It has been a while since we last issued a Kryderacing Newsletter. A lot has been happening, or is about to happen in the coming year. Let’s get right to it.
 

Daytona 24-Hour Race

This past weekend we sat at home and watched the Rolex 24 at Daytona. While it was nice to sit in a heated, dry house (it was below zero outside) instead of being in the torrential Daytona downpour which lasted most of the race, we still missed being there. Kryderacing first entered the event in the late 1980’s. The series was called IMSA then. We used a Dodge van to tow a small enclosed trailer which carried our Datsun 280ZX. Through the rest of the eighties and virtually every year of the nineties we ran a Kryderacing built car. We even entered two vehicles in 1997. From 1993 through 1999 our tube-frame car was a finisher in 5 of the 6 races it started. We handled a Kudzu/Chevy and a Lola/Ford for another car owner in the 2000 and 2001 events. In 2002 we were two days away from picking up the car we would run when its owner decided not to sell it (we still went and watched the race). In 2003 we were heavily involved in a Porsche effort which was suddenly, and mysteriously, dropped. Sandi and Reed didn’t attend the race in 2003, but most of the crew did. In 2004 we all stayed home.

We bring all this history up to make the point that Kryderacing has an extensive depth of experience racing these types of events. Watching the race from the outside makes all of us want to return. Like many things in life, our biggest asset (the depth of experience) also has created our biggest obstacle (a steady and loyal customer base for club level racing). As you will read in this newsletter, we are very busy with our clients by helping them achieve their racing objectives in 2004. We wouldn’t give up on keeping them happy. But we are going to look into returning to Daytona in 2004. Hopefully the weather will be dryer next year.
 

2003 Run-Offs Follow-Up

Last issue we reported on our adventures at the 2003 SCCA Run-Offs at Mid-Ohio. Since then a couple of things have happened. As reported, Bill Pintaric bought the GT4 class winning Nissan. Since then the car has visited our shop for a complete teardown and analysis. It was amazing how many design features we found which were almost identical to our IMSA GTU tube-frame Nissan 240SX. Prior to any of this work Bill competed in a Regional race at Nelson Ledges last fall. He easily won his class and was within two seconds of the class record. Not too bad considering it was his first time in the car, the weather was very cold, and the tires were old. These and a variety of other items usually combine to make for slow lap times. The car is currently at the paint shop getting its new livery for 2004. Bill will once again run in the Northeast Division. His first National with the new car will be at Summit Point on April 4th.

We also watched the telecasts of the races. The T-1 show helped tie up a lot of loose ends regarding Reed’s adventures. As reported last issue, after feeling optimistic because race morning practice times were considerably faster than his 11th place qualifying time, Reed’s race was over in the second turn. A collection of photos and several comments from spectators gave us an idea how things materialized, but it took the telecast to confirm it. Exiting the first turn after the start of the race 7th quickest qualifier Bob Schader and 8th quickest qualifier Chris Ingle made contact. Chris ended up going into the grass (he recovered to finish 7th in the race). Bob stayed on the pavement with no apparent loss of time, but had a large tire mark on the nose of his car (in the exact area of his oil cooler). All of these happenings are easily seen in a series of photos we received. What television added was the appearance of oil smoke coming from Bob’s car after the collision. The smoke grew in intensity as Bob traveled up the short rise into the second turn. By now Reed had passed the 9th and 10th place qualifiers and had moved up along the outside of Bob. As they went through the turn Bob’s rear-end broke loose, knocked Reed off of the track, and also flattened one of Reed’s tires. Bob had broken his oil cooler in collision with Chris and had slipped in his own oil when he hit Reed. That’s racing!
 

David Pintaric

The T-1 Corvette raced again shortly after the Run-Offs. Car owner David Pintaric was new to road racing and earning his National license while Reed was “borrowing” his car at Nationals and the Run-Offs. David had driven the car in his second Driver‘s School shortly after purchasing it, but drove ITS class cars when Reed started the National campaign. After the Run-Offs David ran a Double Regional at Nelson Ledges in his Corvette. He easily won both days and showed significant improvement over his Driver’s School times of just a couple of months earlier. David’s plans for 2004 consist of competing in the SCCA CenDiv Division T-1 Class and earning his own trip to the Run-Offs. Kryderacing will be prepping the car and providing periodic trackside support. His first SCCA National race will be at Summit Point on April 4th.
 

Michael Olivier

Mike’s SSC Class Honda Civic had a very busy year in 2003. At the end of the last year we checked a lot of things on the car and sent it to the body shop for some minor work. It currently sets at the shop “ready to go” for its next race. Exactly when that next race may be is unknown since Michael is in the process of starting his own business and is very busy. He is hoping things will start to settle enough by mid-year so that he can get back on the racetrack.
 

Russ Wilson

Reed and Russ will team up again for the Open Track Challenge. This is the third year of the event and their third attempt. The plan is to complement the previous Second and Third Place trophies with a First. This year’s competition will run from April 18th through April 22 and include competitions at Las Vegas Speedway, Willow Springs, Thunderhill, Infineon (Sears Point), and Buttonwillow. The race car will again be Russ’s Corvette ZR-1, which has been extensively modified by Kryderacing over the years.
 

John Lingenfelter

In a related item we were all saddened to hear of the passing of John Lingenfelter over the Holidays. We have run a Lingenfelter engine in Russ’s ZR-1 for many years and have always been very happy with their product and cooperation in our racing projects. We also used Lingenfelter prepped engines in the two Corvettes Reed ran with John Bender in One Lap of America competitions. John Lingenfelter will be missed.
 

Willow Springs/Russ Wilson Program

This has become an annual affair and the fourth edition is scheduled for Friday, October 29 on the “Streets of Willow”. The one day program is designed so Russ and his friends can enjoy their cars during a relaxing day at a racetrack. Kryderacing supplies the organization along with a couple of experienced race drivers to assist attendees. There is always lots of on-track fun, plenty of bench-racing, and great food. While we cannot turn this into a gigantic outing from the standpoint of drivers, there is always room for a few more. Contact us if you are interested in joining us for a relaxing and fun day.
 

Cars For Sale

Several of our clients have race cars for sale. Elliot Fisher is trying to sell his NASA American Iron class Mustang. This car is a proven winner and has many modifications. An enclosed trailer is also available. Ray Barnhart has his SCCA ITE class BMW available and Gary Martz wants to sell his winning and lap record holding, SCCA E-Production Mazda RX-7. All three drivers want to move onto other racing challenges. We already have info for Ray’s BMW posted on our Website. We have requested info from Gary and Elliot and should have both listed soon.
 

Gary Martz

When Gary sells his Mazda he would like to try some professional level racing, probably the Grand Am Cup Series. He has looked at a couple of vehicles and would start out with a limited schedule. Kryderacing would handle the trackside portion of the program and also assist in shop work and acquiring co-drivers.
 

Matt Carson

Matt Carson, who had been working at our shop for a little over a year, is now in Iraq. His Army Reserve unit was called into duty during the month of December and shipped overseas shortly after the Holidays. “Matt 2”, as we called him, had been a great asset to Kryderacing and he will be missed. Hopefully he will be back with us in 2005.

Matt Miller

Better known as “Matt1”, he continues to be busy running the day-to-day operations of the Kryderacing shop. He may move into SCCA National level competition in 2004. Matt has driven his Merkur and Mazda RX-7 in SCCA IT classes for the last few years. Along the way he has moved from running near the back to near the front of some very competitive groupings. When Bill Pintaric moved from his Datsun 510 to the new Nissan 200SX in the GT4 class he decided to keep the “510” for several reasons (vintage racing was one of them). But Matt has talked Bill into letting him make a couple of minor modifications which would change the classing from GT4 to G-Production. Matt would then drive the car in Nationals. His first race should be at Gingerman on April 25th.

Nelson Ledges

Following the last race of 2003 the track received a lot of new pavement. Pictures are on the internet and it is impressive. Following the other changes made by new manager Scott Lane during 2003, this was the icing on the cake. Everyone is looking forward to 2004. Every lap record is in serious jeopardy. Another change which will greet competitors in 2004 will be the return of Kryderacing supplied racing gas at the track. Following a bumpy 2003 season, which saw Kryderacing replace their gas tanks and pumps with a crude 5-gallon container system of sales, we met with Scott and a gas supplier late in 2003. The plan is to have new tanks, pumps, a cement pad, and appropriate fencing to handle both leaded and unleaded racing gas in 2004. One of our objectives is to have the gas available every day of the week, not just during SCCA race events. Contact Nelson Ledges at 440-548-8551 for track and schedule information.

Kryderacing Regional Championship Series

The twenty-second annual edition of this road racing series will return to Nelson Ledges in 2004. Dates have been set and rules will probably remain unchanged. We plan on announcing everything at the Neohio Competition Clinic scheduled for Saturday, March 20th. Contact us for details on the series or the clinic. Also, we never got a chance to issue a newsletter listing all of the 2003 Champions and other top finishers but a complete listing can be found at www.kryderacing.com.

NASA

In 2002 and 2003 Kryderacing supplied a “trackside service” program to the Ohio-Indiana Chapter of NASA. The plan was similar to the one we had provided to TrackTime Performance Racing Schools for many years. Basically, we supplied a mechanic to help students and competitors at every event. However, supplying someone to do maintenance on disabled vehicles was not producing sufficient trackside income or follow-up shop traffic to justify our commitment. But this NASA Chapter is growing and Kryderacing wants to stay involved. After studying their 2004 schedule, we decided we can attend several events in our past capacity and plan on doing so. But we have also noticed six endurance races and would like to compete in as many as possible. Ideally we would desire a single competitor renting the car (we would negotiate a package deal) and add co-drivers on an “as-needed” basis. Contact mansier@zoominternet.net for Ohio-Indiana Chapter NASA info or call Kryderacing for race vehicle rental details.
 

TrackTime Performance Driving Schools

We have received a 2004 calendar for their schools. All dates were set except for a May event at Road America which was waiting resolution of the CART/OWRS court issues. Hopefully it will be announced in the near future. Kryderacing has informed TrackTime of our intentions to provide trackside service at most of their events. The May Road America event (date?) and two others are to be finalized as far as Kryderacing providing trackside assistance. Contact TrackTime at www.tracktime.com for a complete schedule and additional information.
 

John Bender

Reed and John did the One Lap of America from 2000 through 2002 in a couple of John’s Corvettes. Schedule conflicts negated doing the 2003 event. John called last November to see if Reed was available in 2004. He also offered something new and different to drive (not that the Corvettes weren’t fun). John had ordered one of the new Cadillac CTS-V vehicles and thought it might be an interesting change. Even though Reed took some time answering, he knew from the beginning his answer would be “yes“. The car has the 400HP engine and six-speed transmission originally installed in the Corvettes. John’s car arrived at his dealer on January 30th. While he hasn’t driven it, he was able to sit in it before he left town for an extended trip. We hope to get up to Michigan in the next couple of weeks so we can determine what modifications might be possible. We don’t know if we will have much time for any modifications since the car is so new (John has one of the first five delivered to customers) and aftermarket parts are not available. For example, try finding wheels for this car. Six-lug wheels may be common for trucks but they are rare for cars, and currently unavailable in sizes to fit the new CTS-V.

This years One Lap of America will also be different than the seven other events Reed has run. The event will be longer than those of the recent past and will be the first in many years to travel as far west as California. The event starts on April 29th at the Tire Rack headquarters in South Bend, Indiana. It then travels to Heartland Park, Pikes Peak International, Infineon (Sears Point), Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Pueblo Motorsports Park, Hallett, and Road America before finishing on May 8th back at Tire Rack. 5,654 miles will be traveled on the highways in addition to the track mileage. Driving the Corvettes will be missed, but having the Cadillac’s backseat to sleep in during the trip may be a blessing.
 

Rental Cars

We still have our rental fleet available. Both the Nissan 240SX and Nissan NX2000 will be ready for ITS-class competition very shortly. And there is a lot of early interest. Contracts have been sent to reserve both cars for the Mahoning Valley Double Driver’s School scheduled for April 16-18 at Nelson Ledges Road Course. The NX is currently at the body-shop receiving a new solid roof and the SX is getting an engine rebuild (after 60+ weekends it needed it). Both cars should be noticeably faster in 2004 than they were in 2003.
 

Nelson Ledges 12-Hour Endurance Race

The “Longest Day” is making a partial return. This classic 24-hour grind has been missing for several years. On July 24th there will be a SCCA sanctioned 12-Hour enduro for Showroom and IT class cars. Some of the details are still being finalized, but it looks as if this style of amateur racing is finally returning to its birthplace. It also looks as if Kryderacing will be involved with at least one, and probably several, vehicles.
 

Ron Stiller

If you ever raced SCCA Nationals in the Northeast Division you knew Ron. You probably also know he passed away near the end of last year. We met Ron and his wife (Joan) in the late seventies when Reed was designing race tires for Goodyear. The Stillers were the trackside retail representatives for Goodyear at NEDiv National events. What made Ron (and Joan) special were their relationships with the racers. There are very few representatives for any company who express as much passion for their customer's activities as these two did. (Note: Another similar person associated with Goodyear was “Little Joe” out in California.) Everyone, including tire competitors, turned to Ron for advice because they knew Ron would be honest and help in any way he could. When Reed worked for Goodyear you could not walk anywhere in the offices without seeing a sign which said “Protect Our Good Name”. You can look at this slogan several ways. Many people might concentrate on the word “Protect”. Ron concentrated on creating the “Good Name”. Little did we know when we chatted with him at last Fall’s Run-Offs it would be the last of many enjoyable conversations.