Runoffs F-Prod

The only race better than H Prod race. Great driving and amazing circumstances. Huffaker had that race in his pocket.
 
I would have loved to see how how the race would have played out with Gary Baucom's car in the mix! That car was a rocket on the oval!! Anyone know what happen with Gary later in the race as to why he had pulle off?
 
Is there a reasoning for the 89 car losing the positions? Was it because of the contact he made with either Baucom or Prill?

Nevermind, lol read the whole post, but I really am curious if they are considering both incidents in this, or mainly just one of them. From what I saw on the live feed, I am assuming they are mainly concerned with the Baucom contact.
 
Unless there's an appeal, the reason may not be made public. The usual practice is to put as much as the Chief Steward wants in the results. The paperwork on the penalty will be filed with the rest of the event and probably will never see the light of day.

speedyk":24tavzkb said:
Is there a reasoning for the 89 car losing the positions? Was it because of the contact he made with either Baucom or Prill?
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engineerted":1o27d9i8 said:
Anyone know what happen with Gary later in the race as to why he had pulle off?
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He told me the pickup on his electromotive died.
loopracing":1o27d9i8 said:
Rumor was a medical reason.
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Apparently after pulling off the side of the track with a dead car and exiting it, he fell to the ground with apparent heat issues, so I guess that's where that rumor comes from. I didn't see any of that myself though, it's just what I was told.
speedyk":1o27d9i8 said:
Is there a reasoning for the 89 car losing the positions? Was it because of the contact he made with either Baucom or Prill?
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After the race the #89 had two RFA's issued against it, one for each contact incident with Baucom and Prill. I have no idea if the penalty came as a result of just one or both of them, but it was pretty harsh when handed down initially, being a 3 spot finishing penalty, 6 points on Charlie's license, and a 6 race probation. Charlie then appealed that ruling, but I left before it was resolved, so all I know of at this point is the 3 spot finishing penalty obviously remained (seen on final results), but I don't know about the other stuff.
RacerBowie":1o27d9i8 said:
Congrats to Kevin, that was one hell of a finish! 8)
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Thanks, Bowie! I'm still wrapping my head around everything that had to happen for me to even get back to having a shot at it after my off, and it all did. Unbelievable.
 
Congrats Kevin! I was spotting for Huffaker up in the stands. I couldn't imagine that you would be able to get back to the front after your excursion at the Bus Stop. It seemed like you were out there so long that you may have had a mechanical and were pulling off.

Amazing comeback - great job! It was a great race to watch.

Brian
 
Great RACE guys !!!! I was listening in the car with my 13 yo son after his hockey game and we had to pull over to be certain not to lose the signal. My son was just as interested in the result and he had no idea who any of the "players" were. great job!!!

CONGRATS to Kevin!!!!

Charlie and Eric what a race as well. The SCCA radio team did a great job bringing the action to life.
 
Congratulations Kevin! My wife and I were watching the race on my iphone in a bar in Oak Island NC after I had to withdraw my Runoffs entry (Get Well Jim Pozzi). She was louder than I was watching the end of that great race! The Prod races were the best of the weekend. Thanks.

Joe Downer
Charlotte, N.C.
 
Thanks a lot, everyone! It was even more exciting from inside the car!

BLinn":1t4rpdbq said:
I couldn't imagine that you would be able to get back to the front after your excursion at the Bus Stop.
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A lot of things had to happen for me to get back up there, including Huffaker's flat tire and Eric & Charlie's contact. My car was hooked up though, and after shaking off the disappointment of making an un-forced error, I was able to click-off several mid-2:12's and close on the guys up front by about 2 seconds a lap while they raced hard. But again, without pretty much everyone else also having some sort of a mistake or mishap during the race as well, I doubt the outcome would've been the same. That goes to show though, don't ever give up. You, your crew, and your family put a lot of crap into this dumb hobby every year, so the first thing in my mind after going off was that I owed it to all of them and myself to push as absolutely hard as I could, and see what happens. Even if I wasn't able to recover enough to make the podium, I'd still know I gave it my all. I didn't miss another apex the rest of the race.


edit - I also just want to say that it was an absolute pleasure to finally meet Joe Huffaker for the first time last week. A class individual, fantastic driver, and an absolutely gorgeous car. I also hope that everyone saw him drive around the outside of me on the banking, and how very well my heavy FWD tin-top ran with him in the infield. The next thing we know, dogs and cats will be holding hands! :lol:
 
My race video: https://youtu.be/agEDGBcrPrM

Pre-Race
I ran the test day on Saturday. I’m normally a quick study of a track but I wasn’t sure how fast we’d end up going in the end. I actually ran a 2:13.0 in the very first session, so I figured we’d probably find another 2-3 seconds. But as it turned out, I only picked up about 0.7sec over the next 3 hours of track time.

All of my fast laps in qualifying came by myself. The time I stood on came early in Monday’s session, when I was on stickers and scuffing the race set. Campbell, Hingston and I had a strategy to find each other after the first few laps and work a plan to try and get everyone a good infield section as well as a push and tow at the same time. What looked good on paper didn’t translate in practice and the only one getting a good lap of any kind was Charlie.

Interestingly, and they touched on it in the broadcast, the infield was critical for everyone in our class. Just looking at the segment 1 times on the time cards shows how everyone, with probably one exception, needed a run in the 1:11s through segment one to have a good lap.

Race
My strategy going into the race was to try to stay in the lead pack and save my tires the best I could for the end of the race. It became apparent early that I had abused my race tires when I ran them in Q1. I knew I put too many laps on them but was hoping that it wouldn’t matter. It did. The car was “loose in” and I was managing trying not to slide the car too much to save what I could for the end.

Joe was on sticker bias Hoosiers and I knew he’d be fast out of the box and he sure was. After Baucom and Ruck dropped from the lead pack, Joe pulled a good gap on me and Charlie in the infield and I thought it was a good time to just use the draft to stay in touch. Charlie seemed to feel the same and began the push in oval 1 & 2. Obviously, he made a mistake and turned me entering the bus stop. The really unfortunate thing is that had that not happened, it would have been just the two of us after Joe got his flat. I can go through the “what ifs” but it doesn’t do any good. It happened. I know Charlie didn't mean to do it and we're good. Can't turn the clock back.

As soon as I got back on track, I immediately called over the radio for Joe to get to pit lane because I’d probably need to clean the grille. As it turned out, that was okay. What wasn’t okay was the tire situation. All 4 were flatspotted badly. I’m told that it sounded like I was dragging something going into Turn 1 but that was the tires flapping. That caused me to back my brake zones up, but I had the bit between my teeth wanting to get back up to Charlie.

I picked up some help from Ken through well-timed pushes and Kevin was catching both of us as we reeled in Charlie. Then Joe had his issue, which was really a bummer because he should have cruised to the win at that stage. I got to Charlie’s bumper and began to push. Some asked me after the race if I considered retaliating, which I did not. I was trying to win the Runoffs and Joe’s retirement gave us all new life.

I pushed Charlie for a while, but the water was up to 215 and oil approaching 280 so I went on by and into the lead. While my infield splits weren’t what they were in the beginning of the week due to the less than perfect tires, the car was still pretty good through the bus stop. But even with a good bus stop, I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be able to beat Charlie and Kevin to the stripe. They both went past me with the white coming out. Both protected the inside of Turn 3 and I did an over/under on Kevin to take second going to the kink. In hindsight, maybe I should have held back and gone into the bus stop third. Doesn’t matter now.

I still felt I was in a good spot in second, but Charlie bobbled in the bus stop and I had too much momentum and had to go by him, pinching the exit in the process. Once in the lead I knew I was a sitting duck. It was kind of cool to lead off of Turn 4 at Daytona coming to the checker, and I was kind of hoping Charlie would push me, maybe make up for earlier in the race, but of course he was going for the win too! I kept the track as short as I could but in the end I was a car length behind.

Tech was part two of this. An exterior coating on my intake manifold was ruled as non compliant and I was initially disqualified from the race. I won’t go through every bitter detail or emotion, but in the end, two courts and the CRB agreed with my interpretation and understanding of the rules and reinstated my finish. There does need to be a little cleanup in the PCS to avoid any potential confusing language with regard to this. The silver lining is that I have a much better understanding of the process and I promise to work on what I can there—namely speeding the process up and getting cars that don’t need to be in tech any longer released. All 6 FP cars were still in tech 21 hours after the race. FP wasn’t the only class with this situation. My car was in there for 24.5 hours. Assuming everything is okay, the 6 in impound should be the happiest group when they leave the track, but I saw a lot of aggravation and frustration. That can’t be the final taste in driver’s mouths leaving our biggest event. I’ll work with the staff and Runoffs chiefs team to see how we can improve this.

Big thanks to Joe Smith, who kept the car running tip-top all week while I was focused on other things. Also Jesse Prather for everything. Hoosier Tire, Mazdaspeed, Carbotech, Electromotive. My family is very supportive of all of this and it was wonderful to have them at the Runoffs this year after missing last year. My car carries the Maxton’s Fight logo for our 501(c)3 foundation that supports children and families battling diseases. September was Childhood Cancer Awareness month and I thank everyone, including THE CHAMP, that carried the Go Gold stickers.

Finally, a big congratulations to Kevin Ruck on his second Championship. You had the best comeback of us all and were rewarded for that. Great job!
 
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