• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Garage Heroes (In Training)

Garage Heroes (In Training)

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

  • About Us
  • Our Cars
  • Our Drivers
  • Handy Links
  • Tips/Tricks
  • Contact Us
  • Questions or Comments
  • Sponsorship

Amanda Tully

GHIT’s Race at NJMP 2021

  • Chris Fix Fixing
  • Loki Truck Hood

GHIT 0207:  Our race at NJMP – June 2021 Our 24 Hours of Lemons Race at NJMP Thunderbolt for 2021

We are all suffering from a serious sleep deprived, post-race weekend hangover, and we are all calling in from across the US with varying internet speed and connections.  It starts with the somewhat normal Race Bar takeover and then we go into the NJMP 2021 race.  For this event, our drivers consisted of Vicki, Alan, and Jennifer and our two adopted teammates Aaron Diamond from the Saabs of Anarchy racing team and Elazar Mann from Race Bar.  It was a great weekend with many, many highs, and a few notable lows.  It was almost back to normal, well as normal as a Lemons race can be, and it was great to see everyone again.

In this issue of Dominating with Dawson,

we start off with our latest GHIT swag t-shirt that we made for the Dominating with Dawson and how we surprised Ben with it a few weeks back.  We then try to get back into our topic for this episode where we go into several things that you can practice on the public roads and during your normal driving that will improve your track driving or refine skills that you may want to start to employ on the track.  It is a great time to practice driving with left foot braking, heel-toe downshifting, as well as other less obvious areas of high performance driving.  Luckily for Bill, Vicki missed his joke, so he did not have to sleep in the tub after this episode, leaving a bit more room for Bill, lol.

Vicki Driving in el Jeffe

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. 

A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/LemonsNJMP2021

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.  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

El Jeffe on track

Highlights from this episode include:

1)  The Trophy truck/El Jeffe/Bad Hombre/Loki truck made its way to the track a bit late, but the theming of the truck and our drivers was a big hit in the paddock and with several of the young fans at the track.

  • Our Team with a Special Fan
  • The team on El Jeffe

2)  The race weekend started off with some small issues with the El Jeffe that we worked through the entire weekend.  Then we had a few other issues as the weekend progressed.  In other words, a normal endurance racing weekend.

3)  Aaron does his best robot impressions, but the connection improves after a few minutes.

4)  We had an issue with the engine losing power and having difficulty starting.  Unfortunately, we were not able to diagnose and fix the issue at the track, but let us know if you have any suggestions.

5)  Our two guest drivers describe the glory involved with driving the El Jeffe Trophy truck.  Since Aaron usually races a front wheel drive (Saab) and Elazar is usually in a mid engine car (Toyota MR-2), the truck is a bit different.  It is not what anyone expects.  We think Aaron and Elazar are both hooked.  

6)  In addition to our power/electrical issue, we also had a continuing issue with our new exhaust design.  We fixed it Lemons style to keep racing and then we made a plan to fix it permanently, of course this was after sending Jennifer out for her stint.

7)  Bill makes a terrible American Pie joke.  He says he was really tired.

8)  Aaron has raced in Lemons for almost 5+ years and had only two black flags in the entire endurance racing career.  However, in true GHiT fashion, he managed to get two more in a single stint on Saturday.  As Mars Blackman said, “Its got to be the shoes.”

9)  Elazar describes how he dealt with a total brake failure going into the high speed turn 1, truly an example of dealing with a brake issue in one of the best ways possible.  To add a bit to the weekend, Elazar was again subjected to a loss of the mounting bolt on the upper front control arm on the passenger side.

10)  Alan goes for donuts, well just one donut, on our door.  He may also have to adjust the HANS device or seek another design.

11)  So in the end, we missed the checkered flag on Saturday by about twenty minutes and we missed it by again by about the same amount.  Cue the sad trombone.

We had a great time, we learned some more, and we were able to spend some time with our old friends, our new friends and our soon to be friends. 

A special shout out to our sister Jennifer who came to her first ever Lemons race and saw how much fun this can be.  We hope you come back again soon.

  • IOE Winner
  • Amanda in her 1937 Buick
  • The Bob Ross Narwhal
  • 1937 Buick
  • The artists take a bow

GHIT 0207:  Our race at NJMP – June 2021

GHIT Podcast Episode 0142: Alex Levinson Orchestrates a Coup D’état with Some Friends

  • Coup d'etat

We never had control to lose, but we somehow lost it anyway.  You have been warned

It all started innocently enough, Alex Levinson was coming onto the podcast and we had a plan to talk about racing and go karting.  Little did we know there was a devious plot afoot.  It began to dawn on us as he was signing in and the Zoom window label came through as Amanda.  All was good, he was pretending to be Amanda, we would love to be half the driver and have half the mechanical knowledge and skills she has.  Then the video came through and there was Amanda and Alex, but there was more.  Off to the side, there was Donnie Petrunak, another well-known racer and a man who adds vowels to the pronunciation of his name without actually taking the time to write them into his name.  Inauspicious start, but no worries, yet.  Then we asked one question and I’m not sure we spoke again, lol.  Strap in for this one, it’s quite a ride.

On our Dominating with Dawson, we cover one of Ben’s favorite racing games, playing with the flags and how the simple act of paying attention can help you during a race.

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)  Comparison of the NASCAR approach to our Lucky Dog approach at the Charlotte Roval

2)  An update on Alex’s 2000 NB Miata daily driver that was crashed into at Charlotte while parked in the lot.  It doesn’t even make a good story. 

3)  A tremendous story about Alex’s encounter with Paul Blart Jr.

4)  Donnie “the Fist of God” Petrunak gives an update of his latest car battles and it sounds just like a normal day in the life of the Fail Inc Motorsports racing team and Florida Man Racing.  Remember, no “i” in Petrunak, but being high maintenance, he wants one pronounced anyway, lol.

5)  Apparently running cheaty BMW’s runs in Amanda’s family, so its really not her fault since its hereditary.

6)  Stories and introductions to their three racing teams and cars. Alex takes 10 minutes, Donnie about 3, and Amanda about a minute, just like their lap times.  Lol.

7)  Donnie has his doctorate but apparently cannot count past 6, since that is the number of cars he “claims” to have. 

8)  Hospital, hospitable, same, same.  Words are hard, maybe as hard as numbers.

9)  Alex impersonates one of those old toys where you pull a string and it just keeps talking and talking. 

10)  Amanda answers the question as to what happened to her E36 BMW at Thompson.  That car is usually an anvil and a monster.

11)  Donnie has an issue with a certain wall at Daytona.  But the walls always seem to win.

12)  Alex offers Donnie’s services to all the front running cars at NHMS and we warn others about allowing Mental nearby.

13)  Several opinions about running a true 24 race from our guests.  Still sounds like work to us though.

14)  Alex gets a new nickname.  Say hi to his new nickname “Grandpa”.

15)  Jen gets to ask a question.  Bet you forgot she was there.  I’m pretty sure she did too.

16)  We received an update that we are the #4 automotive podcast in all of Indonesia.  Thank you to the fans there and please ignore our guests.  They were like an alcohol fueled dragster, just without the dragster.  They even laughed at a one or two of Bill’s jokes.

17)  How Donnie learned to drive.  This explains a lot.

18)  Alex realizes that he is actually a race winning Porsche driver (as is Amanda), but he still can’t pronounce Porsche. 

19)  Donnie has one of the best “car that got away” stories we may ever hear.

20)  Alex has an amazing car ultimate road trip path. 

GHIT Podcast Episode 0142: Alex Levinson Orchestrates a Coup D’état with Some Friends

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

Primary Sidebar

Most Recent

  • DwD 0507:  Racing the Track vs Racing the Other Cars
  • GHiT 0506:  Eric Dewey DeWitt
  • The Mythology of Late Apex and Braking in a Straight Line
  • Glenn Robinson
  • The Fail Failage Rally 2023

Categories

  • Aerodynamics
  • Autocross
  • B Spec
  • Cars, Mostly ours
  • Comic Books and Movies
  • Dialing In
  • Dominating with Dawson
  • Driver Education
  • Fitness
  • Food
  • GLTC
  • Grid Life
  • Guests & Interviews
  • Honda Challenge
  • HPDE
  • Judges
  • Lemons Rally
  • Mechanical
  • Motorcycles
  • Our Team
  • Races
  • Racing 101
  • Radios and Communication
  • Safety
  • SCCA
  • SIM racing
  • Sundae Cup
  • Telemetry
  • Themes
  • Time attack
  • Track Photography
  • WoOT

  • About Our Team