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KRYDERACING NEWSLETTER


VOLUME 16, ISSUE 1                                                                                                                         January 6, 2003

                                                    “HELPING PEOPLE ACHIEVE THEIR RACING OBJECTIVES”

Hope you had a great holiday season. We have been very busy at Kryderacing with wrapping up the 2002 year and planning for 2003. The following newsletter looks both back at what was and forward to what may be.
 

2002 Kryderacing Regional Championship Series

The banquet for the 20th Annual edition of the series was held at Colonial Catering on November 23rd. Sandi was the Master of Ceremonies for the third consecutive year while Reed was performing other duties at California Speedway. The banquet was a big success. A special “thank you” goes to Bob Mazza for contributing some very enjoyable wine from Mazza Vineyards. Having bottles which had our name and the name of the series on the label was extra special. We would also like to thank Kathy Mesenger (Sandi’s sister) for her help, and the staff at Colonial Catering for another fantastic dinner. The five SCCA Regions who support the series (Finger Lakes Region, Mahoning Valley Region, Neohio Region, Steel Cities Region, and Western New York Region), along with Hoosier Tire and Nelson Ledges Road Course all contributed certificates which were used as door prizes for the attending Champions. Books were placed on all the tables listing previous years results and addition historical information related to the series. Ron Monroe also talked to the attendees about 2003 plans for Nelson Ledges Road Course.

Representatives from each Region also spent a little time addressing everyone.

As in previous years, several workers were honored for their contributions to racing at Nelson Ledges Road Course. For 2002, these very special people were:

Pie Schoeneman - Fire and Rescue
Brenda Nick - Timing and Scoring
Dave Thompson - Steward
Beth LaFond - Flagging & Communications
Paul Morrison - Tech
Ray Krivansky - Sound Control
Cliff McCandless - Starter

The list of class trophy award winners is lengthy, but they all need to be mentioned. Most of them were present at the banquet and were given as much time as they wished to thank their crew and sponsors.

Class                             Champion                2nd Place                     3rd Place

S2000                            Bill Kasmer             Mack Stambaugh
Spec Racer Ford             Greg Grucella          Russell Jaslow
D Sports Racer               Jim Woodruff
GT 4                              Bill Pintaric             Debbie LaFond
GT 3                              John Petrone
GT 2                              Harry Belizaire
Formula Vee                  Gary Blanarik         Thomas Petalino Jr         Jay Johnston
Formula C                      Atahan Koymen
Formula Ford                 Christain Morski
Club Ford                       Dan Pyanowski      Robert Mazza                  Paul Derov
American Sedan             Csaba Bujdoso      Dave Demski
Super Prod “U”               Ken Fisher
Super Prod “O”               John Beaver
E Production                  Tim Wing
F Production                   Burt Young
G Production                   Jim Sloan             Dave English                     Cathy Alexander
Showroom Stock C          John Lechner        David Thornton
Spec Miata                     Greg Stasiowski     Mike Irwin
Improved Touring E          Don Velcio
Improved Touring S         Allen Franzolino     Brian Jules                         Greg Schnell
Improved Touring A         Jon Marhefka         David Mills                          Rich Meyers
Improved Touring B         Allan Ferragonio     Nick Doinoff                       James Morgan
Improved Touring C         Bill Shearer            Robert Everett                    Meg Meyer

Congratulations to all.
 

Last Regional’s at Nelson Ledges in 2002

The last two events of the year were significant to us for several reasons. Bill Pintaric wrapped up the GT 4 Championship in his Kryderacing prepped Datsun 510. Bill qualified for the SCCA Run-Offs in 2001, but business commitments kept him away from a National program in 2002. In 2003 he will again hit the National trail. The Kryderacing Nissan 240SX was busy both weekends in October at the track. First with Ward Favalle driving and then Steve Ahlgrim. Matt Miller brought his Mazda RX7 out to the Great Pumpkin Regional. And Reed returned, driving the newly rebuilt Nissan NX2000 in a shakedown run.

Streets of Willow

Last year we traveled to Willow Springs, California for a special one-day, fun-style event for Russ Wilson and some of his friends. That event was a big success and another event was scheduled for this year, this time at the “Streets of Willow”. About 15 people attended along with instructors Reed Kryder, Matt Miller, Ray Longhitano, Cameron Wilson, Ed Dellis, and Walt Minato. John Morton again joined the group and contributed in both on-course instruction and “bench racing” discussions. Everyone had a great time and the track is already reserved for a return in 2003. Kryderacing would like to thank TrackTime Performance Driving Schools for loaning us several helmets and flags for the event.

SEMA

Following fun on the track at Willow, several of us spent the next couple of days at the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas. If it has anything to do with the automotive aftermarket, you can find it at this show. The show continues to grow. We don’t even attempt to see all of it anymore. There were several manufacturers we needed to meet with, there were new products we had become aware of and wanted to check out, and there are friends we found either in their companies booths or walking the aisles. We were successful at meeting most of our show objectives. Our successes in the casinos were not as terrific as in the past, but the way we gamble, it’s impossible to lose too much.

Performance Racing Industry Show

Sandi and Matt attended this annual show in Indianapolis. This early December trade show targets the racing industry and has become a “must” for any business like ours. Sandi and Matt split their efforts and they still used up two complete days trying to cover everything.

Matt Carson

Be careful if you call the shop and ask for Matt. There are two of them now. Most of you are familiar with Matt Miller. He has been with us for some time and coordinates most of the shop activities. Matt Carson is new. He brings some fabricating skills and youthful enthusiasm to our efforts. Matt Carson grew up on a farm and graduated from an automotive trade school. His desire was to be associated with a racing program, which brought him to our door. We weren’t ready to hire someone back in November, but he was what we would have targeted when we advertised in the spring, so we hired him.

Plans for 2003

There are times when a lot of inquiries come through our door and the future looks very bright. Now is one of those times. Whether all of these things actually happen remains to be seen. If history repeats itself, some programs will never materialize.

But for right now, we are excited and hopeful for a 2003 season, which includes expansion in old areas and opportunities in new arenas. A few of the things include:

* A return to SCCA National level racing with Bill Pintaric’s Datsun 510. He will be campaigning for the Northeast Division GT 4 Championship and an invitation to the SCCA Run-Offs in September. Kryderacing will be performing all of the preparation and trackside support for the program.

* Expansion of the Kryderacing rental car fleet over 2002. Both the Nissan 240SX and NX2000 return. The SX already has several commitments. The NX was absent for most of the 2002 season after a very active 2001. It has been repaired and is ready to go for the ITS class. We are also investigating a conversion to the E-Production class for the NX.

* A new Kryderacing rental car program is being introduced. We have reached an agreement with the owner of another Nissan 240SX to run his car in ITS. There are a couple of other cars and arrangements we are investigating. Several programs are being set up which will see Kryderacing serve as a location for drivers to rent cars. We plan on facilitating the renting of not only our cars, but also those of others. The completed program should be found on www.kryderacing.com sometime in February. Give us a call if you are interested in renting one of our great race cars. You might also want to call if you have a car for rent. We may be able to help you.

* We are planning to return to TrackTime Performance Driving Schools with our trackside services. There are several issues being discussed regarding this program and our exact duties may be altered. But we plan on being available to help students with their trackside mechanical problems.

* We will be attending all of the NASA events sanctioned by the Indiana/Ohio Chapter. This chapter started operations last year and we have been close to the founder and his efforts since the beginning. At these events we will provide trackside services similar to those we provide at TrackTime. What makes this operation interesting to Kryderacing is the addition of racing groups along with the high performance driving school. It is our desire to offer performance school drivers a readily available source for answers to their questions and preparation of their cars if they want to go racing.

* A Honda Civic is being prepared for SCCA’s Showroom Stock C class. The car owner is new to road racing. He plans a very busy season pursuing a National SCCA license, and maybe more. Kryderacing is already preparing the car and will be supplying transportation and trackside service.

* A return to the Open Track Challenge is scheduled for Russ Wilson and Reed in Russ’s Corvette ZR-1. We have already entered the event and hope to improve on the Second Place finish in last year’s inaugural event. Joining them “on the track” this year will be several friends who watched their 2002 efforts. We don’t know how many will join the “7 Tracks in 7 Days” event, but there is a lot of interest. Sandi will be coordinating lodging and trackside refreshments for the group. Matt Miller will probably be joining the tour from a standpoint of supplying several of our trackside services.

* It looks as if we will soon have another Corvette Z06 in the shop. These are terrific cars and Reed has co-driven John Bender’s Z06 in the last couple of 1-Lap of America events. This particular Z06 belongs to Dave Pintaric, Bill‘s brother. Dave drag-raced in the past, but is very interested in doing road course track events with the Z06. Several safety equipment additions and a couple of performance enhancements are planned.

* With regards to the “One Lap of America”, Reed will not be able to participate in 2003. The timing of the event interferes with too many other commitments this year. It was not an easy decision, but it had to be made. We have informed John Bender, the owner of the Corvette Z06 Reed co-drove. We don’t know if he will do the event or not. If John is considering running he might want to think about this story. There was one other time when Reed turned down the opportunity to drive a car in this event. It wasn’t an easy decision then either. The car being offered was awesome, but Reed’s previous commitments had to be honored. That car owner found another driver and went on to win the event.

* The Kryderacing Regional Championship should return to Nelson Ledges for the 21st year. The schedule is being finalized and will probably include 5 SCCA Regions putting on 11 events as in 2002. There was talk of a sixth Region, but that appears unlikely at this time. The track continues to make improvements.

* Our store at Nelson Ledges Road Course should look entirely different in 2003. The old trailer has seen too many winters and is being replaced. The fuel pump area will also be revised. We don’t know yet if we will be in the same location. We hope to have many of these changes finalized in the next month or two.

* A return to professional level racing is also a distinct possibility. There are actually two programs underway. The first is for Kryderacing to supply trackside services at selected Grand American Cup events. The client was been associated with us for many years and all we are waiting on is the “right” vehicle. I say “right” because the client knows exactly what he is looking for and it is only a matter of time before he obtains it. Most of the other pieces to make this program happen are already in place.

* The second possibility for a return to professional level racing is still in the formative phase. We don’t know where this may lead but we are in initial discussions to handle a GT level program in either the Grand Am or the American LeMans Series. The program would not start until mid-year and depends on several things happening in the near future, but the discussions have gone beyond the “simple inquiry” and initial quote phase.

* We want to expand www.kryderacing.com and make it more useful to our clients. Besides the increase in the rental car program discussed above we will be adding more for-sale items to the “garage sale” area. We welcome ads (they are free) from clients and friends of Kryderacing.

* Our association with Baer Brakes is continuing for the 2003 season. We will again be their official representatives to the American Sedan competitors. This will be the third year of the program. Word must be spreading as we are already receiving inquiries and orders from American Sedan drivers.

* Along with the growth in Baer Brake activity we have seen an increase in Performance Friction brake pad sales. Brakes in general is one area where we have been gaining both expertise and a good reputation with our customers. It is probably a natural progression. Building and maintaining race cars requires a fair amount of brake knowledge. When we started providing trackside services at TrackTime schools we found the vast majority of the problems encountered involved brakes. And, like a lot of other things it life, the more we learn, the more we discover we do not know. The best example of this has become apparent in answering the simplest of questions: What is the best brake pad to use? Not only does the track and vehicle need to be considered, but the driver. It is common (we have seen it) for two very good drivers in similar cars to use different brake pads with great success, but when they try the other person's compounds it is a disaster (for both) from a rotor damage standpoint.

If we were answering the question of “the best brake pad” we would give a good starting point, but suggest the driver be open minded to making adjustments in the future in order to find the best pad for their driving style.

* We are also looking into offering some new products for next year. We have seen a couple of things at the trade shows we feel can benefit our customers. There are a couple of new safety equipment companies and several new products which need following. We saw a very interesting, and relatively inexpensive, canopy set-up at the SEMA Show. We think these could be a big hit amongst SCCA teams.