown the evidence on tape. We checked back several times in the next two hours. Everyone was busy packing up to go to the banquet that night, and wasn’t very interested in getting to the bottom of things. One official told me that if you are a slower car you have to just get out of the way. Well, the best racing is when a great driver is in a slower car and the battle is fierce. We were there to race, not play dead, regardless of the car’s abilities. So they held that Vesko was blocking without discussing anything with me—acting as the team manager, and the one who appealed. They told us to leave the trailer or we would be fined. Then they called Vesko in and showed him where he moved over early in front of Mike and said that was blocking. According to all I’ve read that is allowed in all the club and pro series. Yes, that would be one move per corner.

For me the best thing came from Tommy Drissi after the race, he came up to Vesko and said “That was great, you drove the wheels off that car, you just need to make it faster in a straight line.”

I had hopes that the officials would penalize Mike (in time, not money) but when the results came out they hadn’t.

I’m left with a few questions: Can the small privateer teams succeed in World Challenge? Are the officials of World Challenge biased, or is it possible they’ve can be bought (I really hope not)? Should we give up now? Are we crazy? (Yes.) I’m working on figuring this out for myself; I’ll probably never figure it out for sure. I do happen to have an awesome Evo and a spectacular team with immense potential. . .

The Final 2008 Race for MPRA - Test Day

It was a short first session on Friday for the new engine in the Evo. Since I was busy driving there aren't any photos, but here's a quick illustration of how it was described to me. Thanks to Seth Philips I got back out in his Evo, (he wasn't driving). First day out with his car a front rotor exploded. We pulled the brakes, front, alternator and a few other parts off the black car and got going again.

Thanks to everyone who helped, but especially to Vesko for keeping me in a car!

We Got Bad Press (undeservably)!

After our first official practice session today I got on-line to check times and had a second to read the article about New Jersey on the World-Challenge site. I was shocked! Andy Pilgrims's quote was complete fantasy. Instead of taking responsibility for his mistake he blamed us. Now, I know in racing everyone had a different opinion of what happened, so I pulled up Vesko's in-car video footage to have a look. Sure enough, Vesko tried his best to get out of Andy's way.

Here's the story. . .

Toward the end of the race, we went under full-course caution. Vesko was down two laps (due to a stop and go penalty and well, you all know, the car is going a little slow). Vesko radioed in that I should run down to the Cadillac pit and tell them he was going to move to the right and get out of everyone's way. They were at the opposite end of the pits, so I set out at a run. By the time I got there they were almost ready to got green again. I yelled "Vesko's going to move right." Their pit chief said "Andy wants him to go left." I didn't think that made sense, because that kept Vesko on-line, but whatever. Just before the green flag came out I radioed to Vesko to "stay left, stay left. I wasn't even sure he heard me—I was a little afraid they were both going to go right.

Unfortunately, Andy had dropped behind and wasn't ready for the start. Vesko took off, moving all the way to the left with his tire just on the edge of the pavement (as shown by the in-car camera). But no Andy came by. He didn't get going until the first turn. Before the braking zone you can see Vesko take a lift waiting for Andy to get by. He was on the radio with me saying "Come on Andy, come on." Andy finally gets by mid-corner, but here is what he had to say about it:

"Pilgrim started third in his No. 8 Remington Shaving & Grooming Cadillac CTS-V and recorded his season-leading seventh podium finish to stay alive in the Drivers’ Championship. His hopes of victory were thwarted on the restart, which found the lapped car of Kozarov between the Cadillac and Davis’ Mustang. Pilgrim was not held up for long, but just enough time to allow the lead duo to build an insurmountable gap in the final laps.

“[Kozarov’s] pit people said ‘he’s going to stay left and let you race,’ but when he took off he just left me,” Pilgrim said. “That thing has so much power, I couldn’t get anything. Then we were getting late in the brake zone and he looked like he was coming in on the line, and then he stopped, so I just went through. There was so much gravel on the inside that I just barely missed clanging up against him. I did get through, but it was so tight. I think he was doing the best he could to stay out of everyone’s way, and he just ended up getting in everybody’s way. That was a shame thought cause [Sofronas and Davis] totally left me."

I wasn't too happy about the SCCA for printing this, they were polite and apologized during my recent discussion with them, but the damage has been done. I explained how we are a tiny start-up team and we NEED their support. They did tell me in in their defense that they didn't publish the very negative comments made by certain Ford drivers who don't believe we belong in the series.

Clearly, we have work to do, but we are up to the challenge! It's time to practice again.

The above is a photo by Erich our truck driver-