Success is in how you measure it !

Race Summary

This years Rolex 24 hrs was truly a unique experience. We combined the thrill and endurance of sports car racing along with raising funds for a great cause and great people, The Children’s Tumor Foundation. It was a unique experience to have all the kids around the car and have them sign the car. The CTF raised close to 200k in their fundraising surrounding the race. Our crew from Youngstown raised close to 5k, which was great!

Well, Lets get to the race!

This 24 as mentioned was special. We started with have an autograph session with the CTF kids and there families. Then it was off to the drivers meeting in Victory Lane. Usually it is Scott Pruett whining about something. This year it was Jaun Pablo Montoya. He was basically complaining about the GT traffic , and why he couldn’t flash his lights at us all night. It was an interesting exchange. Then we had the autograph session and got to meet more CTF people as well as a ton of race fans. Richard was great with the kids, I guess since he still is one. I could tell Dan was getting a little nervous. Gomez was Gomez !! and great with the kids as well.

Then it was back to the garage and a meeting with the spotters then one of the most famous walks in motorsports.

Walking to the car to the grid at Daytona. What a thrill. Since we qualified fifth we were at the front of the grid. The bad news is they gridded us right in front of the marching band. Frank, our crew chief, was almost mortally wounded by an errant trombone slide. After deafness set in on all the crew and drivers it was time to start the race.
Wolf Henzler (A.K.A.- the Man) was to start the race and I would be second. I went back to grab my gear and headed toward the pits for the green flag. The green flag flew and Wolf was off. Before I knew it his stint was up and Frank gave me the head nod to get Ready. I was eerily calm. I have been down this road and not gotten in the car! Got my equipment on and waited at the pit wall for the #1 Porsche driver in the world to turn over his mount to me. In a flash he was out I was buckled in and off. With the reassuring voice of Frank telling we had cold tires and not to hit the pit wall at the exit of the pits. (ala Jeff Gordon & Patrick Dempsey) As I exited the Pits the DP leaders were going through turn three, Baptism by fire, wouldn’t have it any other way. They made there way around as I slid on cold tires. My first thought as I hit the Banking out of turn 6 was “ do not wreck this car !!” I needed to bring this thing back at all cost for my teammates and for the CTF kids. I got in my groove and was running 57’s and 58’s. Trying to stay away from anything. A few laps into my stint I look over and see Jim Pace, who has taught me everything I know about driving Porsche’s zip by. It was a very comforting feeling. Speaking of comforting, we had a group of great spotters working with us, Mikel Miller and Peter Artzinger. They saved each of us multiple times through out the race. Next thing I knew I heard Frank in My ear “Pit this lap, Pit this Lap” And in the same Flash I was out of the car And Dan was in. Goal #1 out of the way… Drive the Car. Talked with Daryle, my brother about the stint and tried to got back and get some rest, yea..right.

Went back to the motorhome, seemed like I petted the dog(Daytona), grabbed some food and it was 9pm. I headed down for my second stint. When I got down there Richard was still in the car doing a double. We were in still in the top 15 and holding our own. By the time I got back in the car it was 10:30 or later, Same drill except it is night. To Quote Pace “ car doesn’t know any different”. Except as a driver, you have no reference points anymore. I was running well in the 55’s and 56’s. My stint was winding down and Frank asks me if I could do a double. I radio back, "I’m here to Drive, Lets Go". He brings me in for my first “live pit stop”. I’m heading down pit lane , Hit the marks perfect, Car goes up on the jacks, The sound of air guns fills the air, Tires off, Tires on Gas in, “GO, GO,GO “, I do a supercool burnout out of the pitlane. Frank comes on the radio and asks “Who is Driving that Car, and what did they do with Ron !? I get a few more laps under my belt. It is now around 12am and I’m gettin’ it. Then Near disaster strikes when I’m passing the Autometrics machine in turn three when he turns down onto the front end of the car. I hear JP in my brain, " don't pass in the braking zones". I have the sickening feeling as I hear the bump, He spins, I keep it pointed in the right direction. Car is driving fine, but I bring it in for a safety inspection, all is good. I keep cranking. Toward the end of the stint I start to pick up a vibration. I bring it in, Dan Gets in and all is well. I try again to go back and get some rest, No way. Next thing I know is it is 3am and I turn on the scanner to see what’s going on and I hear no voices on our channel. Not a good thing!!. I hustle down to the garage and see that our garage door up, Again, not a good thing. Apparently, Richard flat spotted a tire, into the Bus Stop And the tire blew. We were running in 8th spot when that happened, We lost an Hour in the garage, we were back to 18th when we got back on track. We still had a shot at a top ten. I got back in the car at around 4:30 and ran for about 45 min and picked up a huge vibration. The car became undriveable as I exited the bus stop, I radioed Frank and told him I was coming in. He was not happy, but it turned out to be the right call. 4 studs( the bolts that hold the tires on) sheared. I only had One lug nut holding the left rear wheel on!. That Could have been ugly for car and driver! I drove it back to the garage, they had me back on track in 20 min. Frank and the crew did an unbelievable job all night. They refueled me and I was off basically for another double.
The car was running well for the problems we had, and As I drove into daylight, We had accomplished goal #2… See Daylight in a race car at Daytona. Talk about an amazing thing. Being in that race car from pitch black into sunrise. It was surreal, the Sun Climbing up the grandstand over the superstrech WOW. It is a life altering event as you wiz around at 175mph. Shortly after the sun comes up, I get the call to come in. Our car is looking battered, but we are still running!. Dan gets in and he is off. As I get out of the car, I notice the beautiful clear sky and then suddenly I realize, I am Drained, Physically, Mentally and Emotionally.

I can barely get my helmet off. Being on the edge for 4 or 5 hrs in the middle of the night was probably the toughest thing I have ever done. This is a 24 hr sprint race. There is no cruising around ! The MRN is there to interview me as I get out of my helmet. I can barely put a sentence together for them. I was so proud of our team and our crew for keeping us going through the night!
I had to sit down. The thing that was amazing is I was in great physical shape, running two 10k’s a week and hours of aerobics on the other days, but it was the mental focus that was exhausting. I eventually made it back to the motorhome and actually did sleep from 8a- 9:30. A whole hour and a half since 6am the day before. I had one maybe 2 more stints to go. I Started to get my second wind as I headed to the pits. All was going about as well as could be expected. We were solidly in the top 20 working on a top 15. I jump back in, Now I want to pound it. We have an open track and 5hrs to go, I start winding out the laps, actually faster than my first stint the day before and in a damaged race car. Do some nice side by side racing, unfortunately not for position, but it was fun none the less. There is debris everywhere on the track. I radioed to Frank and the boys that it looked like a Porsche junk yard. There were parts and pieces of cars everywhere. You literally had t drive around stuff on the track. That would get us shortly. I finished up my stint feeling pretty good, with fair lap times. Dan got in and A few minutes into his stint, the clutch went, Frank thought it was probably do to hitting something on track. Dan did a great job finishing his stint with no clutch. When Dan got out there was 2 ½ hrs to go.
Richard got in the car. Dan and I went to Frank with an executive decision. We wanted to keep Richard in the car the rest of the way. He was the most experienced seat of the pants racer and we need to finish what we started. As he did all week he came through, and came through BIG! Not only did we loose the clutch, he lost 5th gear. His lap times started to slow and we were at risk of being black flagged, and he stepped it up. Checkers !! Goal #3… We finished, thanks to el Pollo Loco.

Who also had the best quote when he got out of the car “ I would like to thank the German guy who made 4th gear in my race car cause it is all we had left”. To tell you how close we were not to finishing, the car didn’t make it back to the garage. It made the turn then quit! Goal #4.. a good time was had by all, team, crew, CTF and most importantly…Wife !
We still have some unresolved issues for next year. This year we were 1 tire and 4 studs away from a possible top 5 finish. I honestly believe with no mechanicals, smart driving and some help from the CTF Angels we can be on the Podium next year. Yes, I’m serious!!

Frank looking over his baby after the race. GREAT JOB TO THE CREW OF THE #85!!!!!!!

IT MADE IT !! SO DID WE
Ron

We Made it !

The CTF Crew !!

The CTF #85 finished in 16th position in the GT class and 27th overall. We were literally 1 tire and 4 stud bolts away from at least a top five finish. We have an awesome team all the way around ! Frank and the crew did an awesome job and gave us a great ride. The CTF kids gave us inspiration to finish and persevere through this gruelling event. My Co- drivers are studs, talk about getting it done the last three hours. El Pollo Loco(aka Richard) was the man. Driving the last 2.5 hrs with no clutch and no 5th gear. What an effort by everyone involved. Over the next few days I will post a race summary on my experience, but today " I'm going to Disneyworld !!"

So.... what are we going to do next year. I feel a podium coming on !!

Year 2, Take 2, Keep those Fingers Crossed

Well, I guess we are ready to go !
Finished up with the afternoon practices yesterday. Richard was cranking. He got down near 1:52 Flat in the am session. In the afternoon, the car started to feel light in the front end and picked up a little left front vibration. My goal was to stay away from everyone one the track, and just shift some gears. Unfortunately, you can't do that on a race track. I was tippy toeing around in the high 55 low 56’s. Then the Ferrari wants to race I lift to left him by, he doesn’t go in the bus stop. I have more speed down in to turn one. I lift again he takes me on the outside then throws it off the track into turn one and turns back right in front of me as I turn in. Luckily, knowing these guys are idiots I was ready and went off to avoid. Car was placed in the garage safely. The Ferrari wrecked my 63 car last year and our wreck our sister car 64 last year and took them out of contention. So we’ll suit up tomorrow and run with what we got !
Before the afternoon session we had an autograph session with the kids, they were having a great time crawling all over the car. Jill and Bob Beck did a great job putting it together. All of the CTF people have been awesome to be around. Looking forward to today’s session.
We then had a CTF dinner in the Evening, It again was a well planned great event. It was moving for the team to get autographed plaques from the kids, and talk with some of the parents. I think the non-medical members of the team got a lesson on how tough it is to deal with a chronic disease process and what we as physicians have to do every day when we see patients.
Tomorrow(today) will be busy. The goal is to stay rested before the race !

AND GET IN A CAR! Hopefully in the top ten, then I can start my march to the back ! My goal is to be on the lead lap when I get out of the car.

May the race gods be with us !! and EJ too

Ron

Wolf Henzler is the MAN !!!

Frank and I dejectedly Push the 85 CTF car back from post qualifying tech

Wow!
What a Day. They talk about the highs in lows in motors sports, I feel like I’m Bipolar after today!!We arrived at the track at 7am Got everything ready for Wolf Henzler to shake down the car so we could start our rotations. Wolf had an incident when the splitter separated from the car. No contact or off road excursion. So We had to replace the splitter which took up the rest of the practice session. Wolf got back in and the car was tight into the corners and snappy loose off just as it was last month. The crew worked diligently to get the set up right with one hour before qualifying we found there was an issue with one of the vacuum lines which had to be replaced. We were now ready for qualifying, Wolf took the car out and reported a vibration on his out lap, to the point he could not drive the car, He brought the car to pit road, our hearts dropped. Grand Am said we couldn’t touch the car. Wolf went back out and with a HUGE vibration in the car he started turning laps and getting faster and faster. Any vibration in a race car is bad, he laid down a 1:51.0 we were estatic, over the radio We hear in a German Accent, “think I can go faster”, Next lap 1:50.5, Frank, our gruff but loveable crew chief tells him to park it. He wants I more lap, He turns a 1:49.885 and the time P3. We end up 5th in Spot. This guy has LARGE ones!!. That is why he is one of the best Porsche drivers in the world.

Wolf Henzler, No. 85: "I left the pits and then I had a big vibration in the car. It was too risky, so I pitted immediately. The crew couldn't find anything, so I said I would go out again and I would do only one timed lap. I did 1:50.1, then I heard on the radio that Andy Lally [in another Porsche] was doing 49.5 and I knew I could go quicker. So I decided to do another lap. Even with the vibration, it was better and the more laps I did, the quicker I went. The crew did a good job and prepared the car very well."

Our goes through tech, Frank and I are down waiting for them to release the car. When I here the official call for Frank, We are disqualified from the session our car is too low. Which means we would have to attempt to qualify for 20th spot tomorrow. We were crushed. Frank takes the car back to the garage to get ready for the night session and finds that our splitter had be damages which caused our infraction. He calls the official over to show him and they allow us to appeal the ruling. Hours go by and we hear nothing. At that point is was my turn to get in the car, I jump in around 7:30 and start winding out a few laps. Never really get a clean one, but into the low56.s Then as I come into the bus stop a Ferrari in front of me stops at the turn in I have to jump on the binders and Do a big loopy spin at about 120mph Mostly on the pavement as I’m Locked up backwards I see the comforting sight lights of 3 DP’s bearing down on me. I keep the car running and Hustle out of there with no damage other than to my shorts, and a few flat spots on the tires. Turn a few more slow laps and turn the car over to Dan who goes a great job, down in the 56’s as well.
We head back to the garage. As we are putting the car away for the night, we are told we have won Our appeal (which never happens!!) and our 5th place run counts !

Back to Happy
We’ll see what tomorrow Brings.
I hope less drama !! But I doubt it
Ron

Notes from the Roar Before the 24

"Night Practice, Talk about Fun !"

Well we finished up with the "Roar before the 24" 10 days ago. The good news is we found our fourth driver, Richaed Campollo (a.k.a. el pollo loco). He is an outstanding young driver in the Formula Renault series in Europe, and a quality individual that adds that youthful enthusiasm to the team. The best was when he was calling Wolf Henzler, one of the best Porsche guys in the world "Langsam", which is slow in German. Wolf drove the #85 R4R car down in the upper 1:51 range and I believe that was in the top 5 times for the weekend. Richard speaks 7 languages and will also be our teams Babe Magnet. Our driver line up has great chemisty and a good strategy for the race. I hope it pans out. Our crew chief Frank Resenetti is one of the best, He worked with Krohn racing when they won the championship, and was Dale Ernhardts crew chief on the #3 Corvette team. He expects a lot out of us, I hope we live up to those expectations.
The bad news is that we were chasing the set up on the car all weekend long. It would push into the cornor and then become snappy loose just after apexing the cornor. It was a handful. Towards the end of the test, we started to get it dialed in, but we were still slower than we needed to be. So, we still have some set up work to be done when we get back to the track. Richard did well in his first test in a car with a roof on it. His times methodically kept dropping, and he remainded level headed in the car (which had to be hard for him !). Dan Graeff ran consistently all weekend as did Micheal Gomez. When it was all said and done an intact car was placed back into the hauler! Any time you can roll the car into the trailer after a three day test in Grand-Am you had a sucessful test.
So, we are ready to go !, We need to pickup a little more speed, but our consistency should payoff for us. All that we need to do is keep it on the track, Stay out of the pits except for fuel, tires and driver changes and we should do well. Sounds easy enough! but it ain't. It's those 54 other cars that cause the problems.

See ya in Daytona

Ron