IMSA GTP Goodness

Found this on another site, sharing with you guys!! 1992 12 Hours of Sebring

http://www.vimeo.com/3637706

(sigh)

Good stuff there...don't know whether to be sad I'm so old, or happy that I'm old enough to have participated! (SCCA Corner Worker-2nd best seat in the house)

And man, it's good to see Road Atlanta without that silly chicane for once..I wish someone would put the original layout into a videogame or something.

http://www.vimeo.com/3279535

Thanks, Rusty! I miss GTP, those were great days. Somewhere in all my crap, I still have the rear fender spat from an Jag XJR-9. I was working Turn 7 at Rd. Atl, and picked it out of the road after Geoff Brabham & Price Cobb came through banging fenders.

Thanks guys...HOURS of my day gone now!

great site though.

friedgreencorrado wrote: (sigh) Good stuff there...don't know whether to be sad I'm so old, or happy that I'm old enough to have participated! (SCCA Corner Worker-2nd best seat in the house) And man, it's good to see Road Atlanta without that silly chicane for once..I wish someone would put the original layout into a videogame or something. http://www.vimeo.com/3279535 Thanks, Rusty! I miss GTP, those were great days. Somewhere in all my crap, I still have the rear fender spat from an Jag XJR-9. I was working Turn 7 at Rd. Atl, and picked it out of the road after Geoff Brabham & Price Cobb came through banging fenders.

man, its weird seing that bridge going across turn 1 and how dangerous it looks coming down thru the esses, and ya seeing no 10a,b complex with the tunnel is funny looking, didnt someone die in the tunnel before, some drunk guy on his quad?

A few things of note from the Road Atlanta race.

1. The pit crews were in T-shirts, Jeans, and tennis shoes.

2. was it a rule that driver changes were manditory with every pit stop? why did Doc Bundy and Van De Merwe switch out twice?

3. I find it odd that Bob Varsha cannot recognize a good fuel conservation pit strategy when he spots one. Bell and Holbert were obviously on an offset pit strategy....

maroon92 wrote: 3. I find it odd that Bob Varsha cannot recognize a good fuel conservation pit strategy when he spots one. Bell and Holbert were obviously on an offset pit strategy....

I dont really pay attention to anything he says...

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: man, its weird seing that bridge going across turn 1 and how dangerous it looks coming down thru the esses, and ya seeing no 10a,b complex with the tunnel is funny looking, didnt someone die in the tunnel before, some drunk guy on his quad?

Yeah, taking out the bridge at 1 was one of the first things Dr. Don did when he bought the place. I wouldn't be surprised if some spectator squashed himself in the tunnel, but I haven't heard any specifics. OTOH, except for this year's Mitty, I hadn't been in about 5 years.

Rd. Atl. used to have a reputation for being a "wild" track for spectators. At one point in the late `80s it was said that the place had more deaths off the racetrack than on it over the years. I know some of the stuff we did at night during Runoffs week was pretty dangerous..bonfires with magnesium VW engine blocks added, the "Dead Cat Burnout", drifiting before it was cool, fireworks wars in the woods...once at an AMA event I saw a bunch of bikers beat unconcious some rent-a-cop who was dumb enough to try to "arrest" them for smoking dope at 3am. And then they used his radio to tell his people to come pick him up.

damn!! and i thought the infield got kinda crazy during the Petit Le Mans...

friedgreencorrado wrote:

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: man, its weird seing that bridge going across turn 1 and how dangerous it looks coming down thru the esses, and ya seeing no 10a,b complex with the tunnel is funny looking, didnt someone die in the tunnel before, some drunk guy on his quad?

Yeah, taking out the bridge at 1 was one of the first things Dr. Don did when he bought the place. I wouldn't be surprised if some spectator squashed himself in the tunnel, but I haven't heard any specifics. OTOH, except for this year's Mitty, I hadn't been in about 5 years. Rd. Atl. used to have a reputation for being a "wild" track for spectators. At one point in the late `80s it was said that the place had more deaths off the racetrack than on it over the years. I know some of the stuff we did at night during Runoffs week was pretty dangerous..bonfires with magnesium VW engine blocks added, the "Dead Cat Burnout", drifiting before it was cool, fireworks wars in the woods...once at an AMA event I saw a bunch of bikers beat unconcious some rent-a-cop who was dumb enough to try to "arrest" them for smoking dope at 3am. And then they used his radio to tell his people to come pick him up.

That sounds way too familiar!

Were you residing at the Auger Inn? If so, we were your immediate next door neighbors for years.

Those were some great times, rain and/or shine!

from wikipedia

"The track was sold in 1978, and was passed from one owner to the next--including the notorious Whittington Brothers (Don & Bill), NASCAR, CART, & IMSA competitors who reportedly utilized parts of the track to land aircraft under darkness of night as a part of their well-publicized drug smuggling operations--resulting in bankruptcy in 1993. A partnership between business executives Frank Drendel, Jim Kanely, Eddie Edwards, George Nuse, and Bill Waddell was formed to purchase the track."

drug smuggling? really?

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: from wikipedia "The track was sold in 1978, and was passed from one owner to the next--including the notorious Whittington Brothers (Don & Bill), NASCAR, CART, & IMSA competitors who reportedly utilized parts of the track to land aircraft under darkness of night as a part of their well-publicized drug smuggling operations--resulting in bankruptcy in 1993. A partnership between business executives Frank Drendel, Jim Kanely, Eddie Edwards, George Nuse, and Bill Waddell was formed to purchase the track." drug smuggling? really?

Absolutely correct! That long back straight served a dual purpose during the Whittington years. Earned them a few years in a federally-sponsored "secured" housing complex. too.

Apparently they laundered their drug profits by infusing them into the gate receipts for race weekends. That likely explains what seemed to be rather inflated attendance figures at the time.

This from the perspective of one who was at the track 10-12 times a year, from opening day in Sept. '70 until it got Panozed.

haha, man that is crazyness!! im gonna look at the back straight in a completely different view now!!

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: from wikipedia "The track was sold in 1978, and was passed from one owner to the next--including the notorious Whittington Brothers (Don & Bill), NASCAR, CART, & IMSA competitors who reportedly utilized parts of the track to land aircraft under darkness of night as a part of their well-publicized drug smuggling operations--resulting in bankruptcy in 1993. A partnership between business executives Frank Drendel, Jim Kanely, Eddie Edwards, George Nuse, and Bill Waddell was formed to purchase the track." drug smuggling? really?

ROFL! Oh, man...how could I have forgotten that! Yeah. Worker camping in those days was up that hill behind the creek on the side of the original skid pad in the old (now club/support) paddock. I think they use the area to refuel the helicopter for the in-car cameras now. Anyhow, we could hear the airplanes at night..figured they were landing between the hump at 8 and "The Dip" (where the turn 10 chicane is now). They wouldn't do it at pro events, and I was kind of surprised they'd do it at a club race..but we didn't have spectators back then.

friedgreencorrado wrote:

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: from wikipedia "The track was sold in 1978, and was passed from one owner to the next--including the notorious Whittington Brothers (Don & Bill), NASCAR, CART, & IMSA competitors who reportedly utilized parts of the track to land aircraft under darkness of night as a part of their well-publicized drug smuggling operations--resulting in bankruptcy in 1993. A partnership between business executives Frank Drendel, Jim Kanely, Eddie Edwards, George Nuse, and Bill Waddell was formed to purchase the track." drug smuggling? really?

ROFL! Oh, man...how could I have forgotten that! Yeah. Worker camping in those days was up that hill behind the creek on the side of the original skid pad in the old (now club/support) paddock. I think they use the area to refuel the helicopter for the in-car cameras now. Anyhow, we could hear the airplanes at night..figured they were landing between the hump at 8 and "The Dip" (where the turn 10 chicane is now). They wouldn't do it at pro events, and I was kind of surprised they'd do it at a club race..but we didn't have spectators back then.

Speaking of helicopters, I always loved it when the evac chopper jockeys would take laps after the event - in their birds, following the course and the terrain, about 80 feet above the ground.

Yeah, I was impressed!

oldsaw wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote:

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: man, its weird seing that bridge going across turn 1 and how dangerous it looks coming down thru the esses, and ya seeing no 10a,b complex with the tunnel is funny looking, didnt someone die in the tunnel before, some drunk guy on his quad?

Yeah, taking out the bridge at 1 was one of the first things Dr. Don did when he bought the place. I wouldn't be surprised if some spectator squashed himself in the tunnel, but I haven't heard any specifics. OTOH, except for this year's Mitty, I hadn't been in about 5 years. Rd. Atl. used to have a reputation for being a "wild" track for spectators. At one point in the late `80s it was said that the place had more deaths off the racetrack than on it over the years. I know some of the stuff we did at night during Runoffs week was pretty dangerous..bonfires with magnesium VW engine blocks added, the "Dead Cat Burnout", drifiting before it was cool, fireworks wars in the woods...once at an AMA event I saw a bunch of bikers beat unconcious some rent-a-cop who was dumb enough to try to "arrest" them for smoking dope at 3am. And then they used his radio to tell his people to come pick him up.

That sounds way too familiar! Were you residing at the Auger Inn? If so, we were your immediate next door neighbors for years. Those were some great times, rain and/or shine!

We actually slept up in the worker camping, back over behind the creek where Tracer set up their hot tub during the Runoffs. But you could almost go anywhere & do anything on a worker pass in those days..we'd load up in the bed of somebody's pickup truck and go cruise the infield. We were pretty good buddies with the Turn 7 Teepee, the Booze Brothers (I wonder where those vans are today!), Team Weird over at 4, and a bunch of other folks I can't quite remember, including those cool guys behind the turn station at 9 ("..Kansas is cold, Ohio is flat, Turn 11 lap 18 is where it's at!") and the folks with the beach party every year at 5.

One year at the Trans-Am we got kicked into the infield because they wanted to use our camping site for support race paddock. We retaliated by having our regular fireworks war in that wooded spot off the infield road (cleared in 93-94 for the road from the chicane tunnel) and using that footbridge at 1 to clean all the food out of the hospitality tents in the paddock. Mazda had some great lasagna that year...

i almost got banned for crossing the track AFTER the end of the Petit Le Mans i think it was 03 or 04, everyone was partying up next to the pit wall for when the race was over. I squeezed thru the fence at the old pit lane to cross to the new pit lane at turn 1 because i didnt feel like walking all the way to the foot bridge at start/finish. Anyway, a corner worker said she dispached a Georgia State Trooper to escort me from the track and for life for doing that when i just ran straight to the transporters and hitched a ride out of the track. The front straight was packed with people anyway, didnt see the big deal...

I crewed at that race and quite a few others. We stayed at a fish camp in the swamp, with hot and cold running gators. Car owner, Del Taylor, was a notrious cheapskate. All that aside, I LOVED the experience there. Many stories, no space for them here. Last time I crewed there, I got thrown out because my girlfriend got too drunk. We've been married for 17 years now, she doesn't like Sebring. Oh well.

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: i almost got banned for crossing the track AFTER the end of the Petit Le Mans i think it was 03 or 04, everyone was partying up next to the pit wall for when the race was over. I squeezed thru the fence at the old pit lane to cross to the new pit lane at turn 1 because i didnt feel like walking all the way to the foot bridge at start/finish. Anyway, a corner worker said she dispached a Georgia State Trooper to escort me from the track and for life for doing that when i just ran straight to the transporters and hitched a ride out of the track. The front straight was packed with people anyway, didnt see the big deal...

Rusty, a corner worker? Doesn't sound like the Atlanta Region F&C I was a member of..

oldsaw wrote: Speaking of helicopters, I always loved it when the evac chopper jockeys would take laps after the event - in their birds, following the course and the terrain, about 80 feet above the ground. Yeah, I was impressed!

I never got a ride in one of those, but one year the Tracer guys (West Coast CSR Nat'l Champs for about fifteen years straight) gave us rides in theirs. The pilot was ex-Vietnam era Aircav, it was a great ride! Still got some still pics in all my crap somewhere.

friedgreencorrado wrote:

oldsaw wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote:

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: man, its weird seing that bridge going across turn 1 and how dangerous it looks coming down thru the esses, and ya seeing no 10a,b complex with the tunnel is funny looking, didnt someone die in the tunnel before, some drunk guy on his quad?

Yeah, taking out the bridge at 1 was one of the first things Dr. Don did when he bought the place. I wouldn't be surprised if some spectator squashed himself in the tunnel, but I haven't heard any specifics. OTOH, except for this year's Mitty, I hadn't been in about 5 years. Rd. Atl. used to have a reputation for being a "wild" track for spectators. At one point in the late `80s it was said that the place had more deaths off the racetrack than on it over the years. I know some of the stuff we did at night during Runoffs week was pretty dangerous..bonfires with magnesium VW engine blocks added, the "Dead Cat Burnout", drifiting before it was cool, fireworks wars in the woods...once at an AMA event I saw a bunch of bikers beat unconcious some rent-a-cop who was dumb enough to try to "arrest" them for smoking dope at 3am. And then they used his radio to tell his people to come pick him up.

That sounds way too familiar! Were you residing at the Auger Inn? If so, we were your immediate next door neighbors for years. Those were some great times, rain and/or shine!

We actually slept up in the worker camping, back over behind the creek where Tracer set up their hot tub during the Runoffs. But you could almost go anywhere & do anything on a worker pass in those days..we'd load up in the bed of somebody's pickup truck and go cruise the infield. We were pretty good buddies with the Turn 7 Teepee, the Booze Brothers (I wonder where those vans are today!), Team Weird over at 4, and a bunch of other folks I can't quite remember, including those cool guys behind the turn station at 9 ("..Kansas is cold, Ohio is flat, Turn 11 lap 18 is where it's at!") and the folks with the beach party every year at 5. One year at the Trans-Am we got kicked into the infield because they wanted to use our camping site for support race paddock. We retaliated by having our regular fireworks war in that wooded spot off the infield road (cleared in 93-94 for the road from the chicane tunnel) and using that footbridge at 1 to clean all the food out of the hospitality tents in the paddock. Mazda had some great lasagna that year...

Amazing how people cross paths without meeting each other, but there were extenuating circumstances.

The Auger Inn was the site of the burning magnesium VW cases - awesome display of pyrotechnics rain or not. In fact, it was better when it rained. Who'd a thunk that crowd was a bunch a Delta wrenches with the job of keeping stuff airborne?

Fireworks and the track have history; one summer someone lit off of a parachuted illumination flare that didn't extinguish before it reached the ground. It landed in the kudzu on the outside of the backstraight ( between T8 and T9). By the time the local FD arrived, the fire had spread and had climbed the kudzu fuse that wrapped around a utility pole at the fence edge. That made for some really nice pics, especially the one with a buddy silhouetted by the flames while he gallantly/futiley tried to keep the fire at bay.

There are other explosive tales to tell.......

But there was some great racing, too!

I have no crazy stories to add so I'll just mention that to this day I think that Geoff Brabham's red, white and blue factory GTP Nissan is the coolest racecar ever built and that GTP racers are the only prototype cars I've ever been interested in.

oldsaw wrote: Amazing how people cross paths without meeting each other, but there were extenuating circumstances. The Auger Inn was the site of the burning magnesium VW cases - awesome display of pyrotechnics rain or not. In fact, it was better when it rained. Who'd a thunk that crowd was a bunch a Delta wrenches with the job of keeping stuff airborne? Fireworks and the track have history; one summer someone lit off of a parachuted illumination flare that didn't extinguish before it reached the ground. It landed in the kudzu on the outside of the backstraight ( between T8 and T9). By the time the local FD arrived, the fire had spread and had climbed the kudzu fuse that wrapped around a utility pole at the fence edge. That made for some really nice pics, especially the one with a buddy silhouetted by the flames while he gallantly/futiley tried to keep the fire at bay. There are other explosive tales to tell....... But there was some great racing, too!

-slapping forehead-

The Auger Inn! Of course, the airplane guys! Man, I remembered the name, but couldn't remember which one it was. Of course, I remember the fires very well. I'm an old beach kid, and sometimes standing next to that bonfire was the only time I felt warm all week during the North Georgia fall.

Dang, oldsaw! We've probably even had a beer or two together. We used to leave our uniforms on when we went to go party, people seemed to dig it, and it dang sure seemed to result in a steady stream of free beer and...uh..other stuff wherever we went. If you ever partied with corner workers back then, it was probably my tribe. IIRC, I wore an old felt fedora hat with an arrow through it back then..we had a theory at the time that weird headgear would help the drivers remember individual workers-and their flagging habits. We thought it was irrelevant whether or not a driver thought you were a good flagger or not, but it was just a whole lot safer if they knew "who" they were dealing with. Overflag, underflag, didn't matter, as long as we were known commodities to them.

I still recall one trip where I'd brought my `77 FSJ Cherokee to sleep in. I got voted to take us around the infield one night (even though I was drunk as Berkeley-don't try this at home, kids!), and when the Dead Cat Burnout folks saw it was us, they wouldn't let us through without doing one. When I mentioned that it was full-time 4WD, they very kindly poured motor oil on the road, and held the damn thing in place until I got it torqued up enough to get smoke from all four. I don't recall what year that was, but it was after DCB had built the home-made drag "christmas tree".

Thanks a lot...you just cost me a few hours of my life.

No really.....thanks!

Cool cars with small cube, high HP goodness. Loved it!

Will wrote: I have no crazy stories to add so I'll just mention that to this day I think that Geoff Brabham's red, white and blue factory GTP Nissan is the coolest racecar ever built and that GTP racers are the only prototype cars I've ever been interested in.

They were great cars. Weird thing is...at the time, all us (then) young guys working races idolized the guys who got to work the great Can-Am races of the 1970s. We'd flag GTP cars all day, and talk to the older guys about the Can-Am at night. Occasionally, someone would say, "..hey, y'know these cars are pretty cool too!..", and we'd all say "..yeah, they're pretty fast. I like these cars a lot."

I guess we just thought it would go on forever...

maroon92 wrote: 2. was it a rule that driver changes were manditory with every pit stop? why did Doc Bundy and Van De Merwe switch out twice?

IIRC, it was the IMSA season points rules that caused stuff like that. Some kind of "percentage" rule..if you weren't in the car long enough, you didn't get points for being the co-driver. Yeah, that stuff worked at Daytona/Sebring (again, IIRC double points races back then), but when the race is only 3hrs long, it was a little silly. Even back then, they were trying to pull on the fame of Le Mans to sell Prototype sportscar racing in the US, I guess they thought it would sell more tickets if there were driver changes.