East Tennessee Region SCCA

I'd like to see what some have done to hit the road courses. Who's doing track days, time trials, wheel to wheel? What are you doing and where did you start? Car started with? Car your on now? I've have had the idea in my head for a while now and it won't go away. I keep reading about the formula cars, spec miata, and other dedicated or almost dedicated cars. Can you manage road racing by yourself or do you usually have a small group involved? Just trying to see what the locals are doing. Thanks.

I started off by crewing for Mike Burke ( CSP 73 ) and his Spec Racer Ford… then did a couple of track days in my, then DD and a-x car ( '01 Integra LS … STS build) … realized that I could end up walking if I screwed up badly enough and bought the CRX that I a-x, TT, and track day now

I've done (and plan on continuing to do) the rent-a-ride with LeMons and Chump car

pretty much I do it by myself (other than LeChump) … when things need fixing, I do myself, unless it's more complicated than I want to attempt in my driveway, then I pay a local shop

I've just started my ventures on the track. Fair warning, once you do one event it's hard not to do another. NASA is a good organization to get started with. They have a neat path to get you from HPDE1 to w2w if you wish. I'll be running my miata in TTE, because the answer is always miata. I'll likely be in a miata for the rest of my days, mainly because of running costs.... including a roller chassis to swap parts to if I wad my car up

Cathers has a track-rat M3 and he manages to trailer the car, race it in TT, fix broken things, and drive home by himself. So unless you have a high-maintenance car than I would think you could manage it yourself. Though, it never hurts to have a couple of buddies to help, usually they are driving at the event as well

Started with a private school ("Car Guys" if they still exist) back in 2006, then wend into the NASA HPDE ladder, now running TT with an instructor certification for NASA SE. Have done all sorts of open lapping/track-day/club schools since I started.

Unless you are running wheel-to-wheel such that you will need tires/fuel during the race, it can be done solo (though obviously some extra hands/brains can certainly help at times).

I started with my MR2 Turbo, and currently commute to/from and race my NSX.

With respect to getting started. I know this is an SCCA forum, but for the on-track stuff NASA is much more "approachable". The entry barriers are lower, and from what I can find they run a ton more events within a day's drive of Knoxville (between NASA Southeast, NASA mid-Atlantic, and NASA mid-south).

Wheelman_13 wrote: With respect to getting started. I know this is an SCCA forum, but for the on-track stuff NASA is much more "approachable". The entry barriers are lower, and from what I can find they run a ton more events within a day's drive of Knoxville (between NASA Southeast, NASA mid-Atlantic, and NASA mid-south).

Yep, this is true. SCCA is really trying to do better at this, but the red tape and the old dudes get in the way a lot of times.

I do as many track days as I can, but never as much as I want . Still just drive my car to the events so not "that" serious, but have a ton of fun.

I've been doing w2w for 4 years now in the 24 Hours of Lemons. I haven't tried anything else, because I can't imagine anything else being as much fun. Myself and a few other guys put together a car and raced it, liked it, and kept building cars. I've had my name on 4 cars at this point - a 92' 300E Mercedes, a 91' Geo Metro (rear engine v6), a Contour SVT, and a Twin v6 Mazda MPV. We've raced CMP, Barber, and Autobahn CC and we've enjoyed them all. If done right (not the way I do it, apparently) I'm told that you and a few friends actually can race a car and not break the bank. Lemons is racing more for the fun/builder/social type. For more serious racing, with an emphasis on racing, you should look at Chump & NASA. I know in Chump and Lemons you can find "Arrive & Drive" seats where you join a team and race for the weekend. That's an excellent way to get your feet wet to either series.

I'll second what Gary said about LeMons/Chump. The "junker" racing is a blast and renting a seat is still far any away the cheapest way to see if you might like wheel-to-wheel.

There's a pretty active group of 'older' SCCA road racers in ETR. Joe Hensley, Stan Hinds, Lee Graser, Jim Stockburger & Stan's son Shaun - he's the youngun' at around 29, runs SCCA and also races with a Chumpcar team. I'm in the 'older' category as well, did autox and then jumped into SCCA w2w in 2004 with a Spec Miata. I shifted to ITA in the same car a few years after SM became a National class. It's true that there aren't any 'close by' SCCA road races - we usually run 3 to 5 weekends a year at VIR, Roebling, Barber, CMP, sometimes Road Atl. Usually will end up with 3 or 4 ETR cars paddocked close together for a weekend, helping each other out as needed. So, we have a pretty good social event along with getting to race. I almost always have unused crew passes for a weekend, so if any of you would like to go along for a race weekend & see what it's like, send me a PM.
Dick Hancock
#39 ITA

right there is one of the "problems" with our region (I also belong to CCR which is totally different, as they have lots of RR'ers) … I didn't know that there were any ETR road racers … other than the LeChump guys and my fellow NASA TT'ers … I've never realized that there was a RR contingency that I might hook up with when I'm doing SCCA PDX's, and TT … I'll see if I can't find you guys at some of the races

Being a Road Racer of various Sanctioning bodies.. SCCA,BMWCCA,IMSA,PBOC,and Vintage.. The "barriers" and 'hurdles" to get on track with other cars and at high speeds with only one goal in mind..(WINNING) are only there for one reason... To keep tunnel visioned,red seeing wanna be drivers from getting out there and killing either themselves or other drivers. That's the "Old Guys" ways of operating.. Im glad that when I was a "yungun".. I had to adhere to the rules and red tape... it made me a lot smarter on course..thinking about more than just the thought of racing around a track with other cars,going as fast as I could.
With the power of many street cars today... its no wonder You Tube is popular! LOL!
If you go the RR direction.. take your time,and prep you car. But most importantly.. DONT SKIMP ON SAFETY!

John Brown wrote:Being a Road Racer of various Sanctioning bodies.. SCCA,BMWCCA,IMSA,PBOC,and Vintage.. The "barriers" and 'hurdles" to get on track with other cars and at high speeds with only one goal in mind..(WINNING) are only there for one reason... To keep tunnel visioned,red seeing wanna be drivers from getting out there and killing either themselves or other drivers. That's the "Old Guys" ways of operating.. Im glad that when I was a "yungun".. I had to adhere to the rules and red tape... it made me a lot smarter on course..thinking about more than just the thought of racing around a track with other cars,going as fast as I could.
With the power of many street cars today... its no wonder You Tube is popular! LOL!
If you go the RR direction.. take your time,and prep you car. But most importantly.. DONT SKIMP ON SAFETY!

I guess what I was trying to say is that the W2W regulations trickled down into the time trials/PDX stuff and made those programs tough to access. They really are different things and unfortunately I think the perception that SCCA track events are hard to get started in has been solidified in the car culture community.

I agree that W2W is a bit different, but money can't buy sense (see Ferrari drivers in Daytona 24).

However, LeMons and Chump are proof that people can race together with minimal red tape and not die in turn 1. That said, ain't none of those cars REALLY $500 cars.

not much trickle down effect for PDX … if you and your car can pass an a-x tech inspection (full face helmet the only outlier "requirement") you're good to go for PDX … with NASA the same applies to TT … though in my opinion you're not being very smart not to have as least some level of personal protection equipment and car safety equipment … SCCA TT requirements are a bit more in the trickle down requirements

integra55 wrote:not much trickle down effect for PDX

You're right, but that's the perception, and why NASA continues to be more popular for these types of events.

Don't go unless you can ball it up and walk away.
http://youtu.be/BECharVgjk0