Bull

Sorry, I forgot.....you know how us dumb little DE guys are!

Larry Herman

I do understand. When I was doing DEs, I never really wanted to race either.

Understood, but that still doesn't mean that you have the ability to run with the pros.

That still doesn't mean you are pro material. There are plenty of people that I am comfortable racing with, just as long as they are at the back of the grid, and I am at the front. Maybe that was what he had in mind.

I had a little pro instruction back in 1990 from some guy named Brian Redmon down at Sebring. Ever heard of him? After about 15 laps, he got out of the car and said "Larry, you're very fast". Not exactly what I wanted to hear. I wanted some speed secret that would drop my lap time by a second or so. To this day, I don't know if he had nothing to teach me, or he was just being nice and wanted to get the hell out of the car. For the record, I was the fastest one at that school. I plan to get some pro instruction at the HC advanced lapping event at the Glen in May. Hopefully, I'll really learn a few things then.

So what are you doing to see if you have the ability to be a pro racer? Maybe you should run in a Skip Barber car, or some other rent-a-spec racer to see exactly how you compare. As I have documented and others have said in this thread, just having a pro or 2 say that you should race is really not any endorsement of your overall racing ability.

Bull

Horst gave some spankings to Porsches, but not many. When Porsche was allowed in he was still driving a GTA, as he had the year prior. He beat the Porsches for a few events, then it was 50-50 with Porsche/Alfa wins, then Porsches won the late year races. In '68, he came out with a GTA again, but after being beaten by almost all of the Porsches a few times, he switched to a Mustang in June for the remainder of '68 and '69. Those were tuff years for him in that class. When Porsche was legislated out in '70, Horst went back to a GTA and did very well, as he did in '71 and '72 in a GTV, but there were no Porsches.

The car in the picture was his Pepsi-Wetson car that he drove in '72.

cooleyjb

Very true. However some of the things that I have heard about the MX-5 cars is that top to bottome there was essentially no difference when they dyno'd the competitors cars top to bottom. I think it says more about the consistency of the stuff Mazdda was putting out at the time than picking and choosing motors. I think it also helps that the cars were all new this year too. No older vs. newer and any small differences that may happen from year to year.

I think the biggest difference is as you said (other than driver). Setup and testing time is getting the last little bit through suspension settings and learning from running multiple cars.

cooleyjb

Thanks for the info Bob. Do you have any photos of the stuff you did back then that you'd be willing to share. I'd love to see them.

Now for most vintage races they group the small bore cars with all the big block cars in the same class much to the chagrin of the under 2.0 guys.

I'm curious how Grand-am Cup and Speed World Challenge will be looked at in 30 years everytime I read about the older GT stuff.

Bull

In the early Trans-Am days (through '69), that is exactly how we ran, with the 5 Liters and the U-2s together. Great training for mnirror use. Nothing like a Driver's meeting where at the end they asked for questions/comments, and George F. says "yeah, those 2 Liter guys should STF out of the way if they want to stay on the track". And the response is "anything else"?

Pictures and "Super 8" movies...hold on while I set up my projector, screen..... I have an ex-wife who likes them so much (she wasn't there at the time) that she has refused to allow me access to sort them out of the pictures she wants. But, I haven't tried for about 7 years, so maybe I'll take another run at her!

Milt Minter was a friend and a bit of a mentor (favorite question was "WTF was THAT?"), and there are some pictures on the website set up in his memory. I'll switch my avatar to one of my favorites from his early "RV".

Veloce Raptor

Brian is a very good friend, as I think I told you on the phone once. I almost ALMOST bought his motorsports event business several years ago.

cooleyjb

Link to Milt Minter picture gallery

There are some great shots in there.

904, 906 917 some NART Ferrari stuff. Great Pics. Thanks for the lead.

LoanWolf

Fantastic gallery!!!! Love the RSR's....

I knew there was a reason to keep coming back to this forum ....other than the obvious comic relief factor!

Bull

He was a drover....and I learned one of my over used lines from him...."I'm not smart enough to be scared"!

Donky Bop!

TD in DC

I am in no way comparing myself with him, but I think I share the same problemexcept I am slow!

Bonster

Nice hidden message in true HWFMR style.

GhettoRacer

The only reason I don't race = funds. My family is not supportive in that aspect. Chinese people do not know a lot about racing because China was pretty much closed off since 1950's and no racing until maybe past 2000. Taiwan is open, but the government sucks *** and never promote racing at all. The only place Chinese people raced was in Macau GP and that's very dirty from what I hear, mafia connections or you are super rich... etc.

It is SUPER hard to become a pro. I have no illusions about that. Couple guys who I know have super talent - ie, Marc Kirberg, Ken Dobson... both top drivers from the Bay Area, they did WC for 1 or 2 years tops. Heck, Marc goot rookie of the year in 2002 and finished 3rd. I don't even recall he got a ride in 2003...

However, I also understand it takes a bit more of talent to be a pro. It's what you bring to the table, how marketable you are. I think I have a decent enough talent to try to go pro, and I'm unique enough to be fairly marketable (in my own opinion of course). I've been researching everything all on my own and I've actually learn most of the driving by myself. Nobody sat in the car with me and taight me. I got tips and hints here and there when I asked good drivers to check my progress. That's one reason I'm so proud of my skills. I earn them myself.

Anyhooo... I've got my plans for 2007 so... we'll see how it goes. It's all or nothing. I've been working very very hard in the last few months.

Mike in Chi

Great background stuff Bob

My Dad had a '67 GTV, so I loved the Alfas and hated the Porsches.

Bull

All proves that you are educable...not that there was ever any question....well two people did wonder, but I sent them on their way!

My best Alpha story is that my second wife, a short lived situation on the West Coast, was very clear that she didn't see me heading off with the Porsches while she enjoyed her VW, so I bought an Alpha for her in 1972, a Spyder, and we went our seperate ways. I run into her every 10 years or so in Seattle and she never fails to bring up that Alpha, which she claims was worse than the Exxon Valdez for oil loss and seemed to need a front end rebuild...I had no idea! At least she still laughs about it....