The truth as shown in the videos below (unlike some fishing stories) is that I was in 3rd Place with a half lap to go when I blew a shift and the #72 Blue Miata slid past me.  I was a half lap short of a dual trophy day.

The race was actually even more exciting than that (at least for me).  I started out in 5th place and by turn 4 of the fist lap I had dropped down all the way to 9th (last) place.  The race starts have the highest incidence of crashes and I see from my videos that I have a tendency to let the cars sort themselves out a bit (definitely a bit too much).

I have included the whole race as posted in three segments on YouTube.  You can see by watching the first minute of part 1 how I drop off to last place when the red #14 car passes me.

Over the course of the 18 lap race, I pass all of the SM Miatas except those in 2nd and 1st place.  I race in 3rd place ahead of the blue Miata for several laps after passing him.  It is on lap 18 that the #72 blue Miata passes me back to take 3rd place back. This part can be seen towards the end of part 3 posted below.

Note, there are other race classes mixed in with my Spec Miata SM class.  You can see the little yellow formula cars as well as an occasional Volvo!  These are not in my class but still were in my way from time to time.

Part 1 – The Start of the race – where I immediately fall behind to 9th place.

Part 2 – Where I continue to chase down the Blue #72 Miata.

Part 3 – Where I finally catch Blue #72 Miata and move into 3rd place until missing a shift on the last lap.

Ted Cahall

Here is a photo of the trophy.
Ted Cahall

Ted Cahall

You can see the red #14 car sneak up my right side in turn 5 as we stack up into a line of cars.  He stays inside me for turn 6.  Instead of falling in behind him, I keep my line off his left bumper – and run out of track.  This is the old, “watch the track – and not the guy in front of you” lesson.

Ted Cahall

The video is a short, 10 second, clip of two cars spinning out in front of me in turn 10.  I added it again here to avoid chasing the link.

Ted Cahall

I really learned a lot and set new personal best lap records almost every week.  I started the year with my best lap in the MARRS 1 qualifier being a 1:37.908 and 8 of the 10 laps being slower than 1:40.  I finished this year in the MARRS 11 final race with a 1:31.826.  Six seconds faster in a single lap is a great improvement.  More telling was the consistency of the laps in each race with many of them clustering in the 1:32 range at the end of the year.

I met a lot of really great people as well.  I could not have even come close to making this happen with my busy schedule if it were not for Mike Collins and his fantastic program at Meathead Racing.  A huge shout out to Wendy, Sherise, Glen, and Jimmy who helped me though a huge learning curve.

The other racers were also fantastic (aside from some early “rookie bumps” out on the track to initiate me to Spec Miatas).  Some of these people are very accomplished racers that turn laps in the 1:27 range.  Yet they will still spend time and talk with the slow pokes like me to help me learn and grow with this sport.  Many of the Meathead Racing teammates also took time to help me get buckled in and ready out on the grid as well.  Such an outstanding group of people to spend a weekend with!  If you have ever considered learning how to race in wheel-to-wheel competition, I would highly recommend contacting Mike Collins at Meathead Racing.  Even for a busy person such as myself, they make the words, “arrive and drive” a reality.

Ted Cahall

I saw that the blog was down this morning, figured out what was wrong,  and edited the wp-config file to point to the new database.  Things are seemingly back to normal.  It could have been MUCH worse.  I have seen total disasters in migrations such as these (none under my management of course). 

Now I need to jump in my car and high-tail it to Summit Point, WV for my last SCCA Club Race of the season.  I am shooting for a new personal best lap record after setting one in the qualifying race yesterday.

We were allowed to pass in one specific zone if we were given the flag indicating it was OK.  I am happy to say I passed a lot of people – but no one ever passed me.  That is the way it is supposed to be (aside from real racers at SCCA Club Racing – where getting passed was a reality for me this year).

You can click on the photo below to see a couple of more images on Webshots.

Ted Cahall

I plan to edit out a small piece of the race where a couple of cars spun out in front of me and post it here.  So far the video editing software converts the whole race – all or nothing.  So I will figure out what I need to do to post a15 second clip instead of a 30 minute race.

This device will let me know how fast (slow in my case) I am entering each corner and what my exit speed is.  This will help me compare to the really experienced drivers and know where to push it harder.  The camera and GPS do not lie.  And they record every lap and every missed shift.  So this should be a huge help towards setting my new personal best lap record.

Ted Cahall

While my job did anything but become more mundane in 2009, I was determined to maintain that delicate “work / race balance” all the HR types talk about for living a healthy life.  I really had no idea what I was in store for as I prepared for the 2009 racing season.  I had planned on racing my 2001 Z06 Corvette and took pains to install racing seats, add in tow hooks, fire extinguishers, and safety harnesses, etc.  Unfortunately I was mistaken on the requirements and did not know that the T1 class for my Z06 required a full roll cage to be welded into my car!  Heck – I even needed a full roll cage to attend the SCCA Driving School – the more you know – the more you realize just what you don’t know…

After attending day 1 and day 2 of my SCCA Drivers School in a “Spec Miata” that I rented, I attended the SCCA PDX and SCCA Club Trials in a “Spec Miata” as well.  It was at this point that I finally realized it would be best for me to have Meathead Racing help me as my “Spec Miata” pit crew and support team for the 2009 SCCA Club Racing season.  I bought a 1999 Spec Miata from Bad Al Bell and I was literally “off to the races”.

Sunday was my second official SCCA MARRS race and fulfilled my requirements for my regional license.  I did qualification laps and the qualification race on Saturday to grid myself for the race on Sunday.   On Sunday, I started in 31st position and finished the race in 24th.  So I moved up and had an incredible amount of fun doing it.  My fastest lap got faster in each of the three qualification and race events during the weekend.  The key is to be safe, improve each week, and try not to fly off the track or bend any metal on either mine or the other driver’s cars.  All was accomplished successfully.

Ted Cahall