Bill Pemberton
0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
Nick Smither ( i.e. BlackBoss ) absolutely put on a Clinic this past weekend at Autobahn Country Club NASA race. Not only did he win the ST2 Class , he also killed it in TT2, taking the Gold Medal there also. The key, though, was his stunning runs over all the competition, with him often ending up between 3 to 5th overall against cars that should have been dramatically quicker ( Sports Racers, AIX Mustangs, and more ) . Of course, the attention to detail on his GT 350R had to intimidate many , as the beast is also a beauty , and once she starts up the aural cacophony is a siren call to demoralize all other racing participants. To say his GT 350R sounds good, is an understatement, she pulls you towards addiction with her sensuous scream of power. It was pretty damn cool to watch his dominance and I got a few pointers from him on some areas of the track to hammer harder than they appeared , but getting a conversation with the Maestro was a bit difficult as the minute he came in from a race , he started quick work on the car and then back out for the Time Trials. I am only 7 years older than BlackBoss, but he was rushing between the groups so quickly that sometimes he only made it in the ..........drum roll.......Nick of time! Seriously, Nick had the car folks most wanted to check out , as it seemed most of the weekend there were participants or spectators over in our area checking out the Grey Ghost.
JD Krull ( TT2 ) and I ( ST2 ) , both took satisfying 2nd Place spots behind Mr. Smither, and as it was the first time at the track , ever, for each of us, we went away pleased with our performances. I had a constant battle with an AC Cobra, that through a missed shift ( on my part ) and some chicanery on his, meant I started every race behind him. Had fun chasing him down and keeping him behind me , as we were reasonably well matched. They split up the field into three groups , so the races all included tons of passing, as you caught the slower cars, but because many were only marginally slower, picking your spot to initiate a pass often determine whether you moved ahead or other drivers found the gaps better? Great time overall with quite a few TMO members present , and I gave out a bunch of my cards ( no Tymeslayer I did not try to sell them anything ,ha) with the TMO website info written on the back.
Kudos, also, to Tracy Munday ( TMS ) who went out on his last run Sunday in the passing exercise for HPDE 3 and 4 , that turned into almost and out and out race. He had an adrenaline rush and absolutely was on a competitive high, as he ripped 6 seconds off his previous time, was passing folks at will , and ended up with a dynamite 1:39 run in his new GT 350R -- first time he ever had White Lightning on the track!
Need to get more to come here next year as we have a member on this board that suggested we might have a TMO party for all , and there is a space to accomplish this?!
Beautiful track, great racing, great times, great TMO friends and ...................BlackBoss hammered the competition to Smithereens ( yep, me included )!!
JD Krull ( TT2 ) and I ( ST2 ) , both took satisfying 2nd Place spots behind Mr. Smither, and as it was the first time at the track , ever, for each of us, we went away pleased with our performances. I had a constant battle with an AC Cobra, that through a missed shift ( on my part ) and some chicanery on his, meant I started every race behind him. Had fun chasing him down and keeping him behind me , as we were reasonably well matched. They split up the field into three groups , so the races all included tons of passing, as you caught the slower cars, but because many were only marginally slower, picking your spot to initiate a pass often determine whether you moved ahead or other drivers found the gaps better? Great time overall with quite a few TMO members present , and I gave out a bunch of my cards ( no Tymeslayer I did not try to sell them anything ,ha) with the TMO website info written on the back.
Kudos, also, to Tracy Munday ( TMS ) who went out on his last run Sunday in the passing exercise for HPDE 3 and 4 , that turned into almost and out and out race. He had an adrenaline rush and absolutely was on a competitive high, as he ripped 6 seconds off his previous time, was passing folks at will , and ended up with a dynamite 1:39 run in his new GT 350R -- first time he ever had White Lightning on the track!
Need to get more to come here next year as we have a member on this board that suggested we might have a TMO party for all , and there is a space to accomplish this?!
Beautiful track, great racing, great times, great TMO friends and ...................BlackBoss hammered the competition to Smithereens ( yep, me included )!!