Bill Pemberton
0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
With my local track under 14 foot of water, at one point, from the flooding Missouri and Platte rivers, I was jonesing to go somewhere to race and see how the ton of Winter changes to the Boss S fared. Decided to go to Pueblo and with freakish Winter Blizzards in Nebraska, getting there was a major detour in the planned route - this is another story for another time. On Friday , during a Open Track Practice run, I stripped a nut and was left with only four solid citizens holding on my left rear rim. Of course in leaving days early to miss inclement weather I forgot a few items , and spare lug nuts were on the whoops list. Couple calls to Tymeslayer , as I knew he was coming to the event, saved my bacon , as he had spare nuts in spades. I was able to go out and get some laps in when he arrived around 3 pm. I had spent an hour asking around the paddock and no one had the proper lug nut , so Tyme not only saved the day, he saved the weekend!! I may tease Tyme at times, but it is all good natured fun and I am proud to call him friend and fellow TMO junkie!
Saturday found me in second overall in my run group after qualifying and I felt I had a decent handle on the track from practice and asking some buddies questions about this technical course in the Colorado foothills - good info from old TMO member John Scheier who now runs a BMW in the heavily contested GTS2 Class in the Rocky Mountain NASA Region. Got a great start in the race and held off a Nascar Late model for about 6 laps and then he snuck by me in Turn One ( turned out to be my Achilles heel corner) , yet held on for first in a small class and second overall.
Got to meet Steve R. ( tracktardicus ) and he offered to take me out in his GT 350R for some pointers and since I was a bit tired from the drive down, Friday practice, and the events of Saturday I declined at that point - more later.
Sunday found us with perfect racing weather and my one concern of a possible loose hub or warped rotor, ended up being the proverbial clagg buildup on the left front tire! Since all seemed good I was looking forward to having an even better day on the Sabbath. Qualified third behind the same Late Model and Cody Powell in a pristine AI Mustang that was a rocket ship with a NASA ( yep, pun) Astronaut for the pilot. He was on another Planet compared to my time qualifying and folks mentioned he is Nationally competitive! I was napping when the flag dropped , unlike my killer start on Saturday, and Turn 1 , my Achilles Heel , made the race a Black Sabbath with the Late Model and A1 pilots destroying me entering and exiting this seemingly easy turn? As they rocketed away, I hunkered down determined to stay ahead of a Radical and some other quick machines. Hung onto third overall and ran my best lap of the weekend ( improved each time on track ) and after lunch I decided to take Tracktardicus up on his kind offer of an instruction lap in his GT 350 R.
Huge Senor moment riding with Steve, as I realized John Scheier had tried to explain to me on Friday how to do Turn One ( I seemed to mirror how most drivers entered there) , yet it was quickly obvious I had misinterpreted his analysis. Steve took the Shelby from around 130-140mph and stood her on her nose right near the inside Apex and then footballed the corner. My error was so great , as I was starting from the outside of the straight , braking a day earlier and then trying to move over later, fairly close to the Apex - boy was mine a fat football turn. To say I screwed up the corner would be an understatement, I have done this long enough to realize I probably left an entire second or more in that turn alone. Fortunately riding with Trackspeedicus ( the boy can drive !!) I discovered I had the right lines on the rest of the course, which was some consultation after the monumental failure to get turn one even remotely correct. Lesson learned, if in Colorado and Steve asks you if you would like a test ride ( not once , he asked me twice on Saturday), forget about being tired and jump at the chance!! Riding with him was more fun than Space Mountain at Disneyworld!
So , what the heck does all this have to do with being a member at TMO you might ask, well it is simple, Tyme saved my weekend , helped me with my car, and Steve showed me the killer line and was helpful from the time we met. So building on friendships started here , made for a great weekend, and I look forward to running with these guys again ---- so find your TMO buddies when you go to the track!!!
Saturday found me in second overall in my run group after qualifying and I felt I had a decent handle on the track from practice and asking some buddies questions about this technical course in the Colorado foothills - good info from old TMO member John Scheier who now runs a BMW in the heavily contested GTS2 Class in the Rocky Mountain NASA Region. Got a great start in the race and held off a Nascar Late model for about 6 laps and then he snuck by me in Turn One ( turned out to be my Achilles heel corner) , yet held on for first in a small class and second overall.
Got to meet Steve R. ( tracktardicus ) and he offered to take me out in his GT 350R for some pointers and since I was a bit tired from the drive down, Friday practice, and the events of Saturday I declined at that point - more later.
Sunday found us with perfect racing weather and my one concern of a possible loose hub or warped rotor, ended up being the proverbial clagg buildup on the left front tire! Since all seemed good I was looking forward to having an even better day on the Sabbath. Qualified third behind the same Late Model and Cody Powell in a pristine AI Mustang that was a rocket ship with a NASA ( yep, pun) Astronaut for the pilot. He was on another Planet compared to my time qualifying and folks mentioned he is Nationally competitive! I was napping when the flag dropped , unlike my killer start on Saturday, and Turn 1 , my Achilles Heel , made the race a Black Sabbath with the Late Model and A1 pilots destroying me entering and exiting this seemingly easy turn? As they rocketed away, I hunkered down determined to stay ahead of a Radical and some other quick machines. Hung onto third overall and ran my best lap of the weekend ( improved each time on track ) and after lunch I decided to take Tracktardicus up on his kind offer of an instruction lap in his GT 350 R.
Huge Senor moment riding with Steve, as I realized John Scheier had tried to explain to me on Friday how to do Turn One ( I seemed to mirror how most drivers entered there) , yet it was quickly obvious I had misinterpreted his analysis. Steve took the Shelby from around 130-140mph and stood her on her nose right near the inside Apex and then footballed the corner. My error was so great , as I was starting from the outside of the straight , braking a day earlier and then trying to move over later, fairly close to the Apex - boy was mine a fat football turn. To say I screwed up the corner would be an understatement, I have done this long enough to realize I probably left an entire second or more in that turn alone. Fortunately riding with Trackspeedicus ( the boy can drive !!) I discovered I had the right lines on the rest of the course, which was some consultation after the monumental failure to get turn one even remotely correct. Lesson learned, if in Colorado and Steve asks you if you would like a test ride ( not once , he asked me twice on Saturday), forget about being tired and jump at the chance!! Riding with him was more fun than Space Mountain at Disneyworld!
So , what the heck does all this have to do with being a member at TMO you might ask, well it is simple, Tyme saved my weekend , helped me with my car, and Steve showed me the killer line and was helpful from the time we met. So building on friendships started here , made for a great weekend, and I look forward to running with these guys again ---- so find your TMO buddies when you go to the track!!!