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 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

Each year Rolling Thunder gets larger with some estimates of approximately 500,000 bikes participating.  Below is a photo of just some of the motorcycles that staged outside of Patriot Harley-Davidson in Fairfax, VA.

As you can see, we are lined up four wide for miles.  They blocked off all traffic on Route 66 as we trimmed down to two across.   We road with a police escort right into DC.

Once we were in DC, we parked our bikes and looked at the Korean and WWII War Memorials.  From there, we waited and watched the beginning of the procession of the official Rolling Thunder.  Below is a video of the beginning of the event.

DC Rolling Thunder Opening Procession

After watching thousands of bikes go by, we decided to head home and beat the traffic.  It was a great ride, a great day, and a great way to say, “thank you”, to all that have fallen in the line of service to this great country.

Ted Cahall

We started the day on the USS Truman with the arrested landing and then disembarked from the C-2A.  The photo below is part of an album taken by a Navy photographer as I exited the plane onto the deck of the USS Truman.  Click through to see this photo and others taken by the Navy from this trip.

Once on board, we went up to the bridge and met Rear Admiral Mark Fox, Captain Joe Clarkson, and a number of other officers as the performed their duties.  The photo below shows Rear Admiral Mark Fox greeting our group of visitors.

From there we began our journey of hundreds of ladders.  You cannot live on a aircraft carrier and not be in shape.  The ladders will make it happen.  Plain and simple.  We went and met the Captain of the US Marine wing VMFA-312 on the ship.  There are about 20 Marine Pilots on board and approximately 275 total marine staff.  Unfortunately I did not have a pen and paper, so I do not know the name of the head of the Marines on the USS Truman.  Here is his picture.

After being briefed by the US Marines, we were off to lunch.  We waited in the officer’s mess hall lounge until they were ready.  We ate in a cafeteria style food line.  The food was actually pretty good!  We shared some nice conversation with the staff before returning to our journey through the ship.

We stopped by the room where they maintain the anchor chains.  Each link weighs over 300 lbs.  They clean and paint the links from that room.  We then headed out to the “hangar” below the flight deck.  The hangar has a series of elevators that move planes up and down between it and the deck above.  After looking through the hangar, we went and looked at some of the elevator bays and out towards the ocean.  From there we proceeded to view the fire station and some of the repair labs.  We also viewed the rescue boats they send out in case a person goes overboard.  From there it was onto the Jet engine repair labs.  The photo below is one I took of two technicians working on a GE jet engine.  Click through to see a few more jet engine photos from this album.

After the jet engine repair, we had the highlight of the entire trip.  We went back to the deck and watched jets take off.  The jets (and some turbo props) take off by being shot off the deck by a catapult.  It is really an amazing thing to see – and I was lucky enough to also be able to photograph it with my own camera.  Below is one of my better shots of a plane just off the end of the carrier beginning flight.  Click through the photo below to see my other photos of planes taking off from that album.

After watching all of the planes take off, we were then taken to the back of the carrier to watch some of them land.  This part is really amazing.  I got to see what I had experienced earlier that same day as part of an “arrested landing”.  It was incredible.  When the pilot puts the plane down on the ship, he/she actually takes it to “full throttle”.  This is to make sure it has full thrust in case they miss the arrestor cable.  In that case they need to take back off so they can circle around and try to land again.  Once they know they have the cable, they back off the throttle.  We were standing a bit too far forward to get good shots of a plane grabbing the cable with its tailhook.  I do have one blurry one here.  The photo below is a photo I took of one of the planes coming in for landing on the deck.

Note the arrestor cable in the foreground.  That is the first cable of four such cables.  The pilot is supposed to shoot for the third cable.  This was one of the AWACS planes.  They are arriving at 150 mph and will drop down to 0 mph in a matter of three seconds.  I have an honorary “Truman Tailhooker” certificate signed by Captain Clarkson that states that I have completed an arrested landing and have an “elementary understanding” of the “remarkable challenges and accomplishments of Naval Aviation”.

We then headed off to dinner and had some break time in our rooms.  After dinner we went to the outside deck off of the bridge and smoked cigars.  After that it was lights out as we had all had way too many ladders!

Ted Cahall

I have always been proud to be a citizen of the United States of America – but seeing the energy, passion, and talent aboard the USS Truman was a moving experience.  Fellow Americans, we are all in very good hands.  I was allowed to take photos while on board and have all of them up on Webshots.com.  All of the photos in this blog post were taken with my camera (so it is my fault if they are blurry or underexposed, etc).

This experience will be covered in three parts since I am off to Myrtle Beach and will not be able to fit it all into one blog.  This first part will cover the arrangements through landing on the Truman.  The second installment will cover all of the areas we toured on the Truman including the plane launch and landings and the last segment will cover my departure back home to US soil.

I was fortunate enough to be asked to participate in this program by the Navy through one of my co-workers that is an Annapolis grad.  After filling out forms and registering for the hotel, I eagerly awaited the adventure.  I was not quite sure of the details (confidential Navy info) – but knew I was being flown onto an aircraft carrier somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean on May 5th.  A day or two prior I was told it was the USS Truman and that the meeting time would be 6:15AM. On the evening of May 4th I drove down to Norfolk, VA (in a torrential downpour) and spent the night in the Hampton Inn.  At 6:15AM I met the Navy team and was whisked off to orientation.  We were informed that we would be flying out to the USS Truman via a C-2A “Greyhound” transport plane.

This was not quite as exciting as flying in on an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet – but this is as good as it gets.  Most of the 5,000 personnel on this ship never get to take off or land on it.  They simply walk on and off when it is in port.

After some briefing and selection of life vests, hearing protection, and crash helmets (see – all things that are fun do require helmets), we were ready to board the plane.  The interesting thing is that we were seated backwards.  The best reason I heard for this is to protect you during the “arrested landing”.  This is a wonderful invention where the plane’s tailhook catches one of the arresting cables and slows from 150 mph to a complete stop in less than three seconds.

As I was being strapped into my 4 point harness (see self shot photo above), it dawned on me that I was going to leave the ship facing backwards as well – on a catapult!  At this point I was beginning to wonder if I was really going to enjoy this trip…   It was sort of late to be having second thoughts, so I said my prayers (funny how prayers often come at times of loss of total control of a situation) and off the plane went on a normal take off.

There was only one window on each side of the plane and it was not near enough to my seat for me to see anything.  After about an hour of being strapped in upright with my uncomfortable headphones and helmet on, I could tell we were slowing down and circling.  The guys near the window seemed to perk up a bit.  I assumed we were near the boat (no rocket science necessary for that call).

After a while we straightened out and began a slow descent.  At one point one of the crew members in front of us got on the loudspeaker and let us know we were within 10 seconds.  Since we were facing backwards, I straightened my back and prepared to get embedded into my seat.  Within a few seconds we pounded down onto the deck of the carrier and caught the arresting cable.  It was an incredible force that seemed to get stronger as we pulled the cable to maximum tension.  In about three seconds (it felt like 5) we were stopped.  I felt like my lung collapsed!

I realized I had lived through it, hypochondria and all, and was likely to be able to blog about it in a day or two.  After they unhooked the cable and taxied the plane over to the side, they opened the doors and we took off our harnesses.  We all stood up like we did this every day.  Yes we were strong proud Americans.  The petite woman from Minnesota said that is was like a roller coaster and wanted to do it again!  So I decided to keep my collapsed lung story all to myself.  Ahem…

We left the plane and walked onto the deck of the USS Truman.  We were in the Atlantic Ocean over 100 miles off the east coast of the US.  All we could see were jets,  water – and no railings…  One of the airmen related a story of a worker being blown overboard when a jet revved its engines not knowing the man was behind it.  I was feeling better already.  What collapsed lung?  Now I was now certain I was going to drown and be eaten by a shark or whale…  Don’t worry, they fished the guy out and he was as good as new.  Probably also from Minnesota.

I began to look around. What an incredible site.  Dozens of US Navy jets waiting to launch.  The Ocean is so blue that far out (I have clearly never been on a cruise liner).

We were whisked inside for our first meeting with the Admiral and the ship’s captain.  I was not sure of all the titles below Admiral, so it took me a while to figure out who reported to whom.  Everyone was cordial and professional and our tour guide, Dave, was a rock-star (actually he was a “Shooter” as you can see by his shirt).

All kidding aside, landing on an aircraft carrier is an incredible engineering accomplishment.  I am in awe of how these consummate professionals and masters of their craft made such an intricate and critical operation look totally routine.  Safety is the single most important thing on everyone’s mind: for the crew, the pilots, and everyone on the carrier.  I am sure they were just teasing me about the guy being blown overboard and later fished out.

I was ready for lunch – but we had dozens of ladders to climb up and down before I was allowed to feed the beast.  One thing to know about a carrier – they are full of ladders – not stairs.  These sailors are in great shape!

More to come on the ship tours in the next segment and the catapult in the final installment.

Ted Cahall