Finally, a weekend with no Kryderacing assisted cars participating!  The first chance since early May to stay home and be lazy.  So what do Reed and Sandi do with such a rare opportunity?  Go to the race track, of course.  The weekend was July 20-22 and the races were the ALMS, Speed, and IRL shows at Mid-Ohio.  It was a worthwhile trip, especially from the standpoint of visiting with numerous old friends from our IMSA and Marlboro days.

The racing season is in full swing.  Already the podium finishes for Kryderacing assisted vehicles include 18 wins, 9 seconds, and 4 thirds.  One race event featured 12 Kryderacing clients in competition, the highest in our history.  Inquiries and sales of HANS devices are frequent  Our gas sales at Nelson Ledges were high enough at the recent Mahoning Valley Nationals to empty the leaded gas tank and almost empty the unleaded.  A few weekends later we emptied the leaded tank at a huge Regional event.  Reed and Sandi did find one weekend to sneak away for a little vacation early in the month of May (swinging by Road America for a vintage event during the trip).  For the ret of the news, let’s talk about the racers(in alphabetical order).

John R. (father) and John M. Buttermore (son) have been doing extremely well.  The T-1 class Corvette of John R. finished second at the Grattan National and at the Mid-Ohio National.  He added a third at the Road America June Sprints.  John M. has been competing with a Cadillac CTS-V in the T-2 class.  The car was not competitive in 2006 and the SCCA made some minor adjustments which have helped.  John M. won at the Grattan National, finished fourth at the Mid-Ohio National, and added a second at the June Sprints.  Both drivers and their cars are qualified for the Run-Offs in Topeka.  But there is a problem.  John M. started driving the Corvette at the ORP National.  He won T-1 and followed that with a T-1 victory at Watkins Glen.  With two more starts both he and his dad will be qualified for the Run-Offs in the same car.  Kryderacing has been providing trackside assistance for most of the Buttermore’s activities this year and will continue through the Run-Offs.

Kryderacing employee Matt Carson has had his ITS class Datsun 240Z out for a couple of races so far this year.  The improvement in vehicle speed and his driving is impressive. He has recorded fifths at both Mid-Ohio and Nelson Ledges races in very competitive ITS fields.  In both cases he set personal best lap times.

Eddy Eckart doesn’t bring his Spec Miata to Kryderacing for service.  But Reed has been coaching him at Nelson Ledges and Mid-Ohio.  The report on the Nelson event was in a previous newsletter.  He finished fourth in the Regional portion of a Mid-Ohio National/Regional event, beating National level drivers in the process.

Bruce Keillor had a great year in 2006.  He not only qualified for and attended the SCCA Run-Offs, but he found time to run enough Regional events at Nelson Ledges Road Course to win the SSC Championship in the Kryderacing Series.  He reversed his approach this year, deciding to concentrate on Regional events.  At the Steel Cities Double Regional (Nelson Ledges May 12-13) he won on Saturday but failed to finish on Sunday.  A month later he was back at Nelson for the Western New York Double Regional.  Again he won on Saturday.  But this time there was damage to the transmission and he did not even start on Sunday.  In between the two Regional weekends he finished fourth at both the Nelson Ledges National and the Mid-Ohio National.  He returned to Nelson Ledges with a rebuilt transmission for the June 30-July 1 Mahoning Valley Region/MARRS/Kryderacing Double Regional.  He proceeded to win his class both days.

Reed Kryder decided to compete with the ITA class Nissan NX2000 at the Steel Cities Double Regional on May 12-13.  He hadn’t driven the NX in several years and was curious about its condition.  This car and the Kryderacing ITS class Nissan 240SX are usually driven only by renters and sometimes we need to re-establish a baseline as to their condition.  The NX had old tires and the springs were still too stiff for Nelson Ledges (the original spring rate recommendation came from California and was based on the smoother tracks found on the West Coast).  The engine seemed very healthy but the limited slip is becoming somewhat “limited” in its effectiveness.  Nevertheless, the car was good enough to run in the front half of the class, finishing third on Saturday and fourth on Sunday.

Gary Martz has been making improvements to the E-Production Mazda RX-7 he initially acquired last year.  The car is beautiful (a photo of it with the Kryderacing logo was featured in Road America’s annual brochure) and has the potential to win races.  Unfortunately it also seems to have some problems, many originating with its previous owner(s)).  Running a race car equipped with computer controlled fuel injection can be a lot more confusing then old fashioned carburetors.  The computer is a big improvement, but when something isn’t right, especially when the computer itself is a suspect, the solution can be very elusive.  Gary won at the May 13 Grattan National, but has been struggling since then.  He was initially battling for the lead at the Nelson Ledges National but faded to fourth at the finish.  He followed with dnf’s at both Mid-Ohio and the June Sprints before returning to form with a strong second at the ORP Nationals.  We have no doubt Gary will reverse this pattern in the near future.  Kryderacing employee Matt Miller has been helping him on several evenings and Matt Carson towed his trailer to the June Sprints with our truck.

Kryderacing shop boss Matt Miller has had his ITS class Mazda RX-7 out a couple of times this year but has had a couple of transmission problems.  The transmission broke at Mid-Ohio so Matt acquired and installed another one for Nelson Ledges.  He finished Saturday’s race but something wasn’t right with the fresh transmission so he opted to not run on Sunday.  The problem turned out to be minor, but it was internal and could have been expensive if allowed to continue.

Mike Olivier has had his ITA class Honda out for a couple of Regionals this year and it is obvious the improvement made during the Winter at the Kryderacing shop is paying dividends.  The ITA fields at Mid-Ohio are always impressive both in quantity and quality.  Mike lowered his personal best lap times buy several seconds on his way to an eighth place finish in his first race of the year.  A month later at Nelson Ledges he drastically improved his personal best lap time and finished eleventh of nineteen.  The car still has room for improvements and will continue to get faster.

Rob Piekarcyzk has been busy running his T3 class Mazda RX-8 while waiting for a vehicle to run in the 24-Hour event at Nelson Ledges.  The competition in T3 has increased this year but Rob has gotten faster.  He has recorded a fourth at the Nelson Ledges National and a third at the ORP National.  Rob will be one of the Kryderacing cars to watch at the Run-Offs.

Bill Pintaric has been a Kryderacing client for many years and we have prepped several race cars for him.  The last few years he has competed in Nationals with a GTL class Nissan 200SX.  He won the Northeast Division the last few years and finished a personal best fifth at the Run-Offs last year .  In 2007 he picked up where he left off and has used recent wins at BeaveRun and Mid-Ohio along with a second in the rain at Nelson Ledges to increase his points lead.

David Pintaric has been a strong contender this year in every race he has run his T-1 class Viper.  His most recent race was at Watkins Glen where he finished third.  But he was within a second of the winner at the finish and had led some laps.  It was probably his best race of the year even without being his best finish.  He had won the previous three races.  The previous race was a first overall win at BeaveRun.  That was proceeded by a win in the wet at Mid-Ohio.  David started on the pole and being the only T-1 driver to opt for wet tires, he easily lapped the T-1 field.  Two weeks earlier he won at Nelson Ledges for his fourth straight T-1 National victory at the track.  It will be interesting to see if he can make it five in a row at Nelson.  On the weekend of July 27-29 he plans on competing at the Lime Rock National on Saturday and starting at the back of the field at Nelson Ledges on Sunday.

Bill Schauer had a rough weekend his second time out in 2007.  Back in April Bill recorded the first ever win for the ITS class Kryderacing Nissan 240SX.  But the engine had a problem near the end of the weekend and it needed rebuilt.  In June Bill had a fresh engine, but it had teething problems.  He failed to complete all the laps on Saturday but rebounded with a second place on Sunday.

Two of the Nelson Ledges races mentioned above were chaired by Sandi.  The Memorial Day National and the June 30/July 1 Double Regional were both big events.  The Regional had over 220 entries, the largest event seen at Nelson Ledges in over twenty years.

The National weekend at Nelson Ledges also was the first time we used our new cement pad in the paddock.  It sure made working on the cars a lot nicer.  Track management will install a pad for anyone.  Just come to an arrangement as to location, size, and price.  Once installed it’s yours whenever you are at the track.

We have also worked with Team Sahlen at three Grand American Koni Challenge events since our last newsletter.  Kryderacing provided all preparation, trackside support, and crew for a Dodge Neon SRT4 at the new Iowa Speedway, the Neon and a Porsche 996 at Lime Rock, and the Neon and two Porsches at Mid-Ohio.  Reed and Sandi also assisted Team Sahlen in their Rolex GT efforts at the July 5th Daytona race.
Check www.kryderacing.com for weekly updates.