Ah the Wendover Pro...
In short, I came, I saw, I was conquered by a gimp.
The long story...
Month's ago I signed up for the Evolution/McKamey phase 1 and 2 schools
since they were going to be right before the Wendover Pro. What I
didn't think about was that it'd be 100+ degrees for two days straight,
followed by two 90+ degree days of competition. But back to the school.
I don't care how good you think you are, you should take these schools.
To be frank, I didn't think I'd get much out of phase 1. I've been to
many different schools before (mostly road racing), and the "intro"
school is always just a necessary step to the higher level schools.
Well let me tell you by the time Tom Kotzian had let out the clutch, I'd
learned something. Tom sits much closer to the wheel than I do and has
a much different launch technique. :) By the time he finished the
course, I realized what separated those who are good from those who
have multiple National championships. Tom was able to beat my best
time by .3 after just 3 runs in my own car (on a ~30 second course.)
What is most important is that all the instructors were very good at
adapting to your current skill level and working on your weak points,
and not just towing some rote school line. Ron Bauer, Danny Popp, and
Tom all had great advice and were excellent communicators, yet each had
their own different areas where they contributed to the overall picture.
By the end of the day I had taken a full second off my best first set of
runs (and that was with the Hoosiers running blisteringly hot at the
warmest point in the day), but more importantly had picked up a couple
of key new skills. Sorry, I'm not going to say what they were, you'll
have to attend the schools yourself for that, but they played key rolls
in the Pro that allowed me to get within .028 seconds of Bob Tunnell on
scratch. My previous best this year was ~1.2 seconds. (Yeah, everyone
will say that Bob had the brace, but after he loosened it up, I think
he'll agree that it didn't slow him down that much. I *still* want to
see your doctor's note allowing you to do that Bob!!! ;) ;) ;)
One thing I would recommend *against*, is trying to do two phases/days
straight right before a Pro (especially if you pulled a 100+ hour work
week before leaving and hadn't had more then 4 hours of sleep per night
for way too long.)
I didn't so much get information overload, though some of the newer
students did mention they had, but I was pretty exhausted going into the
Pro and had a hard time focusing all weekend. Again, this had as much
to do with the heat at Wendover as it did the lack of sleep.
I still think it would be best in any case to just take one phase at a
time, digest that information and then go back for another phase as a
"tune up" before the next event. Four days straight is just too much.
In summary, I had a wonderful experience at the Evolution/McKamey school
and look forward to taking the phase 3 class. I heartily recommend the
school to anyone of any experience level. If you've been around schools
much at all, you'll know that even the instructors learn from the
students and hold "schools" where they critic and learn from each
other. You're never so good that you cannot learn more.
A very special thanks to Tom Kotzian, Ron Bauer, and Danny Popp for
taking the time to help us along the curve (no pun intended.)
Part 2 later..
Todd
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