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Garage Heroes (In Training)

Garage Heroes (In Training)

Learning as we go. Come along with us and Enjoy the Ride!

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Bill Fischer

Marlon Sumlin

– Racing for Cancer Research (and Fun)

The Deuce
Team Force
Marlon and Lauri
Marlon

Marlon Sumlin joins us to discuss his racing history and how much fun he has racing and instructing.  He is a perfect example of how much fun it can be to drive a slow car fast as he routinely passes many “better” cars in his Mazda 2 across the country.  Marlon instructs and races in Grid Life’s Sundae Cup and B Spec.  This year he is also competing in the One Lap of America in the same Mazda 2.  Marlon also races to help support and promote FORCE (Facing Hereditary Cancer Empowered).  FORCE is a charity to support cancer research and Marlon has been working with them with his beautiful bride Lauri since she was diagnosed with cancer several years ago.  Marlon has continued and will continue to help promote FORCE to battle against cancer and in her memory.

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that would be greatly appreciated.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would greatly appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code “GHIT” for a 10% discount code to all of our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights for this episode include:

1)  If you need nicknames of some of the NASA Great Lakes, Marlon shares a few and has a ton more.  

2)  Why Marlon loves racing Sundae Cup and B Spec in his Mazda 2.

3)  The differences between racing wheel to wheel and time trial races.

4)  Tips for first time Sundae Cup and attending a Grid Life event.  Highly recommended!

5)  Any Great Lakes Attendees coming to Grid Life’s Lime rock event this August.

6)  What is a Grid Life Festival and another explanation to why they sell out so fast.

7)  How the Sundae Cup class has been started in the upcoming One Lap of America.  We did not get out Fit in time to enter, but we will go as soon as we can get signed in.  We are hoping to do a daily update from this class as the event transpires this spring.

8)  Why we, and many of our friends at NASA Great Lakes and beyond, will be installing a particular vinyl decal on all our race cars starting this year to support Marlon, Lauri, and FORCE.

9)  Some amazing answers to our fast and furious story time questions.

For more information about FORCE or to make a charitable contribution:  https://www.facingourrisk.org/ 

GHIT 0308:  Marlon Sumlin – Racing for Cancer Research (and Fun)

The Team From LDRL at CMP March 2022

the team

GHIT 307:  Race Weekend Recap:  The Entire Team From Lucky Dog Racing at CMP March 2022

You have only heard a few of the stories from our Lucky Dog race at Carolina Motorsports Park a few weeks ago.  Now we unveil the entire team that went to the race.  Car owner David as well as the rest of the team including Alex, Ryan, and Matt.  We think we have determined the root cause of the problem we had at the race and a path forward.  As always, we all had a great time at the Lucky Dog CMP March 2022 event and cannot wait to return.  There was a bit of feedback initially that sounds like a duck quacking but it ends fairly quickly and we are blaming Alex, lol.

Our Slow Leak

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that would be greatly appreciated.  Even better, a podcast review, would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would greatly appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code “GHIT” for a 10% discount code to all of our listeners during the checkout process.

PS2  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights for this episode include:

Lara and Randy
Our Winning Friends Lara Vernon and Randy Pobst

1)  We start with the important stuff:  who wins the snoring award for the Lucky Dog CMP March 2022 weekend?

2)  What we did, what we brought, what happened, and how we ended up.

3)  What it is like to assemble a new team from several other teams and how the weekend went, what we learned and what we can learn from this weekend.

4)  Our individual thoughts on how the “new to us” car behaved on its maiden voyage to endurance racing and what we each thought of the E36 BMW.  Ryan and Alex are long time endurance racers, primarily in the Miata platform.  Bill has driven the E36 platform many times but had not been to the CMP track until this weekend.  David had also not been on CMP as well.

5)  We spend way more time discussing the teams qualifying session than the session actually took.  This is called foreshadowing.

6)  We then have a recovery/repair plan and get started the race Saturday.  Then we go into detail of the entire 8 hour race Saturday.  

7)  Now the fun begins, as well as the work project for the weekend.  Ryan got a ton of really solid shoulder work welding above his head.  The post incident CSI that we conduct and summarize also takes more time than our racing laps did in total.  Perhaps the first reference of a brake caliper making sweet, sweet love to the rear suspension.

8)  We did allow him to rest a bit by welding a friends team shifter that had failed (again).  It should be problem solved from here. 

9)  The details of our parts search and repair program to get the car back on track for Sunday.

10)  We also have a short example of Podcast In Training that couldn’t be edited out for your personal enjoyment.

And more

11)  Even with a combination of team members with decades of racing experience, there is growing pains in coming together.

12)  With everything going on at a race weekend, we each learned several details of how the race weekend went 

13)  After a brief trip off the rails, we eventually get to “Oh God, it sings”. We eventually get back to our story.  Herding kittens.

14)  We have the beginnings of a recovery plan and then cover our roles within the team.  The importance of roles and areas of responsibilities is key to the performance of a racing team and cannot be overstated.

15)  Apparently there will be a Cubano vs Meatball cook off.  Book your spots early if you want to be a judge.  Spots are limited.

16)  Ryan shares his parts transport system and Vicki is dumbfounded.  Bill has a new project.

17)  An accounting of what we did vs what we should have done and what we will do at the next race.

Special thanks again to Kyle Lockrow and Giggles for their help in making the results of this debacle a bit better.   

GHIT 307:  Race Weekend Recap:  The Entire Team From Lucky Dog Racing at CMP

Shift Timing: When and Why

Shift Timing

DwD 0306:  Racing 101:  When and Why to Shift Your Car On Track

On the latest issue of Dominating with Dawson, we talk about some of the details of both when and why to shift your transmission on track.  We start off with a bit of wandering, but eventually work our way towards a great discussion on shift timing.  This will undoubtedly be the first of several episodes on the topic of shift timing.

Quick Summary:  Ben Dominates.  Alex Denominates (but actually has a question related to this topic, alert the press).  Vicki starts off answering a totally different question.  Bill tries to herd several cats.   Sounds like a normal episode.

If you would be interested in helping grow our sport of high performance driving and our podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

DwD 0306:  Racing 101:  When and Why to Shift Your Car On Track

Southern Fried Heaps Rally

2022 ‘s version

Rally Rain Coats
the line up
casual rallyists
peace out
overqualified for a rally
parking is hard
aero advantage
the finish
post rally party

Southern Fried Heaps Rally 2022 Day 1:

Jeff Stobbs and Donnie Petrunak join us to review the first day of the Southern Fried Heaps Rally 2022 that started in Mobile Alabama.  Highlights include a stop at a decommissioned battleship and a team driving a Studebaker that set a record for sourcing a spare part that may never be broken.  Tune in each day for a review of the highlights, lowlights, and spectacles of this years rally.

Southern Fried Heaps Rally 2022 Day 2:

At the conclusion of day 2 of the rally, Jeff Stobbs joins us again from the Mellow Mushroom to summarize another great day.  We are then joined by pirate Phyllis who was driving and plundering in their yellow C2 Corvette.  Next up for this episode we talk with Jake who competes in the “big block” rental car class after a last minute mechanical prep in the originally intended Dodge Diplomat entry.  Completing this episodes trifecta of entrants we talk with first time Lemons rallyist Enrique who entered with a fine example of classic 1979 German engineering from Mercedes Benz.

Overall highlights for the day include several of the teams attending the Amelia Island Concours d’LeMons (including a class “winner” on this very podcast) as well as as several great stops including a train museum and a rather unique petrified exhibit.

Southern Fried Heaps Rally 2022 Day 3:

The rally concludes today and Jeff Stobbs joins us again to summarize another great day.  Awards were given for several teams including the inaugural winner of the rental car class.  The teams were able to get to the NASA Kennedy space center. Despite their valiant efforts, no one was able to successfully talk NASA into sending their car into space. 

If you are interested, the next rally is the four corners rally and will tour the area or Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.

You can follow the progress of the rally on Instagram by following the hashtag #LemonsRally.  We do.

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice. This includes the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that would be greatly appreciated.  Even better would be a podcast review. That would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would greatly appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code “GHIT“. This will add a 10% discount during the checkout process.

PS2  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHIT 303:  Southern Fried Heaps Rally 2022 – Day 1

GHIT 303:  Southern Fried Heaps Rally 2022 – Day 2

GHiT 303:  Southern Fried Heaps Rally 2022 – Final Day

GHIT 302:  Race Weekend Recap:  Lucky Dog Racing at CMP

Winning in spite of ourselves
Winning in spite of ourselves

GHIT 302:  Race Weekend Recap:  Lucky Dog Racing at CMP

After a series of failed intros, Bill is interrogated tonight about how the Lucky Dog Racing at CMP went with Skunk Oil Racing.  It was quite a weekend and some hardware was taken home from the track.  As always, Cathy and the Lucky Dog family had a superb event. We were honored to work on our car in their garage all weekend, lol.  This is our fourth race with Lucky Dog and we wish we had raced more.  If you haven’t tried a Lucky Dog race, you really should.  This was a big weekend. We will have several other episodes reviewing the race with other cars and other teams from the event.

If you would like to help grow our sport and this podcast:

You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice. This includes the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating, that would be greatly appreciated.  Even better would be a podcast review. That would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving and we would greatly appreciate it.

For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, look under shows.  Then click on this podcast.  Here you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS  If you are looking to stream or save your integrated telemetry/racing data with you video, Candelaria Racing Products Sentinel System may be the perfect solution for you.  We are in the midst of installing the system in two of our cars.  If this sounds like something that may help you and your team, please use our discount code “GHIT“. If you do, you will get a 10% discount during the checkout process.

PS2  If you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems. If you do, you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Our E36 BMW

GHIT 302:  Race Weekend Recap:  Lucky Dog Racing at CMP

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