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Tracy |
20 April - Tracy Starts The Season With A Win
Perhaps inspired by Danica Patrick's historic win in Motegi, Japan, earlier in the day, the first race of the MSOKC TaG Senior season fell to Tracy as she took the checkered flag in front of Brian O'Hara with boyfriend Eric Creech a close third. Not bad for a gal that hadn't turned a wheel in her kart at Circleville Raceway Park since last July. More surprising was that she was able stay ahead of Brian - a case of the student schooling the teacher. But it should be noted that Brian was racing on Bridgestone YHC compound tires which will be the MSOKC spec tire as of June while Tracy was running the former spec Vega tires grandfathered in until then. The Bridgestones are one second slower than the Vegas and that turned out to be the perfect handicap for someone of Brian's skill and experience.
In the second heat Eric was a DNS with electrical problems keeping his Rok TT from running more than a few seconds. Tracy had another strong run finishing behind Brian this time.
In the TaG Senior feature it was Brian and Tracy on the front row and Tracy timed the flag perfectly, chopping across Brian's bow to take the lead at Turn One. She wasn't happy though because it was soon apparent that a change we made went the wrong way and she was saddled with a severe push. Brian had a couple looks but it wasn't until the halfway mark that he was able to get past. That's when Tracy mucked up Turn 4 and both Brian and Eric (who'd been lurking just behind since lap three) got by her. A few laps later Eric got by Brian and went on to another Feature win.
The TaG Masters class was my return to competitive driving sharing Tracy's kart (it even still had the "Less Testosterone, More Determination" logo on it). Because it had been so many moons since I had taken a karting green flag I volunteered to go to the back of the grid for heats one and two out of respect for the other drivers (a shocking number of which had gained 30 or more pounds since last season). It was satisfying to see that the instincts were still there, the starts being a lot of fun and in one I was able to pick up two or three spots. But otherwise the only other notable thing in my day was running Pat Boice off the road at Turn 5. I wouldn't have blamed him if he figured I was just a idiot cowboy wildman trying a kamikaze pass. But, as I explained later in way of apology, the brake pedal felt a little squishy earlier in the lap and when I needed them at the end of the backstraight when along side Pat, they just wouldn't slow my 423 lbs. Both races were won convincingly by Mike Unger with his Rok TT/Kosmic.
We had the brake problem solved for the TaG Masters feature but rain canceled the event leaving me 6th for the day out of 10 or 11. Again, not bad for a guy that hadn't turned a competitive wheel in a kart since 2003 and started in the rear both races. But it may be a short-lived return to the driver's seat as an active campaign to recruit drivers into the Masters class has left the Senior class a little sparse. Now that we understand that under-aged, underweight drivers are encouraged to race in TaG Masters we'll likely have Dana and Tracy take turns competing there. After all, we just wanna race.
14 April - We're Pressing Forward
On the eve of the MSOKC Board Of Directors meeting in which they'll be deciding how to handle the latest absurdity to come out of the TAGUSA offices, we are happy to announce we have decided to race with MSOKC regardless of the decision. There are several options open tot he BoD the worst of which for our team will be to have them do nothing. That is to say, to stay with TAGUSA rules as they are at the moment (and go with any change from moment to moment throughout the season) and make the minimum weight for our karts with driver a disabling 390lbs. On the other end of the spectrum is the option we hope they will take which is to freeze the TAGUSA rules as they were on March 30th, 2008, before this latest episode of dementia took hold of the TAGUSA leadership. This would leave in place the restrictions that Stars of Karting shared with TAGUSA but not impose the additional 30 pound weight TAGUSA imposed under pressure from opposing engine manufacturer of the Parilla Leopard, IAME.
With the entire team gathered to celebrate Julie's and Tracy's 22nd birthday Saturday night it was agreed that we'd race even if the board decides not to freeze the TAGUSA rules and weights. If that is the case, we will simply race 30 pounds light and be relegated to the last row of the feature race each day. To reduce expenses this year we plan to begin the year only prepping one of our karts with Dana and Tracy racing alternate racedays. But because MSOKC has this year broken Senior and Masters TaG into two races, I will be entering the Masters races (despite being absolutely unprepared to race a kart) and one of the girls will enter Senior. We also plan to have several guest drivers in our TaG Masters kart throughout the season.
There is a popular motto in the MSOKC TaG class which goes, "I just wanna race". So do we, but we will not race a kart that weights 260 lbs without driver so we might have to play the role of the outlaws here. We just wanna keep our racecraft sharp and tuning skills honed. We just wanna hang out with our friends. We just wanna race.
07 April - We Suspend All Competition Plans For 2008
With less two weeks before our first race of the season we are forced to suspend our competition plans for 2008 until further notice.
It is with great regret and discouragement that we do so but after receiving personal assurances from TAGUSA President and CEO, Dave Larson at the KMI Kart Expo in Chicago February 24th that the Rok TT would not be assigned more weight for 2008, the sudden announcement last Sunday of a 30 pound weight penalty for the Vortex Rok TT has rendered us uncompetitive in all series we saw as an option to compete in. This announcement, which shocked the North American karting community, came only days after IAME, the manufacturer of the Parilla Leopard against which the Rok TT competes, sent a press release to key media outlets threatening to no longer support any organization that did not penalize the Rok TT severely.
The controversy surrounding the perceived performance advantages of the Vortex Rok TT have been going on since the 2007 RoboPong 200. We have been involved in presenting facts, data and opinion to the importer, dealers, the various governing bodies and on national discussion forums. Those contributions, along with many others', seemed to bring about an objective, deliberate reevaluation of the engine by both TAGUSA and Stars of Karting, the result of which were performance handicaps that, while still significant, were changes that would not require us to add an unsafe amount of additional lead. TAGUSA's astounding move blindsides many of the Rok TT owners in the US just as their racing seasons are about to start. Ironically, the TAGUSA's announcement came during Stars of Karting's opening weekend in which the Rok TT and Parilla Leopard were evenly matched in every session of Stars TAG category. Stars of Karting permits the Rok TT to compete at the same weight as the Leopard.
This is just the latest episode of wild mismanagement of the TaG concept by the principles at TAGUSA which have included assignment of weight penalties to the Biland in late 2006 (later rescinded as a "typo") and weight penalties assigned to the Rok TT in early 2007 which were rescinded by TAGUSA several weeks later as "a mistake". It is extraordinarily unfortunate that greed and the need for control by IAME and by association importer Russell Karting and the total lack of strong leadership will cause so much damage to a such a good, fun and promising category of racing.
In the coming weeks we will post the absolute facts and filter out the useless and biased misinformation that has been churning since October on this subject.
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