[Spridgets] Fwd: End Of Season Report and Results SMRS

[stanbmason at aol.com]

Spridget Racer and Admirers of Small British Cars:Below if the end of season report for SMRS
2022 Sprite Midget RaceSeries End of Season Report & Overview  (revised August 21, 2022)    
   - Overall - It is hard to believe that we have been having this great fun on and off the track for 11 years as the Sprite Midget Race Series.  Before SMRS we would be excited if we had 5 Spridgets racing for the weekend.  This year even though it was less than last year, which was one of best we still experienced 10 to 21 Spridgets to play with at each race. Pittsburg Grand Prix was added, which was our first out of VSCDA SMRS points race and was very successful thanks to Mark Maehling’s passion along with the exclusive Sprite Midget Race in honor of Donna Mae Mims.  
   - Grattan – Even though we did not have as many join us this year as last, we still had issues trying to fit everyone in.  Combination Motor Homes / RVs eat up a lot of the area.  We had another great turnout of 948cc Racing Bug Eyes with a total of 5, which has to me the most anywhere in the US this year.  The Grattan Finale started off with a glorious comfortable low humidity August day, followed by all day rain on Saturday and then back to sunshine on Sunday.  There were some changes impacted by the Saturday’s rain.  The exclusive Sprite Midget Race was moved from Saturday to Sunday.  The first Group 2 race of the day on Sunday was a little crazy from gridding with many faster cars in the back making the first lap as crowded as I have ever experienced, but all done safely.  Cape of Good Hope opened Friday night after a great day of racing honoring Bob Lembke who passed away recently from a garage accident and may have lived if he would have had his cell phone on him at the time.  This year we focused on our SMRS Lady Racers with a poster that featured 5 of our Sprite / Midget competitors circling Donna Mae Mims.  We were able to purchase signed posters by these ladies on Friday.  We are very fortunate to have these competitive females in our ranks.  I am proud that we have the most women in Group 2 with the majority being Spridget Racers.  Our end of season awards were cool navy blue wool look baseball caps with SMRS logo on front and SMRS overall finishing positon in the rear for the top 3 in each class.  Everyone did a great job in providing brats and food for our 2 group lunches.  Thanks to all our SMRS Chefs: Bob, Tim, Rob and Stan, along with table organizers Janet and Sheryl Carloss.  The end of season results are attached.  Compiling results within 5 minutes after getting off the track is difficult and I apologize if there are any mistakes.  One of the mistakes realized after handing our awards were for Bug Eye 2E class where there was a 1 point difference between 1   st and 2   nd.  I mistakenly recognized Buzz Merchlewitz as 1   st and Rick Fisk for 2   nd.  After reviewing results, Rick is now 1   st and Buzz 2   nd.  I will adjust hats accordingly.  Please let me know if there is any oversites.  The results from Pittsburgh added some complexity in compiling results, but should not have impacted overall results much if you qualified with 2 or more SMRS races.
   - SMRS Account – If you have any interest in being a sponsor of have some suggestions of someone that maybe interested, please let me know.  Our treasury is minimal and probably can make it through next year.  We added another grill to our inventory along with a camping stand that will help reduce the amount of flame outs we have experienced in the past.  I would like to give a special thanks to Jeff Carloss who has been providing our fantastic posters over the past 8 plus years for free, which helps contribute to our treasury so we can purchase awards, plates, condiments, propane and propane accessories.  Cana and Colin Comer’s contribution towards our annual stickers is also greatly appreciated.
   - Driver Incidents Spridgets and Group 2 – As the VSCDA Group 2 representative I can say this past year has been a major improvement over last year.  Thanks to all of you that maintain the Vintage Spirit while on the track.  I will provide any additional details from the Driver Committee as they become available
   - Race Attendance – Below is a highlight of the Sprite Midget race attendance numbers.  These numbers are as accurate as I can make them.  In cases where I was not in attendance there may have been more Spridgets than results reported due to mechanical issues or Driver School attendees that may not have raced after Driver School.

|  Race Track  |  2012  |  2013  |  2014  |  2015  |  2016  |  2017  |  2018  |  2019  |  2020  |  2021    |  2022  |
|  Gingerman  |  14  |  14  |  12  |  16  |  9  |  12  |  18  |  17  |  0  |  21  |  16  |
|  Blackhawk  |  13  |  11  |  11  |  14  |  12  |  12  |  12  |  14  |  9  |  26  |  10  |
|  Grattan  |  17  |  14  |  20  |  23  |  15  |  14  |  16  |  18  |  12  |  28  |  15  |
|  Pittsburg GP  |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  21  |
|  ELVF 60th  |     |     |     |     |     |     |  47  |     |     |     |     |
|  Blacktober  |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  15  |  9  |     |
|  SMRS Total  |  44  |  39  |  43  |  53  |  36  |  38  |  93  |  49  |  21  |  84  |  62  |

  6.       Season Overall Winners (requires having a perfect score of 48 points from at least2 of the 3 race weekends)   
|  2013  |  Cana Comer  |
|  2014  |  Greg Cory and Nathan Burress  |
|  2015  |  Colin Comer and Randy Byboth  |
|  2016  |  None qualified  |
|  2017  |  Ashley Burress, Nathan Buress and Jim Donato  |
|  2018  |  Ashley Burress and Ron Soave  |
|  2019  |  Doug Bruce and Jim Donato  |
|  2020  |  John Salisbury  |
|  2021  |  John Salisbury, Doug Bruce & Nathan Burress  |
|  2022  |  none  |

 7.       Special Spirit and DriverAwards: Gary Kropf Spirit Award (started in 2015 in honor of Gary’sattitude that we all admire). This Huge piston award wasdonated by Paul Fitzsimmons and polished up with name tags by Charlie Hall’svision of this spirit award. a.      Previous Winners: 2015 Salisbury, 2016 Donato,Salisbury, 2017 Soave, Kelly, Mason, 2018 Kropf, Salisbury, Hall, 2019 Bruce,2020 cancelled, 2021 Hall. b.     Criteria: Promotes the Vintage Spirit, Assists others within the paddock, withrepairs, parts, advice and encourages racer in making next session.  Quick to organize group activities with raceand banquet.  Volunteers with other VSCDAactivities and committees. c.      This year’s winners were   ClancySchmidt and Mark Maehling   Jim Donato Most Respected Driver (started in 2016 in honor ofJim’s contribution and example of a great respected driver) Criteria: Adriver that exemplifies the meaning of a Vintage Sports Car Most Respected   Driver includes: Predictable (Stayson racing line and points racers by when being passed or when passing.  Makes sure that over taking driver knows theyare about to be passed and allows room and good judgement), Confident &Observant (Uses mirrors and is aware of others racing nearby) Respectful(Confirms that their race car is mechanically sound and will not cause othersto be injured from improper maintenance. Can sit down with other competitors and enjoy their company after anysession)  Objective (open toother’s comments) Drives Defensively (adjusts for conditions safely regardlessof other driver’s interaction). Previous Winners: 2016 Namesake Jim Donato, 2017 Mal Fay, 2018Ashley Burress, 2019 Buzz Merchlewitz, 2020 John Salisbury. This year’s winners were NathanBurress and Charlie Hall SMRS Perseverance Award: All of us as Sprite / Midget Racersrecognize that our cars are not for the weak of heart and require lots of timeto keep our temperamental little friends running so we can make the nextsession.  We know of many examples overthe years where this dedication by many has allowed what we all know ascomradery and is probably greater in SMRS than any other race groups I canthink of.  David Lee from Texascompletely deflated our past pride in making it to the next session.  He tore out his engine by himself afterbreaking his crankshaft.  After installedhis back-up engine he realized he had an interference at the spindle on hisconcentric slave cylinder not allowing him to have clutch disengagement.  He then started again to tear his engine backout with some help, but still doing the majority of work.  His dedication and perseverance was beyondany previous efforts that I can recall and especially doing it one dayprimarily by himself.  Carl Goodwinrecycled an award that Gary Kroff had that was provided to David Lee for thisgreat demonstration of Spridget Never Say Die attitude.    8.       Spridget Contributors toVSCDA - We appreciate our group’sunselfish contribution to VSCDA and the Sprite Midget Race Series making us oneof the best groups within VSCDA for volunteering their time and making thisclub continue to thrive for our enjoyment, which is listed below (I was atGingerman and Grattan and apologize if I overlooked any names.  Please let me know who those omissions were): a.       Ron Soave and Jeff Porasik for Blackhawk Events as Event Chairmen.  Doug Bruce as Event Chairman for Grattan. b.      Carl Goodwin, Brad & Jeff Carloss for their contributions toScrutineering / Tech Barn c.       Stacey Donato for her overall running of VSCDA registration andall that she does along with her family. Registration assistance from Jan and Jeff Freers, Sheryl Carloss &Janet Carloss. d.      Charlie Hall, Gary Kropf, Roger Heil & Jim Donato for DriversCommittee.  Gary Kropf initiated theDriver’s Committee Summary of actions, which is greatly appreciated and timeconsuming.  I think measuring somethingas important as safety is the key to reducing incidents and allowing us toimprove. e.  Doug Bruce for Homologations and Corner / Paddock Worker SpriteDoor Annual Award selected for the best Grattan worker selected by their peers.   f. Jim Donato as VSCDA Vice President j. Bob Danielson continuing to support the Donato Most RespectedDriver Award that he crafted and provide updated driver plaque. h. Charlie Hall continuing support of the Kropf Piston SpiritAward that he initiated and continues to provide updated plaques for. i. Stan Mason as VSCDA Group 2 Representative and SMRS lead. 9. End Of Season Awards -Every driver that met the 2 race weekend or more requirementsreceived awards if they attended Grattan finale. Results are attached to thisemail.  We traditionally distributepoints by having 3 sessions that go towards end of season awards.  We balance out with every day having a pointsday out of our 3 day race weekend, so anyone with mechanical problems has anopportunity to recover.  Saturday atGrattan they chose to have most of the day for practice, considering the rainyconditions.  We decided to provide 8points to all racers that were registered for the durability day points forthis event. 10. Classifications - Iwould like to revise our SMRS classifications for the 2023 season and I haveseveral thoughts of how we can improve. If you have some thoughts of how we can group Spridgets for faircompetition I would like to hear from you. Our criteria up to this time has been to follow VSCDA requirements,which include conformance to SCCA 1972 GCR/PCS guidelines and exceptions asspelled out by VSCDA.  Even under theseconditions there is varying shades of gray that we need to clarify for fairclassifications.       11. SMRS Past / Future - Like all organizations including SMRS wewill only be successful if we have new people stepping up to fillpositions.  I have been at the helm forthe past 11 years and will step down on or before 2026.  It would be nice to have someone that isretired or will retire in the future to pick up this baton before mydeparture.  Maybe even mirror me andassist before 2026.  I have started a jobdescription / overview of what I currently do. I know there are others out there that can take SMRS to a higher level,learning from our past and improving the future.  If you have an interest now or in the futureplease let me know.  12.  VSCDA Upcoming 2022events: 1.     Elkhart Lake VintageFestival Road America September16-18 2.     New! Ozark InternationalRaceway October 14-16     Thanks for a Great 11thSeason and Enjoy a Spridgetly Life of Relative Speed! Stan Mason    
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