A Newbies Topeka Experience...

[John Edwards]

A Newbies Topeka Experience...

By John Edwards (#903)

This story begins with an internet connection and ends up with me driving my first National event in Topeka. It all started with a contact in a Yahoo Group that I started for us Fiat drivers who race our cars. I had several correspondences with one of the members from TEXAS-David as he was putting together a 1967 Fiat 850 Spyder for autocross.

I prepared a head for this car and had several more emails about how I should bring my Fiat 850 Sedan to Topeka. Mind you, I have been autocorssing this year after a 40 year layoff and I’m still feeing my way around the track. After several attempts and rebuffs, David invited me to drive his car in Topeka. I know that my skills still need a lot of honing, but this was the chance of a lifetime to see how I would stack up against the best-of-the-best. I accepted the invitation, and boy oh boy am I glad I did!

The story would end here, but now we have to include another one of our group to the storyline, Steve Glusman. As most of you know Steve and I have become great friends since we have raced together all year. David has a Spitfire that he races against in the Austin area and he knows of my competition with Steve and his Spitfire. A call to Robert, the Texas Spitfire owner, and now you have the great race - Fiat vs. Spitfire. The California Boys against the Texas boys.

It didn’t take too much persuading to get Steve on board, however he was a little apprehensive about driving someone else’s car, but as I told him – it’s a Spitfire dude! Arrangements were made and Steve and I left for Topeka on Monday. Later that afternoon we met David Stamman and Roger at Heartland Park. After pleasantries were exchanged we were both introduced to the cars we would be driving. The Spyder is the same chassis as the Sedan, except it’s a convertible. Steve would be driving a very early 1963 round-tail Spitfire.

It was getting near dinner time and we were invited to go out to dinner with all of the other GP entrants, including Don Salliers from our own region. This was quite an unexpected event to have din-din with all of the people in your class, but it was a lot of fun as we introduced ourselves an found out where each one was from and what they would be driving. Needless to say, new friendships were made.

6:30 the next morning came pretty early, Steve and I had to get registered and find out what our work assignments would be. We both wound up working in impound during the second run group. The fourth run group saw us watching our car owners taking their cars out for the first runs. After they ran we switched drivers and got a quick review of the course and what gears to use during our runs. I found that this Fiat was a lot different to drive than my Sedan. My first run was not a stellar performance but this was a new car and driving it required a lot more from me. The car needed to be pitched into corners to get the maximum from the tyres. My second run was better by a full second and my final run was even better, just a couple of seconds behind David’s best time. I didn’t feel too bad with only 3 runs under my belt in a brand new car.

After the cars were checked and put to bed, the four of us went back to the motel and got washed up before we went together in north Topeka at a steakhouse was recommended. During dinner Steve and I found out a lot more about our hosts. David is a semi-retired program manager from the Texas State Dept. of Education who shared an office with the State Superintendent in Austin. And as I found out, its Dr. Stamman. Roger has an aviation consulting business and has done work with Steve’s employer – Boeing. After dinner we jumped back in the car and drove back to the track to see what the SPOKES group was up too. These guys know how to travel and party in style. They had a projector setup and were watching racing videos.

Day three and we were all up and on the road to the track @ 6:30. We all took the advantage of walking the West course several times before the event started. The West course was much faster than the East course and we all tried to figure out what gear to be in for each and every straight and turn. The Fiat has a VW transaxle with close ratios and as we found out, second gear was a little too close once we ventured out onto the course. Nice thing about the VW box is that there are several rear-end and gear ratios available, which by now have been changed. I guess if I run GP that I could also install this same setup and have a better gear selection too.

David’s first run wasn’t too far off the mark, but he missed a shift and wound up coasting through the lights in neutral. A quick discussion about gearing and I was up pretty quickly. The car wanted to get into 3rd gear pretty quickly, but I misjudged the right-hander after the first slalom and I got behind and couldn’t make up any time.

The second run found David bettering his time, but not by as much as he anticipated. I would up taking an off-course excursion on the same right-hander, but kept my foot in it to get a feel for how I should make my last run. The ¼ mile drive back to pre-grid gave me lots of time to think about what I did wrong and how I was going to make corrections – yeah right!

My final run was actually pretty good and I would have wound up mid-pack if I hadn’t snagged a cone – damn!!! As I came off course I stopped to get my time slip, it was much better than I had hoped. Since I was the last person to drive the car, I had to go to impound and get weighed. As I pulled up, the driver of another Spitfire asked what my time was – it was exactly the same as his. David came walking up and gave me the news… the clock hadn’t clicked over and my time was a number of seconds behind the Spit. I was crushed. As it turns out, I placed 13th overall, a few seconds ahead of Steve, and a few seconds behind TEXAS-David.

After impound was over, the Fiat and Spitfire were taken back to our pit area. We got the cars all loaded up in relatively short time. As it turned out, the Fiat beat the Spitfire and it was a split between the Texas and California boys, however Steve did drive the round-tail at least 3-4 seconds faster than its owner – good going Steve! And if I hadn’t wondered in the way of a come, I would have passed David by at least a second and more.

Steve and I made said our goodbyes to our new friends, but not before being invited back to drive again next year. Steve and I jumped into the rental and headed back to Kansas City where we would be staying the night before jumping on a plane to head home.

The 2008 SCCA Solo Nationals experience will always be something that I will remember and cherish from now on. I made a lot of new friends back in Kansas, Toto, and I’m looking forward to making my return someday. I want to thank David Stamman for offering me a ride in his well prepared car, Steve Glusman for being a stellar friend and competitor. I also want to thank all of you in the CalClub Region who have helped and contributed to improve my driving skills. Your encouragement and advice are always welcome and if I can return the favor, just let me know.

[Mako Koiwai]

Thanks for the write up John. Last year was my first time at Nationals, and no matter what the results, that first time will always be special. Thanks again for sharing. We hope to make it next year, with it being Karen's first time.

[Steve Ekstrand]

Great story John. It was great to see you and Steve attack the deep end of the pool.

And great to see Don get so many runs in!!!

[Tom Berry]

Thanks for shareing your adventures with us.... glad you had a good time.
I would suggest arriving sooner or staying later ( or both ) next time so you can spend more time watching and hangin' out.
I still remember my first year going... I was completely overwhelmed but had a great time.

[Stephen Yeoh]

Jason and i took Tom's advice and changed our plans so that we would arrive in time for the Sunday practice, even though we didn't race until Thu/Fri. I'm glad that we did arrive early. We have tons of photos to show for it and a great chance to just hang out - something that we don't usually have a chance to do.

It is certainly an experience to remember with this being our first Nationals also.