gearhead0384

iTrader: (7)

So is anyone heading up to Gingerman Raceway in South Haven, MI this weekend to watch the American Iron Series races?

After much delay I am finally making it to a NASA race. As some of you may know TJ aka NAPE will be racing and I have been wanting to go for a long time.

I will be heading out Friday night and spending sometime at the place by the lake before hand ...

If anyone is interested PM and we can arrange meeting up.

Kevin

novadk13

I wish I were went to the race last year at joliet and was a blast, should be goot times there too. Good Luck TJ!

nape

iTrader: (1)

Here's the NASA info page about the event: http://www.nasamidwest.com/season/ev...p?eventid=9622

And here's the schedule: http://www.nasamidwest.com/docs/2009/sep_gingerman.pdf

We race about 1:20pm each day, which is earlier then normal, but it'll be nice to get home while the sun is still up.

The car count for the event is looking good and we should have 8 American Iron cars. I won't be the loan GM car either, there's a rookie bringing out his 4th gen Firebird and a guy I haven't seen since last year bringing out his 2005 GTO race car.

Give me a call if you can't find us, but I can't promise I'll answer if we're busy: 708-837-7949

nape

iTrader: (1)

Quick Gingerman race report. It'll actually be quick, considering I have to leave to meet Dave Algozine for Nationals (drive to Utah) in 5 hours.

We towed to Gingerman to run a Midwest/Great Lakes crossover this weekend. Never been to the track before, totally lost for the first half of practice. Qualify within 1.5 seconds of the pole (1:34.0xx IIRC) in 3rd (out of 6 cars), glued to Jeff Feit's bumper in 2nd for the whole race with Craig Capaldi in the lead and in sight for most of the race. Burn a piston (probably 70 psi on a tester) sometime during the race because the car is running 235* behind Jeff and lose power steering with 2 laps to go (fluid blew out). Finish 2 seconds behind Jeff. Walked the track on Saturday night with the CMC guys and swapped ideas.

Go out in practice with blowby issues and set fast time (within .4 of the pole on Saturday). Bolt on some new tires to heat cycle them in qualifying, set pole at a 1:32.6xx with 2nd over 1.5 seconds back. Halfway through the second lap of the race, the piston decides to come apart (no compression) and I start mosquito spraying. I get black flagged, but I was going to pull off anyway. Wasn't going to accomplish much on 7 cyls. Jeff Feit pulls off two laps after I do. Todd Rogers caught Craig Capaldi and they put on a good race with Todd getting by in the last half of the race for the win.

So, my shot for the GL AI Championship is done (still in the hunt for the Midwest region). We tow home and rip the car apart. The motor is on the ground with the heads off ready to go to the builder. Bore looks usable to my untrained eye and hopefully we can just hang another piston used on the rod and put it back together. Oil pressure was still great at the end, so I'm hopeful. The chamber is pretty roughed up, but a little work with a drum roll can probably smooth it out, will likely need a valve job and maybe two valves. The last Midwest event is in 3 weeks, time for another thrash!