Any Race Car Drivers?

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 23, 2005
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Castle Rock, CO
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Everything Offends Me
I figure we have people from every profession known to man in here - do we have any professional racers?
 
I'm a crappy amateur, and would love to talk about it with someone who's good enough to do it for money.
 
I used to race jetski's (runabout 1200 class) in supercourse endurance, did 8 laps at Vegas motor speedway in an Indy car. Guess that's a "no".
 
I am sure this isn't what you mean't
and I certainly don't consider myself a "professional racer"

But I do compete annually in the Soaring Championship races in Washington, I even managed to win my class two years ago. I have also competed in National Soaring competitions as well.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

EDIT: I should have read the title better he did say "Car Racers"
 
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Not professional, but raced street stock on clay back in the late 60's early 70's and then Legends Cars back in the mid 90's.

What are you looking for Nick?
 
amateur sailplane racer here too. hoping to go pro as soon as thats an option :)
 
Get jr a sanctioned go kart as soon as he can steer and go racing.
 
I used to autocross my E30 when I was 19 and 20. That was fun stuff.

I'd like to get back into it now that I have a more "reliable" sports sedan, i.e. one that doesn't require constant valve adjustments, oil adding, vacuum leak-fixing, "find the source of the new clunking sound" hunts, etc.
 
EppyGA said:
Not professional, but raced street stock on clay back in the late 60's early 70's and then Legends Cars back in the mid 90's.

What are you looking for Nick?
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Well, its something I've always been interested in...just wondering how one gets started doing it (even if its just for fun), and if the 30s are too old to go through that. Oh, and if being fat is an issue for doing it.

We have a lot of local race tracks, and I plan on going to the infield someday and talking to some of the guys, but obviously, I have a pretty good rapport with most people here, so I'd like to just hear more about it.
 
SkyHog said:
Well, its something I've always been interested in...just wondering how one gets started doing it (even if its just for fun), and if the 30s are too old to go through that. Oh, and if being fat is an issue for doing it.

We have a lot of local race tracks, and I plan on going to the infield someday and talking to some of the guys, but obviously, I have a pretty good rapport with most people here, so I'd like to just hear more about it.
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For amateur racing, any age, any weight. For pro racing, I already told you how it starts, pewees in carts.
 
SkyHog said:
Well, its something I've always been interested in...just wondering how one gets started doing it (even if its just for fun), and if the 30s are too old to go through that. Oh, and if being fat is an issue for doing it.
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If you want to learn to drive really well and turn both ways, I highly recommend SCCA autocross. You "run what ya brung", no special safety equipment needed other than a helmet (Snell rated, not just DOT). It's a great way to dip your toes in, learn a lot and have a lot of fun. And you can drive your race car to work. :) I ran a number of daily drivers and junkers... '85 Grand Am, '63 Corvair, '98 Mustang, '82 Skyhawk (the Buick flavor, not the other one). VERY low chance of collision damage of any sort, near zero chance of collision with another car since it's a timed run with (usually) only one car on the course at a time. You can move on to Club and other flavors of racing if you really get into it.

If you want wheel-to-wheel oval track... I dunno. There seem to be all kinds of classes of that, including high school kids flogging the tired shells of old 4-bangers around a dirt track. :dunno:
 
I entertained the idea of racing my sport bike when I bought it. But the cost was just too prohibitive.
 
DaleB said:
If you want to learn to drive really well and turn both ways, I highly recommend SCCA autocross. You "run what ya brung", no special safety equipment needed other than a helmet (Snell rated, not just DOT). It's a great way to dip your toes in, learn a lot and have a lot of fun. And you can drive your race car to work. :) I ran a number of daily drivers and junkers... '85 Grand Am, '63 Corvair, '98 Mustang, '82 Skyhawk (the Buick flavor, not the other one). VERY low chance of collision damage of any sort, near zero chance of collision with another car since it's a timed run with (usually) only one car on the course at a time. You can move on to Club and other flavors of racing if you really get into it.

If you want wheel-to-wheel oval track... I dunno. There seem to be all kinds of classes of that, including high school kids flogging the tired shells of old 4-bangers around a dirt track. :dunno:
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Miatas also have an active low cost class & club and are fun.
 
I road rallied a BMW 2002 Tii back in the day. That wasn't sanctioned racing, it was timed street racing with checkpoints. A lot of fun though.

If I were going to do it today, I'd buy a used Miata, and go the SCCA route like DaleB suggested.
 
Henning said:
For amateur racing, any age, any weight. For pro racing, I already told you how it starts, pewees in carts.
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Karts are a relatively inexpensive (i.e. only requires all your money) and safe way to get into racing but probably not practical for the "wide body" types. Another option is to join the SCCA and participate in their "parking lot autocross" events. Typically the only expenses beyond the mandatory helmet and extinguisher are the tires and brakes you trash and you can learn a lot about performance driving that way. One step up from that are the weekend track events held by various type clubs and other "sports car" groups.
 
SkyHog said:
Well, its something I've always been interested in...just wondering how one gets started doing it (even if its just for fun), and if the 30s are too old to go through that. Oh, and if being fat is an issue for doing it.

We have a lot of local race tracks, and I plan on going to the infield someday and talking to some of the guys, but obviously, I have a pretty good rapport with most people here, so I'd like to just hear more about it.
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Being in your 30's will not work against you for local Saturday night racing. Most of those tracks will have 2, 3 or more classes. Racing is not cheap, a bit like aviation on steroids. Even a low budget stock type class is going to cost some money.

Not only are you going to need a car but you'll also need a good set of tools, trailer to haul the car, truck to pull the trailer and car, generator (for electricity at the track), small compressor or a portable air tank, etc., etc.

The only part size plays is that it will play into the total weight giving a little less flexibility in moving weight around on the car. If you want to be competitive you'll need to spend a lot of time working on the car and understanding chassis setup, weight distribution and adjusting, shocks, springs, engines, carburetors, etc.

Going to a track and buying a pit pass will get you some info to get started. Don't expect anyone to give you their secrets. If you want to learn and watch for a bit find a car in the class you want to target that appears to be on a low budget and offer to help him out in the pits and you'll get an opportunity to learn a bit about what a race night is all about.

The more competitive you are and want to be, the more money you'll pour into. It can turn into a disease where instead of buying diapers you'll buy something for the race car. Be careful.
 
I've watched too many friends go broke racing dragsters and another go halfway broke in SCCA. I'm sometimes a slow learner but no matter how fun it looks, I don't want to be as broke as they are. Airplanes are bad enough in this regard, and you gotta have priorities. ;)
 
denverpilot said:
I've watched too many friends go broke racing dragsters and another go halfway broke in SCCA. I'm sometimes a slow learner but no matter how fun it looks, I don't want to be as broke as they are. Airplanes are bad enough in this regard, and you gotta have priorities. ;)
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Yep, drag racing gets really expensive when a 1/4 mile takes $100 in fuel.:eek:
 
I've never raced and it's a long story, but I own a race car. It's a NASCAR Cup car with a brand spanking new Yates 800hp motor. It was driven by Dale Jarret and won a few races the year he won the cup. It's an 88 UPS logoed car. One day, when the tower is closed, I'd like to do a high speed pass down taxiway alpha at my local field with it.
 
EppyGA said:
Being in your 30's will not work against you for local Saturday night racing. Most of those tracks will have 2, 3 or more classes. Racing is not cheap, a bit like aviation on steroids. Even a low budget stock type class is going to cost some money.

Not only are you going to need a car but you'll also need a good set of tools, trailer to haul the car, truck to pull the trailer and car, generator (for electricity at the track), small compressor or a portable air tank, etc., etc.

The only part size plays is that it will play into the total weight giving a little less flexibility in moving weight around on the car. If you want to be competitive you'll need to spend a lot of time working on the car and understanding chassis setup, weight distribution and adjusting, shocks, springs, engines, carburetors, etc.

Going to a track and buying a pit pass will get you some info to get started. Don't expect anyone to give you their secrets. If you want to learn and watch for a bit find a car in the class you want to target that appears to be on a low budget and offer to help him out in the pits and you'll get an opportunity to learn a bit about what a race night is all about.

The more competitive you are and want to be, the more money you'll pour into. It can turn into a disease where instead of buying diapers you'll buy something for the race car. Be careful.
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This is the Bottom line.
The more competitive you want to be the more it will cost you. You don't just go buy a car and go racing. We started our kids in alcohol Karts. I tell you that is the most damn family fun we have had. Karts are by far your best bang for the buck. As said above being heavy wont kill you as you will be in the adult heavy or super heavy class with others in the same situation. God made dirt for racing! Pavement is for driving to the track. :wink2:
Time investment:
If you want to run up front plan on most of your week nights working on the car for Saturday. Details Details Details racing is very technical it is not just stand on the gas and go. I was always looking for that elusive 1/10 of a second.
Addictive:
I wish I knew how many hours I spent working on Karts so we as a family could win a $10 trophy. This is a team thing racing solo would be difficult. I pulled our karts out the other day to clean them up and list them for sale and the kids started winning Daaaaaaad!! We want to start racing again. :sigh:There goes my IFR on hold for a while longer.

I recommend you go to a local track and look around. Talk to the track manager/owner he will steer you in the right direction. I have loaned karts many times to first timers so ask around. If you start in Karts and don't like it or decide to move up to cars you can usually sell your equipment and recover most of your investment. One thing to remember each time you move up in class the competition gets 100% better!! Example. We won many local races and I thought we were pretty good. We got an invite to run a WKA indoor national series and I was feeling pretty good about running up front until the flag dropped. HA!!:hairraise: We got our *ss handed to us and went home to lick our wounds. When the flag drops the BS stopps..
Here are a few good sites to look at.

http://www.racingjunk.com/

Go to forums look for tracks in your area.
http://4cycle.com/

Many Many Pros started out on the dirt on Saturday night.
Prelude to a dream is a where the Cup drivers race Late models on dirt for charity. It is worth watching. http://www.preludetothedream.org/about/
 
If you look at the top Cup drivers you'll see that they either have a lot of dirt time or time in close coupled wheelbase cars or a combination thereof.
 
gismo said:
And replacement engines, tires, etc.
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That's why I took advantage of Fuel Altered, It was an exhibition class, they paid you to show up and run. Not purse money, but it's a paycheck you can budget. With the iron block and other governing rules, we managed to keep running 1200-1500hp on pretty limited budgets. Crower makes a hell of a crank and rod kit for $4500 and most of what you change out between rounds is just bolts and pressure / wear components.
 
SkyHog said:
Wait - can adults race Karts?
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Absolutely!!!!
kids are classed by age, weight class and restrictor plates.
Adults run either flat karts or champ arts by weight. I like the champs with the full roll cage and 5 pt harness. A good used kart could start around $1500-2000 then you add gears tires ect. Look at the sites and the WKA site you will see alott of info. I am sure you will have a track in your area.
Henning is right my son started @ 6y/o
 
Skylane81E said:
Working on NASA licensing now, whatchawannaknow?!
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I pretty much just want to know how a full grown adult can get started - my thought is that it might be something fun to get my son to do as he gets older, and I'd like to have some experience to help guide him when the time comes, not to mention it being a bunch of fun to do myself in the meantime.
 
SkyHog said:
I pretty much just want to know how a full grown adult can get started - my thought is that it might be something fun to get my son to do as he gets older, and I'd like to have some experience to help guide him when the time comes, not to mention it being a bunch of fun to do myself in the meantime.
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Cheapest way to get the license is to go take a racing school.

After that you will need a car, not much car but a car.

I have a Saturn Ion, my CFI a Plymouth Neon.

both NASA and SCCA have races near you, I'd look at each schedule of races and pick the car that will be acceptable for the type of racing around you. I bought my car for auto x, and when I swapped missions to wheel to wheel racing I was going to run SCCA T3, but soon found out that there was only one race a year around me.

NASA I can race most weekends of the season in the Performance Touring D class.

Both you and the car will need some major safety gear, full roll cage, racing seat, harness window net etc for the car, fire suit gloves, shoes and helmet plus NASA requires a HANS device or similar for you.

For starters vist a club race and talk to the drivers, they will be most happy to help you.
 
Also, be prepaired to destroy a perfectly good car, even with out crashing it:

311585_10150445049103712_512343711_10976837_730151199_n.jpg
 
Nick, I did auto crossing until that was too tame. I then went SCCA production class racing. Got burned out and stopped that. To fill the time I took up soaring. I did that until I got burned out. To fill the time I went back to racing, this time Porsche Club of America racing where you're not supposed to run into each other. I did that until I got burned out. To fill the time I got my private single engine land certificate, and let's just say I'm still into that stuff :D

Automobile racing is a lot of fun and very challenging. Like aviation you meet a lot of great people. However, there is NO limit to the time or money you can spend. It will be a lot of both no matter what level you go after.

Karts alway intrigued me, but I never made the connections to get into it. I am sure I missed something there.
 
Another good idea would be a track day in your car, a few hundred bux will buy you track time and some instruction in your street car.
 
Henning said:
Racing for real is expensive, it requires sponsorship.:(
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Another Henning fail. Lots of guys race bikes and cars on their own dime. It is very expensive, especially if you are at all serious about it. Costs about what it does to own an aircraft.
 
steingar said:
Another Henning fail. Lots of guys race bikes and cars on their own dime. It is very expensive, especially if you are at all serious about it. Costs about what it does to own an aircraft.
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Everyone and a while a white car even pops up in a Nextel cup NASCAR race
 
there are more than a few basically self funded start & park teams in Sprint Cup
 
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