Garage Heroes (In Training)

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

Races

GHIT 0139: Team Progress and Update

Garage Heroes In Training

This episode of our podcast is a listeners request, Jennifer, Vicki, and Bill go over what we have been up to and begin to look at where we are going for next year.  Lots of changes, lots of cars gone, still a few to go, and lots of new cars added, most need some TLC.  We think we are on a good path, but you can be the judge of that.  Also, on this episode’s Dominating with Dawson, we get into a discussion of driving skill vs driving talent.  Lots of opinions, lots of thoughts, probably the first of several discussions related to this.  In the end, there are very few people, I any, who if they are interested in our sport and apply themselves, cannot get to a competitive level and become a very good driver and racer.  At least that’s what we think.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and

Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  Our upcoming skid pad & autocross car control event at Lime Rock with Safety Third Motorsports.  Jennifer and Vicki as so excited it is hard to explain, even for them.

2)  How the 2.75 Porsche 944’s and 1.0 Boxsters have found new homes and Brad’s starting to prep his E46 330 for his move to Colorado.  Maybe we have the beginnings of a Midwest/Mountain time zone team.  4.75 cars in one weekend.

3)  The plan for the SpiderStang Mustang and the black Honda Civic are still tbd at this point, but may be available.

4)  Bill has located a HPDE car that is undergoing some upgrade and preventative maintenance with the help of John Lavin from Safety Third Motorsports.  It is a E46 that is changing from a SMG transmission to a manual transmission because that is just so much more fun and engaging.

5)  An E46 330 shell magically appeared and is the long-term project car for Bill’s goal of running the NASA Thunderhill 25 by 2025.  So far, we have 3.5 drivers who are interested and now need only one more driver and Bill to get some more skill.

6)  What are we doing with 1974 Capri.  We have plans, but not enough skill at this point.

7)  Should we build two Civic race cars, we don’t know for sure at this point.  Still TBD.

8)  Our 2017 Ford F150 black cap is also looking for a new home

9)  Mechanical status for each car and the progress to be accomplished over the off season this winter.

10)  Bill is apparently stuck in bad joke/dad joke mode throughout this episode.  We apologize.

11)  We talk about what the plan is for modifying the cage in the yellow Honda Civic and the two smaller jobs of fixing the engine and adding new/better seat mounts.

12)  Vicki is reminded of the winter project that was set for last winter.  Perhaps we will have better luck this year.  TBD.  Maybe someday the ND Miata may actually have an interior again.

13)  Bill tries to get some planning on the upcoming themes.  Vicki and Jen don’t want to get into it at all.  Bill thinks its all a coverup for no plan.  We shall see.

14)  Vicki learns about the most romantic anniversary gifts ever.  Why does Vicki put up with this?  How did Bill ever get so lucky?

15)  We are all three going to complete some car related courses this winter.  Eventually, we will be competent mechanically and electrically.  (These had better be good courses if they are to get us there, lol.)

16)  New/recent garage tools and capabilities that will aide us this winter, with a quick review of each.

17)  We reverse the “what does someone know about you that no one knows” question on each other.  Bill stuffs a big foot into his mouth during this one.  He will be sleeping in the bathtub for a long, long time.

18)  Vicki learns that Thunderhill is located in California. 

Any ideas for Guests?

Any ideas for upcoming topics?

Please let us know at [email protected] or on our Instagram at @GarageHeroesInTraining

GHIT 0139: Team Progress and Update

GHIT 0134: RaceBar is Back to talk about the Charlotte Roval Race with Lucky Dog

  • Race Bar on Track at the Charlotte Roval
  • Race Bar on Pit Lane
  • Race Bar
Race Bar Invaded the Lucky Dog Race at the Charlotte Roval

At our recent Lucky Dog race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, we were lucky enough to be in the paddock next to RaceBar.  Yes, they are back.  Jeff/Ron even took a stint in our race truck.  On this episode we go over the entire event from their perspective and how Race Bar helped us throughout the weekend.  As we covered in our earlier race review episode, the entire event was a blast and Race Bar was a large part of the fun.  Jeff Caplan/Ron Mexico, Jandy/Daddy, Patrick McHugh/Richard “Dick” Freelane, and Kaitlyn “Pineapples” Morgan joined us for this episode.  We were greatly outnumbered.

We deal with hydration at track days, races and on the track in our Dominating with Dawson segment for this episode.  We cover various options and what we have found to be effective at the track and in some of the highest temperature and humidity days we have seen both at the track, in the paddock and especially in the car which is usually much hotter than the local environment, especially when dressed in your safety and fire rated gear.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

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

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  Apparently, we have been abducted by RaceBar.  Who knew.

2)  It took less than four minutes for us to absolutely lose control of the episode.  Did we ever get it back.  Still tbd.

3)  Was Charlotte Intimidating?  Nope.  Was racing on a big oval intimidating?  Nope.  Was racing with Lucky Dog intimidating?  Nope.  Was RaceBar being next to us in the paddock intimidating?  Oh yes, yes it was.

RaceBar Never Sleeps

4)  We had a great time hanging with Race Bar but, we really had to tag out around 10 or 11 in order to function.  Not sure how they do it.

5)  RaceBar strongly endorses the Lucky Dog series and it balance of good racing and lots of fun.  This was the best race ever for RaceBar.  Ever.

6)  We talk about the great highs and lows of endurance racing, sometimes at the same event in the same hour.

7)  The pleasures of being serenaded over the radio by Dick Freelane as he drove around the high banks at Charlotte during the race.  Ron Mexico has a book recommendation that you may choose to ignore.

8)  I think we made an impression on RaceBar with our track food skills.  It made their top list.  Twice.  We may be drafted to be on site food services.  we know Jeff will bring his own fork if needed.  Lol.

9)  We talk a bit about how our team tries to deal with issues and our occasional setbacks.  The priority should always be the driver and the team.  We can build more cars.

10)  There appears to be a plan for the race truck/The Bad Hombre/El Jeffe.  Not sure we know what it is or if we have a vote.  I think we lost all voting rights once Ron Mexico got into the race truck and drove it around the Roval.

RaceBar has a plan
RaceBar has a plan

11)  We cover our race team theory and philosophy at the current point in our learning curve.

12)  Race Bar has a list of he top 47 highlights from the race.  It is quite a list.  Quite the list indeed.

13)  Tips for ways to help and get started at a race if you are ever interested.

14)  Why track security woke Cathy up in her Hello Kitty PJ’s around 2 AM one evening.  What happens at Race Bar, stays at Race Bar.

15)  Why you should always say no to a story that starts with “Do you want to see a man in a van by a river…”

16)  Confirmation of who took the “L” off of our “Mr. Pool” E36.  Unfortunately, it does fit the car, even more now.

17)  Stories of driving the Citrus Race Truck without power steering trying to catch another Race Bar vehicle.

18)  Slap cup drinking games and rule interpretation seemed to vary and why Lonnie may have had a slow start one morning.

19)  How Deaf Power Racing came to race with us at Charlotte.  There are certain advantages to not being able to hear “Baby Shark” all weekend.  Potential options for adopting them into a Race Bar west.

20)  Apparently there is a plan.  We are now aware that there is a plan.  We still don’t know the plan, but we think we probably should at some point.

21)  We reveal the story of the arrival and unloading of El Jeffe at the garage when we returned.  I’m not mentioning any names since I don’t want to have to sleep in the bathtub.  Worth a listen.  And thank you to the listener who suggested we change our name to “Garage Heroes In Traction”.  Thank you Blake.

22)  We may have plans for a Summit Point track event.

23)  We attempt to CSI the potential reasons behind our Chevy S10 keeps eating Steering Pumps like Seymour from “The Little Shop of Horrors”

24)  How the Oooga Booga method for fixing the Fuel Pump worked and gave us a few more hours on the track before we needed to replace it the next morning.

25)  How the speaker flew off during the race and how much of a fan some of the corner workers were of their music selections during the race.  Also, we go into the joys of having a 120 dB stereo system in your race car that is remote controlled by people that are several hundred miles away from the track.

26)  A Good, the Bad, and the Ugly to be remembered.

27)  Ah Hah moments we all learned from the Charlotte race.

28)  A good discussion of Jennifer’s accident and how it feels after a bit o reflection.  A good thing for all potential racers and racing teams to hear.

29)  Potential next steps for our team to grow.

30)  VIR sweeps the best track ever for Race Bar.  And we get a bit of history of how VIR came to be.

GHIT 0134: Race Bar is Back to talk about the Charlotte Roval Race with Lucky Dog

GHIT 0133: Lucky Dog Reviews Their First Ever East Coast Race at the Charlotte Roval

Lucky Dog Team
Lucky Dog Team

We were lucky enough to get four of the Lucky Dog team to discuss with us the Lucky Dog series and how their first ever east coast race went at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on the Roval.  Jason Miles, Briana Miles, Chris Wilhelm, and Justin Parcher were our guests for this episode.  Please snug up your racing harness, this one is pretty fun but actually has some good content to learn from and may improve your team.

On this episode of Dominating with Dawson we cover braking speed and how to manage your speed and adjust to different types of brake application and brake capability of different cars and especially when at a new to you track.  Vicki and Jen excel at terminology and jargon, as always, lol.  Then we get into the way to approach new tracks and turns, as well as a warning to be careful at our then upcoming race at Charlotte.  Unfortunately, we ended up proving Ben to be prophetic.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

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

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  Jason works in the pits for IMSA and was obviously less than impressed with the GHiT team’s mechanical skills and performance in the garage.

2)  How the Charlotte race went and the impact that the COVID 19 pandemic had on the plans and the race itself.

3)  What its like inside the huge Charlotte oval/roval vs the more normal road courses that Lucky Dog typically runs on the west coast and how it was for a Lucky Dog track.

4)  Differences between what Lucky Dog typically sees on the west coast vs this east coast event.

5)  The tracks impressions of Race Bar and some of their music selections.  They are still puzzled by how the car can run for so long with the music at their typical volume.

6)  How the Flying Moose sounded going through the pits towards the end of the race.  What Randy Pobst and his team were able to do and the speeds they could get out of that car were amazing.

7)  Special shout out to all the tow crews at Lucky Dog.  It even carried over to the event at Charlotte.

8)  Bill makes a joke about finally not having Eric at an event.  It’s kind of went over a lot like our cars.  Maybe we should change our name to “Led Garage Heroes In Training”.  Maybe not.

9)  How our Lucky Dog race coincidentally crashed into the background of the NASCAR race program broadcast in the background.

10)  How Jason almost reenacted the lightning scene from Caddyshack at CMP.

11)  What works and what doesn’t seem to work in a Lucky Dog race.

12)  The Deadpool E36 is still not fully regenerated.  Fingers crossed.

13)  we have a challenge in finding Chris’ Nova (and bringing it to a Lucky Dog race) that he had purchased three times, so far.  It had Oregon Plate QRL-231 to aid in your search.  Let’s bring it to a Lucky Dog race so he has to tech inspect it, again.

14)  Jason demonstrates why females are often referred to as the smarter half of a relationship.

15)  Jason missed out on a Porsche opportunity, perhaps he might want our 2 and three-quarters 944.  Still available.  Just let us know.

16)  If we want to torment Justin, please locate Oregon license plate 910-AFC and get it ready for a Lucky Dog race.  Last he saw the car, it was likely halfway towards passing safety inspection.

17)  Vicki dropped a Star Trek reference.  Perhaps she is a Trekkie or a Trekker or whatever the politically correct term is now.

18)  Jason’s story got Bill very concerned when he thought Jason said that the fastest he ever drove was on a Ferry.

19)  Justin may have the biggest boat for his highest ever speed we have ever heard so far.

20)  Vicki and Jen now want to race a taco truck.  Don’t ask.

GHIT 0133: Lucky Dog Reviews Their First Ever East Coast Race at the Charlotte Roval

GHIT 0132: Our 2020 Races at the Charlotte Roval with Lucky Dog

El Jeffe - Citrus Race Truck

On this episode, we review the entire race weekend at the Charlotte Roval for our Lucky Dog endurance race.  The first race started Friday night and ended Saturday morning.  The second race was a 10-hour enduro that started at noon Sunday.  It was our first time at Charlotte Motor Speedway, our first time at a big oval track, and our first race of the year.  How hard could it be?  What could go wrong?  We found a few things.  Luckily, we had several friends and new friends at the track to help us work through the problems and we all had a great racing weekend.

On our Dominating with Dawson segment, we start to discuss the progression of driving skill and driving styles as you improve, moving from the introductory stages where you try to limit your inputs to one at a time and how to progress safely to where you begin to use and work towards mastering multiple inputs and more advanced techniques like trail braking etc.  There is a lot to discuss and we are sure to add more to this area in future segments.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

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

And so it goes….

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  The two new car themes/liveries for our E36 “Deadpool” race car and our “‘Dat Tang Truck” citrus racing truck.  Several pictures will be on our website.

2)  Mechanical car prep saga for the race.

3)  Vicki and Jen drove the E36 BMW 3 series race car for the first time on track.  we cover their first impressions from Friday’s practice and the races.

4)  Our issues with both cars.  In summary, our race truck had issues with the power steering pump and hit a cone that tore off the oil line and also had issue with the mass air flow sensor.  Our E36 had an intermittent problem with the fuel pump and then tried to converse with one of the walls ending its weekend.

5)   Our thoughts on the Charlotte Roval and driving on the high banked turns, the chicanes, and the infield “mushroom” track of the Roval.

6)  Vicki finally experienced her first use of controlled slip angle during her stint as she progressively got faster and more comfortable with the E36 race car Friday night.

7)  The Bad Hombre/El Jeffe race truck experienced a brake fade issue, again, and was down on power until the issue with the mass air flow sensor was addressed (on Sunday)

8)  How the weekend went for our two guest drivers from the west coast from Deaf Power Racing, Jeff Wright and Lonnie Tannenberg.

9)  Jen’s accident going into turn 8.  We are waiting for Deadpool to regenerate.  Video on our YouTube channel and on our website on the post for this episode.

10)  How Jen is feeling after her accident and what the prognosis is for the rest of her season.

11)  We had a little fun picking on the vultures next to us picking the bones off the E36 carcass.  Lol.

12)  What we should do about replacing the E36.

13)  How we are going to treat the video like the Zapruder film and figure out what happened and what we can learn from the incident.

14)  We invent a new drinking game for this episode where you drink once for every time Race Bar is referred to as brilliant and/or somehow helps us get back out onto the track.  Try it.  Our podcast only gets better with drinking.

15)  Jeff Caplan from Race Bar took a run for an hour in our race truck and even with power steering issues and being at less than full power, he seemed to really enjoy the race truck.

16)  We came.  We saw.  We were conquered.

17)  Bill is still working on getting all the names straight on the Race Bar team, since each of them seems to have at least three names.  Lol.

18)  Racing at night and on the high banks, we looked just like NASCAR, just at half speed, lol.

19)  Our racing and HPDE plans for the rest of 2020.

20)  Our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly for the weekend, as well as what we learned and several changes we may need to make going forward to improve.

21)  Cue the Kenny Loggins….

22)  Jennifer may have the best and shortest responses to her Bad and Ugly ever.

What are our plans going forward to replace the E36?  What do you think we should do?  Please let us know what you think we should do in a comment or ideally in a podcast review or email us at [email protected]

GHIT 0132: Our 2020 Races at the Charlotte Roval with Lucky Dog

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