What motorsports moment are you most proud of?

This is a very good question! I had to think about this, and could not end up with one.

- taking the Targa plate at my first Targa Newfoundland and gaining the respect of my competitors

- leading the Open Class at the Targa in a car I built and engineered myself. Followed by a very low moment where a stock relay failed and dropped me to third for the last day.

- crew chief for a couple of winning cars at the Thunderhill T25, including being asked to take on extra cars because the other members of the team were struggling

- winning my first autocross (I had the only Miata, so basically I cheated but nobody knew that at the time)

- managing a two day high profile stunt for Road and Track that had a turbo Miata running in every single session of a weekend event. I had to spend a little time alone when we took that final checker. 

Mr. Peabody said:

I'm so overwhelmed by the sheer number of motorsports moments I'm not proud of to actually think of one I am.

That'd be a pretty funny thread.

I used to autocross with a club that gave a trophy for "Best Time of the Day".

FTD usually went to the same guys with the same Formula cars every week. 

To compete for BTD, you had to run clean all day (no cones), and each run had to be faster than the one before it. At the end of the day, there was a runoff for for all who qualified. The runoff was single elimination: Stay clean and go faster, or go home. Last man standing wins. 
 

I only won BTD one time, but it's the beer mug that I am most proud of. 

In 1992 I had a season to remember, 17 races in 28 weeks with an SCCA Spec Racer when all were Renault powered. The best was my first DC regional at Summit Point. I arrived with a Bridgehampton set up and qualified 28th out of 36. Whew, at least i made the show. I finished 14th in a 13 lap race. Later in the year I won a couple, but none were anywhere near as satisfying. 

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

What's to prevent massive sandbagging? It's easy to do very slow clean runs, followed by slow clean runs. Or does absolute time matter?

When I started to build cars I went to the Bondurant driving school and took the advanced road racing course.  At the end of the course they had a short wheel, to wheel competition.  I won the event. 

Then I went to an event called Run n Gun.  This was sponsored by a kit car magazine and was held for several years at Gateway International Raceway.  The event was timed, road race, drag race, and autocross.  I had never raced but ended up winning several events, including overall for my class.  I attended this event for several years and with 3 different cars that I built. 

No way that I'm a competitive top notch driver. But, I had fun and it was satisfying to win many events in my own cars.  I drove the cars to the event, raced and drove, at that time back to NH.  

I am not a fast track driver, but I'm safe and consistent with good stamina, so endurance racing is my jam, and Lemons is a good fit with my skinflint nature. I was driving the 3 Pedal Mafia boat (4.3v6 powered S10 with a fiberglass boat on it) at Monticello Motor Club and was just feeling it. I am prone to what Chris - the team captain - calls "gentleman motoring" where I'm a bit too polite on track. But in this case, I was not giving point-bys and was making people in my class work for passes and my laps gradually got smoother and faster. I had a Miata plant in front of me at the chicane and I had to brake for them - what Miata is slower than an S10 through a chicane? Finally I ended up in a 1-on-1 battle with Racinrob's 4-cyl fox mustang (the one with a big dirt track wing on the roof). For several laps he held me off, closing the door on passes and keeping me in his mirrors. On the absolute last lap of the race, I finally set up a pass where I knew he would go wide and I could late apex and squeeze past. It worked perfectly and I made the pass stick and put some distance between us. He even posted in the Lemons forum about it, saying I "flat out out-drove him." That felt good.

I have no idea where we were in the standings, probably racing for 34th place, but man it was fun. Thanks Rob!!

Edit: I forgot to add - a photo of the boat in question, though maybe not at that race:

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

What's to prevent massive sandbagging? It's easy to do very slow clean runs, followed by slow clean runs. Or does absolute time matter?

Well, there's always pride and dignity... but I think you had to win your class as well. 

Besides, who wants to stand around in the sun all day to drive slow?

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

Depends on how much you want that beer mug :) It's all about reading the rule book if you want to win. If you want to have fun, well, that's different.

Me and 2 friends split on a $300 1985 Honda Accord for snow/ice autocross. We put on a set of 13" snow tires (about $35-40 each at the time... those were the days), and cut the front sway bar links. The team name was 'Rice on Ice', and it was covered in random stickers from Canadian Tire.

I somehow won the FWD class in 2 of 4 events, taking the FWD title over a Mk.3 GTI (among others).

Funny enough (and maybe expected) I've spent a lot of time at the track but thinking back it's hard to think of actual accomplishments other than having fun and not killing a car. 

the only two I can really think of is setting the NASA ST6 lap record at VIR which still stands

 

and a class win at the Endurance Karting 24 Hours of America at Daytona with these fine folks. If I remember right I think we won by about 7 laps. 
 

I started autocrossing late in life, age 50.  My most memorable event was when I was called to the starting line after my runs to help a newbie figure out the course and get a good run.  It made me proud to feel my fellow competitors felt enough about my skills and experience to pick me.

I thought of one. In 2013/2014 I was racing vintage motocross at the club level and really enjoying it, so I thought I'd look into the provincial level stuff. I discovered there was an event on a rare off weekend for me only a few hours from home, and the track looked fast and rough, just the way I like it. So I went with one intention, to have a good time. Practice didn't go well, but that's not out of the ordinary for me, especially on a new track. 

It was a full gate and in the first moto. I was about mid pack around the first turn and started to pick them off, one by one. About 3/4 of the way through the race I caught the guy in first place and paced myself, but when I went to put the moves on him, I think he was surprised I was there and he turned it on. We ran the entire final lap side by side, all the way down the long straight, over a number of jumps, and up to the big finish line jump where I chickened out and let him have the win. In race two I was ready. I got a really good start and he and I were gone. I'd remembered his weaknesses from the first race and tried to exploit them, pushing him hard through his weak areas, but he wasn't having it.  He was in it for the win, until he started to get tired and make mistakes. When that happened I went by him and I was gone. I ended up finishing about half a lap ahead of him,  got first overall on the day and a few thank you's from the other racers for putting him in his place.

I remembered posting that pic here and found it

I've been fortunate enough to do a fair number of car things things, but the actual motorsports accomplishment I'm proudest of was not driving - well, not from the left seat.  In the late 70s through the mid 80s I co-drove for a couple of low buck, midfield stage rally teams in SCCA national and divisional events.  Mostly in late model Corvairs, believe it or not.  One year (79?  80? can't remember) at the SCCA National Pro Rally called Big Bend Bash in Terlingua, Texas we finished ninth overall out of around 40 cars, our only top ten finish at a national.  On that event I made zero errors, and after the post-event chili party, when my driver and his wife drove back to their motel (my wife and I were in our car) he drove right past the turn into the parking lot, he swears because my voice wasn't in his ear telling him to turn.  Other good results were 2nd overall in a divisional in Colorado and 17th overall in a national in Arizona with around 75 entries, but the Big Bend finish was our "finest hour".  I have more outrageous "war stories" from stage rallying than from any other form of motorsports I have done.

In reply to dculberson :

You really need to check out the current and upcoming episodes of Full Custom Garage on Motor Trend TV!  Ian is building a "drag boat" for the street (well, shows, actually).

Obviously some years ago - back when I daily drove and autocrossed my '87 5.0 Mustang (F Stock, Street Tire), I ran some events with the local Porsche club. Didn't win, but 2nd was pretty good.  

1. SpecMiata class win and 9th overall at the 2011 13 Hour Charge of the Headlight Brigade at VIR.

2. Watkins Glen with Skip Barber MX5.  Full course yellow to green with 3 laps to go. 1/2 rain and 1/2 dry track. I was in 12th place. Finished 3rd.  It was one of my best races ever.

The truth is that I'm a pretty novice racer and not very fast or accomplished.  My proudest motorsports accomplishment so far is completing my Spec Miata build last year and finally getting my SCCA Full Competition License at race school last spring, after years of doing HPDE.  I have a very busy work and family life, to finally get licensed was a major commitment of time and effort.  As it stands I only have the time to race maybe once or twice every quarter, but I've been getting much faster and working with a coach.  Soon I'll be sorta threatening the middle of the pack in SRF3, that's about as much as a guy who started racing in his 40's can hope for.

ShawnG said:

Got invited to a Jaguar club autocross because they wanted Brand X cars to beat up on.

Brought my heavily modified 1981 Turbo Trans Am and saw that I was the only guy changing tires for the event.

Came home with FTD and was never invited back.

Every Jaguar club is primarily a social ( dinner) club. Occasionally a car show. Almost never a race event. It's because most Jaguar owners are poseurs.  Not racers. 
 That's why Used Jaguars are such a good deal.  They depreciate like crazy because the dealer charges a fortune for parts and service.  Owners are afraid they will break the car and treat it like a baby to keep it running as cheap as possible. 
  Unlike Corvettes, Mustangs Porsches, BMW's  etc who's owners tend to beat the snot out of them. 
  Jaguars with 100,000 miles are dirt cheap even cheaper if they don't run. 
    The Ignition modules at the Jag dealer is $1400. Or turn the Lucas   plastic housing over and pull out the actual GM pickup truck module and but it from NAPA  for $30.   The early fuel injection module is from a VW Rabbit 3 ganged together.   The engine itself is more bullet proof than a Chrysler Hemi.  Tranny is GM turbo 400 Dana 44 rear end.  Even the paint is a GM process. 

frenchyd said:

ShawnG said:

Got invited to a Jaguar club autocross because they wanted Brand X cars to beat up on.

Brought my heavily modified 1981 Turbo Trans Am and saw that I was the only guy changing tires for the event.

Came home with FTD and was never invited back.

Every Jaguar club is primarily a social ( dinner) club. Occasionally a car show. Almost never a race event. It's because most Jaguar owners are poseurs.  Not racers. 
 That's why Used Jaguars are such a good deal.  They depreciate like crazy because the dealer charges a fortune for parts and service.  Owners are afraid they will break the car and treat it like a baby to keep it running as cheap as possible. 
  Unlike Corvettes, Mustangs Porsches, BMW's  etc who's owners tend to beat the snot out of them. 
  Jaguars with 100,000 miles are dirt cheap even cheaper if they don't run. 
    The Ignition modules at the Jag dealer is $1400. Or turn the Lucas   plastic housing over and pull out the actual GM pickup truck module and but it from NAPA  for $30.   The early fuel injection module is from a VW Rabbit 3 ganged together.   The engine itself is more bullet proof than a Chrysler Hemi.  Tranny is GM turbo 400 Dana 44 rear end.  Even the paint is a GM process. 

Plus they have more horsepower than an F18.

My wife reminded of one I totally forgot.

1994 March issue of Road & Track; they were doing a feature on SCCA club racing and I there was a picture of my car and.nice caption mentioning me.  My cousin called seething with jealousy and we had a good laugh..

Working all night to rebuild a motor from a pile of spares and pulling parts off not yet stripped down core motors. First fire up was to drive it on the trailer so it could go to a 24 hour race.  I could not go to the race but we won the class for sure and I don't remember if we wore the event overall.  That motor went on to win two more races before it needed a new set of rings.   
 

One of my proudest moments was seeing my team mates come home beaming after that race.  

Do my Mario Kart exploits count?  Closest I've been to wheel to wheel racing!  Love the stories - keep them coming!

6th place finish at the 2003 Runoffs in Formula Continental.  I'd been racing in ITA for a few years, and this was a huge step up.  After one year to get going in 2002, we set our sights on the Runoffs in 2003.  After way more time and money than I could possibly maintain, we got a pretty good finish at the Mid-Ohio Runoffs.  A buddy and I were running identical Van Diemens (he finished 9th), and we had a goal of top 10 finishes which we were ecstatic to both achieve our goal.  

After that, I switched to Club Formula Ford (older Formula Fords) and got a track record (since usurped) and won the ARRC at Road Atlanta.  

Now the challenge is to see what my 16 year old son can do in the CFF.

I could say it was winning Mod Rear at a divisional rallycross championship with a borrowed car with a broken rearend housing and Sumitomo summer tires that I'd corded during the event... or winning Prepared Front the next year at the same venue on high performance summer tires, cementing the idea that gummy slickish tires are best on hard packed clay.

Or the time I won overall at a Norwalk Raceway Park bracket race, with a manual transmission car that was very sensitive ET-wise to changing weather conditions (sundown was worth 5 tenths!)...

But.  My proudest moment was not something I did myself, but something that the rallycross community did that I was a part of.  Or rather, that I caused.  See, I won MR in 2015, won PF in 2016.  In 2018 I wanted to win Stock AWD, so I dutifully mounted the gummiest tires I could quickly find to my S60R, grabbed my helmet, and showed up.

That was my first and only run.  I was told that my car was dripping something.  "Yeah, I have the A/C blasting!" (So decadent!)  No no, it's black.  Get out and look, and there was an explosion of transmission fluid from the bellhousing area, and it was freeflowing with the engine running.  E36 M3!!

I dutifully completed my morning corner working duties while I tried to work out how the hell I was going to get home, let alone to work on Monday.  During the lunch break, I was speaking with Bob Martin, and he tells me I'll be okay.  He introduces me to Jim Kloosterman, who hands me the keys to his new Silverado and tells me to be back by noon tomorrow.

So, we get a push party, load my now-immobile Volvo on the trailer ("Oh, it's a Type R!" said one of the pushers.  Well not really, but let's go with that), I drive many hours down to EvanB's place, drop off my ATF-incontinent P2R, load up the Tofu Montero, and grab a few hours of sleep.

Drive back up to I-96 Speedway, unload the Montero, hand the keys back to Jim just as the event is finishing up, say some quick hi/byes to my friends to let them know what happened, and head for home.

As I am leaving, I drive up through people walking back to paddock from the area where awards ceremony was.  I see someone puzzle at who this person was in a white Montero with SCCA RallyCross banner on the windshield and an Ohio license plate.  Then they realize what happened and we give each other thumbs up.  I could hear the Mentos music in my head.

Why am I proud of this?  The RallyCross community is full of awesome people.  Some dumbass breaks his European luxury liner and without question, a complete stranger hands him the keys to his truck with nothing other than a request to be back in 24 hours, a group of people just sort of showed up to push the heavy-ass dead car on the trailer, and I ended up with a really sweet trucklet to drive while my car was dead (Eternal thanks, Evan!).  I feel warm and fuzzy about all this and do what I can to pay it forward when I can.