Adam Ginsberg
05-03-2007, 12:42 PM
While you guys were tearing up a former NASCAR track down south, NASA Midwest was tearing up a new NASCAR track up north - Iowa Speedway.
Very interesting place to race - 1.3mi road course, utilizing ~2/3 of the NASCAR oval.....very short course that we were running in ~55 seconds per lap....very busy stuff. Dave Royce ( RD for NASA Midwest and OH/IN regions ) knows how to run an event - communications leading up to the event were great, information at the event was great, and it ran on time each day.
We ( NASA ) was only the second race group to run the road course - the weekend prior, Koni-Challenge was there ( formerly Grand-Am Cup, event was not televised :evil: ) - the fastest ST cars were in the high 51 range, GS was in the mid-49's.
There were only 3 CMC cars on Saturday, but 4 on Sunday ( comp school student Kurt Borton was approved to race with us ). I was fastest during Saturday practice, qual'd second, finished second. During R1, Bob Denton layed down a nice 55.3x lap ( now the new track record, as it wasn't broken on Sunday ), a 55.9x by yours truly, and a 55.8x by Matt King.
On Sunday, with 4 CMC drivers racing, we decided in the morning that we would invert the start from qualifying.....yeah, great....I put the car on pole with a 55.0x compared to Bob's 55.9x, Matt's 56.6x, and Kurt's 57.2. ;)
Starting from the back of CMC, I managed an excellent start, took the lead by NASCAR T1, and proceeded to try and put some distance between us. That worked....until T3 of L2, where I tossed it all away with a spin. Grrrr......I haven't made that big of a mistake in a long time.
Since my goof was early enough, and I didn't lose too much ground, I was able to race my way back up to 2nd, and hold it until the checker. Traffic was a huge deal at this track - there is really only ~2 good passing zones ( maybe 3, if you dare it/feel comfortable in the banking ).
The margin between the cars was incredibly close - we were no more than a few tenths apart, with the win-margin between Matt and I only being 3.443 seconds.
For whatever reason, my car was flat hooked up in the banking, especially prior to moving down to the blend line.....I was able to gain 6-8 car lengths on Matt more than once, coupled with out braking him into T3 ( spin in R2 notwithstanding ).
Video will be coming, but at least 2 weeks away....I'm out of town until 15 May.
The track is a hoot, but I doubt I'll return. Timing just worked out right to attend.....nothing like racing on your birthday. :D
Very interesting place to race - 1.3mi road course, utilizing ~2/3 of the NASCAR oval.....very short course that we were running in ~55 seconds per lap....very busy stuff. Dave Royce ( RD for NASA Midwest and OH/IN regions ) knows how to run an event - communications leading up to the event were great, information at the event was great, and it ran on time each day.
We ( NASA ) was only the second race group to run the road course - the weekend prior, Koni-Challenge was there ( formerly Grand-Am Cup, event was not televised :evil: ) - the fastest ST cars were in the high 51 range, GS was in the mid-49's.
There were only 3 CMC cars on Saturday, but 4 on Sunday ( comp school student Kurt Borton was approved to race with us ). I was fastest during Saturday practice, qual'd second, finished second. During R1, Bob Denton layed down a nice 55.3x lap ( now the new track record, as it wasn't broken on Sunday ), a 55.9x by yours truly, and a 55.8x by Matt King.
On Sunday, with 4 CMC drivers racing, we decided in the morning that we would invert the start from qualifying.....yeah, great....I put the car on pole with a 55.0x compared to Bob's 55.9x, Matt's 56.6x, and Kurt's 57.2. ;)
Starting from the back of CMC, I managed an excellent start, took the lead by NASCAR T1, and proceeded to try and put some distance between us. That worked....until T3 of L2, where I tossed it all away with a spin. Grrrr......I haven't made that big of a mistake in a long time.
Since my goof was early enough, and I didn't lose too much ground, I was able to race my way back up to 2nd, and hold it until the checker. Traffic was a huge deal at this track - there is really only ~2 good passing zones ( maybe 3, if you dare it/feel comfortable in the banking ).
The margin between the cars was incredibly close - we were no more than a few tenths apart, with the win-margin between Matt and I only being 3.443 seconds.
For whatever reason, my car was flat hooked up in the banking, especially prior to moving down to the blend line.....I was able to gain 6-8 car lengths on Matt more than once, coupled with out braking him into T3 ( spin in R2 notwithstanding ).
Video will be coming, but at least 2 weeks away....I'm out of town until 15 May.
The track is a hoot, but I doubt I'll return. Timing just worked out right to attend.....nothing like racing on your birthday. :D