Hallett rocks again

[Al Fernandez]

Maybe I missed some big drama last night, or maybe everyone is still recovering...but I cant believe there isnt a four page thread about Hallett already. :lol:

I expected this to be the best weekend of the season, and it didnt disappoint. Yes, my car broke and I was too lazy to fix it. Didnt matter. I had an awesome time hanging out with everyone and watching some of the best racing you can find!! :D

Having cars in from three different regions is very special. I really appreciated being able to chat with our guys from the rockies and the mid west. The party sat. night was completely ridiculous. I cant believe how much food and booze there was and how late people were up. I dont remember when I went to sleep...but I know it wasnt around 5am like some!!

We were very worried about contact coming into Hallett, and we did have two serious contact with damage and loss of position incidents. Thats tied with the number we've had in the three weekends before Hallett this year. There were more cars though, and a lot more track time. On a per car per green minute then the serious incidents were the same. Also we ran two sessions including the 40 minute shootout without a single incident, side by side or otherwise. So overall I would say contact was certainly down relative to previous Hallett events and in line with this year's Tx region statistics.

Mechanical issues...thats another story. We had a bunch of that. Six cars were sidelined with major mechanical work required. Fortunately two of those were during the last race, and one of the other four was able to return. Still...lots of unfortunate mechanical failures.

The racing on the track...I dont think it can be topped. I was only out there for half of the first race, but it was nuts. Watching from the stands was (almost) as fun though. Everyone had a race everywhere!

I love the Shootout format, the unreal amount of track time, and the fact that guys come from all over to race and party at Hallett. Everyone better start planning now for next year because this isnt one you want to miss!!!

[Fbody383]

Maybe I missed some big drama last night, or maybe everyone is still recovering...but I cant believe there isnt a four page thread about Hallett already. :lol:

We rolled in Thursday midday to get set up and prepare for the CBP day on Friday. Maybe you guys don't think so any more but this "something resembling a race car driver" still needs a lot more seat time.

Weather forecast was typical summer: hot with chance for afternoon shower or thunderstorms. Ended up being a nearly perfect outcome and we were glad to have left Sunday afternoon to miss the flooding along 44.

Spent Friday in the car trying to get a feel of some setup a changes and enjoying the extra horsepower I didn't have last year. Car ran well enough and the driver got a little more comfortable with the line. Was still a little anxious about the expected close racing with 30 cars in the group and not the wideset track in the world. That and I caught myself trying to look through the steering wheel to see out when coming down the front straight. No; I can't see through the dash but got more comfortable reading the tree tops, since the clouds kept moving, as a visual marker. Beyond that, once I got Mitch calmed down that it really was ok for me to make the command decision to change Raceports, we started settling in for the weekend.

I was pretty surprised by Saturday qualifying. Not as surprised as Raybob but at least it wasn't Doc Robertson. Coming around behind those guys it was yellow, double-yellow, frantically waving yellow and corner worker near trackside with race cars scattered like a shot gun blast on the hillside. Reminded me of the way the Tennessee kinfolk park the project cars in the yard but that's a different story.

Race 1: With CMC behind The Duece I knew we would instantly be in some overlap and the first couple hundred feet didn't disappoint. In retrospect I was too nice and gave Glenn extra room to get back on track after he darted left at the dump of the clutch. Turn one was crowded, but behaved and the pack barreled towards two with gusto. So now what? Unfamiliar bumpers, three wide racing into a downhill, bumpy left hander made for an interesting start to the weekend but we pulled it off with a few wiggles and some tire smoke and dust and we were off. Somehow the bizzaro world complement to the visiting #30 was in the lead of the class. A couple bobbles would cost me some positions as Glenn and Liebbe pressured me. Race 1 would be third for the Home Team. At Hallett. No real complaints.

Race 2: Ok, finishing at the top means starting at the back on the invert. Rolling start. Sitting in grid I say to myself, "rolling start, go on green." 10 seconds later, Liebbe backs up and yells to me, "Is this a rolling start?" Glad I'm not alone. Because of some schedule slide, we end up with a couple of The Duece hot shoes late to grid, late to the party and at the back of the whole pack. THAT will be interesting. Waved off on the first attempt which was ok since now I knew I would be getting the green while still in the turn. After convincing some people to form up we were off. Again turn was was "polite" but then it got interesting. Remember The Duece hotshoes in the back? Eh eh; not by two. I can tell you that the mental picture of sausage being stuffed into casing and the thought of Mustang/Camaro/Mustang/Camaro four wide into two is about one and the same. It ain't pretty in the beginning, but it sure is sweet when it works out. So I'm chasing the fastest Goober on da Erf for position when the Terrible Three decide they want up to the front of their own race. The nerve. I don't know what it looked like from the stands, but there were several laps of 5 cars nose to tail, passing just about everywhere and clean cars througout. Phew; race done with a second for the home team. Wow; could it get any better?

Race 3: New day; in more than one way. Stumble out of the trailer after a reasonable nights sleep at the track and nearly fall down laughing at what I see. Or rather don't. I don't have a car. Well, there are two Miatas in the shared Raceport but two Miatas do not a CMC Camaro make. As I scanned the surroundings I began to chuckle. Apparently there had been some overnight "shenanigans." "You guys touch my stuff... and I'll kill ya." "Lighten up, Francis." So there sits the #39. Pushed out into the elements and decorated like a Bourbon Street entertainer. Not sure what else you guys did to her besides the new blue shop towel coverup with the orange parking cone and spare tire setting delicately on the rear deck, but she must have like it. During warmup the brake pedal was a little spongy. Hmmm, that ain't good. Tech Boy Ross helped me out and we flushed the fronts. I don't think brake fluid is supposed to be black and chunky like Glenn's heart. Brakes ~ check. Tire pressure ~ check. New setup settling in ~ check. Let's race. I was a big fan of the second invert which meant starting in the back. Again. We formed up much better, took the green in the corner and then something happened. Not sure what but the car was working, the driver was doing something resembling "a race car driver" and the car was up front. WAAAYYY up front. I would check the rear view and there were no cars to be seen. None. I had Mitch and Sam as rabbits and was slowly reeling them in until... Yep, smoke. Not the wispy "is that smoke?" smoke but the "whoops, something is wrong with the car, the black flag is soon" smoke. Coming into the Bitch where the assembled throng could share my frustration. Pit in, hop out to diminished smoke but a growing puddle of fluid. I was guessing power steering fluid since it was all I could do to turn the car left into the tech area. Rats. Good news/bad news ~ I might have finished first save the pump but would have earned, yes earned since Al/Glenn/Todd had been clear on the expectations, a 3 position move due to some contact. *** Sorry, Rich ~ I really did think I had left you enough room. *** Did my camera work for that? No. But Ross had put his GoPro in the fog light opening and I can't wait to see that footage. Clearly, my best race ever.

Race 4: Well the DNF did nothing good for the points total so I'm starting 5th. You know, all in all, I think it's more than I expected coming into the weekend. I mean, I'm no Jeremy Gunter. (Bam! Right there.) Standing start behind Landrum. Behind Chris, Ken, Rob. Crap. Wave the flag and we're off. Now for those of you who don't know him, let me introduce Mr. Randy English, of The Duece, in the #77. Now I know orange is fast. But I learned that black over maroon will get it done too. Well driven, sir. Oh, and that visiting green mustang that rubbed my beautiful maroon steed last year? I think I was able to memorize every little imperfection on the rear deck and bumper cover. Ken was NOT going to let me by. Oh, and did I mention Mr. Gary Roberston in the pretty blue and silver #32? That combo came alive this weekend and looked crazy good all weekend. I remember watching him pitch it through 5 and wondering "how did he do that?" Well, it was a challenge in the Big Race. Glenn and Chris cleared traffic early and a brake pedal that felt like mashed potatoes led to an off track excursion in the last corner a couple laps from the end. Cest la vie. Glenn, did I speel that right?

Weather was great. Track was great. Car was great. People are UNBELIEVEABLE.

Why do I race in CMC? Because there were people fixing Bryan's car. There were people fixing Balingit's car. There were people helping Sam and Team Jordan and Francis with parts and smarts.

What a weekend, what a race, what a ride.

[roadracerwhite]

What a great weekend!

Once again it was great to get together with everyone.

Many thanks to everyone that helped Dave B and I get our cars back on track! I am grateful we were both ok after that and we were both able to continue to race the rest of the weekend. For those that missed out, don't worry, Mitch captured it on video and will be posting it shortly I presume.

The chicken Saturday night was amazing, very good! The gas powered blender was awesome.



The # 18 will be in the frame shop tomorrow on the road to recovery.



Bryan

[David Love AI27]

We rolled in Thursday midday to get set up and prepare for the CBP day on Friday. Maybe you guys don't think so any more but this "something resembling a race car driver" still needs a lot more seat time.

Note to self: Stop poking that Dave guy with sticks...

GREAT job, DUDE!!

[nasa-rm]

For those that missed out, don't worry, Mitch captured it on video and will be posting it shortly I presume.

Rewind!!!!! Can't wait to see it again. :?

[mitchntx]

So far, Flip and Premiere/Movie Maker and talking ...

[jeremiahkellam]

A quick recap for me:

Race 1 - Got a great start, pulled into the lead, held it for a while with Bob, James and Miguel very close behind. It only took 2 minor mistakes for me to go from 1st to 4th...

Race 2 - Late to grid, red mist in full effect, The "Ford Freight Train" consisting of Gunter, Miguel and myself made our way through the field...

Race 3 - The "Little Red Caboose" of James Proctor joined in to make it a 32 cylinder bullet train. I think we ran about .5 seconds between 1st and 4th for nearly 20 minutes!

Race 4 - Nailed the start and held it together for 40 minutes in blistering conditions!

In the end, I think 6 CMC2 cars ran below or right at the previous track record - WOW!!!!

Super big thanks to those that dreamed up the idea and those that made it happen - Al and Mike. To those that put together that sweet trophy that sits on my shelf - Mitch and Jerry. To those that made the long drives to join in on the madness. To those that cooked the food and provided the entertainment. To those that puked in my truck and still stuck around till the end!

YOU ALL ROCK!!!!!

[AllZWay]

Now that I have cooled down and backed off the ledge... I can say it was still a fun weekend.

I am disappointed in myself for the contact I had and was really upset about my car breaking and not getting an opportunity to run the big race.

I am still not sure I will be get it back together in time for TWS, but I will start my search for parts. I am pretty sure not much is useable in this rear end. I do have a spare one, but don't have gears or third member.

[JasonLiiR]

Friday: Got to the track later than expected but still earlier than normal. Got in two sessions of CBP. Car felt pretty good minus a little trouble with the shifter and my false sense of tire choice quality.
Saturday: Race 1 was far lower than the expectations I had for myself but it was still a blast. Tires went away before we even had the full course caution 4 laps in but had a pretty good battle with Randy English.
Race 2: Watched Dad have a great race going in the 3 car until the shifter was just a mess. Checked it after he got towed in and two shifter bolts were missing, the other two half way backed out and the plastic cup the shifter ball rests in in the block was wedged between the tail housing and block keeping it stuck in 4th.
Saturday night was fun. Thanks to everyone for the food and the projector entertainment set up.
Sunday Race 3: Went in to the inverted start on fresh tires and starting in first, came out of turn 3 in fourth behind Francis and McComb only proving once again "Orange is Fast" and Glenn. Fourtunately Glenn spun and put me in third and unfortunatelty Dave, who had checked out from Chris and myself had his powersteering pump go out, unknowingly putting me in second. Turn 3 the last lap, had a good run on Chris going in only to spin it and give away second back to Glenn but managing to hang on to my hardest fought podium finish to date.
Race 4: Wasn't aggressive enough the first couple of laps and go stuck in the back and ran the next 12 or so laps trying to reel in the furious first 5 of CMC, two laps to the end I caught up to Dave but didn't have enough to pass him on the last lap finishing 6th. Most of my lap times were also within a second of my fastest time for the race including three 1:31.8s in a row.
The results of my racing werent as well as I expected but the weekend was a great overall success as usual.

[rleng1]

Unbelievable time.
Qual'd on Saturday at 1:39, by race 3 & 4 was running 1:32s and 1:33s.
Thanks to all for the encouragement, and for not running over by ass.
Back is Black.

[Fbody383]

Unbelievable time.
Qual'd on Saturday at 1:39, by race 3 & 4 was running 1:32s and 1:33s.
Thanks to all for the encouragement, and for not running over by ass.
Back is Black.Can't run over what you can't catch.

6-7 second improvement is awesome. Can't wait to see all the vid from the track.

[cobra132]

Another great Hallett event. Got in some cheatin bastard practice time on friday. I got a little rattled after punching out the tire wall during the turn 1 Qual episode. Could not quite keep up with Tommy and Mike, but my best lap was less than a second off of their best laps, so I feel pretty good about that. A little more consistancy and I'll be there. I feel bad for everyone that had mechanical problems, especially Raybob and Jerry. Overall, a great weekend, can't wait till next year. FMR

[Rob Liebbe]

Hallett is so bad to me, but so much fun at the same time.

Thanks to Richard Pedersen for being my motorhome co-pilot, helper, spewer of technical knowledge, and race advisor throughout the weekend.

Friday - 10 hour drive from Houston with Gary and Laura (soon to be the Robertsons) following behind. It's hard enough to have the patience to follow someone on the road and even harder when the guy won't maintain a steady speed in his damn motorhome - sorry. Arrived around 2pm and got set up.

Saturday -

Realized that I forgot my racing socks. Jeremy Gunter sold me an extra pair of new socks he had. Good thing too because they checked for socks in impound after Race 1 - that would have cost me a win.

Qualified 2nd in CMC with Glenn just ahead and David Francis just behind. This is going to be tough.

Race 1 - I forget if this is a rolling or standing start and have to back up and ask Francis on grid. :oops: Turns out this is tough. Holy crap have Francis and Gary Robertson stepped it up!! I get a poor start and get passed by who knows who all and then have to try to pass them - geez. Had a second row seat behind Mitch when the Firebird hit Ballingit - that sucked. Somehow I managed to pressure the cars in front of me to make them make mistakes one at a time until I'm leading the race, thanks to Jeff Wirtz for demonstrating how well that works. Glenn predictably spun in the Bitch. Finish in first place.

Race 2 - all I remember is that the transmission went away and that the car made grinding/groaning noises in left hand turns. Turns out I blew third gear out of my good transmisison and had the RF hub starting to go out. Thanks to all those who helped me install my backup - unknown history and quality - transmission. Thanks to Wade Zimmer for loaning the transmission jack to Sam Crumpacker, it r&r'd three transmission this weekend. Thanks to Sam for lending me the jack and loaning me the hub. Don't know if Glenn spun in the Bitch or not.

Sunday Practice - time to see if the backup transmission works. It does but first gear whines badly, third gear sounds/feels a bit rough, and it grinds goind into 4th. Hub is good to go. Don't know if Glenn spun in the Bitch or not.

Race 3 - race advisor Pedersen tells me to go out and get at least a lap in so I can points for Race 4 grid. Good idea, I'll save the transmission and beat on it in the feature race. Made two laps and drove to the grandstand to watch the race from the sidelines. You guys put on a great show! Glenn spun in the Bitch.

Race 4 - gridded 5th position in CMC. Got a poor start and then decided to hang back for a lap or two and stay out of any incidents that might happen in the dog fight going on ahead of me. It's a 40 minute race after all. 3 laps in third gear is doing ok, 4th gear isn't too bad and the pack is right in front of me so I poured on the coals and started trying to work my way through from the back. It became a game of extreme patience, applying pressure, and passing when mistakes were made. The heat started getting to me. I remember going up the hill to turn 4 with Gary and Francis right on my bumper, trying to hold back a need to barf, missing the turn-in, sliding, steering, checking the mirrors, steering some more, recovering the slide, and staying ahead of everyone all at the same time - whew. I burped later and felt much better. After an eternity, I cleared the group and set my sights on Landrum who was way out front in the lead. He said he was out there just staying ahead of the fray when all of a sudden he realized I was coming and he'd better start moving. I figured if I could get up and start pressuring that he would spin out in the Bitch. He was being so careful in that turn that I almost hit him a couple of times. I even considered giving him a little nudge to spin him out - I figured everyone would just assume it was Glenn spinning in the Bitch again. I held off the temptation, Glenn held me off for several laps, I got second place in the shootout and bumped Glenn like at a go-kart track in the tech line. Post race in-car video revealed that I drove almost the entire race one-handed only putting my right hand on the steering wheel on the straights. I tend to do that when it is hot. Excellent! Glenn did not spin in the Bitch.

Ceremonies - I'm very glad we did this, I can't wait to see all the pictures, especially the big group picture.

I will post Race 1 and 4 videos as soon as I can.

Packed up and headed south. We stopped overnight in the Walmart parking lot in Ennis, Texas. Al, Randy, Todd, Richard and I all stayed in the RV. Luckily I think the smell has dissipated. Todd had a giant stack of strawberry pancakes and we headed home.

I dropped the broken transmission off to Rosehill Performance for a rebuild and will also take the backup transmission in for a freshening.

Thanks to all who worked so hard to make this event work, thanks to the Stephens family, and thanks to the Hallet crew for doing an outstanding job of running a great racing facility.

[Crumpacker]

Helluva Weekend!!!

Hallet lived up to its reputation, that's for sure. I had some awesome racing but I'll be damned if I didn't spend 10min under the car for every 1min in it. I managed to blow up 2, that's right 2, clutches between friday CBP and saturday R1. Under further review, I think the pilot bearing was to blame.

Big thanks to everyone that helped the creamsicle fight through her clutch adversity and place 5th in the final showdown! Special thanks to Jeremiah for spending his Friday night under the #54 helping with the first clutch swap... he even kept wrenching while I drove to parts store. Respect Brother! I have to thank Papa Kellam for the entertainment too... I remember one point Sun morning where Papa K was wearing a wet towl as a hat, arguing about whether or not he pissed on the trailer.

My only regret is spending most of the Sat night party down the hill, wrenching. :( I was there for the 5 consecutive "OHHH! Rewind, show it again!" episodes. What a hit! :shock:



Thanks to Wade Zimmer for loaning the transmission jack to Sam Crumpacker, it r&r'd three transmission this weekend. Thanks to Sam for lending me the jack and loaning me the hub.

:?

MY trans jack was worth it's weight in gold this weekend, it will definately follow me to every race! When it's needed again, come find me.

[stevecmc8]

It was really nice to see everybody at Hallett. I've missed the racing and the comeraderie all this year. Hallett is my favorite track and it was nice to hang out with everyone. I had a great time and I'll be back in my car next year, so watch out!

[GlennCMC70]

R1- Spoiler: I spun in the Bitch!
http://vimeo.com/12598582

[Tommy55]

Thank you everyone that made Hallett possible. it is by far the best race weekend of the year. It is great to see everyone from Texas and Midwest. You guys are like family. It was great to run with you Frank and Mike. What a blast. Sorry again Frank for cutting in line in Qual. Need to learn your ways a little better. Now i know. Mike, again, great racing. Sorry for the incident Saturday. The car worked pretty well all weekend with just a few setup issues. It was nice to bring home that awesome trophy. The saturday night festivities were second to none. Well worth the drive. see everyone next year and some at nationals. Can't wait