Viper Days In Virginia

[BJ MOTORS]

WOW! This year the Viper Days event in Virginia was fantastic. The track went hot Friday for test and tune. Saturday and Sunday's races were phenominal. What a well organized event. It's pretty funny we all have our everyday stress and strains from work and other various sources. When you arrive at a Viper Days event every care and worry you might have had are vanished. To take our Vipers and be able to use them as for what they have been built for, is absolutely amazing. Skip, Courtney, Tracy and even Moma Thomas make you feel so warm and welcomed to all of the events.
For me it was tons of fun, I got to Instruct new comers to the world of Viper Racing and that alone has a ton of satisfaction. To see their eyes open very wide when hitting speeds of over 100 mph is amazing, watching them get better and better over the course of the weekend. When it is all said and done at the end of the weekend they all walk away with there car just the way they came and extremely happy. The only thing that was missing this weekend was Bill Pemberton's announcing. If any of you are debating going to an event it is a time of a lifetime, and one you won't want to pass up. For me I have meet some of the neatest people and have built some really fantastic new friends.
On a personal note, SONNY WHEELEN LOOK OUT I AM GOING TO GET YOU AT ROAD AMERICA.

 

[slaughterj]

I had a great time at ViperDays in Virginia at VIR, met a lot of people from the board for the first time, which was cool, and learned a lot on the track (and off of it a couple times )!

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Bernie, tell us how you did, as the times aren't posted yet. Sounds like you are going to be at Road Anerica, so hook up with me and I will be happy to give you some pointers I picked up from the MumMeister ( Paul Mumford ). He is wickedly fast there and I snagged 2 seconds off my time with just a few small ideas from him.

 

[BJ MOTORS]

Bill,

Great to hear from you.What a great track, Sonny Wheelen beat me by a second , and then torched his motor.We had big fun! I ran a 2.10 took second in my class, Sonny ran a 2.09. The Wheel to Wheel was also a great race, Sunday Skip, Jimmy and John Greico ran out of gas on the last lap, Skip had moved into second place and coming around for the last lap ran slam out of gas. It was exciting on lap 17, Bruce through the racers for a loop, the track went yellow and sent the pace car out to run two laps, bunching everyone back up. We could have used your expertise announcing! I hear Road America is even faster than Virginia and there are lot's of walls to say hello to. I can't wait for Seibring in September.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

I had a great time also! Janni Cone and the NC VCA where great. Got to meet many folks from the board.

I've only been to a few tracks (Sebring, Moroso, Homestead, Road Atlanta, Gateway, Gainesville) but VIR is now my favorite track.

 

[Ken Diemer]

Nobody mentioned Howie Frank!! It looks like Howie's two years of bad luck are over

as Howie was able to compete the entire weekend without any problems!! Everyone at Autoform wants to Congratulate Howie!! It was really great seeing Howie have such a good weekend as he has been racing Viper Days from the beginning. Howie, in the new Black Autoform/Vision Racing Club Racer, consistently improved his times over the weekend. He also received the most improved driver award for the weekend. Autoform also wants to congratulate Dave Held and Seth on solid performances in the Wheel to Wheel races.

 

[DonMc]

this was my first viper days event and the most fun i have had in either of my vipers (yea i know sounds like a personal problem) but it was very well run and my instructor was fantastic...i don't have much to compare it to but the vir track was a blast!! kudos to henry and janni for helping folks get their cars ready, great advice, and sharing their trailer for those of us who drove their cars and needed some temp storage space!!!

 

[slaughterj]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DonMc:
kudos to henry and janni for helping folks get their cars ready, great advice, and sharing their trailer for those of us who drove their cars and needed some temp storage space!!!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'll second that! Thanks for the tech session the week before, the storage space, and the company!

 

[Janni]

Thanks guys. I am still recovering from the weekend - pretty tired after we unloaded Sunday night.

All the NC members who came out to support this event deserve the kudos. There were 19 ViperDays rookies in attendance at this event. NC Region was represented by 12 members - with quite a few rookies.

This was an extremely SAFE and FUN weekend for all involved. We were incident free all weekend (except for that nasty golf cart accident - and you know who you are....). The instructors did a tremendous job helping everyone take a better line and improve their skills and times. EVERYONE should ride with an instructor and have an instructor ride with them for AT LEAST one session - ask the folks that took several seconds at a time off their lap times - learn from everyone....

The corner workers even complimented our group as being safe and easy to work with. They have a very tough job and appreciate our active participation in keeping us safe, as well as minimizing track downtime.

The level of competition and skill increases every year. The times get better and better and the drivers get better, too. Check out the ViperDays website when the times are posted. Remember those Super Stock guys are running on street tires with very little modification - their times are flying (Congrats Alan - you were blazingly fast...)

I have a ton of pics to download and hope to be able to post some this evening. Here are some random thoughts:

Dave "Seasnake" Miller has learned how to turn

(After all that drag racing, we wondered if he could... - Dave I owed you that one...)

Art Davis learned that a roadcourse is a lot trickier than an oval, but still managed to be very quick turning both left AND right...

Don McDaniel thought he was slow, but his instructor was drilling the line into his head, and sneaking the speed up each session. Great job on the podium finish in your class.

John Slaughter went faster on his NEW tires! And got to see the WHOLE track - both on and off. Nice job this weekend, John. Hope you got the car cleaned before Monday AM...

Chuck Babel - our honorary NC club member for the weekend shared some interesting insights on brakes - he is a firm believer in driver upgrades and is turning some great times.

Stuart Goldblatt drove faster and faster - and faster still when he got his new shoes. The bubble car got dirty and appears no worse for wear.

Randy Cade was quickly up to speed as the only member of VIR and his lap times proved it. He was also Woodchuck free all weekend.

Jim and Brendan Bogue saved the day with the golf cart and their superior hosting skills - couldn't have done it without them both.

Jeff T unfortunately went home early with rear end problems (cars, not his...)

I know I am missing some folks, but as I remember I'll edit...

Thanks to the Thomas Family for all they do. It was great seeing the ViperDays regulars, always just wish I had more time to see everyone.

The NC Region will be organizing a convoy to Putnam Park and then to Watkins Glen for later events this year. Who knows, we may have some travel companions. Hint, hint....

Congrats to all and thanks for making it a great weekend.

 

[BJ MOTORS]

Janni,

The gang from NC was great! Sorry about the pace car lap, I broke my car and was rushed to find another car to take out. I hope I didn't inconveniece anyone by not taking out the gentleman from the TV Station. Buy the way GO TARHEELS!