Membership Magazine of Oregon Region Sports Car Club of ...

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The racing action at Oregon Region’s first BF Goodrich Tires SCCA Super Tour race was terrific. Winners celebrated with a victory lap, checkered flag keepsake, and a beautiful trophy, followed by a Champaign shower and post-race interview on the victor’s podium by SCCA President & CEO Jeff Dahnert. The weekend featured Oregon’s famous “changing conditions,” where tire selection and car set-up between dry and wet settings were a constant challenge. In every race group, the racing was clean and tight. While few SCCA races are bigger than a National Super Tour event, there are still those who demonstrate true sportsmanship -- even if it could potentially cost him a victory. During the GT-3 race, with less than 2 laps to go, an emergency vehicle was dispatched on track. When the class leader came upon the service vehicle, he mistakenly slowed in order not to pass it, allowing the trailing GT-3 Mazda RX3, driven by Gary Bockman, to pass both the leader and the service vehicle and move into the lead. When Gary saw what happened, he slowed and motioned for the former race leader to pass him. While the re-pass was not taken, Gary’s sportsmanship was outstanding. One area of the race weekend continues to be of concern: low participation. Approximately 30% BF Goodrich Super Tour: Super Celebrations & Sportsmanship By Jim Weidenbaum ORSCCA Road Racing Director of entrants came from out of the Region, which is not a surprise given that Portland is one of only two West Coast Super Tour events in 2012. It’s just that the total number of entrants was well below expectation. Super Tour events preclude any Regional classes, so the loss of Improved Touring and Vintage race groups was expected. But there were far fewer participants in National classes, such as Spec Miata and Spec Racer Ford than anticipated. So, where did everybody go? SCCA National races in the Pacific Northwest have drawn smaller fields than Regional races? Why? I believe the issue is with limited race budgets, Regional racers, more 18 Oregon Region SCCA Leo Matthews takes his B-Spec Honda through the Festival Curves with style at the Super Tour! Photo by Doug Berger - www.digitalracephotos.com concerned with Regional points, skip the more expensive entry fees and preparation of National competition. I’d like to hear from you, but in my mind, next season, with the exception of the Super Tour, any National race should be sanctioned as a Rational to allow Regional and Vintage race classes to participate. Your BOD is working hard and creatively to build the best racing experience for our fellow racers, workers, and officials. We want to make racing with Oregon Region SCCA safe, fun, and competitive. We take your feedback seriously, but there is seldom unanimity – even within a single race class. Our
track time is strictly limited, most race engines are too loud to run prior to 9:00 AM and on Saturday’s we need to have a cold track by 5:00 PM for drag racers. That makes for a tight formula of time management when constructing race schedules. In August we are making a few changes to the schedule to shorten qualifying time in Spec Miata and Spec Racer Ford … moving that time to longer races. In Vintage, we proposed shortening races (something that had been requested) and adding an incremental practice session on Saturday. But, when taking into account time needed to get cars on and off the track for the incremental practice session, it would have meant cutting Vintage on-track time by 5 minutes. Based on the strong feedback from Vintage, any reduction in track time was unacceptable, so Vintage’s schedule will not change. While adding an extra 10 minute practice session takes 30 minutes, when accounting for time to get cars on and off the track, extending a race by 10 minutes, takes … 10 minutes. While some race groups want longer races -- even if time is available to extend a race – it won’t happen, due to “Christmas calculations” (if Johnny asks for and gets a $50 video game, he may be upset when he sees that Mary got a $100 bicycle). Without flexibility to make moves for the greater good of the Region, we are less able to compete for race entries. I very much want to build up our race participation, without alienating our loyal traditionalists. So, I’d rather propose new things and then modify them based on your feedback, then passively accept dwindling race entries. Remember, at the end of the day, we’re all racers … but, let’s be good sports too. Good Luck & Good Racing! Trackside Motorsports A Division of A-n-T TIRE AND WHEEL Your Race Tire Headquarters TIRES • ALIGNMENT • SUSPENSION DRAG • ROAD AUTOCROSS RALLY 8131 N. Interstate Ave. Portland, OR • 503-236-2106 Check out our website: TracksideRaceTires.com Tired of spending big money on the car and not going any faster? Why not invest in yourself? Our photo-realistic world class racing simulator allows you to practice and test before the race weekend at a fraction of the cost of test days. So you arrive prepared to win! www.mhrsols.com 503-267-4226 Loud Pedal 19
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