R.G.Potter Consulting Services Inc.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rick and Georges 2001 One Lap Of America Adventure

David Lane's Correspondence on behalf of Rick and George 2001

May 13, 2001

ONE LAP OF AMERICA 2001

A SMALL ODD-ISY OF RICK POTTER AND GEORGE SAMUELS
As reported by David Lane

The following is a series of articles centered on the story of Rick Potter and George Samuels in the 2001 One Lap of America. The articles were written and sent to several Internet groups on a daily basis during the week long event in an attempt to keep everyone posted. There is also an introductory "Guide to the One Lap," and some closing thoughts at the end. I have done minimal editing on the original posts—mostly formatting, and a little bit of clarification.

There are some short-hand terms used in these posts that are familiar to members of the RX-7 mailing list (approximately 1300 people world wide), but that may not be familiar to you. 

3rd gen: Short for Third Generation RX-7, the sports car Rick and George (and two other teams) were driving. 

Rotary: The engine of an RX-7 has no pistons. It was designed by Felix Wankel, and is also known as a "rotary" engine.

Open track day: A high speed driver education event held at a race track at which drivers are given instructors and taught how to drive a high speeds. When the driver is competent, the instructor "signs off," and the driver has open access to the track. For safety purposes, passing is typically restricted to straight portions of the track.

PFS: Peter Farrell Supercars - a tuning firm in Manassas Virginia specializing in 3rd gen RX-7s. Peter was the primary sponsor of Rick and George's car.

MADS: A high speed drivers school taking place at a race track, and organized by the Washington D.C. Mazda Sports Car Club

GUIDE TO THE ONE LAP
Thursday, may 3
As many of us know, the One Lap of America begins tomorrow. I have been asked to be "list liaison" for the Potter/Samuels team, so you can expect daily (or more likely nightly) posts from me, relaying information I get via telephone from the guys. For now, I would like to give you some 
background on the race itself, then introduce you to George and Rick. At the end, I will have some details on the 3rd gen they are driving. This post is approximately the length of an "in depth" magazine article, so I hope you have a moment to kick back and enjoy it.

First, a little history of the event to bring everybody (especially international list members, and those new to the list) up to date. 

THE EVENT

The event dates back to the early '70s; the brainchild of a fellow named Brock Yates. Yates was/is a writer for Car and Driver Magazine in the U.S., a man known for his "in your face" editorial writing style. The early '70s were terrible years in U.S. automotive history. Government regulations started requiring emissions equipment on cars in 1968-- mostly air pumps and sealed carb adjustments. Further, the "safety awareness" movement (started by Ralph Nader) in the early '60s had progressed enough to be reflected in government mandates for heavier bumpers, puff-ball dash boards, etc.. [Editorial comment: This was the beginning of the trend away from personal responsibility, and toward blaming everyone/everything else when you screwed up.] Within a couple of years most cars had less power, more weight, and barely acceptable drivability. Then, to add to the mess, the oil crisis of 1973 prompted the U.S. Congress to threaten loss of federal highway funding to any state which did not mandate a 55 mph speed limit. Enter: speedometers that only went up to 85mph. Enter: driving enthusiasts who went into a sustained state of depression. 

There are at least two stories about how the One Lap came to be. One of them (rumor has it) supposedly comes from one of Brock Yates' magazine columns, in which he speaks of someone driving a VW from coast to coast in something over 40 hours. As the story goes, this prompted Brock and a bunch of drinking buddies to say, "I can beat that." And the race was on.

The official One Lap web site tells a more socially responsible story, with Mr. Yates responding to the early '70s automotive doldrums by organizing the Cannonball Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. The One Lap web site kindly explains that Mr. Yates was "setting out to 
prove that competent, well trained drivers can indeed safely navigate the American highway at speeds somewhat in excess of the posted 
limits." The actual emotions were far less civil, bringing to mind thumbed noses, extended fingers, and one of my favorite taunts from 
Monty Python's "Holy Grail:" "I fart in your general direction!"

The event, as I recall it, was pretty simple. Start in New York. First car to Redondo Beach, California wins. After five years running "The Cannonball" (with the best time clocked at 32 hours 51 minutes) Brock called it quits. The races were memorialized in two movies: "Cannonball Run" and "Smokey and the Bandit II." Yates wrote the screenplays.  Car enthusiasts loved it. The police, the politicians, the Naderites, and the smog Nazis were less than enthused—correctly interpreting the events as an effort to express bitter resentment of the establishment by childish, immature people, with no social conscience. 

Of course, they were right. I loved it.

Brock started organizing the race again in 1985. This time the Cannonball was more related to a classic time/speed/distance rally, circumnavigating the United States. The name changed, logically, to the "One Lap of America." Later, autocross-type time trials were included—I would guess to emulate the "special stages" typical of European rallies of the time. These morphed by 1992 to timed lapping of regional race tracks—the format still currently in use.  

The 2001 edition of the One Lap starts at Watkins Glen, New York on Friday, May 4th. Actual competition begins Saturday, May 5th, with qualifying runs, followed by two timed lapping events. All this ends around 5 PM. The next event starts at 9 AM the next morning...

...at Mid Michigan Motorplex, 623 miles away.

And so it goes; through seven days and fifteen timed events, spread out over nearly 4000 miles, and eight different tracks. Thus, while the nature of the One Lap has changed from the early "Cannonball" days, the spirit of the "Cannonball" remains—a "run what you brung" speed and 
endurance contest. There are enough events to expose any flaws in the machinery. And the distance covered from event to event puts equal stress on the drivers. 

CLASSING, SCORING, AND RULES

To encourage machinery from the mundane to the radical, classing is pretty open—mostly defined by car category and original selling price. There are two Sports/GT classes—above and below US$35,000. Third gens run in SGT/2. There are other classes for everything from current SUVs and pickup trucks, to pre-1980s American cars. By the way, as near as I can tell, Sports/GT classes are abbreviated either SGT or SSGT. You see it both ways on the web site.  Rudimentary safety equipment of the type carried by most conscientious drivers is mandated, with a fire extinguisher being the most radical element. Everyone runs the same tires (Michelin is the supplier this year). Roll bars are required for convertibles, but other than that, the field of cars entering a One Lap event will be much closer to what you see at an open track day than in an SCCA race or rally. 

I have heard it quipped that there are more rules about decals on One Lap cars than there are about modifications allowed. This is true, since there seem to be no specific rules at all governing performance modifications. Thus the One Lap is one of the few events where "tuner cars" can 
compete head to head. With an opportunity to show their stuff for a national audience, some of the big guns go all out—with professional drivers and heavily funded teams. Farther back in the pack, you will find another kind of participant—possibly a husband and wife team in a bone stock Volvo or old station wagon who are having the time of their life with the family car. Sometimes I think these folks are actually the big winners. I mean, you can't just head for the SCCA nationals in your family cars and run with the big boys. But for a two thousand dollar entry fee, you get to run hot laps at tracks around the country, and be a valued and legitimate part of what has become a major national automotive "happening." The only background requirements for drivers is a resume'—hopefully showing some track experience from racing or driving schools.

Since nowhere in the schedule is the word "sleep" or the word "eat" mentioned, participants have to work that into the travel schedule. There is also no mention of the word "repair," or the phrases: "Oh Sh!t" "What the heck was that!" or, "I think we passed that exit ten miles ago."

With many of the longer travel legs requiring average speeds of 50-60 mph, one can reason that the average participant will not be checking into any motels along the way and enjoying wine with dinner. Virtually any item related to the above words or phrases will result in a loss of sleep, 
possibly combined with the need to "make up time" getting to the next event. The penalty for failure to do so is loss of all points for that event, plus an exponential elevation in the team's stress levels. And, since the next day's schedule is just as tight, the resulting fatigue tends to be cumulative. This is one reason the 4-seat crowd tends to have an easier time of running the One Lap. While those running RX-7s will have to make do with two drivers, the rules allow for a third—and even a forth (for a $500 extra entry fee). Thus, that Volvo station wagon I alluded to earlier is likely to have better rested drivers, and a bunch of spare parts with it. The SGT classes must do with less, since no chase cars are allowed.

Points are accumulated by completing events. The formula is designed to keep a large number of cars "in line" in the points standings. If I understand correctly, there is a points standing for overall position, as well as for position in class. In either case, the top finisher gets points totaling five times the number of entrants. In other words (as described on the web site), if there are 95 entrants for overall points, the top finisher in each event gets (5 x 95) points, which is 475 points.  Each position lower is deducted 5 points, so, in this case, the first three finishers would get 475, 470, and 465 points respectively. What becomes obvious in this situation is that dropping a place or two at a given event is not all that significant since there are so many events. However, not showing up for the event is devastating to your score. Add this to what can happen when two very tired competitors are trying to "make up time," and you have a recipe for surprise endings.

It makes sense for competitors to hit the road quickly after making their runs, so they often do not know how they have finished until the next event when they see the score sheets. For this reason, we may be a bit behind on actual points standings. Still, we should be ahead of the One Lap web site.

THE GUYS - RICK

I said I would introduce you to George, Rick, and the car. I asked Rick and George to do a paragraph on themselves. Rick's 3rd gen wasn't talking, so I asked Peter Farrell to do the honors on its behalf. 

Rick Potter holds two engineering degrees, and specializes in transportation systems designs. He paid his way through school working as a professional guitarist—teaching and performing locally. He tells me he was once contemplating a PhD program developing better surfaces for race tracks, so it is no surprise he sees himself as someone who over-analyzes things. He now owns a small computer consulting company dealing with database systems design and business process flow solutions. Someday, I'm going to figure out what all that means.

Rick's competition background started in the early eighties, auto crossing a BMW 320i. During that decade, he won a number of local championships and regional class titles. It was around that time that he started participating in the occasional Solo I event.  In '91 and '92, he drove a Miata in Solo II competition (again winning his class). For those not familiar with the nature of Solo events, "Solo II" is the Sports Car Club of America's term for Auto crossing; "Solo I" is similar, but the course to be driven is a real race track, as opposed to a cone-defined course at (typically) a large parking lot or airfield. I'll let Rick tell you how he got involved with the One Lap: "In the winter of 92 I purchased the RX-7 with the intent of running the 93 One Lap, but my first wife passed away that spring, and my heart wasn't in it, so I didn't pursue it. However, the day I should have left, (that year it started in Detroit), I got a call from another local team that was running in a 93 Pontiac Grand Prix, their lead driver couldn't go because of a death in the family, and they said there was an empty seat and they had to leave in 45 minutes and would I be interested in sitting in! So less than an hour later I was on my way to my first One Lap. We didn't finish that well that year, 33rd overall and 5th in class, but it was enough to get me thinking that someday I would return. "  In '94, Rick was finally able to run a full Solo I season with the RX-7, capturing the Canadian provincial ASP and rookie of the year award. Unfortunately, the 3rd gen's engine blew, and the local Mazda dealer  botched the needed engine work (surprise!). So Rick competed locally in the Miata for the next two years, taking the CSP title in '95, and 2nd in C Super Stock (a Canadian class between stock and Street Prepared) in '96. Coming into 1997 the 3rd gen still had residual wiring problems from the dealer, so Rick finally made the drive from Canada (did I mention he is Canadian?) to PFS, and the problem was straightened out in two days. A good year in the RX-7 followed, with FTD at 7 of the 8 Solo I events attended that year. Rick also finally got to run the car in the One Lap—which he has done each year since (finishing in the top ten). Last year, with his car still configured with the stock twin turbos, he teamed up with George Samuels, and, with continued support and tuning from PFS, snagged 8th overall, which also gave them first place in SGT/2. This year, the car has been upgraded. More on that later.

THE GUYS - GEORGE

George Samuels, modest to the end, and wanting to give me something I could claim as my own, wrote in 3rd person: "George Samuels, disguised as a mild-mannered computer geek/civil servant and father of four, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the rotary way. He lives in the semi-rural wilds of  Maryland and commutes to the Social Security Administration headquarters in Baltimore. He says it's a great job, because he gets to give away money. Last year, he and Rick Potter brought home the first ever class win for an RX-7 in the One Lap of America. He was the prime mover (IOW, the guy who paid the bills) behind the creation of the RXX-7 (triple-rotor convertible), which, he reminds everyone, is still for sale. In the old days, he had an SCCA regional license, earned in a Formula Vee and a Triumph TR-6. Of late, he occasionally drives on track at MADS and other nominally educational track events. When queried about age, he replied, 'Older than dirt.'"

THE CAR - PFS

Rick's association with PFS goes back to the time they straightened out the problems left by the dealer, and PFS has since been the tuning company most responsible for the car's performance.  Last year Peter pretty much maxed out what he could get from the car in twin turbo form. This year, in anticipation of stiffer competition, Peter installed a single turbo package, starting with a race-ported engine built by Ray Wilson. Of interest in light of the current list discussion on the subject is that this engine uses stock 2mm apex seals. If you recall, Peter used these in his 26 psi drag car. The turbo (Garrett-based hybrid) and large race intercooler are from the PFS catalog and parts bin. Engine management is a TEC -II donated by Electromotive, Inc.. Other engine enhancements include an Apexi AVCR boost controller, Centerforce Dual Friction clutch, and PFS 3" SS exhaust.

As anyone who has fooled with aftermarket engine management knows, tuning is everything. Peter's work on the Dynojet has resulted in 425 RWHP—about 488 at the flywheel, running 15 psi on pump gas.

The suspension is also (as one would expect) made up mostly of items from the PFS catalog, including "Comfort Sport Springs," sway bars, and a Wildwood Big Brake package with cryo treated 12.75 front rotors. Wheels are Forgeline (17"), and the tires are the required Michelins—
245/40 in the front and 275/40 in the back.

Some of you saw Rick's yellow 3rd gen at MADS a few weeks ago, where it got its first track outing. An intermittent electrical problem was traced to "someone inadvertently kicking a terminal on the TEC2 unit," but other than that and a mild tendency to under steer (which was sorted out), the car is ready to go. Its second track outing was on Rick's home course in Canada. This is described as a tight, "one minute twenty second course." Driving at "70%" Rick says he shaved over five seconds a lap over last year's SGT/2 winning set-up. 

One final comment—a personal one. As George mentioned in a post two weeks ago, we have at least four teams running 3rd gens. I will be reporting for the Potter/Samuels team. I am sure John Duff will keep us up to date from the perspective of the Stasiowski/Black team. Mark O'Dell will be keeping us up to date on his team via a terrific web site at http://markodell.tripod.com. And I hope these streams of information will help us keep track of the Richards/O'Neill team. This will be the first time in memory we will have so many list-affiliated teams running, and it would really be sweet if all finished at the top of SGT/2. Besides the pride of the individuals involved, we have an opportunity to make a public statement about the strength and performance potential of our wonderful, and often mis-understood cars. 

While not fraught with wheel to wheel competition, this event is still not without its dangers—more often on the public roads than on the track. So let's wish all of "our" guys a safe and hard fought competition. 

I'll be back to you tomorrow night with results from qualifying, as well as Rick and George's impressions from the first two events at Watkins Glen. 



FRIDAY THE 4TH

My last message contained a couple of errors, so I need to clear them up first. Today was registration and tech day, so the first competitive events will be tomorrow (Saturday).

Also, a few people corrected me for using a quote I attributed to Monty Python's "Life of Brian." They were correct that the quote actually came from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." I guess I will have to give up my standing as a Monty Python scholar. On the other hand, I can still hum the theme tune from that movie. Does that count for anything?

George and I awoke pretty early today. (Rick spent the night at his home in Kingston, Ontario.) I began the day still trying to mentally process the tone of yesterday's early check-in period. It was like getting to MADS early, and watching the cars arrive at the hotel. I managed to form some impressions early on.

Impression #1: 

The One Lap is about character. Everything is at least a little outrageous. As we drove into the "Lodge on the Green" outside of Corning, NY (event headquarters), the first thing we noticed was a silver Mercedes which had just been off-loaded from its enclosed transport. This thing is reputed to be worth about a half a million dollars, and is the creation of RENNtech in Florida—a definite 1st place contender; entered by the factory, and driven by a pro. It sports a rear diffuser, front air splitter, and a wide-band lambda readout—taped in the area of the glove box. This thing has a brake pedal assembly that is probably worth more than my 1st gen. Rumor has it that it is putting out 450 hp to the rear wheels. I tend to look for details. There are two exhaust tips per side. Each pair says "Renn" on the lefty, and "tech" on the righty.

Cute.

The RENNtech Mercedes is just one of the cars competing in the new for this year "Super Tuner" class. Other cars in the class include two Superformance Cobras—one a 97. The other is listed as a 1965 SC-427 Cobra. I asked the owner how that could be. He said that the car is a '65 because he convinced his home state that '65 was the nearest equivalent to the car. Nothing like it had been produced since. The State apparently thought that was logical, so it is registered as a 1965 car. 

There is also a Mallett Corvette, and a Dinan "MZ," which I understand is pretty wild. The final car in the class is another RENNtech Mercedes— this one based on a C-43.

The dlane "nasty mobile" award goes to a replica of a 1963 Corvette Grand Sport. This bright orange machine has no top and a simple, racing windshield. According to its owner it weighs 2100 lbs, and gets about 430bhp out of its 350 cid engine. It's going to be rough going if the weather is bad. On the other hand, it is a real grin to see someone with a screwdriver tuning a big four barrel carb while the motor goes, wubawubawubawuba.

On the other end of the spectrum, is a Mini Cooper, bored out to I think 1380cc, and running with a five speed, hand built, gearbox which features straight cut gears. The driver says he will be dragging a magnet behind to pick up the cogs when he misses a shift.

Then there is a 1989 Honda Si, currently starting its 8th One Lap. It is referred to locally as the "Honda Death Car." One doesn't know if that 
moniker is simply an assessment of the car's condition, or a reaction to the fact that it is sponsored by a barbecue place that has as its logo a 
photo of someone roasting a hotdog in a nuclear blast. Yes, it drags a trailer behind it between tracks—with a full sized grill and several
large ice chests for use in providing barbecue for the runners at the events. 

This brings up to Impression #2:

Nothing is as it seems.

The clunky old '81 VW Scirocco has a VW/Audi 1.8T intercooled turbo engine in it. Many of the Corvettes, and most anything with a Ford V-8 displays a characteristic supercharger whine when trundling around the parking lot. Then there is the somewhat ratty looking pick-up truck with what sounds like a massive V-8 in it—and a Corvette that has been re-bodied to emulate a Chevy S-10 Blazer. Beautiful work, but one can only wonder why?

There is a Lotus Elise IIIs with questionable street legality parked outside of our room. Its license plate is from: ST MAARTEN NA "The Friendly Island." Maybe that had something to do with its ability to run the event.

Hmmm.

This ain't MADs, mates. There be big nasty V-8s in these waters, as well as lumpy-idling fours. The sounds around the parking lot are music to this musical gear head's ears.

Well, as I said, this is registration and tech day at the One Lap.

Registration consists of getting wrist bands, getting the BOOK (that tells you the routes to take), and getting an arm load of decals from the event sponsors. Registration takes five minutes. Installing the decals takes about two hours. There is an art to it involving water, towels, squeegees, and a good deal of swearing. Considerable effort goes into deciding where to put them. The mini had very little room to post such things. 

Tech consists of having your helmet checked for the proper Snell rating.

Then they take a careful look at your decals.

Then they make sure you are running the tires of the sponsor.

Then they send you on your way.

Did I mention that decals were very important?

So, how are our guys doing? Well, George and Rick made it through tech, even though one of their decals ("dek'ls," they call 'em) was not exactly as it was supposed to be. There was a space conflict with the PFS dekl on the window, so the Michelin dekl remained above—as it was last year. As for the rest of our 3rd gen runners:

Greg and Dale are registered, through tech, and ready to go.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mark O'Dell this morning. They are also ready to start.

Dale told me that Brian Richards (with what I expected to be an M2 car) was not going to attend, so we now have three 3rd gens hopefully ready to go tomorrow.

The rest of the SGT/2 class (in no particular order, and assuming they all showed up) consists of cars that started out life as:

Nissan Skyline GTR
1998 Camaro SS
1989 Corvette
Honda S-2000
1995 Mustang
2002 Subaru WRX
1999 Pontiac GTP
2001 Camaro Z28
2001 Saturn SCI
2000 Integra Type R
2001 Pontiac Formula
1988 BMW M3
2001 BMW Z3
1990 BMW M3
1986 Porsche 944 Turbo
1986 Porsche 911
1988 Corvette
1995 Firebird

Remember that these cars are heavily modified—often sporting 400 plus bhp. So power by itself will not determine the results of the One Lap. 

It is now about 9:15pm. The Lodge on the Green is a pretty quiet place. Cars are parked outside of the rooms, and some of their owners are sitting outside, thinking about what is to come.

Me to.

We will see how the field sorts out after tomorrow's events.

SATURDAY THE 5TH


The alarm watch on Rick's arm went off...

...and George got out of bed.

Go figure. 

These guys have definitely been together too long, and the competition hasn't even started yet.

George got himself together and reached for the sun screen, saying he did not want to start this year's One Lap in "lobster mode" as happened last year. Rick saw what was going on and quipped that George may not need to goo himself up. I was heading for the door at the time to try and take a photo or two with the morning light. At the same moment Rick completed his thought—that the weather was not supposed to be all that good—I opened the door to the proof of it. In contrast to yesterday's sunny upper 80's, the weather was cold and bleak.

And raining.

So much for the sun screen.

We went to check Rick and George out of the motel and found a Ford Lightning pick-up truck mounting the requisite dek'ls under the protection of the motel entrance overhang. Late arrival, I guess.

Luck was with us this time. The rain must have been local, for as we drove closer to the track (maybe 15 miles away from the motel) the roads became less and less moist. We arrived at the Watkins Glen facility to find the track and grounds completely dry. Even better, it was looking like the skies were going to clear. All of this came to pass, and we had a sunny, albeit cold and windy day. I was wearing everything I had with me, and the wind was still cutting through enough to make me shiver.

AT THE TRACK

The first order of unofficial business is to empty the car—just like an autocross, except a number of runners erected tents behind their cars— and then tried to keep them from blowing away. My eye was following one of those "bag chairs" as it skidded fully upright past where we were pitted, when two fairly buff young guys came easily jogging past.

Naked from the waist up.

Wearing only enough to cover their butts, and a bunch of goose bumps.

George explained that these were the "Young Ninjas" he wrote about in last year's story. They are Michelin test drivers driving a Viper ACR, and they are quite good at what they do—part of which is to remind 56 year-old bald guys that they are, well, 56 year-old bald guys.

Shortly thereafter the replica of the '63 Corvette GSR (Grand Sport Racing) pulled up nearby. This thing has no top. I went to greet them as they came in from their wet, cold journey. The driver was wearing orange goggles which matched the paint job on the car. Both driver and co-driver looked miserable to me. Stepping out of the car, the co-driver (an older fellow) said, with no small amount of sarcasm in his voice, "Well, THAT was bracing!" 

God, I hope the weather holds up for these two. There is no heater in the car, but the driver said the firewall was thin enough that most of the engine heat got through. Makes me wonder about the occupant's safety if an accident should happen on a long run between tracks.

Don't want to think about it.

QUALIFYING RUNS

First order of official business for the day was qualifying. One Lap events consist of somewhere between four and six cars on track at a time—separated at the start by about 10 seconds. It is important to determine who the fastest racers are—this to avoid the first car in the group being passed during the timed three-lap events to come. Thus, all competitors do a single timed lap from a standing start, and that determines the composition of each run group, as well as the order of start within the group. This "pecking order" is constantly being refined throughout the One Lap to accommodate everyone's comfort and to ensure safety. 

I saw Mark O'Dell's qualifying run in his 3rd gen, but there was no commentary over the P.A. system at this event (although Dale was ready and willing to do it) so I didn't get his time. Greg Stasiowski (also running a 3rd gen) and the cars following him seemed delayed in the completion of their qualifying lap. If I have it right, Greg left the track (no damage) and that slowed down the cars behind him. I believe the Skyline was in that run group, so the qualification process gave us no indication of what it could do. More on that later.

Rick was planning to be cautious with his car for a number of reasons. As you can guess, his butt is still mated to the feel of the twin turbo set-up, so he didn't want the single-turbo that PFS had installed to produce any surprises. Second, the tires were cold, and the track was cold.

His caution paid off when he discovered, at an inopportune time, that his back tires seemed to have little traction and insisted on not following the fronts. This was especially true on right turns for some reason, and since the track at Watkins Glen is run clockwise, it was a very dangerous situation—repeated at each right hand turn.

Even worse was the trail of oil the car was leaving when it rolled back into the pits. 

Apparently, the Michelin Pilots (spec tires for the series) were not as bad as Rick thought. The whole back half of the driver's side of the engine was coated with oil, and it had been coming out fast enough to blow back under the bottom of the car, dropping off in front of the left rear tire. 

Rick wasn't kidding when he said it was slick out there!

Given this condition, Rick (and the rest of us) was pleased to discover that he had still managed to qualify sixth overall. On the other hand, he had to fix whatever the problem was before the 1st official 3-lap event started. George checked with the timing people, and learned that it was going to start at eleven as scheduled. It was just 9:45, so we had some time.

Rick called PFS to talk to Peter, who came back with some possible causes. In any case, we needed some brake cleaner to clear the oil from the engine to verify if it was fixed, so around ten o'clock I was dispatched to town. 

FIRST LAPPING EVENT

I was back by 10:45 to discover that they had already run the first event. George says that shortly after I left, they had called Rick's number for the grid. Rick at first didn't want to run because of the danger, but further thoughts about the damage a DNS (Did Not Start) would do to his points standing convinced him to go back out there and take it very easy. At the time, he thought the oil leak was associated with a pressure hose of some sort, so he reasoned if he held back on the throttle he would do minimal mayhem to the engine and the track. He had a respectable time (for three laps from a standing start) of 4 minutes 38 seconds—putting him in 9th place overall. 

It was not a bad 1st session for any of the RX-7 guys. Mark O'Dell turned a great time of 4:37 for 7th overall, and Greg Stasiowski came in at 
4:44--putting him 15th.

Time for a lunch break, during which Peter (on the cell phone) and Rick traced the oil leak to the assembly that contains the oil filler tube and dipstick. Being on the driver's side of the engine, and not (as far as I know) being pressurized, the leak was simply a result of this assembly coming loose—allowing oil to escape whenever the car was placed into a hard, sustained right hand turn. So, while Rick's theory turned out not to be correct, the action he took of slowing down had the desired effect. Rick put a wrench to the appropriate fasteners, washed the mess down with the brake cleaner, and then had time to get some lunch from the track vendor.

I am now going to give you the results for the top ten from the 1st event, along with some notes. You might keep this handy since these names and cars are likely to crop up in subsequent posts, and I don't want to bore you by repeating the stories each time.

Fastest time for the morning session at the Glen was a 4:23 turned by Dan Schlickenmeyer. The car is a last generation Mustang Cobra, running SGT/2, and tuned to the max with a Vortex supercharger. This car bloody screams down the track. Very impressive—turning probably in the area of 450 to 500 bhp.

Second was that Viper ACR I mentioned, driven by the "Young Ninjas," fully clothed, of course. If I have it right, this is supposed to be a factory stock car as ACRs go. Time was 4:24. He runs in SGT/1.

Third was an SGT/1 Z06 Vette. Don't know anything about this one.

Forth was another SGT/1 Viper. This one is owned by Ron Adee. Time was 4:28. 

Fifth was that wild replica of an orange Corvette GSR. He is running in the Vintage American class and turned a 4:32.

Sixth was the potent Porsche 911 Carrera of Gary Griffith. The car is mostly 930 turbo underneath. Gary is Canadian, and known well to Rick. 
This is one of the cars Rick measures himself against—even though they are not in the same class. Gary is running in Vintage Imported class, and turned a 4:34

Seventh was our own Mark O'Dell in GT/2 with a 4:37

Eighth was listed as a SGT/2 Camaro, but I don't know who: also in the 3:37s

Ninth, as I said earlier was Rick: SGT/2 at 4:38

Tenth was a SGT/2 M3 at 4:39

The Skyline hit a pylon. In the One Lap they try to only use pylons when safety is an issue, so hitting one is a 10 second penalty. Even so, his time (didn't write the time down) was just about ten seconds above competitive.

There was a Subaru WRX in the field—the subject of much speculation. However, the driver turned something like 5:09, so, unless something is terribly wrong with it, that car won't be an issue. 

SECOND LAPPING EVENT

With the oil cleaned off of the engine, albeit still hanging from under the car, Rick again stayed conservative—braking early, but getting into the throttle more. The car sounded GREAT, and we were hoping to get a better indication of its potential as the times came in. Here are the results:

The Viper ACR came in at 4:22.628
The other Viper nipped at his heals with a 4:22.688
The Mustang Cobra dropped to 3rd with a 4:26.628
The Z06 dropped to 4th at 4:29.963
The Skyline GTR finally showed its stuff with a 5th place 4:31.752. BUT: Apparently all of George's research (and list help) paid off because the results sheet shows the Skyline has been MOVED TO SGT/1. Go, George!

Anyway, this pushed the topless Orange Vette GSR back to 6th with a 4:32.187.

Rick dropped six seconds from the 1st event and moved up from 9th to 7th with a 4:32.311.

Rick's Canadian friend in the vintage class 911 came in eighth with a 4:34.255

Ninth was another Z-06 (pesky things) who turned a 435.368

Tenth was a beautiful Superformance Cobra. This car is running in the Super Tuner class. It had not performed all that well in the morning session because the throttle linkage was not adjusted properly, and (according to the driver) only about half throttle was available. This car 
has one of those PPG paint jobs which go from green to purple as the light hits it. He turned a 4:36.355

Rick's other Canadian friend—Dan Corcoran with his GT/2 Supercharged Firebird showed up as eleventh with a 4:38.135

Mark O'Dell turned in a terrific time of 4:38.590, which shows you how good a well driven, relatively stock RX-7 can be against a VERY expensive (modified to the hilt) F-Body. This was good for 12th place.

Greg Stasiowski came in 16th, with a 4:46.2 something. Apparently he started smelling coolant out on the track. We first saw it when he came back to the pits and deposited a bunch of liquid under the car. I am happy to say it was only a dislodged filler cap, so the car is still in good shape. 




WRAP UP

One more update on a car I mentioned yesterday: The RENNtech Mercedes. This car took off for practice like nothing I have ever heard. Unfortunately, I thought I heard him miss a shift because there was some kind of pop between 3rd and 4th. Then I remembered the car has an automatic tranny. Making matters worse, I believe it left the track during one of the sessions. I saw some damage on the front splitter.  There was a story going around about some car with a "Race logic" transmission getting into trouble when the thing suddenly and unexpectedly downshifted—causing a spin. I don't know if that was the Mercedes or not, but that's how information travels at a One Lap event. You never know exactly how much of what you are hearing is true until the next year when the guys start swapping tall tales at registration.

Then you STILL don't know the exact truth.

Since our guys are all among the top runners, they pack up and hit the road pretty quickly. By about 3:30 they were all on their way to the next stop, which is The Cannonball Pub (owned by Brock Yates, I think) in Wyoming, NY. It's just a two-hour run, but they will be held there and forced to eat and relax before heading on. This is one of 3 mandatory stops along the route. You have to get a stamp in your Route Book or you suffer a penalty of (I think) 15 points.

Sunday looks busy. Once released from the Cannonball Pub they drive 525 miles to Mid Michigan Motorplex. They will run some drag races there, then move on (a short 125 miles) to Michigan International Speedway. Then they will run one event, and head for a second mandatory stop at Holmes Radiator 530 miles away. Sometime during that trip, they will probably run out of "Sunday."

You can expect my reports from here on out to be MUCH shorter and less detailed, since they will be based on cell phone calls—some of which will be to an answering machine. I hope we have given you enough background to recognize some of the characters, pleasures and pains of running this event as things unfold.

I have come to understand that this "One Lap" thing is less a race than a long process. Maybe more about friendship and camaraderie than about competition. On a mechanical level, much has to do with "what's possible." If anyone goes to visit one of the scheduled events, get there early so you don't miss the first run groups. All the wildest and fastest cars are there....

And all the RX-7s too—right where they belong.



SUNDAY, THE 6TH

As I mentioned near the end of yesterday's report, the first event of Sunday was at Mid Michigan Motorplex. The guys do not have official results from that event, but they are not particularly happy about it. According to Rick, he thought he should run the car a little rich, and ending up fouling the plugs. It was so bad, the best he could do on the dial-in phase was a 13.6. This proves (he said) that neither Rick nor George are drag racers. Actually, the term Rick used was somewhat more colorful, but not the kind of thing I should post. Once through the bracket races, the car hooked up and pulled very well. That's the One-Lap for you.

Fortunately, they made it to the 4th level in the brackets, so they made up some points there. The Skyline was first in the bracket races. This car's driver is very impressive—a pro—so they should do well in the overall points standings.

I am also not a drag racer, but for those who are curious, I believe a bracket race to be one in which you predict your time, and try to come close to your prediction without going any faster. It is a drag race with a "The Price is Right" mentality. Thus, it is not really a case of wheel-to-wheel drag racing, and you get some strange looking combinations at the start line.

For instance, the Honda Death Car went up against one of the Cobras. And the chutzpah award of the day was when the Mini lined up against a ZR1 Corvette. That one drew cheers from the crowd.

This Mini, by the way, is a veteran of several One Laps. It is right hand drive, and driven by a very large fellow, who pretty much shoehorns himself into it. The car seems even smaller when he stands next to it. He has received a ticket or two in his time with the car, and has some great stories to tell, beginning with the officer approaching the passenger (left hand side) with the usual diatribe—only to have the passenger look at the officer, point to his right, and raise his eyebrows, as in "I don't suppose you noticed there is no steering wheel in front of me."

The next event was at Michigan International Speedway—a hundred twenty-five miles down the road. 

Rick was happy with their performance there. His unofficial time was about one second slower than the SGT/2 class-leading supercharged Mustang Cobra of Dan and Mike Schlickenmeyer. My guess is that the Potter/PFS driver/car combination is starting to jell. The team probably left before results were posted, and the only other RX-7 number George had for me was his stopwatch figure for Mark, which was about 12 seconds slower than Rick. But I hasten to remind anyone that Mark's car is nearly stock, so he is doing a heck of a great job. Maybe he has more on his web site.

In other One Lap news:

It is now official that the RENNtech Mercedes dropped out after Watkins Glen.

That very fast supercharged Firebird belonging to Dan Corcoran (always a top contender in SGT/2 had more trouble of some sort, but managed to fix it overnight. They had a problem at Watkins Glen too, but I don't exactly know what.

The Lotus Elise IIIs was "last seen being hauled up on a flat bed trailer." Having owned a Lotus myself, I shouldn't be surprised that a Lotus would have reliability problems (if that was the case with this one), but actually the Elise was one of the most simple machines at the One Lap, so I will be curious to find out what happened.

I could hear George turning to Rick and asking him if there was anything else he wanted to say. Rick said something (I couldn't hear), then
George came back to the phone.

"Rick says he's tired and wants to go home."

And it's only Sunday.

Currently the team is on its way to Holms Radiator for a mandatory stamp collecting stop. It is a 530 mile drive, and they need to be there by 2AM CST. Then it is another 268 miles to Heartland Park in Topeka Kansas where they will do a morning and an afternoon event.




MONDAY THE 7TH

Rick and George were having trouble getting through to me via cell phone, so they stopped to file this report from a land line.

First of all, George says that the One Lap folks have been keeping the web site up pretty well, so you can check there for full results. I only have fingers enough to keep you up with our guys and the top group. Secondly, George says that some of the results posted are actually incorrect, and will be revised shortly. That will explain it if what George gives me doesn't agree with the web site. The guy "doing" the web site turns out to be the driver of the Honda Death Car, so obviously he has other things to think about. We'll have to cut him some slack.

I also want to say that Mark O'Dell's co-driver is Bill Gratton. I was having trouble locating them on the participant's list because I kept looking under "RX-7." At the time I printed mine out, he was listed as driving a BMW M3. This makes sense since Mark is an instructor with BMW at Watkins Glen. I guess he changed his mind about what to drive at the last minute. Good to have him on our side. He is doing a heck of a job!

On to the results. This is "official" (meaning that George grabbed it off the results sheet at a later event), as opposed to "official"—meaning that the results have passed scrutiny by the One Lap organizers.

I have a bit more from yesterday morning's drag race at Mid Michigan Motorplex:

Top time of the day was run by the Nissan Skyline, with an 11.7 quarter mile time. Remember when I had an "observation" that nothing is what it seems with the One Lap? Well, as it turns out, this Skyline does not have the stock straight-6 engine. It is running a 300Z twin turbo V-6. I'm not sure why they would want to do that, but it seems to be working for them. The driver is named Emanuel Crouvisier—a guy who impressed George last year by doing amazing things with a Supra. I hope I have the right story with the right car, but if I do, this is the guy who, realizing that the Supra was having brake problems, just tossed the car sideways when necessary to scrub off speed, then shot to the next corner.

The Schlickenmeyer Mustang came in 9th. We don't have a time on that. Greg and Dale turned a 13.1 with Dale driving. This was good for 10th place overall.

As I mentioned yesterday, Rick had a problem with the car running rich, but still finished 17th with his 13.6. Rick feels this car could run low 12's or high 11's. Normally, I would discount something like that as drag racer's bragging, but Rick is actually pretty accurate with his predictions.

Discuss among yourselves....

Mark and Bill finished 39th with a 14.3--exactly what you would expect from a nearly stock 3rd gen. Pretty scary to think that with this field of cars, you would be mid pack with a time like that.

Next came the bracket races, and all our guys were in the top ten. Mark and Bill came in 2nd overall, Rick and George were 5th (tied with the Honda Death Car). Greg and Dale came in 8th. 

On to Michigan International Speedway for the afternoon open track event.

Rick was ready to rock and roll with the single turbo, so he let it rip, resulting in a fifth place over all. He says he was hitting 165 mph on the back straight. I'm sure somewhere in Manassas, Peter Farrell was smiling.

By the end of the day on Sunday the overall standings were as follows:

1. Viper ACR
2. Adee Viper . 
3. That really nasty SGT/2 Mustang Cobra. But hey! If your name is
Schlickenmeyer you have to be good. 
4. The Griffiths 911 running in Vintage Import class.

If you just look at the SGT/2 overall results, it goes like this:

1. Schlickenmeyer Mustang
2. Potter/Samuels RX-7
3. Corcoran Firebird
4. Mark/Bill RX-7
5. Greg/Dale RX-7

Not too shabby, eh?

It was time to hit the road for Topeka, with a mandatory stop at Holmes Radiator. Yes, this is a real radiator shop. George says there was a cheering crowd there, and a lot of good food. They collected their stamp, and headed for Heartland Park, arriving there around 5AM central time—early enough to catch a couple hours sleep.

The morning session resulted in the top three overall scores belonging to the ACR Viper, the Adee Viper, and the Schlickenmeyer Mustang. 

Rick had been running his car with the Tokico shocks set on (5) their firmest setting. At Watkins Glen he told me it would be fine because the track was smooth. Apparently the Heartland Park track was less kindly because Rick says the car "chattered across the track." The result was a 7th place, followed by the Corcoran Firebird. Greg/Dale were in 13th, and Mark/Bill were in 14th.

In SGT/2, the Mustang was still in first, followed by Rick/George, the Corcoran Firebird, Mark/Bill, and Greg/Dale.

Results were not posted after the afternoon Heartland Park event, but Rick dropped his shocks from the firmest to the softest setting (1), and dropped his 3-lap time by.....ready for this?

Nine Seconds!

By George's stop watch, that would put Rick ahead of both the Schlickenmeyer Mustang and the Corcoran Firebird for this event. Don't count the Mustang out quite yet though. The driver has extensive experience on some of the tracks coming up. On the other hand, last year the supercharger in the car killed a bearing and had to be disconnected. He is using a different supercharger this year, but what the heck—reliability is part of the game here.

George says they are both in good shape and the car is feeling very strong.

They are now heading for the Texas Motorsport Ranch, 504 miles from Topeka. Hopefully, Brad Barber will have someone there with race gas for them. There are two time trial events (morning and afternoon) scheduled.

Are we having fun yet?

ADDENDUM TO MONDAY THE 7TH

I figured I would update you on a couple of things based on what they are posting to the One Lap web site:

First, there is that wild Orange Corvette replica Grand Sport Racing (GSR). By the end of the day on Monday it had come into contention at 9th overall. The reason in part is that the car came in first at the second Heartland Park session yesterday (Monday) afternoon. The car is running in Vintage American class.

Another car I have not written much about is the Superformance Cobra. There is a language problem here, since to some, a Cobra is a Mustang. Granted the Schlickenmeyer Mustang is a "Cobra" model, but these Superformance types are Cobra replicars from the 60's—two seat monsters. One is running in Super Tuner class, and was 3rd overall (1st in class) at the end of Monday. 

Another reason I wanted to bring this up is that (as George said) the web site doesn't agree with what I wrote yesterday. It shows the Cobra turning the 11.754 time at the Mid Michigan drags, and the Skyline with 11.972. Frankly, I wouldn't quibble with it either way. 

By the way, the other Cobra is running in Vintage American class and is in 21st place overall.

The Web is showing results from the afternoon Heartland Park session— the one where Rick did so well. As I said, the GSR Corvette Replicar came in first by around 3 seconds over the ACR Viper, which in turn beat the Agee Viper by about 4 seconds. The Superformance Cobra was a second behind that, and Rick was a couple seconds behind the Cobra—first in SGT/2.

What is encouraging about all this is that Rick's time was about four seconds ahead of the SGT/2 class-leading Schlickenmeyer Mustang.

Behind Rick were the Griffiths Vintage 911, a BMW M3, and a Corvette Z-06. Then came the Mustang. Since each position back earns five points less in the overall standing, the Rick/George car picked up 20 points toward first in class.

Let's hope the trend continues.

According to the web site, the Mustang has a total of 2955 points. Rick and George have 2865 points (counting—I think—both Heartland Park events). So, if I understand the scoring system, it is a good thing not only for Rick to come in ahead of the Mustang, but for others to shoe-horn themselves between the two—costing Schlickenmeyer points. We HAVE to get this guy out of our hair because I am tired of reminding myself how to spell his name.

So, as of Monday evening, the overall order of finish shows Rick and George in 6th place—still 2nd in class to the Schlickenmeyer Mustang.

Greg/Dale, with their 13.157 at the drag strip are now 10 points ahead of Mark/Bill in 13th and 14th place, respectively. This puts RX-7s in second, forth, and fifth place in SGT/2, with the Schlickenmeyer Mustang in 1st place, and the Corcoran Firebird in third. This is where the SGT/2 action should be from here on out, although there is a Camaro hanging about 80 points in back of Mark/Bill.

Away from the leading cars, you will be happy to know that the little Mini is still hanging in there—turned a blistering 18.469 at the drags, and is currently running in 81st place

Something has to be nutz with the Subaru WRX. Its drag time was only a second faster than the Mini, so he must simply be limping along.

There is a breathtakingly beautiful silver Jag XKE running along in mid pack--54th. I looked in the louvers of the hood and saw SU carbs In there, so the car is at least somewhat stock. Wonderful sounding thing.

And, of course, the Honda Death Car is in 73rd place.

There is another car I have not mentioned before—a Honda S2000 with a sign on the front which says FUGAWI RACING. Last year they came in contact with an unidentified meowing object at an unfortunate speed. It is now a standing legend among the racers, and apparently someone slipped a stuffed toy cat in their grill the next morning. It re-appeared there shortly after they arrived for this year's event.

I will try to get something out tonight after George calls.



TUESDAY, MAY 8

Got the call from George a little earlier today because they pushed the afternoon event up a bit. Here we go with the latest gossip:

Today's events were held at the Texas Motorsports Park. Rick and George were hoping to get some race gas out there, but it would have been an 80 mile round trip (being at the track at 7:30 AM), so Rick told the nice volunteer not to worry about it. The car seemed not to notice, but as we all know, a little race gas goes a long way toward peace of mind in the form of headroom from detonation. So far, that has not been a problem for Rick's highly modified 3rd gen. It seems to fly along on whatever premium fuel or race gas is available. Also, the team managed to get in early, so they actually got about six hours sleep.

It had been raining for the previous three days at the track, and even though the surface was dry, it was very slick. For a frame of reference, the Z-06 with its fancy "track control" (which I understand is a very effective electronic "skid/traction" system) dropped to 20th place at the first Texas event—compared to eighth place at the second event in Kansas at Heartland park.

At the morning event at Texas Motor Speedway, the ACR Viper finished first overall, followed by the amazing orange Corvette GSR replicar. Third overall was Dan Corcoran (SGT/2) in the Firebird. Corcoran reports that he pretty much just slid all the way around the course. Rick/George managed a 7th, which was good enough to beat the Schlickenmeyer Mustang (10th) by three places. On the other hand, Rick was only 15 points ahead of Dan Corcoran going into this event, so this Canadian vs. Canadian thing is getting serious. These two routinely mess with each other on the local track near their homes, and it is a well-established rivalry.

Mark/Bill finished 11th—just behind the Mustang, followed in 12th by the Griffiths Porsche 911 (Vintage Import). Greg and Dale posted a respectable 17th.

An interesting race is cropping up between the Greg/Dale RX-7 and the Mark/Bill RX-7. They were just ten points away from each other at the start of the day today. Mark/Bill made that up, plus more in the morning run.

Just ahead of Greg and Dale, in 16th place was a Thunderbird that had a nasty sound coming off the trailer at registration. It is one of the more recent wedge-shaped T-Birds and has a 5.0 engine with (what else?) a supercharger. The car is now 23rd overall. They call it the Thunderchicken.

So, according to my spotty notes, by noon today the standings were:

1. ACR Viper
2. Adee Viper
3. (Either I didn't get it, or everything below is off by one)
4. Schlickenmeyer Mustang
5. Griffiths Porsche 911
6. Rick/George
7. Corcoran Firebird
12. Mark/Bill
13. Greg/Dale

As before, we have a few informal stopwatch readings from George on the afternoon session.

IN SGT/2

Schlickenmeyer dropped his time by eleven seconds over the morning, so he was 1st in class for this event.

Corcoran was only a second faster in the afternoon with the Firebird, but it was enough to keep him ahead of Rick. Rick picked up a full six seconds on his morning run, but it was not enough to change the order of finish for that event. Mustang, Firebird, RX-7: One, two, and three in 
SGT/2

Next stop is Road Atlanta. It is the longest drive of this year's one lap at 911 miles. Fifteen hours are allowed at an anticipated speed of about 61mph. Unfortunately, they should hit the Atlanta metro area during rush hour, so anything can happen.

ADDENDUM TO TUESDAY

Results for Tuesday's events were posted last night, and I thought I would fill you in, plus give you a bit more general information about the event.

First, the overall results:

The first four places remain in the same order. However, the Corcoran Firebird, and the Corvette GSR are now in 6th and 7th place—ahead of Rick/George by only 15 points, and 5 points, respectively. The Schlickenmeyer Mustang is 105 points ahead.

This is getting to be a very tight situation.

In back of Rick/George there is a BMW M3 behind by 40 points, and a Z-06 Corvette 130 points in back of the BMW.

Greg/Dale have moved ahead of Mark/Bill in eleventh place overall. Mark/Bill are only 20 points behind and are nipping at their heals. Note than both have moved up from where they were at 12th and 13th in Monday night's results. The next car back is 105 points behind, so there is at least a little cushion. 

Thus, the following is the overall order:

1. ACR Viper
2. Adee Viper
3. Superformance Cobra (the one I missed in my last post)
4. Schlickenmeyer Mustang
5. Griffiths Porsche 911
6. Corcoran Firebird
7. Orange Corvette GSR Replicar
8. Rick/George RX-7
9. BMW M3
10. Z-06 Corvette
11. Greg/Dale RX-7
12. Mark/Bill RX-7

Picking out the SGT/2 cars, it is still Mustang, Firebird, and three RX-7s. As I said before, the Firebird is only 15 points ahead of the RX-7, and the Mustang is 105 points ahead. Anyone interested in other cars can find results at the www.onelapofamerica.com web site.

Click on "One Lap 2001," then on "Results."

Overall points standings are at "Final Results." Individual event results are available at the left hand menu.

Now, on to a little more general information, in the form of another of my "observations about the One Lap." Namely:

The One Lap is All about Money.

There are a couple of logical reasons for this. Certainly the sponsors are using the event for publicity—which explains why "tech" inspection is really "decal" inspection. The second reason obviously is that these monster machines running close to the top are not cheap. Nor, one would think, are the professionals who are hired to drive them. It also follows that privately entered vehicles are likely owned by people who are running the One Lap in part because they are tired of the same old ski vacations in the Alps. 

By the same token, there is a lot of charity going on around the One Lap event. For instance, there are two sisters running a Boxter. These two both have kidney transplants, and they run to bring attention to the organ donor dilemma. They are great people, and their competitive goal is not to finish last. They want to beat someone who actually finishes the event this year. They are currently running in 76th position, about five slots up from last place.

There is another car—an Oldsmobile Aurora—running about mid-pack that is running for either Muscular Dystrophy, or MS—I can't remember which. The team has solicited contributions in the same manner as a March of Dimes Walkathon, so the further they go, the more they make for the charity.

Finally, there is a Michigan Police car that has been running for many years—sporting an anti-drug slogan. I understand they use the car throughout the year to attract young people to their message. I also understand that the driver—a working Officer—sometimes has some explaining to do if stopped by a fellow cop in another state: Something like, "Just what the hell do you thing you are doing! And why are you doing it in THIS! For the record, he often gets by without being an issued a ticket, but he HAS been ticketed by other cops who have no sense of humor.

I think one of the charms of this event is how it brings such a varied bunch of people together for no particular purpose than to engage in an event that all consider to be, by its very nature, crazy.

Some have something to prove. Some have something to sell. Some have something to publicize. Some just want to be a part of it. But from what I have seen, everyone competes hard, and comes home with enough stories to entertain (or bore) their friends for at least a year.

I'll be back to you after George calls in a couple of hours.



WEDNESDAY THE 9TH

Before starting, I need to correct something. I was reminded that the class results are built on their own points standings—not the overall points standings. This does not change any of the finishing orders I have posted, but it does change the number of points between contestants. For instance, as of yesterday's totals in class, Rick/George were five points behind Dan Corcoran's Firebird, and 30 points behind the Mustang.

The same relationships in the overall points would be 15 points behind the Firebird and 105 points behind the Mustang.

The reason is that the top finisher gets a total of five points per person in the class. The overall scores include a group of eighty-five or so among all classes, but the SGT/2 class only has 20 cars in it. Thus, all class-specific scores will be much lower—albeit with the same five-point reduction in score for each place back from first.

Where's my slide rule?

Okay. If it's Wednesday, we must be at Road Atlanta.

The biggest news of the day for the front runners is that the mighty Orange Corvette GSR Replicar broke a U-joint and was not able to finish one of the events. This will cost him something in the area of 400 points, and that effectively puts him out of the running for the top spots. Also, at the time the U-joint broke, the Vette was just in front of Gary Griffiths' Vintage Porsche—another of the top runners. This slowed him down a bit which cost him a couple of places.

I have spoken several times about the RENNtech Mercedes which retired way back at Watkins Glen. I didn't mention that there was another RENNtech Mercedes—this one entered by a very nice businessman from Florida. It is based on a C-43 and was quite elegant. The owner quipped to us that he was really enjoying the One Lap in recent years because he was no longer driving the timed events himself.

Well, today, the car went into a wall and got crunched up quite a bit. Always the sport, the owner said, "My! That Carnauba wax held up pretty well! This is nothing. My divorce cost more than this."

It's a One Lap thing.

Here are the results of the morning session at Road Atlanta:

Apparently, Dan Schlickenmeyer went scary fast. The car was screaming its way around the track. He finished first.

The ACR Viper was second.

The Superformance Cobra was third. He has been consistently fast recently.

Forth was Greg/Dale. Rick/George tipped their hats to Greg's performance and noted how important it is to know the track. Apparently Greg had done a driver's school there. He really knew the line to take.

Rick, in contrast, only had about 4 laps of experience there in last year's One Lap. He ended up taking what George called the Red Clay line— which must be Road Atlanta talk for going off the track. Still, he came in 5th overall, which put him ahead of...

the Corcoran Firebird—which was 6th.

Mark/Bill came in 9th overall

Putting it all together, you have Rick/George moving up past the orange Vette, the Corcoran Firebird and the Griffiths Porsche from 8th to 5th place. Greg/Dale and Mark/Bill each moved up one.

The overall standings at the end of the Road Atlanta morning session were:

1. ACR Viper
2. Schlickenmeyer Mustang
3. Superformance Cobra, which was actually tied for 2nd in points.
3. Corcoran Firebird
4. Adee Viper
5. Rick/George
10. Greg/Dale
11. Mark/Bill

George says the RX-7s are generating a tremendous amount of respect among the competitors and organizers. Typical comments heard are:

"Damn, those Mazda's are Fast!"

In the afternoon session, George says that Schlickenmeyer violated three or four laws of physics by turning the fastest time with a locked brake caliper.

Corcoran (Firebird) slipped by Rick by one one thousandth of a second.  I take it this is not just by George's stopwatch.

After which the Firebird coasted to a halt on the track and had to be towed off—a victim of that strange gremlin that has occasionally appeared throughout the week.

George says the car is fabulous—that Rick is very happy with the power the single turbo is putting out.

Today was a short day. Rick and George are in Danville (near VIR) at that nice place down the hill that has the great margaritas. They deserve it.

Tomorrow, while they do their sessions at VIR, I will drive back to Watkins Glen and will join them for the last two events on Friday.

ADDENDUM TO WEDNESDAY THE 9TH

A quick look at the web site this morning shows some interesting news. First the second Road Atlanta event:

The ACR Viper was first, beating the Schlickenmeyer Mustang by about 9 seconds. The Superformance Cobra was third; Agee Viper 4th, and Corvette Z-6 5th. Griffiths Porsche got past the Corcoran Firebird by two seconds for 6th and 7th positions. As George said yesterday, the Firebird was .001 seconds ahead of Rick/George who took 8th. Rick in turn was about a half second ahead of Greg this time around.  The GSR Vette with it's U-joint fixed was 10th. Mark/Bill came in 14th.

Thus, going into today's (Thursday) events at VIR, the overall standings are:

1. Viper ACR
2. Mustang
3. Cobra
4. Agee Viper
5. Firebird
6. Rick/George (15 points behind the Firebird)
7. Griffiths Porsche (10 points behind Rick/George)
8. BMW M3 (Wiles/Bartly--70 points behind Porsche)
9. Z-06 Vette
10. Greg/Dale (70 points behind Vette)
11. Mark/Bill (70 points behind Greg/Dale)

As an indication of what a DNF can do, the GSR Vette replicar is now in 12th place—more than 200 points behind Mark.

Today's events will be critical. Rick has a lot of experience at VIR (and at Watkins Glen) so barring mechanical trouble we should do well.  On the other hand, the Mustang Guy is also very experienced at those tracks. I know less about Mark O'Dell, but he is very good at The Glen—being a BMW instructor there.

SGT/2 class standings and point are:

Mustang - 1050
Firebird - 1005
Rick/George - 1000
Greg/Dale - 895
Mark/Bill - 875

Will the Mustang blow another supercharger like he did last year? Will Rick get by his friend's Firebird enough times to move up a place?  Mark is tough at Watkins glen. Will it be enough to get by Dale?

Will we really end up with 3 RX-7s in the top five SGT/2 places AND the top ten or 11 overall places?

Motorsports don't get much better than this, folks.



THURSDAY THE 10TH

Here is the first news from VIR. I was not able to talk directly to George, but he left a message on my office voice mail. He sounds a bit tired—but then what would you expect.

He says the Mini is "gone," and I hope that just means it is out of the competition as opposed to being stolen (unlikely) or being beamed up by alien space travelers from a small planet (more likely).

George also gave us a clue about why the Schlickenmeyer Mustang is doing so well. He spoke with the fellow who built that engine and it apparently dyno'd at 575 horsepower.

And yes, that's to the rear wheels. 

As a musician, I am amazed by such a number, but what I really want to know is how he got the thing to SOUND like that.

The results of the morning session at VIR are:

1. Superformance Cobra
2. Orange GSR Vette replicar
3. Mustang
4. George didn't say, but I am guessing the Agee Viper
5. Rick/George
7. Corcoran Firebird
10. Greg/Dale
11. Mark/Bill


This makes the overall order:

1. ACR Viper
2. Superformance Cobra 
3. Mustang
4. Again, I am guessing the Adee Viper is in 4th.
5. Corcoran Firebird
6. Rick/George
10. Greg/Dale
11. Mark/Bill


As usual, George had to leave before results were posted from the afternoon session, but he believes that Rick may have turned the 4th fastest time, beating Corcoran (Firebird) and the Mustang (who spun out). More importantly, in SGT/2 class by the end of the 1st session, the Mustang was ahead of Rick's RX-7 by about 60 points, and George says that Rick's afternoon run was 20 seconds ahead of the Mustang's.  Schlickenmeyer will lose 5 points in class relative to Rick for each SGT/2 car that finished between Rick's time and his. Hopefully the other 2 RX-7s slipped in there—doing everyone some good. 

Rick was five points behind the Firebird going into the VIR events. If they split the two events today, there will be no change (unless another SGT/2 car also slipped in ahead of the Firebird). IF (big if, here) this is the case, Rick will have to beat Corcoran twice on Friday at the Glen to take over his position in class.

In the overall standings, Rick started the day in 6th position, about 155 points in back of the Mustang (which was running 2nd overall). Rick would have lost another ten points relative to the Mustang in the morning session, but it is hard to estimate how many places were lost when the Mustang spun out—and each one equals 5 points. 

The web site has not been updated as of 10:00PM EDT, and given the long drive to go from VIR to Watkins Glen, it may not be done tonight. I think this One Lap will come down to the wire. Anyone who loses concentration on Friday will hurt themselves big time. I won't be able to post anything until I get back from the track and it is all over, so check the web site tomorrow (Friday) morning for the points standings. I will see them posted at the track.

Feels like one of those communications blackouts you get during atmospheric re-entry.

Hang on, and I will get back to you with the final results tomorrow night.

|

FRIDAY THE 11TH

In one of my first messages, I said the One Lap had elements of human endurance, mechanical endurance, and speed.

All three came into play today.

First, as usual, the results of yesterday's second event at VIR (as per the web site):

The Orange Vette GSR came on like gangbusters and finished 1st overall—actually beating the ACR Viper. Without taking anything away from the Viper, they have a significant lead, and were being careful not to make mistakes. This is a valid strategy.

Rick/George came in 3rd overall, followed by the Superformance Cobra, Dan Corcoran's Firebird, the Vintage Porsche, an M3, and two Z06 Corvettes.

Mark/Bill took 10th place.

Greg/Dale did not fare too well, and suffered some kind of breakdown— possibly electrical (since it wouldn't start), but more likely a broken apex seal. I am sure they will tell the story (if they haven't already), but it was a significant loss for all of us. They never showed up at Watkins Glen. Rumor had it that they were going to try to stop by KD Rotary on the way North. Look for a post from Dale. According to the posted results, the car was listed as finishing mid pack—in 44th place.

Rick/George stopped at PFS on the way up from VIR for a couple of minor repairs. In an hour and a half they were on their way.

So...at the start of the day Friday, we had the following order and points:

1. ACR Viper - 5660
2. Superformance Cobra - 5545
3. Adee Viper - 5480
4. Schlickenmeyer Mustang - 5460
5. Rick/George RX-7 - 5380 
6. Corcoran Firebird - 5375 (only 5 points behind Rick)
7. Vintage Porsche - 5350
8. M3 - 5280
9. Z-06 - 5160
10. Mark/Bill - 5005 (now ahead of Greg/Dale)
11. Greg/Dale - 4910 (now behind Mark/Bill)


There was a change in the schedule. Originally, there were three events scheduled for the day, but it had been changed to two events—still enough (if nothing went wrong) for Dan Corcoran and his Firebird to have a fair shot at beating Rick. All the other positions were pretty much locked up.

The same situation was true for the SGT/2 class:

Mustang - 1215 (out of reach of anyone)
Rick/George - 1195
Corcoran Firebird - 1190 (snapping at Rick's heals)
Mark/Bill 1045
Greg/Dale 1020

Today's course at the Glen was not the same as last week's. It included an extra leg—downhill going into it, followed by a long uphill full throttle straight. This was hard on any car using forced induction. Weather was forecast to be beautiful, with highs in the upper 80s for most of the day. "Late day" showers and thunderstorms were forecast, but that was expected to be well after the second event was complete.

In the morning, it looked like the ACR Viper was taking it easy again. Rick ran the 3 laps in 6:57.9. This was good for second place overall, beating the ACR Viper. Forth and fifth places were taken by Z-06 Corvettes, followed by the Schlickenmeyer Mustang, the Corcoran Firebird, the Superformance Cobra, and the GSR Vette. The Vintage Porsche placed 10th. Mark O'Dell was experiencing some loss of boost, and they finished 13th with a 7:19.3. 

Rick gained 10 points of additional lead on his fellow Canadian in the Firebird—fostered by the Mustang coming between them in the standings. The bad news was that Rick reported something was not right with his brakes. Further, the car had run as hot as 240F., and he said he had needed to short shift a bit to keep it from breaking up above about 7000 rpm. The hot weather, and the amount of time at full boost on this track were taking their toll.

Rick and George set about working on the brakes. Turns out the rear pads were worn out, so that was a straight forward fix. As they were doing it, Brock Yates drove by and told the participants that instead of the two events, they were going to run three, as originally scheduled. I'm sure he figured it would be more fun for everyone. That left just enough time for a little lunch before the first groups of runners were due back on the track.

The announcement of the 3rd session was met with mixed feelings. This was the last day of the One Lap, and people were tired. As the event progressed, people get more and more locked into their relative places, so there was a "why are we doing this" attitude around the pits.

The second event of the day started. Again the ACR Viper took it easy— coming in 4th in back of a Z-06, the Adee Viper, and the Vintage Porsche.

Then two things happened that changed everything.

The Schlickenmeyer Mustang came screaming around the track for its first lap, sounded raspy on its second lap...and sounded terminal on it's third. The driver did not take a cool-off lap—just drove it to the pits. His time was 33 seconds slower than his morning run.

It was a blown head gasket. The car had completed its last lap with very little coolant as a result, and Schlickenmeyer was sure he had killed it. The plan was to try to dump something in the radiator to seal things up, and to simply limp around the track—hoping to avoid a DNS  which might have preserved some of his score. I have to hand it to the guy. He handled the loss with consummate class, and poise. If you recall, he and his car had come close to winning its class last year, but a supercharger bearing failure came into play.

That was one thing.

The second thing was that the GSR Vette lost its transmission. It was running ahead of Rick, and when the driver took it off the track Rick lost some momentum. He says he was intentionally giving up about a second a lap to keep the engine cool, but this cost him more time, so his 7:04 was about 4 seconds slower than his morning time—giving him an 8th place finish, but putting him ahead of the Mustang in the overall standings.

Rick was not happy. The Firebird had beaten him, and, well, Rick is simply not happy unless he is going flat out. It was frustrating, and his feet were hot from running the heater full blast for extra engine cooling. 

At that point, the 3rd event became critical. If the Mustang could make it back out, it was thought he might be able to retain 1st place. If not, 
Rick/George had 1st in class sewn up, and also a 4th overall—the highest finish by a Mazda ever in a One Lap.

But.

The sky started to darken, and Yates had said he would drop the scores from the event if part of the field were not able to run for safety reasons. 


It was all very confusing.

Here is what happened.

1. Rick went out there and kicked some serious butt, turning a 6:53-- about 4 seconds faster than his morning run. Griffiths' Porsche was two seconds behind him. Corcoran's Firebird was 7 seconds behind him. The RX-7 ran perfectly. Rick's feet were very hot, but we knew that would put him ahead of the other two Canadians no matter what. 


2. They tried to start the Mustang, and (while cranking) it was pushing water out of the radiator filler cap (which was sealed). Turns out the spark plugs were fused to the heads. The engine was toast. 


3. It only sprinkled a little bit, so the 3rd runs counted. But, as it turned out, when the points for the 2nd event of the day were posted, the Mustang's slow time had already put Rick in 1st place for SGT/2, and in 4th place (unofficially) overall—certainly ahead of his friends in the Porsche, and the Firebird. We won't know until the final results are posted exactly where the Mustang finished.


The last results we had on Mark was that he was still in 10th place overall. We understand he was having further problems with boost, but our hats are off to him for a fantastic job on his first One Lap. Such a high finish for a rookie (Lap Puppy, I think they call 1st timers) is nothing short of amazing—especially against some of the monster machines in this event.

We think the Adee Viper and Superfomance Mustang are tied for 2nd place.

Just a couple more notes before signing off for the evening:

About that Thunderbird—with the supercharger. He has been smoking for awhile. Turns out he used (count 'em) 50 quarts of oil this week.

George asked Ron Adee how much torque his engine was putting out. He said it was (cough) 556 pound/feet. How big a turbo would it take to get THAT out of a 13B?

That's all for today. When I signed on to do these reports, it was under the condition that George would write up the event in his own style when it was over. He will tell you what REALLY happened and I look forward to seeing it.

As for me, I have a few more thoughts—but that can wait until a bit later. 

Right now, I think there is some serious partying to do.

SATURDAY THE 12TH

It's a couple of ticks in front of five in the morning. Rick and George are still conked out, which is only appropriate for this time on a Saturday morning. The birds seem to have a lot to say to each other, and are conversing loud enough to be heard over the already loud motel A/C unit. There are a number of odds and ends about the One Lap still running through my head, so this is as good a time as any to jot them down and get them out to you. Much of it comes from wanting to somehow provide readers of these messages with what you might call a "rounding out" of the experience of being involved with this most unusual happening. In some cases, I simply want to finish a few stories.

MARK/GREG

Mark had put up a beautiful web site about the One Lap, but it was taken down due (we think) to too many hits. Mark was actually writing the updates as Bill drove from track to track. I think they were using a cellular uplink to get the material to someone, who was in turn putting it on the site. That's a lot of work, and will be well worth reading when it is complete. It will be the Mark/Bill version of the One Lap.

GREG/DALE

I was thrilled to see that Greg and Dale made it back to New York for the ending festivities. They had not arrived at the time I sent the last message. The car didn't make it back, but it was very good to see their faces. I will let you in on something Dale told me. Then you can look forward to reading the Greg/Dale version of the One Lap when they put it out.

I complemented Dale on doing so well at the drag race. It really gave them a lift in the points standing, and a 13.1 is nothing to sneeze at. Dale expressed disappointment with it. It seems that the "muffler blew off" near the end, and Dale crossed the finish line with his foot off the throttle due to the sound of metal dragging coming from the back.

MORE DRAG RACE FOLLOW-UP

As you may recall, Rick/George lost a lot of ground at the drags due to some mysterious overly rich condition. I finally got the scoop on that. The Rick/George car uses an Electromotive system—one of the nicest aftermarket Ekes out there, and a natural choice for PFS cars since Electromotive is located just a stone's throw from Peter's shop. If I understand, these systems have a sophisticated starting sequence involving a little shot of fuel, followed for about twenty seconds by a relatively rich mix. Nothing unusual here. 

Anyway, as many of us have experienced, there is a lot of starting and stopping while progressing toward the start line behind other cars at a drag race. Rick did not want to keep the car idling all that time, so he repeatedly shut the car down. This loaded everything up, and the launch for his timed run was accompanied by a cloud of black smoke coming from the tail pipe as the engine purged itself. Rick is not an experienced drag race driver, and the combination of the two cost them a number of places.

My take on it is that the Electromotive system did a great job of punching through what for many cars would have been a sure-fire flooding situation. Rick considers it to be driver error, but he is a good guy and tends to take responsibility for anything he is associated with.

TALL TALES AND TRUE

Impression: The One Lap is the world's greatest producer of stories, anecdotes, and mis-information. If you think an autocross or a driver's school creates fun dinner table chatter, try something with fifteen track events, interspersed with thousands of miles of touring from place to place. 

The stories play an important part in the event. You see, the "solo" nature of the track events result in staggered departure and arrival times for the participants. Upon arrival at the next track, or motel, there is a huge amount of catching up to do. 

"How did you do at Muffin Acres? I thought I was going to kill someone when that guy spun out in front of me and I lost time."

"Have you seen Scott and Mary? We passed them on the side of the road, pulled over by a cop. I went to sleep and they must have passed us because when I woke up an hour later, there they were again—pulled over by another cop!" 

What this does is to create not just multiple stories, but multiple "universes" in which stories propagate. There is one guy—and I am NOT kidding here—who proudly does HIS One Lap by keeping a log book of the topless bars he visits along the way. He spends about an hour in each one, which causes a loss of sleep. And yet, somehow, he always has a smile on his face. The highlight of this year's trip for him was a topless carwash. I assume it was one of the "touch less" varieties.

The bad news is that the entire field of One Lap participants becomes like a huge version of the old game of "telephone." Many of the stories get embellished, or miscommunicated, so you can believe little of what you hear unless it is coming from the person experiencing it.

Or from Brock Yates.

BROCK YATES

The single hinge pins that hold this whole thing together are Brock Yates (father and son). Brock senior is a combination of mother hen and God to this event—the court of last resort for anything that comes up. And he does a magnificent job of it. Only in this way can an event with "no rules" have structure. To my knowledge, this "governing by benevolent despotism" is unique in motorsports. Ask Brock about the situation with the team that had the co-driver bail out after three days, and he will know everyone involved like they were his children. The concern on his face is real. Many of these people have run the event for three, six, nine or more years, and they are an extended family—one in which newcomers are heartily welcome. For the record, Brock's son, Brock Jr., does most of the nitty gritty leg work on the event these days.

SPONSORS

Virtually every car in the event had sponsors. If not the official One Lap sponsors, it was a charity, local merchant, or a larger automotive entity. Some of the cars like the Superformance Cobra and the big RENNtech Mercedes were actually factory cars. The FUGAWI Racing Team is actually two nifty young guys who are in the mortuary business. All their sponsors produce products and services associated with (I guess you would call it) the burial industry.

For purveyors of automotive performance enhancements—and especially for tuning firms like Mallet, Superformance, Lingenfelter, RENNtech, and of course our own PFS, running a car in the One Lap is very risky. To begin with, opportunities for random mayhem are everywhere. If you win, people may well think you are just lording it over the little guys. And, for a week-long event of varying tracks and activities, it is a near certainty that something will go wrong, and your reputation will suffer from the failure.

The fact is that almost every car in the event is modified with someone's upgrades. One of the Chevrolets, for instance, had Lingenfelter written all over the engine, but it wasn't entered as a Super Tuner car. Lingenfelter may not even have known about it. 

In this light is important that we acknowledge our own Peter Farrell for providing technical sponsorship of the Rick/George car. What is really unusual is that Peter plastered his name (in the form of a big deck'l) on a car entered by a private team, and over which he had no control once it left the shop. Arguably, he could have entered and driven a similar car himself—or forced as a condition of sponsorship that a mechanic do the co-driving (as other teams did). Although I am sure such things were considered, the ending decision was that Rick and George had done well in the past, and if they did even better this year it would be good for all involved. They did. It was.

Small businesspeople do not take this kind of risk easily, but Peter did, and he deserves a lot of credit for supporting Rick and George with a winning package of upgrades and tuning. 

CAR and DRIVER

This isn't about the magazine, but about the never-ending debate over their relative importance. We had a good opportunity to see how these factors played out by having three 3rd gens with excellent drivers and similar tires running different levels of modifications and power. 

It was clear that the single most important element at any given event was the experience of the driver with that track. The driver's general skill level, ability to perform under stress, and ability to quickly recover from problems also plays an important part. That having been said, you really can't play the game for the top ten or 20 positions in this sport unless you are sporting some serious, reliable power. Third gen RX-7s come out of the box that way, so are a natural for the One Lap. 

The problem is that power upgrades must (almost by definition) create a downgrade in reliability due to additional engine stress, additional complexity, less thorough tuning development than a factory stock system, or simple mechanical mistakes centered around the installation. Any faults from these elements will certainly show up during the One Lap. This, in turn will put additional stress on the drivers, and the resulting judgment errors will get in the way of a top place finish.

In the end, we are looking at a car/driver team. Neither of which will work perfectly all the time. The trick is to recover quickly, and hope the inevitable problems don't snowball into an unrecoverable situation, as it did for the Mustang this year. 

NON FINISHERS

For what it's worth, there were about 15 entrants who did not finish for one reason or another. I wanted to update you on some of them.

The RENNtech Mercedes dropped out very early, but there are indications that this car could be a contender for 1st place next year. In the single event it finished, we were told it was clocked at 185mph on the back straight of Watkins Glen. Someone also said he had heard it was putting out upwards of 700 pound feet of torque at only 2500 rpm. These are rumors, of course, but the car IS scheduled to take part in the Car and Driver (the magazine this time) 0-100-0 competition in a few months. Actual publication of the results should give us an idea of the potential of the thing. It turned out the story was true about the automatic transmission which insisted on downshifting and breaking traction to the rear wheels in the middle of the corners. The car is highly computerized, with many parameters (including suspension) adjustable from the cockpit. Some of the problems were probably software driven.

The Nissan Skyline was apparently over (or at least poorly) modified. It kept breaking and was retired. The driver came back in another car—I think a Honda S2000, but it also broke. Finally, he finished the event at Watkins Glen in some sort of a Buick.

The driver of the little Mini won the Cannonball Baker award for pressing on through adverse circumstances, including (in no particular order) being abandoned by his co-driver, and the windshield blowing out. The best image was that he got a ticket for going 85 miles per hour. He was so happy to have proof that the car would go that fast, he had his picture taken with the officer! Finally the car broke in some fashion or another.

The "organ transplant" women in the Boxter celebrated a last place finish. They might have realized their dream of being second to last if the Mini had held together. They will be back, of course. They consider it their job to bring up the rear.

HOW TO ENJOY THE ONE LAP

A most intriguing feature of the One Lap is the diversity of the people who run it. I don't use the term "diversity" in the politically correct sense--only to describe the wants and needs of the participants. Obviously some come TO WIN. But, as I indicated in an earlier post, I am not all that sure those are the people having the most fun. I was waiting in the motel lobby for Rick and George to show up from VIR, and had an opportunity to speak with some of the competitors after the last long drive of the event. Although some needed a few moments to stretch coming out of the car, all had smiles on their faces, and stories to tell.

I asked a few of them if at this stage of the One Lap they were thinking about what they wanted to do differently next year, or, if they were simply thinking, "Never Again." One guy (maybe one of the FUGAWI team) out of a Honda S2000 said, "I am NEVER doing this again! Of course, I say that every year!" He has been doing this for the better part of a decade.

Some of the participants consider this a vacation. They will say it is great way to get away from the work world, share an experience with wonderful people, drive around the country, and run their cars on a bunch of race tracks.

Ask them how they finished, and they will proudly tell you that they came in 33rd overall—better than last year when they were 38th. 

Obviously these people are not Super Heroes in capes and tights (which would get pretty grungy after a week on the road). And that is something else I learned about the One Lap. It is not as hard to live through as it sounds. Contrary to how it's billed (and to some of the things I said earlier), it IS possible to survive the thing without killing yourself. The reason goes back to Brock Yates. He is concerned for the safety of "his" participants, and knows that this is not the dog-eat-dog competition implied in the Cannonball movies. While the majority of sleeping is done in transit, it seems that most of the teams get at least minimal rest along the way. No-shows for track events due to simply not going fast enough on the street must have been rare. I didn't hear of any. And the "topless bar" guy always had a smile on his face.

That having been said, I must also point out that this was a relatively short distance for a One-Lap to travel. Brock Yates says they are looking to head West next year, so there should be lots of driving in the Rocky Mountains. I'm sure the scenery will be spectacular in the middle of the night.

In any case, first-year runners often have a great time because they generally arrive at the event with low expectations, high spirits, and nothing to prove to anyone. The second year is usually harder because having experienced the event once, a team often comes back with higher expectations. In later years, teams develop a realistic view of what's possible, and just enjoy the ride.


CONCLUSION

As an RX-7 community with nicely modified cars owned in many cases by experienced track drivers, autocrossers, and general automotive nutballs, we fit right into the One Lap "type." Rick, for instance is an excellent amateur driver, and simply says of himself that he is the kind of guy who would rather run a local autocross than to go see a big, fancy, race.

Me too.

Some of us routinely drive several thousand miles to and from one of the big RX-7 events like MADS. Our cars are fast and track-worthy. Even autocrossers are looked at with respect by One Lap participants because of their ability to quickly read an unfamiliar "track" and get the best out of it. I can quickly think of a dozen people in this community who would fall right into doing the One Lap and have a great time without doing anything to their cars except putting on the sponsor's tires and plastering the sides with decals. 

Maybe the best parallel I can draw comes from those high school musicals many of us participated in as kids—intense preparation followed by an intense run of performances, followed by the cast party, followed by needing a lot of sleep. And the best memories—the ones that last the longest—come from simply being a part of something so completely involving.

When all the "could haves" and "should haves" have been resolved; and when all the "winners" have been declared, the real essence of the One Lap becomes visible. From the perspective of a true "Lap Dog," there are only two kinds of people; those who have run the One Lap (and who understand), and those who have not run the One Lap (and who can't possibly understand). Hopefully these posts have done a little to bridge that gap.

When all is said and done, the One Lap of America is about shaking off temporarily all the things that insulate us from the full sensations of world—and, in our own motorheaded, gear-brained, revhappy way, being alive. 

It is about "being there," and no other rationale is necessary. 

The alternative—to NOT be there—is simply unacceptable. 

Best wishes,


David Lane

'85 GSL-SE
Cartech Turbo

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