Da Groj

I ran an MG Midget in my first autocross in 1978 at USF with the USF Sports Car Club. I only ran a few events. I had trouble reading the cones and I couldn't afford tires. So I stopped and did not pick it back up again until this year with my Geriatric Miata. I attended Martin's autocross class, Fast's class and have been autocrossing with FAST since November.

What a great thread ! I recently went back to work at my old job that I've been away for 3 years. I was going through my photos on my office computer and found a ton of pics from my first real autocross with Sunriders from 2005. I will post some of them here tomorrow.

My first "real" autocross was in the summer of 1993 (or whatever year the Jurassic Park movie came out), I was visiting my brother in Littleton, CO . He had a new 91 Miata with a set of Koni's that were a huge upgrade back then. We raced on a vacant business park parking lot with a few cones, street lamp poles, and a manual wind up stop watch. If I remember there were about 10 of us out there having fun; I have no idea how we did, but I had fun.

For the current autocross I've done; I have to thank Drew for getting me into this. I believe it was 04 when I bought my Dad's Fox body Mustang and I met him on a Mustang forum. Drew told me about Sunriders and said I should try autocrossing. Problem was, my Mustang was far from moving out of the garage, so I entered my 03 Civic Si. I met Drew for the first time at SPC, I believe Drew was also new to the sport. I remember trying to film Drew's driving on a hand held cam corder while riding in his car; it wasn't pretty.
I also remember that day because I smoked the crap out of my stock Michelin's, I believe I finished 3rd....from last !

Best story though, is when FAST first became FAST. Steve couldn't make it to Brooksville and needed someone to bring back the registration box and the entry money to him in St. Pete. I hadn't even met him yet (or maybe I did?) and we exchanged emails back and forth, I could tell that since he didn't know me he was a bit reserved about letting me handle the cash. So I told him where I worked, and where my office was located. Well guess what ? Turned out Steve and I both had offices in the same office building, his office was right above mine ! That's how I got to know Steve as a friend and the rest of you guys as well !

So, yeah how ironic is that ?

Pics from a sunriders event, I think it was November 05. There's a couple people that you should notice, and I loved the tiny number magnets that were pasted out back then. Enjoy !

^^^ That thing was awesome.

I think Charles drove better when he was a novice.

That, or the Typhoon really was amazing... or Nitto 555 drag radials are the secret weapon that we've all overlooked.

But, wow, I forgot we had results all the way back to 2003 in the archives! There are some names there that I haven't seen in a long time. If you want to know who the real "Old Guard" members are, take a look at a few events from 2003-2004! You'll see a few familiar names in the mix.

Well I'll be darned, it was 2005 when I did the Novice School...hmph!
http://drivefast.org/wp/Results/2005/20 ... yClass.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I did pretty well, though...

Native wrote:Well I'll be darned, it was 2005 when I did the Novice School...

...and the only member of that class still running.

Can I get a sticker for that?

I did a drivers school with Fast when i had my civic but can't find it in the archive ? I found the one I missed when I had my mustang but couldn't make it because my cat died that morning, awww.

The first few schools were pretty casual and generally scheduled like "oh yeah, we forgot to do a school this year... let's do it now"... after that, I think they were pretty much within the first 3 months of the year.

Here ya go:
2003 School (Oct)
2004 School (May)
2005 School (Jan)
Did we not do a school in 2006? Could be.
2007 School (Mar)
2008 School (Jan)(that's a reg list, no results on file)
2009 School (Jan)
2010 School (Feb)
2011 School (Mar)
2012 School (Mar)

Loren wrote:I think Charles drove better when he was a novice.

That, or the Typhoon really was amazing... or Nitto 555 drag radials are the secret weapon that we've all overlooked.

But, wow, I forgot we had results all the way back to 2003 in the archives! There are some names there that I haven't seen in a long time. If you want to know who the real "Old Guard" members are, take a look at a few events from 2003-2004! You'll see a few familiar names in the mix.

I had the RT-615 Azenis(275's) up front, 315 NT555R's in the rear

Loren wrote:The first few schools were pretty casual and generally scheduled like "oh yeah, we forgot to do a school this year... let's do it now"... after that, I think they were pretty much within the first 3 months of the year.

Here ya go:l]

Yup, it was the 2008 School, no results. Oh well, still remember learning a lot from that day.

Dayton, OH used to have a downtown weekend festival and part of it was "Solo in the City" where the SCCA held an event on closed downtown streets. I stumbled across it when I was 15 (1982) and was fascinated. Next year I drove myself down there and hung out all day. Met a couple guys who are still friends to this day. The hot ticket in F Stock was the new generation Camaro on the hot 245/60-15 Goodyear Eagle GT's with raised white letters. That was way more tire than the 2 barrel carb Mustang GT could run.

I ran my first event in the fall of 1983 in a Pontiac Phoenix 5 door with the Citation X-11 HO V6. GM's F41 sport suspension and 215/60-14 Eagle GT's was the hot ticket for the car that was so fearsome it was also placed in F Stock with the pony cars. I remember drag racing a friend in his 79 Firebird with the 301 Pontiac V8 and we ran even. You kids today have no idea how dark the dark ages were.

Got serious and bought a 1988 Mustang LX 5.0. The hot tire was now the first dedicated autocross tire, the Yokohama A-001 R in the killer 215/60-15 size. When the A-008R came out in a 225/50-15 we thought we died and went to heaven with that much rubber.

Ran that car for a number of years. I was living in Ohio at trailered down to the MacDill AFB Pro Solo a couple of times to start the year when there was still snow on the ground up there. Lived in Atlanta and ran timing for a couple of years. JA Circuits and hand written time sheets.

Started co-driving with a friend and went through a series of Firebirds and Corvettes. The Mustang grew a cage and went to Kansas for the Solo I and Solo II Nationals in Salina and Topeka. It eventually became one of the first American Sedan road race cars and won a lot of endurance races before being balled up on its test drive with a potential new owner. Oops.

Did some Legends cars, hobby stock and Super Mini Cup circle track. Then came family, then came divorce, then came remarriage to a girl that liked cars but never had anyone around that liked cars, so now the cycle begins anew and I am back to autocrossing and enjoying it immensely.

In 2003 I bought a Mazda6, which was very fun to drive. I loved it. I then went to Mazda Rev it Up in 2004. It was great fun! I signed up for my first real autocross with SCCA in Jan, 2005. Within three months of autocrossing I was like a totally addicted crackhead. I sold my Mazda6, and bought a 2003 350z.

I started autocrossing as much as I could while avoiding fallout with my wife. This included SCCA Brooksville & Gainesville, BMW Club, and Porsche Club. I used to love how slick it was at ZHills airport. And speaking of Gainesville, I just remembered my first time there. I couldn't find the venue, but I saw a Prelude carrying tires on the back. I followed it. I still remember that guy's face. His name is Jamie Sculerati.

Within a year or two I had beaten some people I thought were really good. There were certain drivers who were big milestones for me. Anyway, I started thinking I was a competent driver. This only enhanced my addiction. [NOTE: It also taught me that the more you drive, the better you get. Like I said, I was running sometimes 3 times per month, and was pleased with the results. For the past few years I have driven once per month. I am no longer as pleased ]

I think I started up with NASA-X (FAST) in 2006 / 2007. FAST had something that the other clubs didn't - a really good local classing system. Not 326 classes like SCCA. Not one "other" class like BMW and Porsche (at the time). They also had a separate class for street tires, high attendance, competition, lower cost, etc. So I started rolling with FAST exclusively when I dropped my participation down to once per month a few years ago. I had to because I'm kept pretty busy by my kids.

I bought my RX8 in late 2007 ( I needed a back seat! ) and have been running once per month with FAST since that time, more or less. There have been a couple of one-off participations in other clubs, but not that many. Oh, and I still have never been to GCAC or East coast SCCA. Seems like I would've by now!

I still love autocross. I have no real desire to get on a track for HPDE or whatever, and that was my original intention when I started autocrossing. After my wife becomes understanding about throwing gobs of money and time into autocross (read: never) , I would love to get my car to SCCA class standards and run three times per month for about six months, and attend one of the National Tour events. Ah, one can dream.

First autocross was with Sunriders in.. 98 or 99. I guess 99 because half my runs were in the Lokey? Miata Sport package that they brought out to events, the other half in my Isuzu pickup truck.

Autocrossed a lot for a bit, then went to track events and didn't autocross for years (probably 2001 or 2002 until mid/late 2006). Then stopped for a bit again, then a few years I autocrossed a lot.. now not so much again..

It's been a while since I was reading the forum. I found this old thread and started looking though the archives. Looks like I started with Sunriders in the Fall of 2004, which means I got started with autocross with local SCCA in my long gone Subaru Legacy 2.5GT back in the Fall of 2003.

And all that means is that it is time for me to come out of retirement!

Here's some history for you.....my old black Camaro

http://www.fl-thirdgen.org/blacksheep-1/camaro.mov

First learned about autocross when I discovered a solo2 website in highschool. At the time I was making like 5 dollars an hour as a bagger at Kash n Karry and didn't own my own car but I knew this was something I wanted to do. Fast forward to the end of my stay at FSU, it was my last semester and I decided to get a Miata after I graduated and got a job, I would finally be able to autocross. Unfortunately, the economy was(is) pretty terrible when I graduated and it took me about 7 months to find something, but in the end it all worked out, despite a year delay I got my Miata in late January and was at the novice school in Feb 2012. I haven't missed an event since and I really love it. Some day Id like to get a second car and have it set up for dedicated autocross, maybe STS or something.

Gerry wrote:I wanted a Miata ever since I learned about them in high school, back in 2006

Phuck I'm getting old...

I started autocrossing in 1997, I was going to college paying my way working at Autozone and a VW enthusiast coworker of mine there with a 16V Scirocco harped on me for months to come join him at an autocross in Danville VA. His name was Eddie Clinard and I haven't seen him at an autocross for over a decade now, but I'll be forever indebted to him as autocross is likely going to be my lifetime #1 hobby. I had a 1993 Sentra SE-R at the time I had been dabbling in drag racing with, my crowning achievement at which was beating a 1988 Mustang LX 5.0, I managed a 10.85 in the 1/8th mile with that little Sentra which really was pretty good since all I had done to it were a Flowmaster muffler and a home engineered cold air intake. Since the car was fairly new and I was still making payments on it I was reluctant to take it "racing" for real and this was well before the days of YouTube and the WWW was still really just getting started so I couldn't go out and watch video to see what this autocross thing was all about, but Eddie assured me it was incredibly safe and my starving college kid ass really liked the $15 entry fee so I followed him and his buddy Travis with a Porsche 944 one June morning in 1997 up to the Danville Regional Airport in Danville VA to check things out. I actually have a full video documentary of this first outing as I had a "on the shoulder" VHS camera at the time and I recorded most of the fun things I did, the video includes some of the drive up and my first walk through an autocross paddock. I knew I was hooked the moment I parked the car and walked through the paddock. I was astonished at the amazing variety of cars. Autocross was pretty big in those times and even a local non-SCCA club had over 100 competitors. That day was the first time I ever saw a TVR, I didn't even know TVR existed before that day and what a TVR it was. It was a BSP car and it was mean and nasty and YELLOW! That TVR set the FTD that day and at many events I went to in the following years. You could safely say that car was in inspiration in life for me of sorts, I'll never forget it. There were lots of other cool cars at that event Porsche turbos, Datsun 2000 roadsters, heavily modified Civics, national champions driving a twin turbo RX-7, even fast Neons. There was another car in particular that day that you could say has been a lifelong inspiration, it was a black C4 ZR1 on big ass Hoosier racing slicks. It was not stock, it was mean and nasty and was competing with the TVR for the FTD that day. The guy that drove that Corvette was Roger Garrett who coincidentally died this year from cancer. I never really knew Roger, but saw him with various Corvettes at various events over the years though I think he still had that 1995 black ZR1 at the time of his death.

RIP Roger Garrett.

Anyway, I pretty much sucked ass that first fateful day, I think I came in like 15th out of a 25 person "novice" class. But I had more fun than I had ever had before and knew autocross was just the thing for me. The variety of cool cars and the safe yet fierce competition was in a word, perfect. The first couple years I only did a couple events a year as that was all I could afford being in college, but starting in 1999 I have been doing at least a full autocross season every years since, some years I did nearly 20 events. The club I ran with that day and the next couple years was Greensboro NC based Triad Sports Car Club a couple years later I moved to Raleigh and got involved with the Tarheel Sports Car Club rival to the Triad SCC where I got my start. Both clubs have been autocrossing in North Carolina since the 60s independent of the SCCA. This year is in fact the 50th anniversary of the THSCC. I ran with THSCC for 15 years regularly and was an officer of the club many years as well as chief of timing and scoring for awhile.

Just this past weekend I revisited the birthplace of my autocrossing career, I was at the Danville Regional Airport for the 10th annual Jimmy V charity autocross. This event was also a memorial event for Jim Feinberg who tragically died at a young age earlier this summer. Feinberg was a NC autocrosser since 1999 who went on to win many SCCA national trophies and even eventually a couple national championships. Jim was a 2 time previous cancer survivor but lost his battle due to complications from leukemia. Jim was the best driver I've ever personally know.

RIP Jim Feinberg.

This event was a co-event run by both Triad and Tarheel Sports Car Clubs. Though these clubs have been bitter rivals for decades and have had periods of time when they have had to turn competitors away because they couldn't handle the 140+ numbers that were showing up, autocross has been on the decline for the past 5 years or so in that area and these days they can barely muster 80 competitors typically. So they got together to do this one as Feinberg was a member/competitor with both clubs. The event was a success with over 150 competitors showing up over two days and $5000 raised or the Jimmy V foundation for cancer research which pushed the 10 year total to over $50K.

As for me, I dragged the new to me Solo Vee all the way up there to what was a "homecoming" event of sorts for me. It poured rain Saturday, just for my run group, which was beyond miserable in the Vee and my times sucked. Sunday, I couldn't get the car to start despite a valiant effort so I hopped in a friends C Street BRZ and managed to grab the last trophy spot in a highly competitive 22 person class. Not my best showing ever, but it was great seeing old familiar faces again and revisiting the place where autocrossing began for me some 17 years ago.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. Beyond autocross, I've done several seasons of rallycross which is a absolute blast! I've dabbled a bit also in LeChump racing and have done a couple HPDEs, but am really thinking I'm mostly just gonna focus on autocross. I would get back in to rallycross too if I had a ride.

I've been running with FAST now for about 18 months. I really like how Loren & Co. do things here and have moved to the Tampa Bay area with no intentions of moving again soon so you poor basterds are stuck with me for awhile and hopefully in another 15 years I'll have as many friends and memories as I do with Triad and Tarheel back in NC. I'm already off to a good start.