CSCC Race @ PIR 5/7/06

This weekend was my first race since my July 2004 when my engine decided to sheer off it's oil pump drive shaft and end it's life. I spent the better part of the last month or so extracting a 383 stroker engine out of another 1994 Camaro Z28 I bought last year for the engine. Working on this weekends and evenings after work when ever I could, I was able to just barely get everything together in time for this weekend's race.

I loaded up the van and trailer Friday night after getting home from work. Then Skyler and I drove over to PIR, about a 15 minute driver to Portland, to register for the race, unload the racecar and get our pit set up. Then Skyler and I watched the drag racing that was going on there for awhile. Skyler seemed to enjoy the evening out with Dad.

Saturday morning came early. I got up about 5:30 and drove over to the track to begin getting ready for my first practice session at about 9:30. The weather was partly cloudy and dry, but rain was forecast for Sunday. So I strapped myself in the car and gridded up. My plan was to just get out there and take it easy, maybe push the car to about 70 to 75%. Well, as soon as I get out on track I notice a guy by the name of Kevin Smith who I raced with before. He races a yellow 3rd gen. Camaro A-Sedan. He was pretty fast and I ended up dicing it up with him a bit. So much for my 75% plan. I ended up pushing it to maybe 90% but the car held up great. If felt really great to get back out there on the race track, and it didn't take too long to shake off the cobwebs. Unfortunately Conference didn't post our lap times though. But the car felt pretty strong and handled well, even on my old, hard Kumho V700 tires.

For my Saturday qualifying session I bolted on my new Kumho V710 race tires to be sure I took advantage of the dry track conditions. Rain was looming for Sunday so I had to make the most of this qualifying session. I got out on track and laid down what felt like some pretty fast laps. The new T2R limited slip differential I put in last year really helped my car's handling making a noticeable difference in the tighter turns of PIR. During my qualifying session a radiator hose clam failed and my radiator drained water all over the track. But at least I was able to get a few good laps in, with a best lap of 1:17.509 lap time (non-chicane). This was two seconds better than my previous best with my old setup! I was pleasantly pleased with these results and qualified 4th overall on the grid behind some faster GT1 tube frame racecars.

Sunday morning was rainy. The forecast said intermittent rain showers and the track was pretty wet. PIR is tretcherous in the rain and I don't have any rain tires. As my second qualifying session came around, I went out on track with running my newer tries and figured I'd just go out and take a few easy laps then come back in. No sense to push it and risk sliding off track and possibly hitting something or some one. The rain stopped and the track began to dry out a little, but not nearly enough to provide any chance of bettering my Saturday qualifying session. I ended up staying out for the whole session figuring I'd might as well get my money's worth of track time. The car was still running strong and ready for the race later in the day.

When it was time for my group to race, it had been raining pretty hard, so the track was wet. I had decided to put on my older race tires because they had tread. My newer race tires are virtually slicks. Before gridding up I had spoken to GT1 racer in my group. He indicated that he didn't have any rain tires and would be racing on slicks. When it came time to grid up he had decided to sit this one out. Another racer who qualified in front of me failed to make the grid so I ended up starting second, on the front row behind a tube frame GT1 car on rain tires and in front of some fast A-Sedan Camaro's and BMW's. I figured I'd just take it easy and do my best to avoid trouble.

On the pace lap the BMW starting behind me wouldn't give me much of any room to scrub my tires to get some heat in them for the start of the race, so I was a little nervous that my tires would have any grip for turn one after the start of the race. We came around onto the main straight and the green flag dropped. The GT1 car and I both got a pretty good jump on the rest of the pack and quickly pulled away. Surprisingly I was able to stay with the GT1 car. My tires held through turn one and the track was dryer than I had anticipated. My tires felt really good so I went after the GT1 car. He was on rain tires so I knew he wouldn't be able to keep up the pace for long if the track stayed dry. He would pull me on the straights a little but I was all over him in the turns. After about 7 or 8 laps he had enough of me and pointed me by. So here I am in FIRST PLACE!

I continued this pace for several more laps trying to put as much distance between me and the rest of the field and I began to lap back markers. Pretty soon my tires started to go away so I had to slow it down a bit and settled behind a couple A-Sedan cars and watched them battle it out for awhile. Another A-Sedan ended up parked just off turn 7 with a broken transmission which brought out a yellow flag. I noticed yellow at turn 6 but I didn't see one at turn 4. I finally got tird of following these A-Sedan cars and passed them. I ended up lapping all but four cars in the entire 29 car field before the checker flag came out on my 22nd lap giving me the win! I got first in class (ITE) and first place overall!

I felt really great about my win! My car had performed very well and I was particularly impressed at how well it handled and the power down the straights and coming out of the corners. After getting back to the pits I began to load everything back up and put my car on the trailer and head for home. I needed to stop by the tower to get the official results and collect my trophy. When I inquired about the results I was told they weren't official yet as the race steward still needed to sign them off. After some waiting the steward came in and said he needed to talk to me. He had a corner worker's report that I had passed a black BMW in turn 4 while under a yellow flag! CRAP! He asked my version of the story and I told him I didn't pass the BMW until after the the incident (A-Sedan with broken transmission). I didn't remember even seeing a yellow flag at turn 4 and I questioned why they would throw a yellow flag two three corners before an incident that was off the track and in the grass.

The race steward said that he needed to interview some other drivers that had already left the track before he could make his ruling. Worst case is that I am fined $50 and penalized 1 lap. Best case, the other drivers back up my story and the steward shows mercy on me and let's the provisional results stand making them official. Either way, if I am penalized a lap I still win first place in class because I lapped all the other ITE cars. The downside is that I'll go from first place overall to about 5th place overall, and have to pay a $50 fine.

So, overall it was a pretty successful race weekend. If for no other reason than I was able to get back out on the racetrack after almost two years, and be very competitive! If I get dinged for passing under a yellow flag, then I guess I'll have to chalk that up as a learning experience. First time in five years of road racing that I've done that. Too bad it had to be a race that I won!

Steve