Las Vegas Motor Speedway
April 12, 2003
"Las Vegas in Reverse....sorta"

The Hope. The Glory. The Scandal.  The Redemption. The Truth!

We make it to Vegas.  We pass Tropicana Blvd at 7:25 a.m. or so.  That means we went 280 miles from H.B. to Vegas in 4 hours and 15 minutes.  With two bathroom breaks stops, one of them for diesel fuel.  We will make it to the track before the 8:15 driver's meeting with plenty of time to spare.  Erik is still driving the truck.  Ever see 29,000 lbs of go-fast parts pass you at 100 mph going downhill on your way to Vegas?  You coulda seen it at 6:30 a.m. today.....

We are locking up 4th place overall, and perhaps have a chance at being a spoiler for the Radicals in their quest for overall.  And we are going to make it a perfect 7 for 7 in T3 with the S2000.   

In the past two days, I only drove one session total,  as I was scrambling around trying to get help to get the NSX running again.  Today I hope to get three sessions in the NSX, and two in the S2000, and make up for lost track time. 

The Chiarella/Hartanto NSX, and the Weir-Jones/Colicchio Miata

Update: 11:20 a.m.

The Flying Miata team showed up with a cute female in a driver's suit at the morning driver's meeting.   Rick said it was "hot here at the track", and had the female "driver" strip down to a checkered flag bikini.....unfortunately, I didn't have my camera.......they said that their female co-driver was there to distract the Coffey/Lampe team, as they are in first place in U3, with the Rylan and the Miata guys right behind them.

The Flying Miata "Co-Driver" posing with Wayne and Amy

Another announcement at the driver's meeting is that we can't run the track in reverse, as the Track Marshall at LVMS deems it "unsafe", as the tire wall isn't where it needs to be by the front straight.  The bigger horsepower cars bummed, as we figured we had a shot at the Radicals in this config.  Plus since very few people have run the track in reverse, with Erik The Terminator on our team, we could do really well in the reverse configuration.  Oh well...

The Wang/Foo Toyota Supra

The chess game continues.  All through the week, people were playing friendly mind games.  Like packing up their car and trailer after a few sessions, make it appear they are leaving, but they stop by the exit, seeing if anyone beat their time.  If they did, they would turn around, unpack, and get the cars on the track for the last session.  In return, people are sandbagging times for the last session, trying to make sure their competitors keep their cars running four sessions a day in hopes of the other guys breaking.   People are trying to figure out when to put their new sticker tires on,  hoping to save them for another day.  But if someone pulls ahead of you by tenths of a second, the new tires get mounted, and then  you go out the next session immediately.

Now that is a mean run group!

Mumford/BP and DJ in the Radical are neck and neck, with DJ slight ahead by tenths of a second, running 1:19.x  Erik is next with 1:22.x, Dalen 1:23.x, Scott 1:24.x, and me at 1:25x.   The NSX motor is running strong again, it looks like we secured 4th overall.  Unfortunately for us, we can't beat the 1:19's that the Radical is running, so Mumford is going to have to pull it out himself.

We changed our strategy with the S2000 for today only.  Jason ran first session, and is about a half second off the BMW in T3.  I will run the next two session, since I haven't driven the damn S2000 in two days (since I was chasing down people to fix the NSX).  If I can't beat the BMW, then we will have Erik run session four to "seal the deal" and we end up going 7 for 7 in T3, much like Smith/Arnold are doing for Unlimited 2.  heh heh heh. 

The Smith/Arnold ass kicking BMW

Quick update 11:35  a.m.
Mumford says he is throwing in the towel....he is 18/1000ths off, and he says he isn't gonna try again.  This is the second year in a row that he came into Vegas tied after 6 days at the OTC, and gets stuck with an autocross track instead of a track that he can stretch the legs with his Viper.   Looks like we will take 4th overall for the second year in a row.   Damn.   Mumford is packing his car, and he is off to Phoenix for Viper Days event.  Looks like the Comp Coupe is gonna get 8 tracks in 8 days.....

Jason runs 1:33 in the S2000, I run 1:35 (Hey, my first session, I didn't get to drive it at Vegas five days ago).  So far the BMWin our class is running 1:32's.  They must be feeling confident.  heh heh heh.....we'll throw The Terminator out there next session, and make it 7 in a row......

Mumford/BP and Radical guys.  "Nahh.....we ain't going out. You going out?"

Update: Sunday, 1:40 p.m.
Oooops.  We send Messley out to go 7 for 7, but the track is too hot and slippery, and we fall a little short.  We still win T3, but we just don't have fast lap for today in T3.  Damn.  Erik says that everytime he ever tried to do a reverse sandbag, it has bitten him in the ass.  Oh well.....

DJ cranks out a 1:18 lap for fastest time of the day, with Mumford real close behind.   We are 3rd for today, with a 1:22's.   

Wayne and Rick are fighting against Keeney/Rhoades in the Supercharged S2000 with the AABAUW.  They were winning until Jason went out in the last session, and with time running out, he pulled a couple of low 1:25's out of his butt.  Rick was pitted in the hot pit, ready to go out in case Jason beat the times, but as soon as they clocked their fast times, the session was cut short, and Rick didn't get a chance to go out and beat their lower set of 1:25's.  Bummer.

The Boicelli/Brooks BMW and the Babcock/Babcock Audi S4 clock a lower set of laps times to take us down today.  Nice driving by both those guys, and the rest of the Touring 3 competitors!

Support the Pulp Racing/NSX-Files Website!  Buy this DVD!  Or a T-Shirt!
Order it at the Pulp Store