To Peter, Don;
Don't give me credit for all my driving, because I was learning
from the best. I'm going to say that if it was not for the great competition at
all of these events, I think that my learning curve would be a lot smaller even
with 11 years of driving. It's funny because after looking at my in car cam., I
believe I could have driven faster at about 10% of the course (I won't tell you
where) I only hope that i will get better at driving and then maybe i'll go to
the nationals and see what i can do. So, let me thank the people that have
helper me in my quest. Chris Coxx, the person who helped me read courses, Dave
Jackson, with the uncanning ability to make me think about driving. (Dave, i
think you know what i mean)Arie Villasol for keeping the fire in me. Rick
Mylenbeck showing me how to keep my head from getting too big. Dwayne Komish for
protesting me at the the most critical times, which taught me to not get upset
over the other protests. Bob Conderschoff and Rick Gould in the early years
showing us how far we needed to go to be a champion. Derek Bell for showing me
how to get on the gas early! and Don Lew for show me how to be a good sport (
yesterday i needed help )
What this all adds upto for me is how to drive fast. Learning to
drive fast is more than one thing. You learn to drive fast from all of the
experiences and people when you race. It is learning your car, the course, your
competitors and a sportsmanship attitude that all combine into driving fast.
When I started auto crossing, there was no rookie program. I was
competing against national champion drivers from the start. When I finished
34th in one of the events, this made me realize how far I had to go to become
nationally competitive. I would like to THANK! the people who have let me drive
there car over the last two years, it has be so much fun to drive so many
different cars, and Kristi SooHoo ( not my girl friend ) for letting me trash
her tires over the last year and her car.
Thanks again Ben
"Thana, Peter {High~Palo Alto}" wrote:
> Well Don, you said it for me. The amazing thing was that after Ben drove my
> car (49.7 first time out on street tires) he really didn't have to say
> anything to me and I really didn't feel the need to ask him anything. Like
> you said, everyone tells you go in slow and get on the gas early, but early
> is such a relative thing! It really helped to see it, and Ben's style (at
> least in my car) was simple enough that I could see right away where I could
> pick up time. While I couldn't match his time, I did drop a full second on
> my very next fun run.
>
> Later, while working course for the 2nd fun run group, I saw your Supra
> coming around the last sweeper in much the same way. I thought gee, that's
> exactly how Ben drove my car. Then I looked through the windows and guess
> who was driving?
>
> Man, between the Day-Night on Saturday and yesterday I had sooo much fun.
> Thanks to Kevin Lahey, Ben Martinez, Jim Ochi, Rich Urschel, Dennis and
> Peggy Hale, and *everyone* who made this one of the most exciting, if
> exhausting weekends I can remember!
>
> Peter Thana
> '99 BMW Z3 2.8 Coupe
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Toy4speed@aol.com [SMTP:Toy4speed@aol.com]
> > Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 9:07 AM
> > To: ba-autox@autox.team.net
> > Subject: Rookies-Get instructor to drive your car
> >
> > Had a great time at Marina yesterday. Ben and Kevin did a great job as
> > usual
> > to keep things running smoothly. I wanted to highly recommend to all
> > beginning drivers to try to get an experienced driver to drive your car
> > sometime, either in a fun run, or co-drive an event. I've learned
> > valuable
> > tips from this experience. Thanks Charlie and Ben ! Sometimes after
> > driving
> > your own car for so long, you get locked into a certain habit or style,
> > and
> > all the books and magazine articles don't really come to reality until
> > someone shows you in your own car. Just my .02
> > Also, anyone involved, please return all loaner helmets !
> >
> > Don Lew
> > DSP #179 Supra
--
BEN
DSP #60
Mercury Capri
-- Racing is life...all the rest is just waiting --
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