2007 Great Lakes Divisional Solo Event

by Andy Bell

The inaugural 2007 Great Lakes Divisional was held this year at the Grissom Aeroplex in Peru, Indiana. Many of our OVR members have raced on this facility and this year I thought I would go over to see what it was all about. Drew and I packed up Friday and headed out for the 3 ½ hour drive across 33 to get there for Friday night tech. It was one of our more adventurous trips as we seemed to be a target for all types of road hazards coming off other vehicles along the way. These included a mattress flying out of a pick up, two kayaks sliding off the roof of the car in front of us, and a truck blowing a tire just in front of us. If anyone doubts the effectiveness of autocross sharpening your car control skills, I’m prepared to tell you they helped keep us safe on that trip!

Friday night

We pulled into Peru at a little after 4:00 and found a parking spot to leave the kart while we checked out what was going on. Jen Meridith got us checked in for the weekend and we went off to find how they wanted to run tech. That evening we only had a few of the karts on site and we quickly went over them and got them stickered for the weekend. We also went out to walk the course. For those who have never gone, Grissom lets the SCCA use an old aircraft parking area for their events. The course uses the taxiway with aircraft revetments on each side. Each revetment is large enough to hold a medium bomber, so they create little patches of track where you run off the main taxi way, go through some features, and pop back out onto the taxi way on your way to the next part of the course. Drew said it reminded him of a Christmas tree where you run out into each branch and then back to the trunk each time. That seems like a pretty accurate description.

The course was very long and flowing, so we knew it would be quick. The asphalt is older and rough and in many places breaking up. For this weekend, the major rough spots were avoided and we never had a problem even in the karts.

That night we went to the Air museum where we were making camp and spent the night visiting and chatting with the other competitors camping there.

Saturday

I woke up Saturday in the tent and it felt COLD! It was probably in the 50’s but coming straight from 90 degree weather it was a shock. Drew and I quickly got dressed and Drew jumped into his driver’s suit which was the only thing he had with long sleeves. We headed out to the site and hooked up with the Hoovers so we could see how the day would go. They introduced me to the McClintock and Sheidler familes. For those who don’t know this group of F125 drivers from Michigan, they make up about 5 of the top 10 autocross F125’s in the country. We had talked many times on the phone but it was good to put names with faces. From there we went to find out where kart grid would be and ran into our first snag of the weekend. Over the course of the next few hours we were told 3 different places to grid the karts. This was very frustrating and in retrospect I should have been more firm about where I wanted the karts.

The race

Neva was anxious to try out the new gearing on her kart. The girls ran a group ahead of the guys and formula juniors so I was able to watch her race. Neva was up against Jackie McClintock as her competition. The new gears really made a difference and Neva battled neck and neck with Jackie through the first 3 runs. At the end of 3 runs Jackie held the lead by .3 sec. Jackie then threw down a scorcher run to end the day .7 ahead of Neva.

Drew went out next and was very close to the Formula A kids in time. When he came in he refused to tell me what it was like until I had done my first run! Thanks kid! He ran smooth all day and just could not quite catch the older kids. After the third run it was obvious that we should regear for the bigger track but since he had no competition in his class we let it ride for the day.

For the first time in a few years I had butterflies as I climbed into the kart. The two things on my mind were the surface (I’ve never driven on concrete) and how fast Neva and Jackie had just run. (Ok I admit it I was afraid that the girls would beat me this weekend!) At that point all of the kart drivers had told me to be careful on the start because it was very easy to stall the kart on the concrete due to the extra grip. As I rolled to the line and took off I realized I had forgot to clear out the engine and so bogged badly for the first 20 or 30 feet before the engine cleared out and I was on my way! Wow was it fast. The kart just STUCK everywhere on the concrete. When I got back to grid I watched the other two drivers running with me finish and I was in the lead! It didn’t last. The second driver group for the F125 class included Alan Sheidler who was on fire all weekend and my short lived lead was over as he crossed the line over a second ahead of me. My second run had a better start but I pushed way to hard into the slalom and killed my momentum correcting for it. My third run was better but I bogged the motor again on the start. At this point Brian Hoover pulled me aside for a pep talk. He asked if I was OK since the kart was driving on rails and he knows I like to pitch it around to get fast. He was right and now I had a feel for the concrete so I pushed harder on the last run to end up with my best time of the day. Unfortunately this was 2 seconds off my closest competitor and almost 3 seconds off the lead! Ouch! These guys are the reason karts have the PAX they do. They can drive to that level!

After the day ended, some minor course corrections were added to allow us to run the course the other direction. We took some time to walk the new layout and then went to meet the Hoovers to go find some dinner. We went to Harvey Hinclemeyer’s in Peru and had some great Italian food and company for the evening. Neva had heard that the temp would drop into the low 40’s that night so Drew and I were thankful that Brian and Neva invited us to sleep in the sleeper cab of their truck rather than the tent. At 4 in the morning a heavy but short rain hit as well, so it was good to be protected from the elements!

Sunday Prep

When we got to the site Sunday, we went to work on putting a new spur gear on Drew’s kart. As soon as I had it in place I realized that we were out of adjustment room on the motor and would need to remove more links from Drew’s chain. We borrowed a chain break and halfway through the operation the tool broke. Brian and I got creative on removing the links and got everything together just in time to roll the karts up to grid.

I also talked quite a bit with Alan and made some significant tire pressure changes for the day based on his recommendations.

Sunday race

Neva and Jackie continued their Saturday battle. As they went into the 3rd run Jackie was just a little ahead and Neva decided to do an all out run since she had nothing to lose. As Neva completed the first part of the course she went just a bit wide hit a bump and the kart looped. Jackie completed her run cleanly and with an outstanding time, so the gap in the final results looked a bit larger than the close race that had taken place to that point.

The juniors were all very close together again and Drew was just behind. We did have some drama on Drew’s first run as he neared the end of the track we heard the engine rev suddenly indicating he had lost drive to the wheels. He calmly reached up, switched off the engine and continued to coast about 100 feet and across the finish line for a clean albeit slow run. His mechanic let him down again. I had done so much work on the chain I had forgotten to go back and tighten the spur gear nuts. They had backed off which allowed the spur gear to wobble and the chain to pop off. No damage was done and we quickly had everything back together for his last two runs. He ended up about 1-2 seconds behind two of the formula junior A’s and 4 seconds off the winner. Since he was the only one in FJB he went home a Divisional Champion.

Sunday I felt much more comfortable with the kart and track and had three good runs with the kart moving around more in the manner I am used to. It still wasn’t enough to close the gap, but I felt good about the experience and the fact that I kept improving all weekend. Alan Sheidler took home the win in the class edging out JT McClintock,almost 4 seconds ahead of me!

We wrapped up and had trophies, and were on the road by 2:00. Other winners from OVR were Jason Tipple and Mike Perakis. I want to thank the race organizers who put the event together. It is very had to coordinate things across regions and I felt that the event ran well.

Drew and I had a good time. I highly recommend attending a divisional or higher race. You really get to see how drivers take the competitive edge to the next level both in improving themselves and the equipment they run. It is also a much more intense experience with the way the race is run and the flow of the course. I am a firm believer that you will only improve to the level you compete with. Competing at this level can take your local game to a whole new place!

2007, August