Racing for our Heroes - Sept 9

[DEKE01]

Sorry for the short notice.

Racing for Our Heroes event Sept 9 on the main circuit at Summit Point. Its a Tuesday. Its not racing. Its glorified lapping for some wounded vets at Walter Reed.

This is not a public event. These vets are going through a world of hurt and this event is designed to help them. Its a good cause.

Please respond ASAP if you can attend. We need to give the VA a car count by Thursday, the 4th. I know a bunch of Ferraris and Porsches will be there. Let's show the Vets what Viper can do.

The schedule is as follows:
7:30 drivers meeting
9 track opens for practice
10 buses arrive
10 to 11 Introduction of drivers and Veterans with car assignments.
11 to --- Veteran rides
12:30 to 2 p.m. lunch
3:30 "demonstration race" with no passengers, designated passing zones, no fender-to-fender racing. This will last approximately 35 minutes
4:10 Awards ceremony and good byes.

Some important notes:
1. Some people have requested maximum track time for the Veterans. This is a great idea on the surface. More important, Veteran seattime has to be limited because of medical reasons. A normal track day for us is a major expenditure of energy for many of these people. We have to be careful and mindful of their needs above anything else.
2. Single seat race cars will be on display provided they have permission to be there.
3. Please bring extra helmets if you have them.
4. SCCA corner workers are volunteering to work safety.
5. Street legal sports cars are ideal because they're easier to get in and out of but this does not rule out race cars with passenger seats.
6. Please don't come if you're not driving or supporting this event in a predetermined role. The VA is asking that observers and onlookers not come. They want this event to be as private as possible.

Let me know if you can make it and what you'll bring, i.e. car, extra helmet etc. This way we can make sure the right Veteran gets the right ride.

I hope everyone one can make this event. Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Fast Too]

Dan - I can't say no to something like this. Since I don't track my car I don't have a helmet or other track parafanilia, but I'll be there with my car.

 

[George Murray]

Dan - I recall you telling me about this on Sunday. Wish I could make it! Schedule conflicts.

Hats off to you and all who support this event!

George

 

[DEKE01]

Dan - I can't say no to something like this. Since I don't track my car I don't have a helmet or other track parafanilia, but I'll be there with my car.

Thanks, Greg. The track will have some loaner helmets so no problem. See you there.

 

[DEKE01]

Dan - I recall you telling me about this on Sunday. Wish I could make it! Schedule conflicts.

Hats off to you and all who support this event!

George

Hi George. I was great meeting you and getting a chance to talk on Sunday. I understand the scheduling problem. I wish they had given us more notice.

 

[FrankBarba]

Cost ???? or is this free to take the vets around the track

 

[DEKE01]

Cost ???? or is this free to take the vets around the track

My understanding is that the only costs to us is our time, gas, and hopefully a little wear on the brake pads. But based on the injuries our assigned vets will have, I doubt they are going to want us to run too hard.

 

[Fast Too]

Dan - I got word today that I have to go to Birmingham Monday morning for work related meetings and will be gone all week. Sorry, I was looking forward to this being a vet myself. I most likely will be moving to Alabama later this month as well for a long term project my company has down there at a power plant, I will probably be down there for about 15 months. I'll be back for the Christmas party though.........

- Greg

 

[DEKE01]

Dan - I got word today that I have to go to Birmingham Monday morning for work related meetings and will be gone all week. Sorry, I was looking forward to this being a vet myself. I most likely will be moving to Alabama later this month as well for a long term project my company has down there at a power plant, I will probably be down there for about 15 months. I'll be back for the Christmas party though.........

- Greg

Darn - sorry you can't make it. I wanted to see that supercharger in action at the track.

You can't move to AL because we won't have anyone to cook the pig next year!

 

[Fast Too]

Darn - sorry you can't make it. I wanted to see that supercharger in action at the track.

You can't move to AL because we won't have anyone to cook the pig next year!

I'm in AL right now, didn't these people ever hear of garages? I'm house hunting and haven't found any with a garage. ***...... Looks like I got to get a storage unit to park it in. Oh, and I'll be back to cook Wilber next year.........but its back to Alabami after that.

 

[DEKE01]

I'm in AL right now, didn't these people ever hear of garages? I'm house hunting and haven't found any with a garage. ***...... Looks like I got to get a storage unit to park it in. Oh, and I'll be back to cook Wilber next year.........but its back to Alabami after that.

You probably won't get a basement or a garage. The houses are fairly inexpensive but you don't get a lot of house.


In spite of some rain in the morning, you missed a great day, sorry you couldn't make it. There was a bus load of Wounded Warriors and medical staff from Walter Reed, 40+ people in all. Most of the guys were well on their way to recovery but a few had wounds and scars that will never get better.

No photography was allowed except by one appointed individual because the Racing For Our Heroes (RFOH) charity and DOD wanted to make sure these guys don't get exploited in any way. As soon as they release the photos, I'll post a link.

Of the 20 or so cars represented, there was about a 50/50 mix of street and track cars. Ferrari was well represented with 360s, 430s, an F40 that did a triple spin in wet grass, and an older car that I think was a Testarosa. One Maserati GranSport rounded out the Italian contingent.

The German contingent was provided by several GT3 Porsches. I believe all were track prepped for SCCA or ALMS. The fastest two cars of the day were ALMS Porsches, one driven by Jason Carter, former Marine and founder of RFOH.

I think the only American cars represented were my blue Viper, an older Mustang racer, and a Panoz; surprisingly no Corvettes. Since this crew was all Army, I thought I would get a lot of grief about "Fly Navy" on "Go Navy" being on my windows, but there was a long line of people waiting to ride with me. Next to that very fast F40, my car was among the most popular because American Muscle was just what many of these folks have wanted as long as they've cared about cars.

The Panoz was a hit because it was running on race slicks on the wet track. It wasn't going fast, but did manage to go off track and spin a couple of times and the warriors thought that was a blast. My best/worst event was at 85 MPH. I got sideways coming out of turn 10 onto the main straight, right in front of the crowd waiting on rides. I saved it from a spin while doing a major butt pucker and my rider was yelling "Yee haa! Let's do that again!"

We were told to make the first lap with each warrior fairly slow and gentle to make sure they had no discomfort due to wounds or the sensation of speed. Out of the 15 or so rides I gave, in every case they were ready to go faster for their next several laps. When I asked my riders what was the fastest they had ever driven in their life and would generally hear something like 110. Or they would say they had gone 140 that day. My response was, "we're going to beat that."

In my black Viper I had never gotten better than 145 MPH on the main straight. But once the race groove had mostly dried out by the afternoon session, my blue Viper, with twin turbos on low boost and a racier suspension was easily hitting 160 on about 3/4ths of the straight. I didn't want to push it any harder because of track conditions and my car still needs a bit of work to make it truly track ready.

I don't know who had more fun, the warriors who got to go fast and occasionally sideways in all those different cars or us drivers who got to honor the service and fortitude of some really great men and women. At the end of the day we had a meeting with all the warriors and medical staff, drivers, and track staff, who had also donated their time. It gave us all a chance to say thank you and goodbye to each other.

After the troops had left on the bus, it was time to give a little pay back to the RFOH staff and the corner workers. I gave a ride to a retired Sgt Major who had helped organize the event and a 17 year old young man who was learning how to run a corner station from his dad.

It was a great day. To the best of my knowledge, only one car, a yellow Ferrari, was towed off track but I don't think any serious damage was done.

 

[DEKE01]

Cost ???? or is this free to take the vets around the track

Frank - you'll be happy to know that the false grid and turns 1, 5, and 6 have been repaved. The track is in great shape except turn 10 is going to need work soon.