HAPPY NEW YEAR. We hope you, your families,
and your friends enjoyed the holidays. We really enjoyed ours. But they
sure went by fast. As a matter of fact, all of 2000 seemed to past by rapidly.
With this newsletter, we hope to wrap up our 2000 activities. And maybe
drop a few hints about 2001.
KRYDERACING REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
This annual series at Nelson Ledges Road Course was one of the largest in its 18 year history. There was a growth period in the earlier years, but during the early 1990’s the series suffered dropping participation. The track was not in good condition and getting worse with each season. Each year looked like it could be the last for Kryderacing’s involvement with the facility, if not the last for the track itself. Then, about four years ago, Track Manager John McGill, obtained a long term lease and things began to change. The changes were small, and continue to be small, but the accumulation is now significant. And the impact on the Kryderacing Regional Championship Series is proof. Look at the recent statistics:
Year 1997 1998 1999 2000
* Total number of participants: 590 793 885 926
* Number of participating SCCA Regions: 3 4 4 5
* Number of events: 7 9 9 8
* Average entrants per event: 84 88 98 116
* Banquet attendance: NA <100 107 124
Another impressive fact includes attendance
at the banquet by 20 of the 21 Champions. Considering the distance some
of these people had to travel, it is obvious these awards are significant
to them.
In order to receive a trophy, drivers must compete in a minimum of five of the eight series events. Awards were distributed as follows:
Class Champion Second Third
AS Herman Melotti Tyrone Noles
ITE Bill Thomas Bob MacDonald
ITS Bill Moore C Pat Kane Ted Giovanis
ITA Michael Mazziotti F Reed Andrews George Kirk
ITB Bob Hopper Jr Edward Tucker James Morgan
ITC Bill Shearer Meg Meyer Joe Gumkowski
SSB Anthony Robinson
SSC Kathy Fergus
CF Bret Moyer
FC Tab McBlane Ricky Rossi
FV Dennis Potocki Gary Blanarik Anthony Dunne
F500 Michael Walters
S2000 Martin Johns William Kasmer
SRF Greg Grucella Daniel Farizel Ray Senkevich
CSR John Metzger
EP Tim Wing
FP Robert Soltis Craig Wood
GP Cathy Sloan
GT1 Al Gaudino Thomas Sloe
GT3 Bill Stables
GT4 Dave Hammer
One special award, now in its second year, was the Magic Touch Award donated by Mechanix Wear for the Mechanic of the Year. Brett Johnston joins Maurice LaFond as the only winner of this award, along with several very useful items from Mechanix Wear. Brett was a Kryderacing employee many years ago. After he left us he took up racing on his own. He has even collected a few of the series trophies during past years. But the Magic Touch Award was in recognition of his activities outside the car this year. Brett wrenched on his ITC class Datsun 510 this year while his brother-in-law, Alan Fox, drove it. Brett is also one of those people without which no racing community could exist. He always seems to be available when another competitor needs help.
Additional awards were handed out to workers. They included:
Mary Winters - Tech
Les Walters - T&S
Nina Caruso - Registration
Bill Stewart - Pit
Al Caruso - F&C
Rick Cherosvsky - Grid
Don Baker - Steward
Andy Dohany - Starter
The tentative 2001 Kryderacing Championship Series schedule is as follows:
May 5-6 Steel Cities Double Regional
June 16-17 NeOhio Double Regional
August 4-5 Mahoning Valley Double
Regional
August 18-19 Finger Lakes Regional
October 20-21 Mahoning Valley Double
Regional
October 27-28 Western New York Regional
OTHER "Odd and Ends" FROM LATE 2000
• Sandi and Matt were at the Buttonwillow and Laguna Seca Track Time Performance School events. Russ Wilson was at Laguna to run his Kryderacing maintained Corvette ZR-1. Due to business commitments, this was Russ’ only outing this year, but he showed he still had the skills by turning his fastest laps ever at this beautiful race track. Reed was there on Sunday to give a few rides in Russ’ car. Unfortunately the differential broke during his second lap. The car is back in our shops being rebuilt for 2001. And Russ plans on fuller schedule in 2001.
• Thanksgiving was a welcome break. Reed’s Mom and sister joined him and Sandi for a very enjoyable holiday. Matt journeyed east to spend some time with Kim. But a few flights before and after the turkey feasting could well be forgotten. Reed flew in from working at California Speedway. The Chicago to Cleveland leg of this trip took only five hours (compared to the routine one hour flight). It included "holding patterns" (two), a trip to the Detroit airport, and finally landing in what appeared to be a serious snowstorm. But that was nothing. The return flights on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving totaled 19 hours.
• Sandi and Matt attended the Performance Racing Industry Show in Indianapolis. Sandi has attended every one of these shows and Reed has only missed two. Matt has a couple under his belt. This show is more important to us than the SEMA show because it is specifically for the racing industry. Historically, we spend two complete days (and sometimes part of a third) at the show. This year Matt and Sandi rushed through in just a single day. They had a master plan and divided their list of objectives. While some of the browsing didn’t get accomplished, the objectives were met and they were on the road to Florida at days end. Also: a special thanks to Kenny Brown for letting us park a trailer at his facility for the day.
• Sandi and Matt cut their Indianapolis visit short in order to attend the Track Time Performance School at Sebring International Raceway. They were joined by Dave Deen, one of our long-time clients who now lives in Florida. We delivered Woodson Duncan’s GT1 Mustang for school usage and Florida storage during the Winter months. They stayed at the track in the new Chateau Elan and were favorably impressed with everything (except the flushing of the toilets). While the school was well attended, very few participants had mechanical problems and the workload was light. But the weather was terrific.
Let’s see, there are the Daytona test days in early January, the 24-Hour race a few weeks later, two banquets, Reed returns to California Speedway for some more oval track work, the plans for prepping the 2001 One Lap of America vehicle need to be finalized, and a couple of new activities which stem from proposals successfully originated at the trade shows will be announced. Meanwhile, there are a lot of race cars setting in our shop which need work before the start of the 2001 season. January is going to be an interesting month.