Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
Qualifiers
Good news is we are all in one piece after the qualifiers. I am sorry I don't know where everyone finished. I finished second after starting on the pole. Which means no passing points. TJ Heil finished second in his qualifier. Trey Gustin looked really good in his qualifier and led the first few laps until he got in a little to hot and spun. Unfortunately we don't know if any of us made it in yet. Would be great to know before bed.
Sent from my iPhone
After 1st round of heats
Fasse - 2nd
Gustin - 3rd
heil - 2nd
Semple - 3rd
Gustin - 3rd
heil - 2nd
Semple - 3rd
Qualifying races later this afternoon. a lot of carnage this morning
Sent from my iPhone
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Still practicing
Morning session was pretty uneventful. Wasn't real fast. Just turned some laps. They had to work the track a lot early but it seems to have come in pretty good now. Will be anxious to see how it is after another 53 sessions.
Weather is awesome, sunny and 65. My daughter asked why they don't run outside? The shuttle driver told us that their weather is extreme this time of year either blustery cold or pretty mild like it is now.
Colorado lightning sprints
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Airport security
We're on the way!
Its been a busy couple of weeks leading up to our departure for Tulsa. It doesn't seem to matter whether its the first practice of the year or getting ready for a big event like this, it always seems that everything comes down to the last minute. Throw in the general business of the holidays and it causes everyone a little bit of stress. The good news is that the cars have arrived in Tulsa. My dad and Phil Heil left yesterday morning with my car and his son TJ's cars. Although they ran through a bit of snow and nasty weather early in the trip, they reported that things cleared up once they got through St. Louis. My daughter and I will be leaving today and hope to make it in late tonight. T.J. and his mom are traveling out this afternoon. We also talked with Spud Gustin who reported that they expect to arrive mid afternoon today. I guess next up on the agenda is the long wait (from what we understand) to get the cars into the facility.
We'll be attempting to bring you as much in the way of photos and news as we can from the event. We are also very excited to have Lynsey Tilton and Kevin Greer reporting from the Rumble Series in Ft. Wayne. Be sure to check it out as Lynsey as already started to post some information. Click here for the Ft. Wayne Report We wish everyone competing this weekend the best of luck.
Here is a photo of the cars TJ and I will be running in Tulsa -- just before loading them into the trailer.
We'll be attempting to bring you as much in the way of photos and news as we can from the event. We are also very excited to have Lynsey Tilton and Kevin Greer reporting from the Rumble Series in Ft. Wayne. Be sure to check it out as Lynsey as already started to post some information. Click here for the Ft. Wayne Report We wish everyone competing this weekend the best of luck.
Here is a photo of the cars TJ and I will be running in Tulsa -- just before loading them into the trailer.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Counting Down to Tulsa Shootout
We are a little more than a week away from it being time to load the cars into the trailer and head out to Tulsa for the Shoot-out. I am looking forward to going, but there is still a lot of work to be done to get our car ready. I am hoping to wind things down at work early this week in hopes of spending a full day to tie up all the loose ends.
Here is a photo of my car with the engine back in. Just a few short days ago it was spread across the shop floor in a hundred pieces. As noted earlier, mid season a gear disentigrated in my motor sending metal throughout. A special thanks goes out to Hud Horton for getting everything cleaned up and put back together.
Boomerang Cars - T.J. Heil and I are sharing a trailer for the Shootout this year. T.J.'s dad Phil has been busy putting a car together for him to run out at the Shootout. Both the car I am running and the car T.J. is running are boomerang cars -- meaning they came back to their original owners. The car I am running was mine three or four seasons ago before being sold to Ronnie French and Hud Horton. I wish I could have racked up the number of wins Hud did in it. They upgraded to a new FOZ G2 last season and we bought the chassis back. Since we didn't want to take a brand new car to Tulsa last year we put on new components on the chassis and prepared it for the Shootout. When we were forced to miss the Shootout and got behind on our plans for 2011, we just decided to run it for the season. The car T.J. will be running is also a boomerang car. It is the original car that he started in mini sprints with just a couple of years ago. When they decided to move to a G2 the chassis was sold. When they heard about the number of non winged races the MMSA had planned for 2012, they sought the car out and bought it back to build a non winged car.
Here the two cars sit in the shop being readied for the trip West.
Putting on the graphics - I've gotten to where I really enjoy putting the graphics on a race car. While I've mostly done stuff on my car, I have started to do some cars for customers. Here are a few shots of the scheme I am applying to T.J. Heil's car. I continue to place updated photos on the blog so you can see how it is coming along. While I've started to use wraps more and more, I am going old school on this one and actually using layers of vinyl.
Check back soon for more.
Here is a photo of my car with the engine back in. Just a few short days ago it was spread across the shop floor in a hundred pieces. As noted earlier, mid season a gear disentigrated in my motor sending metal throughout. A special thanks goes out to Hud Horton for getting everything cleaned up and put back together.
Boomerang Cars - T.J. Heil and I are sharing a trailer for the Shootout this year. T.J.'s dad Phil has been busy putting a car together for him to run out at the Shootout. Both the car I am running and the car T.J. is running are boomerang cars -- meaning they came back to their original owners. The car I am running was mine three or four seasons ago before being sold to Ronnie French and Hud Horton. I wish I could have racked up the number of wins Hud did in it. They upgraded to a new FOZ G2 last season and we bought the chassis back. Since we didn't want to take a brand new car to Tulsa last year we put on new components on the chassis and prepared it for the Shootout. When we were forced to miss the Shootout and got behind on our plans for 2011, we just decided to run it for the season. The car T.J. will be running is also a boomerang car. It is the original car that he started in mini sprints with just a couple of years ago. When they decided to move to a G2 the chassis was sold. When they heard about the number of non winged races the MMSA had planned for 2012, they sought the car out and bought it back to build a non winged car.
Here the two cars sit in the shop being readied for the trip West.
Putting on the graphics - I've gotten to where I really enjoy putting the graphics on a race car. While I've mostly done stuff on my car, I have started to do some cars for customers. Here are a few shots of the scheme I am applying to T.J. Heil's car. I continue to place updated photos on the blog so you can see how it is coming along. While I've started to use wraps more and more, I am going old school on this one and actually using layers of vinyl.
Check back soon for more.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Its been way too long
Its been way too long since my last post. I can't complain, this year has been a very busy year at work. Unfortunately things didn't go the way we had hoped at the track and we only made it to five races this year. We had to cut the season short when a gear in our transmission disentigrated sending particles of metal throughout the engine. It's amazing how much you miss doing this stuff once it gets in your blood. I am definately looking forward to next season.
The Shootout – The good Lord willing, we are headed to the Tulsa Shootout to end out our year. We are busy trying to put together a car and motor to take to the Tulsa Shootout this year. Driving at the famed Tulsa Expo Center has been on my bucket list ever since my first visit to the Chili Bowl several years ago. Up until the lightning sprints were added to the Tulsa Shootout racing card it was however near the bottom of the list. I had checked into renting a midget for the Chili Bowl, but quickly discovered that it was beyond my pocket book. Last year when the lightning sprints made their first visit to the Expo Center I was loaded to go when we received news the evening before our departure that my father-in-law had passed away. So this year we’ll be giving it another shot. I do have mixed feelings about going since I would like to support the Midwest Mini Sprint Association who will be running that same weekend just a few short hours away in Fort Wayne, Indiana as part of the Rumble Series. I am hopeful that the event at Fort Wayne goes well and becomes an annual thing. We have received calls and e-mails from several drivers that plan on attending and are scratching their heads on setup. Unfortunately when it comes to racing on concrete we don’t have much advice to offer—due to our own inxperience. If I didn’t have a desire to drive at the Expo Center at least once, it would be impossible for me to justify the added expense of the trip to Tulsa when there will be great racing going on so close to home. I am however looking forward to the opportunity to meet lightning sprint drivers from around the country. We’ve done a few events that pulled in drivers from multiple states and have always found the off track banter to be almost as fun as the racing. I would like to wish the best of luck to drivers competing at both events this year.
I am hoping that we can revive the Tulsa Shootout Journal we did last year. You can revisit all of last year's entries still by at http://tulsa.blogspot.com/ I would also love to do one from the Rumble. If anyone is interested please let me know. I can set it up so you can e-mail or text news in from your cell phone. Just drop me an e-mail at sfasse-at-fozmarketing.com.
visit: www.speedpartz.com
A recent FaceBook entry caught my eye. It was a photo of Ryan Broughton’s ride for 2012 – a full size winged sprinter. Ryan is coming off a stellar year in the mini sprints that saw him notch a string of wins. It was only a few short years ago that I used Ryan in my book, Mini Sprint Racing 101, as an example of the type of driver the sport was attracting. Ryan made the step from go-karts to upright mini sprints—just as his dad had done several years earlier. Now continuing with the family legacy he makes the step into a sprinter. This got me to thinking about how the lightning sprints / mini sprints have really gained favor as a training ground for tomorrow’s open wheel stars. 2012 promises to be a year that further extends the value of the lightning sprints / mini sprints as a training tool for tomorrow’s stars. Schedules across the country point towards a class that allows its competitors first hand experience in similar equipment at the very same tracks were the big series run—for a fraction of the cost and effort. The Midwest Mini Sprint Association alone has put together a full schedule at several of the midwest’s premier facilities.
Early on I had the pleasure of writing stories about two of our sport’s success stories, Craig Kinser and Brad Sweet. That has been several years ago now and there have been many, many more that have come along since that time. I sat down and tried to list all the local drivers that I have run against that I know have made the transition from lightning sprints, mini sprints to full size sprints or midgets cars. It’s a pretty impressive list – I apologize for those I have left out. Hud Horton, Logan Hupp, Spud Gustin, Jason Soudrette, Nick Bilbee, Beau Stewart, Tom Rhodes, Tim Allison, Lewie Christian, Kirk Jeffries, Jimmy Kite, Brad Kuhn, Shane Cottle and Dane Carter.
As a long time competitor and fan of the mini sprints I am excited about the interest and growth this class is receiving right now. Hopefully young, aspiring drivers continue to find the class as an important stepping stone in their climb up the ladder. Hopefully the class’s fan base discover the class as an opportunity to catch a rising star.
www.shoxskinz.com
Viper Pipes offering stainless header sets – We have decided to offer stainless steel header sets for upright mini sprints. To start with our stainless steel headers will be offered as a special order item that will take a few extra weeks to deliver. We hope to have photos posted on our site in the next few weeks. Stay tuned to www.viperpipes.com for more information.
Here is a photo of our stainless collector.
www.viperpipes.com
Karting – A great way to keep the rust knocked off during the winter – This winter my daughter and I have joined an indoor karting league in hopes of adding a little racing excitement to the cold winter months. We joined a 10 week winter league at new facility in Cincinnati, Ohio called Full Throttle Karting. The league has proven to be a blast. We’ve had the chance to race against several road racers, auto-crossers and track day enthusiast. As a guy who has not turned left and right for a very long time, it has been a bit humbling.
The Full Throttle facility just opened in the fall of 2011 and is operated by a group of Sports Car Club of America enthusiasts. It was obvious on my first visit that they had done their homework. Full Throttle Karting is easily one of the nicest karting facilities I have ever visited. It is well thought out in every facet. Drivers sign in using a computer system that expedites the entire process. Drivers are assigned to a heat right at the time they purchase the session. I really liked this since at some of the other karting facilities I have visited you were forced to simply wait in line. At Full Throttle you are provided a heat number and time. As a member you can even call ahead and reserve a time. Waiting is not a big deal though as they have a very nice lobby area with big screen televisions, game and a slot car track.
When its time to go racing, the facility is even more impressive. A neat, clean equipment room is where you get your protective gear, if you didn’t bring your own. This is also where first timers go through a short orientation session. I thought this was a nice touch as everyone wants to get the most out of their session – and waiting around for folks that don’t understand the flags or the general flow of things can easily waste precious time in an eight minute session.
I was most impressed with the track layout. Most of the tracks I have visited have been a lot of fun, but offered very little grip and were not very technical. On my first visit to Full Throttle, I realized that getting around this track required some thought. Concepts like entry, apex, exit, braking zones and an analysis of which corners were most important all required some consideration if you wanted to achieve a reasonable time. It is one of the first indoor kart tracks I have been to where you don’t just keep the loud pedal mashed the whole time—at this track you can actually overdrive the kart and cost yourself on the clock. One of the owners explained to me that they had gone to great pains to design the track – even to the point of doing serious computer simulations with both novice and experienced drivers. I have been told that at this point it is believed that Full Throttle has one of the fastest indoor karting tracks in North America.
After your session you can get a print out detailing every lap of your session and how you stacked up against the competition for your session and the week. This information as well as all of your past sessions can also be accessed via the internet – using the password you created on your first visit.
I have taken several of my friends to Full Throttle and my experience has been that once you run your first session, they’ve got you hooked. For that reason it is nice that they actually offer the opportunity to compete in supervised racing events that give you the opportunity to do more than just turn laps—but to actually race.
The first event that I competed in was an hour long, endurance race. Three driver teams qualify and then race for 1 hour. Each team is required to rotate their three drivers during the event. I teamed with a couple of friends that race lightning sprints and we had a blast. At the end of the event we missed winning by 17 seconds. Which ended up being the cost of some really slow driver changes—its no fun being old.
The leagues have also been fun. While they run leagues several nights during the week, we are in one that competes on Saturday mornings. I run in the adult league and my daughter runs in the youth league. The format is pretty simple. They start with a short driver’s meeting and followed by an eight lap qualifying session. The twenty five lap feature is started straight up based upon qualifying times. As noted earlier I have been really surprised at the level of competition. There is a very small gap separating the entire field each week. You would be shocked at just how much energy it takes. I know that part of it is my forty something body, but even some of the younger guys have said they are thoroughly spent at the end of the session. I’ve joked with a few of them that it is probably one of the best deals in racing right now. For a very small investment in time and money I can go have fun racing equipment that I don’t have to do maintenance on and be back home by noon. Be sure to check it out at http://www.cincykarting.com
Here is some video from a few weeks ago. Not the greatest quality, but I think it will give you a pretty good idea of the track layout.
Be sure to LIKE our FaceBook Fan Page. Everyone who likes are page is automatically in the running for one of our monthly give-aways. Congratulations to November winner Stephanie Davis Lovell. Stephanie won a pair of Shox Skinz shock covers. CLICK HERE to visit our FACEBOOK PAGE.
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.
The Shootout – The good Lord willing, we are headed to the Tulsa Shootout to end out our year. We are busy trying to put together a car and motor to take to the Tulsa Shootout this year. Driving at the famed Tulsa Expo Center has been on my bucket list ever since my first visit to the Chili Bowl several years ago. Up until the lightning sprints were added to the Tulsa Shootout racing card it was however near the bottom of the list. I had checked into renting a midget for the Chili Bowl, but quickly discovered that it was beyond my pocket book. Last year when the lightning sprints made their first visit to the Expo Center I was loaded to go when we received news the evening before our departure that my father-in-law had passed away. So this year we’ll be giving it another shot. I do have mixed feelings about going since I would like to support the Midwest Mini Sprint Association who will be running that same weekend just a few short hours away in Fort Wayne, Indiana as part of the Rumble Series. I am hopeful that the event at Fort Wayne goes well and becomes an annual thing. We have received calls and e-mails from several drivers that plan on attending and are scratching their heads on setup. Unfortunately when it comes to racing on concrete we don’t have much advice to offer—due to our own inxperience. If I didn’t have a desire to drive at the Expo Center at least once, it would be impossible for me to justify the added expense of the trip to Tulsa when there will be great racing going on so close to home. I am however looking forward to the opportunity to meet lightning sprint drivers from around the country. We’ve done a few events that pulled in drivers from multiple states and have always found the off track banter to be almost as fun as the racing. I would like to wish the best of luck to drivers competing at both events this year.
I am hoping that we can revive the Tulsa Shootout Journal we did last year. You can revisit all of last year's entries still by at http://tulsa.blogspot.com/ I would also love to do one from the Rumble. If anyone is interested please let me know. I can set it up so you can e-mail or text news in from your cell phone. Just drop me an e-mail at sfasse-at-fozmarketing.com.
visit: www.speedpartz.com
A recent FaceBook entry caught my eye. It was a photo of Ryan Broughton’s ride for 2012 – a full size winged sprinter. Ryan is coming off a stellar year in the mini sprints that saw him notch a string of wins. It was only a few short years ago that I used Ryan in my book, Mini Sprint Racing 101, as an example of the type of driver the sport was attracting. Ryan made the step from go-karts to upright mini sprints—just as his dad had done several years earlier. Now continuing with the family legacy he makes the step into a sprinter. This got me to thinking about how the lightning sprints / mini sprints have really gained favor as a training ground for tomorrow’s open wheel stars. 2012 promises to be a year that further extends the value of the lightning sprints / mini sprints as a training tool for tomorrow’s stars. Schedules across the country point towards a class that allows its competitors first hand experience in similar equipment at the very same tracks were the big series run—for a fraction of the cost and effort. The Midwest Mini Sprint Association alone has put together a full schedule at several of the midwest’s premier facilities.
Early on I had the pleasure of writing stories about two of our sport’s success stories, Craig Kinser and Brad Sweet. That has been several years ago now and there have been many, many more that have come along since that time. I sat down and tried to list all the local drivers that I have run against that I know have made the transition from lightning sprints, mini sprints to full size sprints or midgets cars. It’s a pretty impressive list – I apologize for those I have left out. Hud Horton, Logan Hupp, Spud Gustin, Jason Soudrette, Nick Bilbee, Beau Stewart, Tom Rhodes, Tim Allison, Lewie Christian, Kirk Jeffries, Jimmy Kite, Brad Kuhn, Shane Cottle and Dane Carter.
As a long time competitor and fan of the mini sprints I am excited about the interest and growth this class is receiving right now. Hopefully young, aspiring drivers continue to find the class as an important stepping stone in their climb up the ladder. Hopefully the class’s fan base discover the class as an opportunity to catch a rising star.
www.shoxskinz.com
Viper Pipes offering stainless header sets – We have decided to offer stainless steel header sets for upright mini sprints. To start with our stainless steel headers will be offered as a special order item that will take a few extra weeks to deliver. We hope to have photos posted on our site in the next few weeks. Stay tuned to www.viperpipes.com for more information.
Here is a photo of our stainless collector.
www.viperpipes.com
Karting – A great way to keep the rust knocked off during the winter – This winter my daughter and I have joined an indoor karting league in hopes of adding a little racing excitement to the cold winter months. We joined a 10 week winter league at new facility in Cincinnati, Ohio called Full Throttle Karting. The league has proven to be a blast. We’ve had the chance to race against several road racers, auto-crossers and track day enthusiast. As a guy who has not turned left and right for a very long time, it has been a bit humbling.
The Full Throttle facility just opened in the fall of 2011 and is operated by a group of Sports Car Club of America enthusiasts. It was obvious on my first visit that they had done their homework. Full Throttle Karting is easily one of the nicest karting facilities I have ever visited. It is well thought out in every facet. Drivers sign in using a computer system that expedites the entire process. Drivers are assigned to a heat right at the time they purchase the session. I really liked this since at some of the other karting facilities I have visited you were forced to simply wait in line. At Full Throttle you are provided a heat number and time. As a member you can even call ahead and reserve a time. Waiting is not a big deal though as they have a very nice lobby area with big screen televisions, game and a slot car track.
When its time to go racing, the facility is even more impressive. A neat, clean equipment room is where you get your protective gear, if you didn’t bring your own. This is also where first timers go through a short orientation session. I thought this was a nice touch as everyone wants to get the most out of their session – and waiting around for folks that don’t understand the flags or the general flow of things can easily waste precious time in an eight minute session.
I was most impressed with the track layout. Most of the tracks I have visited have been a lot of fun, but offered very little grip and were not very technical. On my first visit to Full Throttle, I realized that getting around this track required some thought. Concepts like entry, apex, exit, braking zones and an analysis of which corners were most important all required some consideration if you wanted to achieve a reasonable time. It is one of the first indoor kart tracks I have been to where you don’t just keep the loud pedal mashed the whole time—at this track you can actually overdrive the kart and cost yourself on the clock. One of the owners explained to me that they had gone to great pains to design the track – even to the point of doing serious computer simulations with both novice and experienced drivers. I have been told that at this point it is believed that Full Throttle has one of the fastest indoor karting tracks in North America.
After your session you can get a print out detailing every lap of your session and how you stacked up against the competition for your session and the week. This information as well as all of your past sessions can also be accessed via the internet – using the password you created on your first visit.
I have taken several of my friends to Full Throttle and my experience has been that once you run your first session, they’ve got you hooked. For that reason it is nice that they actually offer the opportunity to compete in supervised racing events that give you the opportunity to do more than just turn laps—but to actually race.
The first event that I competed in was an hour long, endurance race. Three driver teams qualify and then race for 1 hour. Each team is required to rotate their three drivers during the event. I teamed with a couple of friends that race lightning sprints and we had a blast. At the end of the event we missed winning by 17 seconds. Which ended up being the cost of some really slow driver changes—its no fun being old.
The leagues have also been fun. While they run leagues several nights during the week, we are in one that competes on Saturday mornings. I run in the adult league and my daughter runs in the youth league. The format is pretty simple. They start with a short driver’s meeting and followed by an eight lap qualifying session. The twenty five lap feature is started straight up based upon qualifying times. As noted earlier I have been really surprised at the level of competition. There is a very small gap separating the entire field each week. You would be shocked at just how much energy it takes. I know that part of it is my forty something body, but even some of the younger guys have said they are thoroughly spent at the end of the session. I’ve joked with a few of them that it is probably one of the best deals in racing right now. For a very small investment in time and money I can go have fun racing equipment that I don’t have to do maintenance on and be back home by noon. Be sure to check it out at http://www.cincykarting.com
Here is some video from a few weeks ago. Not the greatest quality, but I think it will give you a pretty good idea of the track layout.
Be sure to LIKE our FaceBook Fan Page. Everyone who likes are page is automatically in the running for one of our monthly give-aways. Congratulations to November winner Stephanie Davis Lovell. Stephanie won a pair of Shox Skinz shock covers. CLICK HERE to visit our FACEBOOK PAGE.
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.
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