Garage Heroes (In Training)

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

Guests & Interviews

GHIT 0117: Race Bar Returns – A Discussion of How Many Teams are Helping with the COVID 19 Pandemic

Race Bar is back!
Race Bar is back!

Jim “Daddy Earth” Webb, Pat “Richard Freelane” McHugh take over another episode of the podcast (lol), but it was for a great cause and contribution to our society during this COVID 19 pandemic.  Jim and Pat have been working with James Ballenger from Ballenger Motorsports to raise funds and to fabricate and distribute face masks, face shields, and all kinds of assorted PPE for the Richmond region and anyone in need across the country.  Hopefully, you can add to the relief effort in some small way.  To bring it back to racing, we did get into a good discussion on the details and decisions related to converting your car from an OEM fuel system to using a fuel cell.  This is a truly inspiring story of what a bunch of race drivers and James Ballenger’s team and Ballenger Motorsports were able to accomplish in a short amount of time. 

Race Bar Car

As we always say, racers are some of the best and most generous people we have met.  This crisis has still not passed, so if you or anyone can help, it could literally be lifesaving and I am also sure we would like to be in a better position if there is ever a bounce back in the infection rate.  It took a bit to get the editing done, but the message and need remains the same.  Even if you can’t be of assistance in fabricating or assembly, there is always something that needs to be done that would assist.

The Dominating with Dawson segment deals with what to do and what not to do when going on track for the first time.   

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)  Working to make a difference in trying to contain and protect people from the COVID 19 virus

2)  Some of the unexpected challenges of helping deliver PPE to those in need

3)  How even little steps are significant, especially if we compound upon each other

4)  Karen makes an appearance for the first time on the podcast, lol.

5)  You can learn more at [email protected] or contact them through email

6)  The parallels between this program and what happens in an endurance race are amazing.

7)  This effort will continue into the future as the economy starts to resume and a larger population of people can use shields and masks.

8)  If you want to donate to the effort, you can go to GoFundMe.com under Virginia Needs PPE

9)  Bill volunteers to let James and the team pass us during our next race.  It is the least we can do, lol.

10)  Even the next generation of Race Bar, Oliver, comes in for a brief podcast experience.

11)  A short Race Bars race car fleet review and its recent new addition with a super-secret theme

12)  Fuel cell discussion on details, locations, options, and aspects of the conversion and installation including some of the best options for venting the fuel cell.

13)  Ben is still sorting his nuts and bolts.  We hope he finished soon. 

14)  Jim’s latest deep dive is in the area of fuel discriminator valves.  Because Race Car.

15)  Rob Krider’s magnetic towels for catching fuel as you fill gets another shout out.

16)  Some good discussion points on the morals of resuming racing events at this point.

GHIT 0117: Race Bar Returns – A Discussion of How Many Teams are Helping with the COVID 19 Pandemic

GHIT: 0113 Erik and Chris from the Lucky Dog Racing Series

Erik Torgeson and Chris Wilhelm

Erik Torgeson and Chris Wilhelm joined us to talk about their racing history and the Lucky Dog racing series.  Erik is the Director of Operations and runs the Dog Pound penalty area during the races.  Chris is the head of vehicle safety and technical inspection as well as usually covering radio control and timing and scoring during the Lucky Dog races.  Erik is also known as Bulldog while Chris is the Junk Yard Dog (JYD).  In addition, we go into the upcoming race (hopefully) at the Charlotte Roval where Lucky Dog comes to the east coast for the first time.  We cannot wait to go to another Lucky Dog race and we found a few items we will need to add to our list to pass tech for Lucky Dog, as well as several of the differences between Lucky Dog and the 24 Hours of Lemons series we traditionally race in on the east coast.

    You can find Erik and Chris and the entire racing series at www.racelucky.com and say hello for us please if you see them a the races.

    Apex of Failure on Facebook for the RX-8 project Erik referred to.

    On Dominating with Dawson, Ben covers several of the racing lines and approaches to circumventing a racetrack in the most expeditious manner.

    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)  Bill apologizes for his pit lane violation at Laguna Seca by not stopping for his egg timer.

    2)  Vicki points out that we did not review the rules prior to the last race.  This is not best practice.  Perhaps her interpretation of the goal of the pit lane timer was a bit off, as well as her not attending tech inspection led to a good discussion of the safety practices for the Lucky Dog Series.

    3)  Why Lucky Dog has elected to use pit lane timers and why they chose to use window nets, as well as many of the key inspection points prior to a race, along with several of the key differences between the safety requirements of Lucky Dog and several of the other racing series.

    4)  Alan steals our Lucky Dog branded Hankook RS4 tires for his daily to “test” them, lol.

    5)  We also go into the importance of the attitude of the Lucky Dog series and how it magnifies the fun of the racing weekend.

    6)  A lot of the details related to the upcoming race in Charlotte.

    7)  Our to do list is adding in dash bars into two cars and window nets into one.  We are planning on bringing three cars and have an undetermined number of drivers since it is difficult to firmly plan with everything going on currently.

    8)  Erik and Chris should get Lucky Dog style trophies to represent their Lucky Dog names.

    9)  Both Erik and Chris have a history of racing that includes autocross as well as their start with working with a series in ChampCar.

    10)  Chris goes into the excellence of a Ford Fairlane in autocross.

    11)  Erik sends out a non-controversial message to auto crossers.  Please send you comments to [email protected]
    and we will forward them to Erik for you.

    12)  We discuss the upcoming season and the uncertainty still within the system, especially with the different states and tracks involved.

    13)  How racing is not only tremendously fun but also generates great friendships that can last many lifetimes.

    14)  Car 196 may yet live on in the upcoming Charlotte Roval!  (But in a new

    form)  We also discuss our mutual history with them in Lucky Dogs.  It turns out it may not all be our fault after all.  But it likely was.

    15)  Erik sends out a non-controversial message related to Honda-based race cars.  Please send you comments to [email protected]
    and we will forward them to Erik for you.

    16)  Vicki sets a new record for the number of edits when going into her Laguna Seca experience.  This one will be tough to beat.

    17)  Bill reminisces about her services of the car at Laguna for Mental.  It reminds one of the second autopilot scene from “Airplane”.

    18)  Probably two of the worst, and potentially scariest, “Ugly” story we have heard in a while.  Some people can be very scary when under the red midst.  Bill couldn’t help but make another “entrepreneur” joke from the recent YouTube and Facebook racing kerfuffle with a different, but perhaps related drivers.  (THESE “DRIVERS” ARE FAR FAR FAR FROM TYPICAL)

    19)  Alan gets offended that Erik has the title of “Black Flag Guy” but it is for a totally different reason than he originally thought.  Alan’s version of the title is still intact.  Unfortunately.

    20)   Some of the key differences and details that are needed for the Charlotte race.

    21)  Race Invaders gets a shout out.  We are long overdue for having you on.

    22)  Both Erik and Chris agree that ORP (Oregon Raceway Park) is there favorite track.  We are adding it to our list.  Now, how do we get a car onto the west coast?  New project!

    GHIT: 0113 Erik and Chris from the Lucky Dog Racing Series

    GHIT 0112: John Lavin from Safety 3rd Motorsports

    Safety Third Motorpsorts
    John Lavin points the way for the Safety 3rd Motorsports team

    John Lavin joined us from the Safety 3rd Motorsports racing team for a great discussion of his racing and team history, including how his background in racing snowmobiles, motorcycles, and snowboarding has led to and helped with his racing cars.  His team started with an initial car that was intended for Lemons but ended up being a second gen Supra that was better fitting into an episode of “Better Call Saul” and ended up in ChampCar and started with the usual issues and tremendous stories as his team grew.  The team is currently running in several ChampCar events each year, as well as several other organizations in multiple divisions. 

    Safety Third Motorsports

    We are hoping to talk John into letting us attend one of their upcoming races to learn more, if they will have us.  Please follow them on Instagram at Safety3rdMotorsports. 

    Safety Third Motorsports

    In our Dominating with Dawson segment, we go into racing in the rain and while some complain, it’s really actually better in many ways for learning and definitely should not be skipped or avoided.

    Safety Third Motorsports E36 Racecar
    Safety 3rd Motorsports E36 Racecar

    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)  Sharing the pain of herding cats as the team manager’s primary role.

    2)  It appears John’s path is similar to Bill’s, just executed much better.

    3)  VIR gets another big endorsement, and it wasn’t from Ben this time.

    4)  First race stories for the team, a true 24-hour race at VIR.

    5)  Why they eventually switched from a Supra to a BMW to the annoyance of all the Fast and Furious fans.

    6)  Racing is really a situation of management by crisis, we agree and couldn’t have said it any better.

    7)  Several discussions on the differences and benefits of a racing school, as compared to HPDE’s and track days.

    8)  A comparison of ChampCar and the Lemons series, with a bit about AER as well.

    9)  How the teams racing philosophy has changed as they have become faster and a bit more competitive.

    10)  A very good discussion on transitioning a team from having run racing a car to racing to compete.  A challenge our team is likely approaching.

    11)  We offer our excellent BBQ rub and BBQ sauce for some of their secret sauce, so far to no avail, lol.

    12)  Practicing at track days vs learning from an instructor and several other benefits of instruction.

    13)  A discussion on the various aspects of car control, what it is and several techniques that can be used to improve it.

    14)  The everlasting rumor of Lime Rock closing has reached Vicki for the first time.

    15)  John even sneaks in a discussion of the modern style racing line for Lime Rock.

    16)  Since John’s team races an E36, we can’t help but discuss some of his thoughts on the E36 setups and even more importantly how to evaluate and develop them for yourself or when using a shop to assist.

    17)  We even went into more depth around tire temperature and tire pressure and tire selection.

    18)  A dual team meetup is preliminarily in the works and sounds like it will be great fun!  Still working on the Baja road trip invitation though.  Lol.

    19)  Bill tries to talk John into lowering his standards and joining us for a race or for weekend racing fun.  Still TBD to see if John is capable of making a decision that bad.

    20)   John was even gracious in acknowledging our difficulty with the rear hub bearing a few weeks back.  We may even be able to replace the control arm Bill broke after our quarantine ends.

    21)  Towards the end, we even went into team HPDE and team bonding ideology that are helpful to all levels of teams.

    GHIT 0112: John Lavin from Safety 3rd Motorsports

    GHIT 0111: Amanda Tully from the Mome Rath Racing Team

    • Amanda Tully Mome Rath Thompson 2019
      On the way to Win #2 at Thompson
    • Amanda Tully at NJMP for the First Win
      NJMP for First Win
    • Amanda Tully after three peat
      NHMS 2019 makes it Three in a row!

    After months of badgering, we finally weakened Amanda Tully enough to where she agreed to come onto our podcast.  After a disappointing 2019 where she finished 2nd, 1st, 1st, and 1st, we couldn’t wait to hear what she was going to do to improve this year, LOL.  Actually, it was a great pleasure to catch up with her and learn about her racing history and how she and her team came to dominate the east coast races last year.  Amanda also discussed with us her recent transition to sim racing and we all shared some of our growing pains, as well as a lot of the fun we are having while home.  Vicki was able to put on her Amanda t-shirt and fangirl for the entire episode.  It was an unintended coincidence that she appeared in episode 111, but it fit with their results from last season.

    On this episode of Dominating with Dawson, Ben covers what to do if you have an incident on the track to minimize the effect on your day, and your car.

    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)  How we first met Amanda and her team at our first ever race at NJMP in 2018.
    2)  How Vicki and Amanda bonded at NHMS in the 3PM overflowing hot tub last year.
    3)  How Amanda progressed from full newbie racer with HPDE experience to her current successes in Lemons.  It all started with the lure of the fun $500 race car.  Her experiences indicate that even we may eventually get good at this, we shall see.
    4)  Amanda may have helped Bill with the “what spares should we bring” discussions that we always seem to have.  Since Amanda said it, Vicki may finally agree.  We shall see.
    5)  We try to dissect the “issues” that led to her low performance of the year at Pittsburgh last year where they “only” finished in second place. But they did win the “I Got Screwed” Award.
    6)  How HPDE and especially her past motorcycle HPDE track days may have influenced her driving style, as well as her skill.
    7)  We tried getting some more info related to Amanda’s latest car for Lemons.  It’s still super secret, but we know it is coming.  Rumor has it that we may even be able to pass her team once this year.
    8)  Amanda and Bill try to help Vicki with her nervousness in joining the races.  Both shared some of their best/poorest i-Racing performances so far.
    9)  We also discuss several similarities and differences we are seeing in sim racing and our more normal meat world racing.  Peripheral vision, lack/different G force feedback, tire grip/physics, and various software settings seem to not be helping any of us at this point.  Still having fun though.
    10)  Sim racing:  It’s the same, but it’s not.
    11)  Vicki displays a story about why testing on Fridays should not be optional, especially if it’s your first time at a track.
    12)  Amanda was even kind enough to go into what she would recommend to improve your performance and fun at a race.  It is all fairly simple, but very important things that she has learned from others and through personal experience.
    13)  Brandon and Kelly both get a quick shut out.  Kelly, you need to come out on track.
    14)  We also continue our continuing discussion on in car data and lap timing.  Amanda is pretty firm in her position and her opinion isn’t going to change any time soon.  Pursuit of a fast lap time has hurt  her team’s performance in the race so many times.  It is far more important to get all your laps similar and all your drivers as close as possible.
    15)  Our mutual friends in the Folgers car get another shout out.
    16)  Bill bonds with Amanda on spares and tools for the track.  Vicki still seems less than enthused.
    17)  Amanda is not a fan of our RS4 tire use but prefers the Azenis 615’s. We think it may be worth a retry at some point.  Maybe she will borrow or test ours.  Once we find a few more BMW 8.5″ * 17″ DSII rims (or DS2).
    18)  We need to see if there are any cars that Amanda likes besides her E36
    and E92.  There has to be at least one.
    19)  We even bond over our poor i-Racing seats.
    20)   We joke around about a recent i-Racing event with the Three Pedal Mafia at the expense of our great friends Jeff and Mental

    • Amanda Tully Mome Rath
      Off to a Smoking Start for 2019
    • Amanda Tully Topping the Leader Board
      Topping the Leader Board
    • Champions Get Trophies
      Champions Get Trophies

    GHIT 0111: Amanda Tully from the Mome Rath Racing Team

    GHIT 0110: Blake Field and Ben Dawson with Thoughts on Improving performance at the track, but not necessarily on it

    • Ben Dawson
    • Blake Fields
    Ben Dawson and Blake Field

    Blake Field and Ben Dawson have raced many times with each other and now are on our podcast together.  While it started off as if another Race Bar takeover, we actually did provide several useful pieces of information and tips that will help you and your team at and on the track.  That is not to say the episode is without our usual banter and attempts at humor, but there may be a nugget or two in this one.  Also, Ben pulls double duty on this episode and we discuss general guidelines for tire alignment for track use on front wheel, four wheel and rear wheel drive cars, including a discussion on tire pressure and temperature measurement and use to refine your car’s set up. 

    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)  Alan can’t tell time and Bill blows the intro and Ben has questions for Alan that will go unanswered (for this episode).

    2)  Blake reveals his predilection for racing in cars that are embarrassing to be passed by.

    3)  Ben admits that he far outkicked his coverage with his beautiful bride.  Bill and Alan both agree with and have followed Ben with this philosophy.

    4)  Ben endorses i-Racing and sim racing as a path to improve your driving skills, just not in the way he did it.

    5)  Blake illustrates the advantages of pre-race practice, especially at the track on Friday if possible.

    6)  John Pagel gets along and enthusiastic shout out for all he has done to help us and everyone with their safety.

    7)  Blake surprises us with his team racing another Chevy S-10.  Vicki’s eyes got really, really wide when he mentioned it.  Blake also gave a quick run through on several easy and effective upgrades to it. 

    8)  We discuss our plans and how many cars we may bring to the Lucky Dog race on the Charlotte Roval.

    9)  We finally have a brief discussion on the Bondurant High Performance Driving School.  Long overdue.

    10)  A very good discussion of what you can learn from a large, lemons-type field, with the widely varied driver skill and experience of the field, and how you should approach each passing opportunity.  Each field and each series, and even each race, has a different set of challenges, each of which can help you grow as a driver.

    11)  Blake and Ben discuss some of the off-track actions, including before going to the track, that can really help improve your performance on the track.  It sounds much less impactful than it really turns out to be, so please don’t disregard these activities.

    12)  We go over some of the ideas and checklists that we use.  The link to our updated checklist if below if you want to review or use or better, incorporate into your own.

    13)  Candle Wax dripping?  Check.  Covered it.  Lol.

    14)  Mark Blundell’s qualifying effort at Le Mans.  Video link below

    15)  We continue to plan our Lucky Dog Series race at the Charlotte Roval.  Two cars are in, three is possible.  TBD.

    GHIT 0110: Blake Field and Ben Dawson with Thoughts on Improving performance at the track, but not necessarily on it