Garage Heroes (In Training)

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

Guests & Interviews

GHIT 0125 Lucky Dog Is Coming East to Charlotte with Cathy McCause Fuss

Lucky Dog's First Ever East Coast Race at the Charlotte Roval
Lucky Dog’s First Ever East Coast Race at the Charlotte Roval

Cathy joins us on the podcast again to talk about the first ever Lucky Dog endurance race on the east coast that will take place in 4 weeks at Charlotte Motor Speedway on their Roval and we will be under the lights!  There is no way we would miss this race and it will likely be our teams only wheel to wheel race this season.  Cathy discussed how the Lucky Dog season has gone this year and what updates to the race procedures that they adopted to assist with COVID 19 compliance.  If you haven’t been to Lucky Dog race yet, this may be a great opportunity.  There are still a few spots left to enter a car and there may be seats available on their website under the “Dog Pile” area.  We simply cannot wait.

Dominating with Dawson covers the term throttle steering and helps us to understand what it means and how it can be used on track to add a little more to your driving repertoire.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from the episode include:

1)  Cathy’s history at the Charlotte Motor Speedway

2)  How COVID 19 has changes the Lucky Dog paddock procedures and how everything is still very fluid and changes day to day and especially track to track

3)  Changes that have been tried so far include no pitting on pit row, requiring a face mask or a racing helmet at all times, limited track access for kids and spectators/visitors.

4)  The details of the Charlotte race include over 18 hours of racing, The BBQ event is still a go for Saturday evening, and a 10-hour race Sunday.

5)  There is over $10,000 in prizes and awards available during the weekend, not counting the $10,000 in watches from Rebel Watches (We Are Rebels!) and the $3,000 d in tires from Hankook tires, hopefully our much preferred RS-4’s.

6)  We may be able to debut the new 196 Honda Civic is all goes well with the prep and cage.

7)  Attendees will include traditional west coast Lucky Dog entries as well as many east coast and midwest teams.

8)  Horse trading seats as a way of trying new tracks and events

9)  Potential tracks that may appear on the 2021 Lucky Dog schedule.

10)  How Lucky Dog works with a flexible qualifying model to balance competitiveness and still allow for new and experienced drivers in a single event.

11)  Randy Pobst will be racing his Volvo at the Charlotte event.  He will be much faster than we are.

12)  The mystery of the Fuss Fantom E46 continues.

13)  Greg and Bill may have similar car buying issues.  But on the bright side, Bill may have solved a race car solution for both coasts.  Greg, call us.

14)  Bill is confused between goats and sheep and everyone is confused with Lucky Dog racing and racing dogs.

GHIT 0125 Lucky Dog Is Coming East to Charlotte with Cathy McCause Fuss

GHIT 0123: Bill Griffin NASA Racing Driver and Jennifer’s HPDE Instructor from GingerMan

Bill Griffin

Bill Griffin has worked his way up to through the HPDE ranks to where he is a racing driver as well as an instructor, actually Jennifer’s instructor from GingerMan a few weeks back.  We talk with him about his history and progression from having zero experience in performance driving to where he competes regularly with NASA and Grid Life as well as instructing when he can.  Bill grew up liking racing as many people who grew up near Indianapolis did and eventually began driving himself when his work and family life allowed, proving again that it is never too late to start to enjoy performance driving and even racing.  He is a very relaxed and knowledgeable driver and Jennifer loved having him as an instructor.  We cover how the NASA Great Lake GingerMan HPDE classes went without being able to have in car instruction and offer several options that may be ways to improve the teaching methods without right seat instruction as an option due to COVID 19.  The event was awesome, but as with everything else, you can always improve, in everything.  You can follow him on Instagram at Bill Griffin.

Bill Griffin on Track
Bill Griffin on Track

On one of our simplest episodes of Dominating with Dawson we review crabbing or cheating into a corner.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from the episode include:

1)  We cover Bill’s progressions from newbie track driver and not terribly mechanical to a regular racing driver and instructor (who has been to the track 5 weeks straight and counting) (Very jealous)

2)  What is a competition (or race) license, as well as several methods and paths towards getting one.

3)  Bill seeks guidance to how to schedule a season of racing with the rest of our team.  Perhaps an appointment for hearing testing is in order.

4)  Bill also goes into a quick review of some of the exotic sports cars he gets to drive with Extreme Experience and their clients.  This is especially useful if you are taller, like Bill who is 6′ 4″.

5)  Bill (the other) also goes over the potential limits in size for a driver in a Mazda Miata MX-5.  We have seen one with a cage that fits the owner that was 6′ 8″ and swallowed Bill up quite easily.

6)  Bill even goes over why he chooses to remain instructing the HPDE 1 group of students.

7)  We cover how the NASA Great Lake GingerMan HPDE classes went without being able to have in car instructional and offer several options that may be ways to improve the teaching methods without right seat instruction as an option due to COVID 19.  The event was awesome, but as with everything else, you can always improve, in everything.

Bill Griffin with his pupils
Post HPDE Team Photo

8)  Suggestions included 1) potentially using in car radios to communicate to the students, 2) lead follow groups of only two students, 3) only using partial lead follow (allowing students to assume lead position and instructor to follow), 4) perhaps grouping the instructors and cars to match performance, 5) using better/more universally defined hand signals, 6) more use of different cones for initial track learning, 7)  perhaps adopting an unofficial “HPDE 1.5” level/group within the HPDE 1 population, 8) incorporating the use of in car video, 9) positioning instructors with notebooks around the track to view at significant turns or areas of the track to provide feedback to the classroom or debrief sessions, 10) potential pathways to getting increased options for right seat/in car instruction.

9)  The tricks and differences in being an instructor in a lead follow environment versus being in the right seat and the potential for lead follow groups to become longer groups, which can make some of the instruction into a bad game of telephone.

10)  Riding a bike vs walking the track during a track walk.

11)  Several tips for new to track or high performance drivers.

12)  Bill unprompted supports Bill with the prep required before coming to the track as well as using 2-3 max goals and a few comments for each track session, especially during an HPDE event.  Now if we could only get the Wilson sisters to agree, lol.

13)  How your first few HPDE events can feel like your brain is drinking from a fire hose and how to potentially reduce this effect (like following the ideas from #12 above)

14)  Bill F. tries to sneak in a Good, The Bad, and the Ugly segment on how Jennifer did during here HPDE event.  Bill G. is much too nice to comply, but we will keep trying.

15)  How driving in a lead follow instruction environment make lengthening your vision particularly difficult.

16)  Tips for everyone (and us) on their next HPDE event.  Ours will be at Pitt Race in late July with NASA Great Lakes.

17)  The importance of focusing on consistently hitting your track marks and letting the speed build naturally.  Because it will.

18)  How teaching and instructing has helped Bill’s racing and how Racing has helped him as an instructor.  Hopefully, it will help our Bill when he gets there, lol.

GHIT 0123: Bill Griffin NASA Racing Driver and Jennifer’s HPDE Instructor from GingerMan

GHIT 0120: Christina Lam is our special guest driver

  • Christina Lam Behind the Wheel

Christina Lam is a racing driver for several series, is an instructor for Skip Barber and NASA, as well as a frequent contributor to GrassRoots Motorsports magazine.  We first started following her as her “After A Crash” 9-part series started a few months back and became instant fans of her approach and her dedication to racing, education, and giving back to the racing community.  On this episode, we go over how she started to be involved from a point of little knowledge and car/racing influences to where she is not only competing at national events, podium’ing many times, and instructing others to improve their skills.  It is a fantastic and quite rapid journey from newbie to racing veteran and her latest challenge last season will inspire you and hopefully get you to reach further towards ever higher goals. 

Christina Lam on the Podium

On our Dominating with Dawson, Ben goes over the difference in driving approaches for endurance racing, autocross, as well as various types of sprint racing. 

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from the episode include:

1)  We have had a long, long work week in the garage, so long that Vicki blanked on her name for a moment and Bill can’t spell SCCA, lol.

2)  How she started off racing in Autocross one weekend and then had the opportunity of a lifetime drop in her lap a short time later (driving on a little place known as The ’Ring).

3)  Christina’s first time on track was her first time driving a stick.  This may be a good rival for what we ended up doing to Jennifer at her first race at Thompson Speedway.  Not our best plan, but we did learn from it.

4)  We share post-race hangover stories and several great ideas for further race cross training.  Rally, V8 supercars, Ice racing, so much fun to be had, so little time.

5)  What is involved with being a one-person team and how she accomplishes all that is required for a race weekend.  The big key is prep.  Second rule, prep.  If you need a third rule, be prepped early.

6)  We go into her accident last year and how she recovered, both physically and mentally, as well as her new race car.

  • A slightly used E46
  • Wheel took quite a hit
A “Lightly Used” E46 BMW Race Car

7)  What is involved with an SCCA protest

8)  How Christina found her #46 M3 shell to start her new build

9)  How much sleep she lost while working to prep for new car the upcoming 2019 national SCCA Runoffs in 60 days.

10)  Christina goes into the plusses and minuses of an E46 M3 vs E46 330’s etc

11)  Christina shares some of her nerves and almost PTSD after the wreck, what she had to work through and  getting back into the car on track at VIR

12)  What it is like being a female in a predominantly male sport at the track.

13)  How Christina’s first car quickly turned into a second car.

Honorable mentions and sponsors that have helped Christina along the way:

Drive Gear Racing:  for arrive and drive ice racing.  Seems like a terribly great idea.

Hugh Stewart from High Speed Motorsports:  http://www.hispeedmotorsports.com/

Katherine Legge @ www.KatherineLegge.com

Simona De Silvestro @ www.Simonadesilvestro.com 

TC Designs @ www.tcdesignfab.com

Hoosier Tire @ www.hoosiertire.com

Epic Motorsports @ www.epicmotorsports.com

Racing Harness Technologies (856() 912-1237

Skip Barber Racing @ www.skipbarber.com 

GHIT 0120: Christina Lam is our special guest driver

GHIT 0119: Eric Meyer – NASA Great Lakes Chief Instructor

  • Eric Meyer
  • Eric Meyer and Ross Bentley
Eric Meyer alone and with good friend and colleague Ross Bentley

Just in time for the upcoming NASA Great Lakes event at GingerMan, Chief Instructor Eric Meyer was kind enough to join us and discuss his past and current association with racing and instructing, as well as the genealogy and philosophy that has led to the current NASA Great Lakes HPDE program curriculum.  It is by far the best of the HPDE instruction we have attended across the country and we think highly enough of it that we regularly attend their HPDE events that are sometimes well over a 10 hour drive each way from us.  Eric also is another great counterexample of the false age-old adage about “those who can do, and those who can’t teach” as he has won a ton of racing trophies in Grand Am, World Challenge, and Touring cars, among others.  Our Dominating with Dawson segment goes over the practice of left foot braking, its potential advantages, and how to try to begin to incorporate it into your driving repertoire.

We hope you enjoy the episode and we would love to see you at the upcoming NASA Great Lakes event in GingerMan!

  • Eric Meyer in RX 8
Eric Meyer racing in two of his RX-8’s

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan
Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast
and team members in the GHiT
Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from the episode include:
1)  How he originally started racing at a track and how quickly and deeply the hook was set.
2)  Some of the issues that he encountered when first entering the sport and how they shaped his interest in helping others
3)  Where he sees opportunities to continue to improve our sport and how he can give back to the racing community.
4)  How NASA Great Lakes history has led to their focus on the educational path has led to the current HPDE structure.  It is a great balance of driving on the track with the classroom and download education.
5)  Eric turns the table on Bill to answer Bill’s own question.  It was tremendously fun and allowed Bill to brag about the NASA Great Lakes HPDE.
6)  A discussion on the priorities of teaching driving skills and situational awareness as foundational aspects of the NASA Great Lakes HPDE.
7)  We believe that we may have uncovered Eric is secretly competing in sewing.  We may be wrong.
8)  Eric also goes into some of the philosophy of what his team is looking for to progress through the levels as well as some of the criteria in transitioning from level one to level two, as an example.
9)  We discuss several of the drills that you will do within the various HPDE levels, some of which we have lovingly stolen and use on our track day practice sessions.
10)  We even go into some of the educational techniques former podcast guest John Santiago uses in the HPDE 1 classroom and track sessions.  Vicki and Jen will be getting the full experience next weekend.  Bill is jealous and will attend as many of their classroom sessions as his HPDE schedule permits.
11)  How has the COVID related challenges and rules impacted the event and the HPDE sessions specifically, especially the traditional right seat style in car coaching and the various group classroom sessions.  It sounds like things may be even better than the prior structure.
12)  One of the surprises we may see at GingerMan may have been revealed.
13)  Eric says that we need to add Mosport to the track bucket list and Bill is already pondering how to possibly get to the Chin event at Barber in November.
14)  Tips and tricks to the upcoming GingerMan event, both on track and off.  Jen is thrilled with the runoff areas GingerMan affords to assist with learning with less potential detrimental impact.
15)  We have an informal agreement to meet at the local microbrewery.  Now we just need to have time and energy.
16)  A Pinto makes a podcast appearance again, much to Vicki and Jen’s pleasure.
17)  We aren’t absolutely sure if Eric really liked our Fast and Furious questions but he really faked it well if he didn’t.
18)  Eric has a weakness, and apparently it is Mazda rotary engines.
19)  If you are ever at a bar and need to know how many kegs you can fit into a 1964 Oldsmobile Cutlass, this is the podcast for you!
20)  Bill forgets to thank Eric for an earlier long conversation they had related to Bill’s goal of becoming a qualified instructor as soon as possible.

GHIT 0119: Eric Meyer – NASA Great Lakes Chief Instructor

GHIT 0118: John Pagel from Evil Genius Racing and the Tech Tyrant from the 24 Hours of Lemons

John Pagel mugshot

John Pagel is our guest for this episode.  John Pagel is the Tech Tyrant and is the head of tech inspection for the 24 hours of Lemons and has a shop called Evil Genius Racing in Davis, California that serves a wide variety of metal fabrication needs for racing teams.  John also teaches how to fabricate roll cages.  When he comes east, we will be attending one of these sessions.  We thank John for all his efforts and the entire Lemons team for their endless work to keep everyone safe at our races.   We did have a few dropped words due to connection issues, but the episode is a must listen.

Dominating with Dawson covers some of the aspects of sway bars this week and the potential uses and adjustments they make possible. +

John Pagel inspection

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from the episode include:

1)  John explains how he was originally banned for life from racing in Lemons after his team’s car hit Jay at an early Lemons race and the unlikely path that this actually led to him being hired as the head of tech inspection.

2)  We go into his work with the 24 Hours of Lemons as well as what he does from within his shop at Evil Genius Racing in Davis, California

3)  How he got his start racing showroom stock in a Ford Fiesta

4)  We recorded the episode a few weeks ago and speculate on when the racing series will resume.

5)  John also has custom designed universal seat mounts to better fit seats into all cars, but are especially useful for the smaller cars.  We will be ordering at least one set to try to get Bill to fit into his ND Miata with a helmet.

6)  Everyone should be very proud of the exemplary safety record of the series so far and what the future improvements may be to continue to improve the safety of Lemons racing.

7)  We go into the many common issues new teams (and old teams) will have with passing tech and the very simple ways to avoid issues.

8)  John was even kind enough to offer his thoughts on what a new to racing team should do to get their feet wet in racing, providing some of the best tips we have heard.

9)  A truly memorable discussion of the “Line” and the unrealistic expectation of using it in a race with 150 cars or more.

10)  Some of the car cages that has built in the past are quite impressive like a Lancia Scorpion, Borgward Isabella, or a Humber Super Snipe.

11)  How one team painted their cage to look like PVC, complete with barcodes and the purple adhesive at the joints.

12)  We will have at least three attendees when John teaches cage building on the east coast. 

13)  John also went into some welding tips, especially related to the settings of the helmet darkness.

14)  The differences between a halo and a down bar style cage.

15)  What a back bend is and why they are an issue in roll cages and should be avoided for structural reasons.

16)  A general discussion of the advantages of a custom cage vs a kit and also why bolt in cages are not suitable for most track racing (usually bolt in cages are only permitted for drag racing and circle track racing).

17)  Typical tech failure areas

18)  Bill tries to ask a question about our Splash Gate fuel spill incident but words the intent of the question poorly.  This did not go well.

19)  What are good expectations to be able to get out of a car if it’s on fire (<15 seconds or less) and what to do first after a wreck (Put your hand up in case you are upside down before releasing your harness belts)

20)   Some of the most entertaining and surprising Fast and Furious answers we have ever had.

evil genius racing
Evil Genius Racing

GHIT 0118: John Pagel from Evil Genius Racing and the Tech Tyrant from the 24 Hours of Lemons