2003 MSOKC HPV Champions

15 August - Fear And Loathing In Circleville

Dana in HPV/Spec 100 practice.

With all due apologies to Hunter S. Thompson, it was a strange and powerful visit to the track August 15. We managed to pick up two more wins and a couple of 2nds but it was a disturbing day overall.

Judging by the number of hits this web site is getting (as usual, controversy boosts ratings) I'll be disappointing a lot of people by not elaborating on why it was such a disturbing day. But to try to address all the issues involved will not serve the sport, the club, our team or our competitors in a positive way. Suffice to say that there was a major clash of fundamental racing philosophies in Super Can and speaking for my team, we've learned a lot from it and will react differently if it happens again.

Practice went well, both karts requiring handling tweaks to achieve the balance Dana and Tracy like in their karts and to tune the carbs to the atmospheric conditions.

We also had the pleasure of a bunch of special guests supporing us this day. Lynn's sister Debbie, husband John and son Steven all made the trip from Indianapolis and Tracy's friend from her work Cherie, her husband Phil and kids Cali and Alex. Cherie's brother Matthew, her mother Lois and Lois' foster son Billy were also in tow. Cali had the article from last week's paper and Dana and Tracy were embarrassed but delighted by a mini-autograph signing session for this group. We also had the pleasure of meeting Sy and his daughter Taylor who had seen the article and came out to see if karting was something Taylor and Dad would like to do together - hope they like what they saw. Boy, one small article in the paper and you're a celebrity. We sure were glad they all came out to see us race.

HPV was called first and Dana drew the fourth (out of six - we were happy to see Pat Tumeo and Marc Reifeis out racing with us again) starting position with John Fox starting just ahead of her. Dana fell to fifth just after the green flag came out with John moving into the lead quickly. She managed to pull herself up to the front, on the way showing Heath Tatman (driving his dad's HPV after a couple years away from racing) that she's not afraid to bang wheels when she feels the corner is hers. But John had tipped the bellman and checked out by then so we were happy to get 2nd by the time the checkered came out.

Tracy (2nd from right) on the move from 8th to 2nd as another kart spins out of last place.

In the first Super Can heat Tracy started from the 8th position. She did an outstanding job of working her way all the way up to 3rd behind Brad Carroll and Mike O'Chocke by the completion of lap 6 turning a 47.79 second lap along the way. Tracy rarely makes a mistake out there and staying on the track is a real asset when you want to finish well. Mike was on non-compliant tires which moved Tracy up to 2nd at the scale house.

We've developed tremenous admiration for Brad and his father, Randy, this year. They too are running two karts (Super Can and Spec 100) and are always prepared and always fast when they come up to the Super Can grid. We know how hard we work at this sport so we know how dedicated they must be to win so consistantly. In only their third year of karting, they have earned the right to be respected as one of the top teams in the club.

Problems in the HPV front row caused a pile-up before the green ever came out.

Marc was on pole for the second HPV heat and suffered what I felt was an unjust penalty after three aborted attempts to start the race. It appeared to me that Marc was setting an acceptable pace but as he sped up Heath seemed to be having carburation problems and couldn't get his kart to respond. After a three kart accident (Dana was one of 'em - but everyone got restarted) before the green even flew, Marc was sent to the back of the grid as a reprimand but I think it was misdirected. If Heath was having mechanical trouble keeping the pace the pole driver was setting, he should have been moved back. Despite the fact that the penalty moved Dana up to the pole and a definite advantage, it just didn't seem fair.

John could get scary close with his 4 pipe but couldn't get by

From the pole Dana jumped out to an immediate lead and John was hot on her heals. John runs the HPV 4 pipe at the higher minimum weight and although John would get scary close at the end of the backstraight and going into Turn 2, it was never enough to get a nose inside. Nevertheless it was a good show and the Board's decision to allow the 4 pipe at the higher weight seems to have been a good one.

I have nothing good to say about Super Can Heat 2 so I'll just report the facts: Tracy started inside row two, got into 2nd almost immediately, was forced to run mid-50 second laps along with everyone else, got shuffled back to 4th place in the chaos. O'Chocke was DQ'd for tires again so 4th was 3rd.

John was way out in front when disaster struck on the last lap.

In the HPV feature John somehow managed to make the pole position work to his advantage for a change and wrestled the lead from Dana. Had we been able to keep John's pace it is likely we would have never found a way to get around him but as it was, he gained several tenths on us each lap. It was disheartening. By the eighth and final lap John had a huge lead on us. That made it seem cruelly unfair when in Turn 8 his kart suddenly snapped around as the RR wheel studs all sheared off at once and sent the tire and wheel heading towards the Scioto River. You'd have thought it was my driver that just lost the lead instead of gaining it. But John controlled the race and deserved the win and I couldn't help but empathize with John's wife as we shared the observer's stand. Dana even signaled her shock as she crossed the finish line.

Of all the days for Brad (blue kart) to get a bad start...

The Super Can Feature was not much more fun than Heat 2. This time Brad got the bad start which affected Tracy's. She was again forced to motor around 3 seconds off her regular lap time for four laps. Once she passed for third place her times immediately fell to a best of 47.84 in pursuit of Brad and Mike.

Leaders clash - Brad takes a wild ride but Mike got the worst of it.

Those two were slugging it out for top honors even though Mike's tires would remove him from the final results. Things got real ugly on lap six when they got together at Turn 4 with Brad's kart getting airborne and landing on top of Mike and his kart. Brad carried on but Mike suffered a severe laceration to his leg and needed immediate medical assistance, bringing out the red flag. With over half the race complete the race was ended there.

We're glad Brad was able to continue because we really wouldn't have wanted Tracy's first on-track win to come as a result of the leader being taken out in questionable circumstances (by a kart on non-compliant tires) and an injury accident. We'd prefer it to come with style and merit.

Mario Andretti said it best years ago: "You gotta give the other guy room to race". That's all we ask for when we take to the track. But as I said earlier, there are two distinct racing philosophies in Super Can and Tracy has had too many good runs disrupted by tactics we don't believe in. We'll finish out the season running just as hard and ethically as we have all year. We won't be changing our standards, just our expectations.

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