"HELPING PEOPLE ACHIEVE THEIR RACING OBJECTIVES"
Slowly but surely
things are starting to move forward for the 2008 racing season. Some,
like the Koni program, are already underway. John M. Buttermore and
David Pintaric have already been on the racetrack. The Kryderacing
Regional Championship Series has some changes for its 26th season.
And we found out how hot dogs are made.
KRYDERACING REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES AT NELSON LEDGES ROAD COURSE
We are happy to announce the 26th annual edition of this series. We have a new Region (Western Ohio) participating in 2008 and a late starting, but very full schedule. We do not plan on changing any of the rules for 2008. All of the race weekends are double events except the season ending Western New York. Their event is a single, but double points are issued for the Sunday feature races. Points are awarded 9-6-4-3-2-1 plus 1 additional point for each starter beaten in class. Kryderacing has no control over how the Regions conduct their races. We merely look at the results and assign points. Every competitor is part of the series and while display of the Kryderacing decals is not mandatory, it sure is appreciated. A competitor must participate in a minimum of three weekends to be eligible for an award. The 2008 season consists of six weekends:
June 28-29
Finger Lakes Region Double Regional (“Westward Ho”)
July 12-13
Mahoning Valley Region Double Regional (also part of the MARRS Series)
July 26-27
Neohio Region Double Regional
August 30-31
Western Ohio Region Double Regional (“WOR Games“)
October 18-19
Mahoning Valley Region Double Regional (“Golden Harvest”)
October 25-26
Western New York Regional (“Great Pumpkin Affair”)
November 15
Kryderacing Series Awards Banquet
SAHLEN PACKING COMPANY TOUR
Let’s talk about
hot dogs. Those of you who follow our activities in the Koni Challenge
should recognize the name Joe Sahlen. He races with Will, Wayne,
and Joe Nonnamaker in both the Grand American Rolex and Koni Series.
Kryderacing provides trackside assistance for their Mazda RX8 in the Koni
program and occasionally helps with the Rolex effort. Joe Sahlen
owns and operates a meat packing company in Buffalo, NY where some great
tasting hot dogs (along with other equally tasty meat items) are prepared
for the marketplace. While at Daytona, Joe invited us to stop by
for a tour if we were in the Buffalo area. Reed and Sandi recently
delivered a clients Corvette Z06 to Buffalo and took Joe up on his offer.
We were a little unsure of what to expect. Some people had told us
we would never eat another hot dog after seeing how they were made.
These predictors were totally wrong. We found the operation to be
interesting and extremely professional. The different temperatures
from one room to another (for quality control) was surprising, both from
the standpoint of how many variances we walked through and the tight temperature
range each area needed to operate within. It was easy to understand
how a health issue could arise if something was not done properly.
And it was obvious Joe pays very close attention to all the details and
modernizes his equipment whenever he sees a chance for improvement.
Thanks for the tour, Joe.
CORVETTE Z06 MODIFICATIONS
The Corvette we were
returning to the Buffalo area belongs to Dean Tassy. Dean uses the
car for track days and Kryderacing had installed a roll bar, shocks, suspension
bushings, anti-roll bars, and a couple of other pieces. We also aligned
the car for his next “on track“ program. The Z06 starts out as a
great car. We are hopeful our work will make it even better.
While we were dropping off the car we discovered Dean had a new Corvette
ZR1 on order. He isn’t sure it will become a track car. And
one other item: since we gave Sahlen a “plug” we should do the same for
Dean’s company. Dean owns and operates Alethea’s Chocolates.
They are some of the best chocolates you will ever taste.
DAVID PINTARIC CONQUERS ROAD ATLANTA NASA
David raced his Viper
in a couple of NASA events at Road Atlanta on the weekend of March 15-16.
He had been getting anxious to hit the track and the snowy Ohio weather
wasn’t helping. Kryderacing mechanic, Matt Carson, joined David
for the trip south. It was David’s first trip to the track and he
took an immediate liking to it, winning both of his races. The weekend
was a little rough from the standpoint of weather, tornados were in the
area for much of Friday and Saturday.
BUTTERMORE RUNS T2 CAMARO AT FIREBIRD SCCA NATIONALS
While David was racing
at Road Atlanta, John M. Buttermore acquired a T2 Camaro to race at the
Firebird (near Phoenix) Double National SCCA event. Seems John was
working in the area and also needed a mid-Winter “racing fix”. He
finished sixth in the T2 class at the Run-Offs last fall driving his Cadillac
CTS-V. He drove the Camaro to a 2nd on Saturday but had a mechanical
problem on Sunday. We do not expect John to drive the Cadillac in
2008 because he feels the SCCA rules put it at a severe disadvantage.
But he should be back at the track with his T1 Corvette trying to improve
on his second place finish at the 2007 Run-Offs. Kryderacing provided
trackside assistance for that effort and we plan on helping him in his
efforts this year.
IT”S A SMALL WORLD
Frank Honsowetz has been a friend of Kryderacing for over a quarter of a century. We knew him before he became the head of Nissan Motorsports and have continued to stay in touch after he left Nissan to work for Ed Pink Racing Engines. Even when he was at Nissan, racing engines were Frank‘s love.
We met Tom Malloy at the 2007 Rolex 24 at Daytona when he was driving one of the Porsches we were crewing. Tom had a rough weekend after being blamed for an accident which probably should have had several drivers sharing the blame. We liked Tom and, since he lived in the Los Angeles area, had invited him to join us during our annual visit to Willow Springs in the Fall. Unfortunately he could not attend.
Then, in the February
6, 2008 issue of “National SpeedSport News” we found an article informing
us that the very same Tom Malloy had bought Ed Pink Racing Engines.
The article also stated Frank Honsowetz would stay on as General Manager
of day-to-day operations. Maybe they will both join us this year
at the Streets of Willow when we visit on November 5th.
STUFF FOR SALE
* Do you have an
old Indy car? Do you need tires for it? A friend contacted
us regarding eight Firestone 10X22.5X14 (size is how he reported it) tires
he has but doesn‘t want to scrap. They are NEW (as in “never used”)
with the Parnelli Jones labels on them. Give us a call if you are
interested and we will tell you who to contact for more information.
* Do you own a new
Indy car? You better own a HANS device. If you don’t, call
us ASAP and we will gladly sell you one and install the posts in your helmet
at no charge. HANS has some new items this year, including a less
costly model and a revised tether system. We also sell HANS devices
to people who race something other than Indy cars.
* We have been trying
to do some Spring cleaning. It is amazing how many things we hang
onto. A lot of the pit equipment we used in our IMSA GTU days is
still stored. Many of the spare race parts from those GTU cars are
still around. For example, we have boxes and boxes of almost new
racing brake pads. Several Infiniti cars (Q45, M30, J30, G20) can
be found around the shop with useful parts. There are over 5000 old
magazines in our basement (see www.kryderacing.com for listing).
* If you want a
1994 Infiniti Q45 which can be driven on the street we have one of those.
Reed and Sandi had bought it as a “luxury beater car” and planned on working
on it as time went by. The engine was replaced, the rear shocks changed,
and several other items repaired. It’s not done, but since they have
acquired something more fuel efficient, it (and a long list of spare parts)
is for sale for a very reasonable price.
* The Nissan 240SX
car we have rented for racing is in the process of being converted to another
class, but it is still available for the April 19-20 SCCA Double Driver’s
School at Nelson Ledges Road Course.
Check www.kryderacing.com
for weekly updates.