The ‘dog days of Summer’ are upon us and the racing is hot and heavy. Kryderacing has been extremely busy.

TRACKTIME AT WATKINS GLEN

Kryderacing was doing double duty at the July 11-12 TrackTime Performance Driving School at Watkins Glen. In addition to supplying Kryderacing’s normal trackside assistance we were also supplying trackside assistance to the John Bender and Lynn Kirby Corvettes. Sandi and Matt were kept busy and everyone had a great time. The Bender and Kirby Vettes ran without problems. Several mechanical problems on cars owned by other students were solved by Matt.
 

SCCA NATIONAL AT WATKINS GLEN

Sandi and Matt stayed at the Glen following the departure of TrackTime. The next item of business was Bill Pintaric and his GT4 class Datsun 510. Bill is in his first year of National level SCCA competition following his purchase of the car late last year. Originally he was going to run Regionals this year in order to get used to the car. But there are usually more GT4 cars entered in Nationals, and while his car is probably not a contender for a National Championship, it and Bill are not going to embarrass themselves either. Bill had never driven the longer course at the Glen. He said he didn’t care for it, but our guess is that feeling will change with more laps on the track. He did manage a fifth place finish.
 

SCCA NATIONAL AT NELSON LEDGES ROAD COURSE

One week after the Glen National, both Bill and Gary Martz were back in action. Bill qualified fourth in GT4 and had a terrific race, finishing second. At this point in the season Bill is third in points in the Northeast Division and, with only a couple of races left on the schedule, an invitation to the National Run-Offs at Mid-Ohio in September is all but certain.

Gary’s Martz’s problems continued with his E-Production Mazda RX-7. Followers of this newsletter will remember a shift linkage problem ruined what should have been a great finish at Road America’s June Sprints. He was doing great this weekend, fighting for the lead, when the engine expired. Qualifying for the Run-Offs has been a routine procedure for Gary during the last couple of years. But as this is written, Gary has not qualified for the 2001 Run-Offs. He is tenth in points with two qualifying weekends remaining. We will be with him August 24-26 at Mid-Ohio. The following weekend he will travel to either Mosport or Blackhawk Farms.
 

SCCA REGIONAL AT MID-OHIO

One week later an entirely different group of Kryderacing vehicles were entered in the annual Brat Bash at Mid-Ohio Road Course. Four race cars sat under the Kryderacing tent in the middle of the paddock. This was a double event weekend so we would be racing a total of eight events. Or so we thought.

Our trusty Nissan 240SX was entered in the SSB class races by Nick Doinoff. Nick is new to racing this year and he finished fifth in the Saturday event. Unfortunately, the clutch failed and competition in Sunday’s race was impossible. Jerrod Martin, who assists at the Kryderacing shop and at races was running in the same race. Jerrod’s ITA class Citation X/11 trophied both days.

The other two Kryderacing cars were both running in the ITS class. Reed Kryder was driving the Nissan NX2000 and Matt Miller was in his recently finished Mazda RX-7. Saturday was to be the first ever race between Kryderacing’s boss and number one employee. Fortunately Matt knows how to play the game and he qualified slower than Reed. But he was right behind him on the grid. There was some question as to the health of Matt’s engine do to a recent overheating episode. It did fail in the later stages of the race and Matt was done for the weekend. But not without a valiant effort at an engine replacement late in the day. Reed finished seventh in the twenty-two car field. Reed repeated his seventh place finish on Sunday.

One additional footnote. As previously mentioned, Kryderacing is the official representative for Baer Brake Systems to A-Sedan drivers. It has been a slow year while we established ourselves. But one competitor is very thankful we exist. Tom Toth needed rotors and we had them. He went on to win his class both days. Perhaps we can help others when we attend the SCCA Run-Offs in September.
 

SCCA DOUBLE REGIONAL AT NELSON LEDGES

The weekend of August 4-5 saw two Kryderacing vehicles in action at the Mahoning Valley Double Regional at Nelson Ledges Road Course. Unfortunately one of them failed to make a single lap. Even experienced drivers can make mistakes and missing a shift in an unfamiliar car is one of the easiest ones to make. An experienced driver, new to Kryderacing, made this mistake on the Nissan NX2000. The damage was minimal, but enough to end his weekend. Who did it? We’re not telling.

Jim Tibor was also back in a Kryderacing vehicle that weekend. He had respectable finishes in both his races. More importantly, he didn’t do any body damage. Jim has had a small problem with this issue in his last couple of races. Even the corner workers were congratulating him.

Kryderacing also started another project during the weekend. Ray Barnhart has been prepping a BMW for competition in the ITE class. He has been talking to us for some time regarding our taking care of his car between races and delivering it to the track. This program started with this event. The car currently resides in the far bay of our shop and preparation is underway for its next race (Mid-Ohio on September 8-9).
 

"HELP WANTED"

We have occasionally mentioned the need for part-time or full- time employees. Several people have been interviewed but none have fit our needs. Sometimes the problem is we don’t offer enough money, but more frequently the work ethic they offer is not up to Kryderacing standards. Meanwhile, other volunteer crew members have pitched in to get us through some busy times. The search for help continues.
 

SCCA DOUBLE REGIONAL AT NELSON LEDGES

The weekend of August 18-19 saw a lot of action from Kryderacing vehicles at the Finger Lakes Region events at Nelson Ledges Road Course. The Nissan NX2000 had its engine revving again, but unfortunately some previously undetected damage may have lead to its demise during Saturday’s race. Stu Rothstein is an experienced and winning driver and needed to run a couple of events while he was building his new car. He was doing well until a bearing seized and the connecting rod exited the block. The resulting oil spill sent several vehicles off-course and resulted initially in a full course caution. That was followed by a red flag and declaring the race over.

We were all disappointed, but the size of the hole in the block was a conversation item the rest of the weekend. Prior to the race we had been discussing the need to rebuild the engine during the upcoming Winter. That schedule has been moved up.

Bill Pintaric was in his Datsun 510 prepping for the Run-Offs. He currently sets Third in the GT-4 class in the Northeast Division and has qualified for the September race to determine a National Champion. He easily won not only his class on both days, but also dominated all the other production based vehicles in his group. Along the way he did discover a clutch problem, which will be remedied.

The Kryderacing Nissan 240SX was again being driven by Bill Schauer. Bill has more seat time in this car than the next several drivers combined. And it shows. He won both his sprint races during the course of the weekend. But not without some excitement. On Saturday he won his class pole by a tenth of a second. He had a four second lead in class going into the last lap and was the third car of a three-way battle for the overall victory. Three turns from the end the fun started when the first and second overall cars tangled. Bill took the lead, but he was in the grass. The confusion eventually involved about ten vehicles, including both first and second place SSB competitors. As they were attempting to get back on the pavement, the third place car passed them both. Bill was able to repass just prior to the finish line.

Bill sat on the pole and won again on Sunday. The finish was a lot less spectacular, but the race itself was held in wet conditions which varied (several times) from drizzle to downpour. His two closest competitors were both in front wheel drive cars and should have had an advantage over our rear wheel drive 240SX. But Bill drove away from them.

A two-hour enduro was held at the end of the day on Saturday. Reed and Bill teamed for the second time in this event. And they repeated their victory from a year ago. Their lap times are virtually identical and the pit stop was smoothly orchestrated by Kryderacing crew chief Matt Miller.
 

MID-OHIO NATIONAL

Steve Ahlgrim was driving the Kryderacing Nissan 240SX at the Mid-Ohio National one week after the Nelson Ledges weekend. There was a gigantic entry for the SSB class because of the Run-Offs coming in September. It seemed as if every potential national champion was entered. Steve did a great job and turned some of the fastest laps ever for the car at Mid-Ohio. But the six-year old car is no longer in the same league with the front runners. However, it continues to be a winner on a Regional level. By the way, this race marked the 50th SCCA weekend of racing for this car. Remarkable!

Gary Martz was entered in his E-Production RX7. However, his run of bad luck continued with a transmission failure. He will be traveling to Mosport next weekend in a last chance effort to make the Run-Offs. We’re all pulling for him to succeed. He could have an excellent chance of winning the Run-Offs. What makes us think he can do it? He set a new track record at Mid-Ohio prior to the mechanical problem.
 

VIR TRACKTIME

While most of the Kryderacing crew was at Mid-Ohio, Reed was with the TrackTime crew at the beautiful Virginia International Raceway. One item of note was the results of the Goodyear versus Michelin tire test on the Z06 Corvette Reed drove with John Bender in this year’s Michelin One Lap of America. We had run Michelin’s in the event but always wondered how much difference there might be between them and the original equipment Goodyears. Although there was some traffic, the fourth lap of each test was clear of other cars and probably is representative of a typical One-Lap lap. The time on the Michelins was 1:46.35 versus 1:44.85 on the Goodyears. The Goodyears were 1.5 seconds a lap quicker. John also made the comparison and had similar results.
 

ROAD AMERICA TRACKTIME

All of the main Kryderacing staff headed for the Road America TrackTime event held the Tuesday and Wednesday following VIR. Not only is this normally a well attended event, but this time Russ Wilson was returning and bringing both his sons. Long-time followers of Kryderacing know of our association with Russ and his ZR-1. For several reasons he has limited his on-track activities to only California events the past couple of years, so this trip was special. Russ’s Corvette ZR-1 was prepped and ready for its first 2001 TrackTime event. The Nissan 240SX was brought along for the sons to play with. And the best part was everyone had a great time.
 

PUTNAM PARK TRACKTIME

It’s now the Labor Day Weekend and Matt is "off". Sandi is pumping gas for the WERA motorcycles at Nelson Ledges Road Course. And Reed is at the Putnam Park TrackTime school. On Labor Day Monday everyone gets to relax.
 

MOSPORT SCCA NATIONAL

As reported above, Gary Martz needed to take his Mazda RX7 to this National in order to have a chance of making the SCCA Run-Offs. He was currently two positions away from qualifying. A lot of drivers were in the same situation and they were choosing between Labor Day weekend events at Mosport, Blackhawk Farms, Heartland Park, and Second Creek. It was a giant chess game with everyone trying to go were the competition was the weakest. Gary choose Mosport.

Also reported above was Matt’s intention of relaxing over the holiday weekend. He made it to Saturday night. Gary called with an urgent need for specific rear end gears. Matt drove to Gary’s house, obtained the parts, drove to Mosport (over 300 miles), and helped install the pieces. During Sunday’s warm-up the engine bearings spun. A quick engine change combined with schedule delays allowed Gary to make the race. He finished second in a red-flagged race. He still needed help to make the Run-Offs. Several other racers in the chase for points at the other race sites needed to have bad results. The odds were against Gary, but that is exactly what happened. We’ll let you know what happens at the Run-Offs.
 

KRYDERACING REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

All of the Nelson Ledges Road Course Regional events mentioned above are part of our annual series. If you want the complete stories and standings, please visit our website: www.kryderacing.com. Only two weekends of racing remain on the 2001 calendar. Mahoning Valley Region has a double race weekend planned for October 20-21. One week later, the finale is hosted by Western New York Region. The finale is only a single event, but it pays double points. The big awards banquet is scheduled for November 17.
 

BILL SIMPSON

The other week Bill Simpson resigned from his position with the safety equipment company which bears his name. This departure was a result of the Dale Earnhart tragedy and the accusations surrounding a failed Simpson seat belt. We probably would not say anything about this, except when Reed was a tire engineer for Goodyear he worked with Bill during the 1976 season. Bill was driving at Indianapolis and other places back then. They formed a good relationship and Bill helped Reed and Sandi become Simpson distributors. What Reed remembers about Bill was his passion for making the best safety equipment he could. We are just now hearing NASCAR’s report on the accident. Seat belt design is not at fault, but the installation has been questioned. Hopefully, the earlier accusations surrounding this tragic incident does not lead to the permanent departure of the individual whose creative mind and passion for the sport has done more for driver safety than anyone else.
 

2002 ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA

Plans are progressing for our return to this event. We have entered an agreement with the owner/driver of a C5 style Corvette to run it in the American GT class. The car is very new, well built, and contains the correct pieces for a very competitive program. We are very excited about our prospects. Potential co-drivers and sponsors are being contacted. We should have a lot more details in the near future.