Pocono North Course Track Day, August 29, 2008: Clicking off the laps by Kevin FitzMaurice

This event was viewed as critical as a warm up for our September “Circuits Maximus” event. We needed to pull all the elements together and make it all work. We did. Dana in Tech and Jay in registration moved along smoothly, Paul O ran the driver’s meeting efficiently, the PA Posse demonstrated the flags, and it was track time. The weather even cooperated. It was cloudy and overcast most of the day, and the only rain was a brief sprinkle during the driver’s meeting. Nothing like a little rain to move a meeting along.

The first hour was the usual gotta get out traffic jam, typical of the open track format. A black flag was waved after 45 minutes, to give the novices and instructors a 20 minute session alone on the track for orientation. After the novice session was done, the track was reopened for everyone.

The event ran as cleanly as possible. There were some off courses, and one difference of opinion concerning braking on a short chute, but the yellow, blue and black flags mostly had the day off. You can’t go off course if you’re not trying to get that last tenth of a second out of a run. Pocono is a fairly benign place to experience “brain fade”. Most of the runoff areas are open, and the fences are pretty far away from the track surface. The wall at the start of the turn one / straightaway is pretty intimidating. Rob Hill in a VW Passat inched closer and closer to it all day long, but fortunately, never got up close enough. I got to see the Sprint Cup sign in the rear view mirror of my car, but it was basically a harmless spin. Gary Frankel tried for another 300 mile day, but had to settle for over 200.

The time trial started at 2:00. Thirty six cars took timed runs, and several personal bests were set. A combination of cool air temperatures, cool track temperatures due to the overcast, and a lot of practice had many people with big grins on their faces as they pulled in from the runs. The track reopened to a general session, as the teams were formed for the Team Relay event.

The Team Relay is an invention of Bill Evans. Five car teams are formed. You run five laps each. Your best time is used to calculate a handicap for twenty five laps (5 cars x 5 laps). If everyone can count to five, a challenge in itself, and everyone can replicate their best times for five laps, the theory is last cars on each of the teams will finish at the same time. You know theory, it the concept that Roseanne Barr and Charlize Theron have the same level of sex appeal, since they’re both women. It was the largest relay we've run, with six teams on the line. In what was the best finish ever of a team relay event, the first three teams finished within ten seconds of each other, quite the feat. Team Corvette pulled off the win with Team Fiero second. Team Fiero goes into the last event with a six point lead over Team Porsche and Mixed Nuts. The Mixed Nuts need a strong run to “threepeat” as the relay championship. Is this the year the Bill Evans Trophy moves to another team?

Thanks to everyone who attended the event and thanks for all the behind the scenes effort to make it all look as smooth as possible. Join us September 29 for “Circuits Maximus”, the only three road course / one day event offered at Pocono.