n.
A stupid or foolish person; a dolt.
We entered the ChumpCar race at Pueblo Motorsports Park and were hit with quite a surprise during tech, being told we were being penalized 20 laps for our suspension. The big doofus tech guy from Portland and the shrimpy guy seemed convinced we had a Spec Miata suspension on the car, which is complete and utter bullshit. The coilovers came from a circle track swapmeet and were adapted to fit the shocks, while the swaybars were from a stock Miata, with two on the front welded together. A junkyard suspension if there ever was one, and barely worth more than the cost if we sold it for scrap metal. No one but a numbskull or ignorant sucker would place any true "value" on these parts, so what does that say about the ChumpCar officials?
After spending time pleading our case to the only official who wasn't a complete dolt, Lloyd, we managed to get the penalty dropped to 10 laps. That's about 20 minutes at Pueblo, and over the course of a 7 hour enduro that's huge. What made it worse was that we didn't account for the bonus laps that other teams received for the themes, with the result that we were actually starting the race with a 14 lap deficit versus the other fast team. If they wanted to ensure that we'd drive 10/10ths for the entire race, they managed to do so. We're real racers, not just a bunch of clowns out to party, and we were determined to win.
On the first race on Saturday we took off like a bat out of hell and drove that way for the entire day. Our car was well prepared, but hardly the fastest or lightest in the field. We did have the best drivers out there, with many hundreds or even thousands of hours logged at the Pueblo track between us. As stated earlier, we're real racers, and when racing in SCCA or NASA we have to race all out if we want to get anywhere near the front of the pack. We picked off the other cars one by one, passing them everywhere on the track, but we passed them cleanly.
Some of the competition could out-drag us on the straights, they didn't have a chance in the corners, brake zones, or race-craft. Many of them are nice enough folks, but the reality is that they should attend a driver school or two before they try to race, and from the looks of things very few of them knew anything about racing lines, apexes, braking zones, etc. Put any of our drivers in their cars and in 5 laps or less we could beat their best lap times, guaranteed. We not only beat them on the track but also in the pits, where we seemed to be the only team who could complete a pit stop under the 5 minute minimum time.
The result was that we handily won on Saturday, coming out 15 laps ahead of second place. Many other teams came up to congratulate us, and many corner workers expressed admiration for our driving. Great, right? Wrong, apparently being having a well-built, well-prepped car and having good drivers just makes the ChumpCar organizers angry, and they began to plot how they would screw us over.
On Sunday we began the race at the end of the line (inverted grid) with a 12 lap deficit to the fastest car and a 14 lap deficit to the next fastest car. No problem, we started out driving like maniacs to make up for the penalty laps. Later in the morning we learned from Lloyd that the ChumpCar officials had decided to "claim" our car, which basically means they think that you are cheating or driving badly and want to screw you. They give you $1500 for the car "as is" after the race and then start the auction at $1750. The team can bid on it, as can others, but apparently they can arbitrarily raise the price to whatever they see fit. That's absurd, and we had already decided as a team that we would not let them take the car. During the noon break we took the trucks, trailer, and racecar outside of the track to load it and go.
Who are the biggest chumps, our team for participating in this circus or the ChumpCar organizers for running us out like that? They've made some enemies in Colorado, and we'll make sure that all serious racers, tracks, and other organizations know that they should be avoided at all costs. Clowns, drunks, and monkeys might enjoy this "series" but anyone who wants to really race should explore the other, better options.
Well first off any coil over suspension is handed a 20 lap penality as the coil overs are not part of the original chassis. Why tech decided to lessen the penalty to 10 laps is questionable in my opinion. Had I been there you would have been held to the 20 laps. The bonus laps is in the rule package and had you read the rules you would have know this. Second, yes the series is all about getting new people into racing for their very first time and you are correct in that many of these new racers have to learn how to race and the proper line. This is what the series is all about. And since your car continued to lap up to 20 seconds per lap quicker than the field as shown by your 10/10ths driving superiority then maybe the Chumpcar series isn't for you. Try SCCA or NASA where you won't be hindered by novice drivers. And quite possibly where you only have your car 'teched' just once per year. Regarding the claim rule: It is in place and Chumpcar does 'purchase' your car for $1500.00 and indeed you may buy your car back at $1750.00 or whatever amount the auction will bring for your $500.00 'beater' car with those almost free coil overs/shocks. By the way you do realize that any amount over $1500.00 that is received is given to the event's selected charity. You understood that since the car is, by the rules and was agreed upon by your entering the race worth only $500.00 plus another $1,000.00 awarded for the roll cage for a total of $1500.00 then it was indeed only worth $1500.00 maximum. Or is it? Yes, the Chumpcar series isn't for everyone and cannot hope to please everyone. Please enjoy the NASA and SCCA series as they do offer excellent racing for the more professional competitors. Because you 'ran' out of the track and loaded up your 'legal' car during the Sunday race and thus did not stay for the post race awards we gave your cash winnings and trophy for the Saturday race to the track manager to hold for your team. Ron Cortez, Chumpcar Co-Owner.
ReplyDeleteTHE FACTS:
ReplyDeleteCatherine and/or Ron Cortez:
I am one of the drivers of Team Nimbly Bimbly. I was going to leave this whole thing alone but reading thru the message you have posted and seeing the inconsistencies (like the rules themselves), lack of your direct knowledge of the events that took place, and the unwarranted accusations, I have chosen to respond.
First let me touch on our driving ability. We are all SCCA and NASA licensed drivers with National and Regional Championships behind us. CHUMP Car rules do not limit the drivers to non-licensed racers. We entered into this event for the challenge, the team aspect, and the fun. Although you accuse us of not reading the rules, we did quite the opposite. Five of us spent extensive time reading and interpreting the rules.
As for our competitors, for the most part they were excellent. Sure I experienced some “blind” moves, but for the most part everybody was very courteous and great to be with on and off the track. I do agree with my teamate a 60 to 90 minute school, teaching drivers etiquette, lines, safety, etc. should be provided for all non-racing licensed entrants. Also, there was a definite lack of safety demonstrated and/or practiced by the CHUMP car officials. Focus on Safety awareness could be addressed and scrutinized in this school as well.
Spending the better part of (3) months of weekends, with logged hours exceeding 450, we built a CHUMP Car to the rules. We maintained meticulous records, with receipts and all, to assure we met the intent of the rules. We offered up all his documentation at Tech and the response was
“we don’t need to see any of that, we are all here to just have fun”
From that point on we had nothing but fun. We kidded and played with your organizers, we worked hard to team strategize, we played and drove hard. In addition we made a point to meet many of the competitors. We spoke with, provided tools & parts to them, and helped many the best we could. Again, we were there to have fun and develop commodore with all. However, we were also there to win.
Saturday night we looked back on a very fun team oriented day. We had so much fun we started planning on the attendance of several more events. We started brainstorming on the theme aspect, something we simply did not get to the first time around.
Sunday started out just as good as expected. We had the same 10 to 14 lap deficit as Saturday, we assumed, although the exact reason for this penalty was never explained to us. Many of the remaining competitors had stepped it up from Saturday’s run making our intensity and team planning even more important. Again, we were there to have fun yes, but we were also there to shoot for a win.
When the word started flowing thru the pits that the organization was going to take our car we were completely caught off guard. We actually thought it was a joke. However we soon determined it was not. We attempted to inquire but got no cooperation. We talked to many competitors and without exception all wanted us to stay and run. We were then told the car would go to action and the only bidder beyond us was the organization. We were told the organization would out bid us with fictitious money no matter what. At that point we had no choice, but to pack up and leave no matter what our competitors wanted us to do. Going from the most fun racing weekend I have ever had to this was one of the biggest emotional roller coasters I have ever endured.
CONTINUED:
ReplyDeleteNow let’s talk about rules. Although we read the rules thoroughly, contrary to your accusations, everything started changing the minute we got to tech. I realize this is a new and evolving organization but come on.
We purchased $20 cans per driver for donations. The rules made no reference to allowing for more drivers than we had. At the track, not only were people donating for more drivers than their team, the officials were taking cash, defeating the intent and not following the rules.
We meticulously recorded our expenditures and sales. We requested review yet the officials were not interested.
We watched car after car come thru tech, many clearly deviating from the rules, the costs, and the intent. We saw no concern from the officials and a very inadequate tech of each. It appeared at times the CHUMP car officials did not know their own rules..
We watched a very well prepared Miata come thru. The perfect panels alone of this car were worth more than $500. This car received bonus points versus penalty.
Like the rules, there was no consistency from car to car or team to team.
Reading thru rules, rules that your own officials indicated have changed three times since November, the reference to “dollars” or “value” go back and forth. This is ridicules and only creates confusion. “Value” is subjective, and should not be a term every used. “Value” cannot be monitored. “Cost” is based on facts, can be recorded, and should be the monitoring factor. As per the CHUMP car FAQ below, we carefully monitored our car’s progress based on it costs. We had no ideas a game would later be played over terminology.
Where do I find a $500 race car?
Well, when your neighbor’s not home and you’ve noticed that he left his 1983 Honda Civic in the driveway… okay, better not. Actually, there really isn’t such a thing as a $500 race car… and, if you find one, please DON’T bring it to one of our events! What you want is a car valued at and/or legally purchased (and documented) for $500… or close to it. Try CraigsList.com, eBay.com, your local junkyards, and don’t forget impound yards who regularly sell cars that they’ve been sitting on and would love to get rid of. There’s also friends, family and co-workers – put the word out and you’ll be amazed at what comes your way. Once you’ve got the car, you can always REDUCE the value and purchase price of the car by selling parts off the car (and documenting each sale). For every dollar you earn back, you can take a dollar off the purchase price of the car. For example, buy a 1988 Ford Escort for $600, then sell the seats for $75 and the radio for $25. You now have a $500 car. From there, plan on investing another $1,000 - $2,500 into your hefty-hunk-of-screaming- junk… depending on how good you are scouring through junkyards, welding, fabricating, spray painting and being a shade-tree mechanic. It can be done for less, but we wouldn’t want to race it!
Value and Purchase Price are used in the same sentence in this response. This is exactly what Team Nimbly Bimbly did.
FINAL CLOSING:
ReplyDeleteI could do on and on with rule conflicts. My 15 year old son sat down with the rules last night and developed a two page listing on inconsistencies.
Never was our Penalty explained to us and by no means were the penalty laps assessed based on cost over $500 per the rules. The decision to acquire our car developed over time. It developed on the basis of our success, purely dictated by our driving skills, and not a cheater car.
I take strong offense to your accusations relative to our car not being legal. As noted above we focused are on building a car to CHUMP Car specs. We even left a cracked hardtop at home, one that came with our car, in an effort to comply with the rules.
Looking back at the weekend it is evident the CHUMP Car officials deviated from their own rules more than most competitors.
THIS IS A VERY POORLY RUN, UNSAFE, POLITICALLY RUN ORGANIZATION. Motives for running the event are questionable. Past participant posts reflect similar concerns.
CHUMP CAR – YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN COLORADO OR NEW MEXICO. TRACK MANAGERS FOR THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION HAVE BEEN CONTACTED AND STRONGLY DISCOURAGED TO ALLOW YOU ORANIZATION ON THEIR TRACKS. WE WILL CONTINUE TO BEND ALL RACERS AND/OR POTENTIAL CHUMP CAR COMPETITORS EARS FOR AS LONG AS THERE IS AN INTEREST.
With proper management, well written rules, and new Owners, this series could be fun and viable. The current organization, however, cannot be fixed.