We opened my fortieth birthday with the "magic chord" followed by "A Hard Day's Night". I remember that part, and I remember the cops shutting us down at 3am.
The flip side to that is my uncle who's a doctor with $$$ strat that he can absolutely RIP on. He kinda missed the whole accumulation of guitars and focused on playing really well. There's probably a lesson I can learn from that somewhere if I can calm down my raccoon like desire for shiny objects.
The photo of Blau Bird guy makes it look like he's quite literally trying to hold something up his ass(?)
My only "track experience" is at our local paved 1/5th oval, watching guys that look like overweight circa 2000 Eminem, sponsored by various local tow-yards, get into fistfights after wrecking their Civics and Integras with restamped-VIN Type-R motors
An idea for vinyl on the back of your Radical in time for the next PCA event: "If you're not the LEAD DOG, the View Never Changes!" (keep my capitalization)
Actually, forget the Radical, that custom vinyl slogan belongs on the back of a ratty 944 with a Chevy V8 swap. And not a clean LS swap, I'm talking "carb'd SBC 350 chrome air cleaner lid poking out from a Saw-zall'ed hood" swap.
My dad used to work with an old machinist who had a VW 356 convertible replica he'd take to Watkins Glen for the PCA track days every once in a while and according to him there were some real douchebags in the bunch.
Took me 90% of my entire thus far lived life to learn this lesson... Me of admiring the humble appearance of the typical American, and chuckling internally when a European shows up for work in a suit and tie... There are subtle and numerous aspects to this that are increasingly obvious every passing day.
I do think there's value in dressing for work. It shows a willingness to participate in society on terms that are respectful to everyone. The Zuckerberg types who flex on their own people by dressing like a hobo are being deliberately and unnecessarily unpleasant, I think.
A few years back I got comped admission to the Chicago Auto Show charity preview, which was supposedly a black tie event, so I went to a thrift shop and bought a hardly worn second hand tuxedo (the shirt and accoutrements cost more than the tux). When I got to the event I was rather appalled at what some people consider a tuxedo these days.
Well put. I was trying to categorize Fetterman with the hoodies and goatee thing, and that's it exactly--you can only thumb your nose at the status quo so much if you aspire to be a part of it.
This is where I fail Having climbed into the middle class I never really understood the rules for professional dressing. I did my best and always thought I dressed up pretty well until someone looked at my sport coat, slacks and tie combo and asked me if it was casual Friday. Until then, I'd always thought full suits were for formal occasions.
Of course once I learned that people were sniggering at me behind my back, and probably had been for years, I figured they should fuck off. Since my attempt to be one of them fell short, I doubled down on NOT being one of them. I find it pretty funny to get off my 25 year old Honda and walk into my office, helmet under my arm, wearing an armored jacket and a pair of coveralls I bought at the Walmart in Moscow, Idaho circa 1996.
Of course, I still have slacks on under the coveralls and keep a couple of sport coats and some ties in my office so I can "dress up" for meetings. I'm not totally disengaged, but the cat is out of the bag because people see the real me when I arrive and when I leave. And the thing is, I feel like they respect me more because I am who and what I am. I know I certainly respect myself more and that is a nice thing to have as I get passed over again and again for promotion...
This is very much akin to my thinking, but I don't like the punch line very much thank you. But it does go a long way to proving the cosplay argument. All you've stated is appearances matter everywhere, all the time, in a way there being no private place where you can just be.
My thoughts are that image matters in lines of work where ideas and cooperation are of paramount importance. In the blue collar world, quality of work matters - a well built wall says volumes about the person who built it so a person's reputation is often based on what they do.
Ideas can be good or bad, of course, but they usually require socialization to be accepted. That means that social conventions apply and how you look, where you come from, or who you are often matters more than the quality of the idea itself.
The way a person dresses lends credibility and that carries over to almost anything - at least until the shit hits the fan. That's why guys who look good in a uniform and who say the right things go right to the top in the military until the lead starts flying and the guys who actually know how to fight wars suddenly find their once stifled careers back on the fast track.
Which leads me to what I think is one other important rule - do-ers don't have to follow the fashion rules. It's why Bill gates lost the tie, why Steve Jobs dressed like a beatnik, why Zuck gets to dress like a slob and why Jack is better in his Iron Maiden Tee shirt than a guy dressed up like a racer.
And within the confines of the office I run, I am a known quantity and clearly a do-er so I get to flaunt some of the rules. Outside my office, I'm still a nobody and have to play by the rules as best I can. After a couple more years though, it won;t matter much anyhow.
I come from a blue collar background having been raised (mostly) in what would at the time have been the 'third world' and its 'middle class'.
My engineering background lends me to be of the willing to get under a vehicle at any moment, instead of pointing to things and walking away, letting the 'lesser people' deal with the actual work. In that scenario a suit and tie or any such combo of unnecessary clothing is detrimental. Different jobs require different attires, but there is generally a broad range that is acceptable.
Honest question though for you though - a lot of what you say makes sense, but has a sense of nostalgia - as in 'this is how well and civilised things were, and we should strive to retain it.' Am I correct?
Hoodies are for hoodrats, and working on endurance cars in the cold.
Happy to have subscribed and enjoying the consistent content. Stories like this are great. But I do remain on the edge of my seat for "the stories that can now be told"; and other debauchery involving Nissan Stanzas.
Well, I’m a Trackday Club member, only because I appreciate your work. The odds of me getting out to Ohio for some coaching are pretty slim, although the idea of causing some stern expressions is highly appealing. Very little in life has given me the same degree of satisfaction as passing GSXR-750s on the outside through the carousel at Summit Point on my little old RD-400 during a WERA rider’s school.
That said, I’m curious as to any opinion you might have of the schools that Ford Performance puts on down in North Carolina.
I like the thought of using their car rather than my own. I’m not looking to become a racer, just like to experience a track in a car and gain some skills. Thanks, another great piece that made me laugh.
My brother and I each did the Ford Mustang schools twice -- the Boss 302 experience and then their short-lived one at Miller where they actually let the two of us race in fully prepped Boss 302 track cars with slicks and aero. I thought they were good programs.
I'm also happy to meet you somewhere that's more convenient to you -- that's why I'm going to Sonoma in November.
Cool you've driven my home track, now owned by Geely.
They do a "Lotus Experience" out here now instead of Mustangs. But I like to think the real Lotus experience is in my 15 year old Exige Cup. It reminds me a lot of your Radical, cheap and usually broken, but capable of embarassing blau birds.
I leased a Fiesta ST based upon Bark's reviews in TTAC. And I took advantage of the Octane Academy, again based upon Bark's advice in TTAC. Had a wonderful time, but it was humbling. Driving on the track showed me how little I knew about driving.
That's because you're not an idiot. A lot of people bumble through that program and go home convinced they were GREAT when in fact they were terrifying for everyone around them.
That’s exactly what I expect to learn. I’ve never been as comfortable driving fast in a car as on a motorcycle. The damn things lean the wrong way in corners.
Miller was AMAZING. I ran there back when they first opened in 2007 - Shelby SAAC32 event. I was a little sad the museum wasn’t open yet, but they DID have one of the 3 original Daytonas and Carrol Shelby himself showed up. I refused to stand in line to meet him as I’m pretty sure he hated being bothered by people like that.
Nicest facility I’ve ever been to with a gorgeous backdrop. Tried to buy one of their GT300C cars back in the day. Fell though unfortunately. Also watched an 00R burn there. Yikes.
Well, that was a long, long time ago. I was single, no kids, and had very little sense. Racing on a track made me realize how stupid and irresponsible it was to ride that way on the streets.
Seriously, if you ride on the street like you would on a track - minus the gear "cause it's hot out," of course - you deserve everything that happens to you.
when neons were newish in scca racing i bought a bottle of his salad dressing artthe road atlanta shop. i eventually checked the date and it was about a year past its expiration..but it tasted just fine!
Pretty accurate look at the PCA. It's not quite as bad in one of the regions in Michigan, which split off from the other because they wanted more track time, but yes, the guy in the racing suit. He exists in a number of forms.
We don't have shitty/non shitty cars, just instructor groups and advanced, which often have a few club car racers and the odd open wheeler. Sometimes a "racecar" 944 or 924 or even an air-cooled 911 that see a few laps before being up on jacks with a brake/clutch/miscellaneous issue.
But mostly in the advance group we have a buddy or two that we like to go out on the track with and log a few laps quicker than you can drive on the road. The goal is to have a good time and drive it home. You're very welcome to come by in your Radical and disappear, I won't mind.
I think that's a fair and non-snarky way to look at it. I was just hoping for better pace, largely because the combination of low pace AND low awareness meant I was often at risk.
Other than Blau Bird and his ilk, there are a lot of people who own nice sports cars who like track days and don't aspire to set track records. Some are looking to push themselves a little bit out of a comfort zone. Some are ex racers who like going 8/10ths. Some lime to get to a as you say warmup level and drive home. In my experience, the ratio of assholes to people you'd have a beer with is pretty small.
One thing that PCA is good with is the chance of the car ahead of you setting itself on fire, losing a wheel, blowing up it's engine and spewing oil or turning itself on it's roof at 30mph in an uphill turn are pretty small. Technical inspections plus pricey cars equal tight lug nuts.
Can confirm - there's a doctor with some sort of quarter million Porsche that drives slow with us noobs in Track Night in America. He's a genuinely nice person.
I've done the same several times and enjoy it. I don't take it as some personal slight to point by a well driven FWD compact in the Viper, I just know my own limitations and have as much fun as I can within them.
Maybe someday I'll spring for the Track membership and get some instruction, but for the moment, any track time is nice, even if I'm exploring my own limits far more than the car's.
Couldn't you have just had brake light stickers on the rear, like your headlamps on the front? I mean, they didn't specify WORKING brake lights did they?
I love the track day stories, they're a window into a world I would never know otherwise, since I have a 10-year-old slushbox CX-5 and the material wealth to afford no more than that.
Whenever I read one of these, the wheels start turning and I start trying to concoct a plan by which I finally get out on the track. I have a rusty/crusty '98 Neon RT sitting around collecting rain-water that was built to run at the local paved oval, just needs a roll cage put in it, all it's done so far is some practice laps (where we were notably off the pace of well-set up and well-driven local Hondas). That or a motorcycle track day but I'd need to invest in a set of leathers for that, and maybe slap together a ratty Ninja 500/ Suzuku GS500 that I won't feel bad in case I "had-ta lay-'er down!"
I've only done two track days of which one was a Porsche Club day at Mid-Ohio. I had an excellent instructor that day, although that was because I accidentally switched assignments with my brother. I feel like my sibling got the short end of the stick that day, but he still had an okay time from a fun perspective.
The most memorable aspects of the day: 1. The advanced group guy with an orange C7 ZR1 and a painted to match golf cart. I timed his laps and later discovered they were approximately spec Miata times. 2. In the last session of the day, nearly being t-boned by an aimless Boxster whose driver apparently realized she was in the wrong lane and missed the turn in for the Starbucks drive-thru. I remember thinking "how could someone be so bad after a whole day of coaching?" 3. The GT350 that was totaled at the kink. He dropped a wheel off or something then crossed the track again and collected at least one other car. Several people were running around shouting "don't post pictures!" in an attempt, I guess, to help him with his potential insurance fraud? I wasn't surprised by this crash, given that my first track day was shut down early due to another Mustang wreck.
I'm not a skillful performance driver by any means, but I only gave one point by the whole day (to a GT500 in the first session, just to get him out of my mirrors, despite me driving a stock GTI on 7 year old 40k mile all seasons and mostly leaving the car in 4th gear the whole time). I'd like to do more track driving but can't justify the risk to my car that comes from other people.
The novice group is often hairy because try as they might, the instructors can't stop stupid. So they often "graduate" someone to solo in the intermediate group just so they won't be belted into an imbecile-driven 500hp missile.
The intermediate group is where the tomfoolery thrives, because there is no shortage of horsepower these days. 15 years ago a 300hp 911 was fast. Now it's a relic.
Still, at least the PCA or the BMW people try to keep nice cars from getting wrecked. I used to do track days with some outfits where having tight bolts to all four wheels was considered snobby.
The only time I ever heard the don't take videos cry was when a youngish guy in a BMW 135 modded out to look like a race car flipped it on its roof in. 30mph uphill at Waterford Hills. He mistook the brake for the gas or vice versa, and slowly climbed up a tire wall until he turtled. Ah the days.
Oh, I've heard DON'T TAKE VIDEOS, most notably in an SCCA pro solo event where half of the paddock conspired to dump a rolled Mini on a side road down the street.
In the long ago before times, well at least before they closed McDill for the forever wars, the PCA ran Solo 2 on one of the flight decks. This may be age talking, but they didn't seem quite so bad without the ego stroking nannies and cars that weren't priced into the stratosphere.
Let the wrap delaminate. Scuff it up. Make it look mean. Put working brake lights on and then go run it again. www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfroUSUcbdc
The commentary on that PCA hierarchy is really interesting. I've attended a few BMWCCA events this year and at least in my region, it's almost the inverse. The novice group is chock-full of brand new 450hp missiles, driven by young men in BMW motorsports jackets, while the A and Instructor groups are populated with track rat e36/e46 cars.
I think that's because BMW culture tends to revere old cars, whether we are talking a round-light 2002 three decades ago or an E46 ZHP today, while the PCA explicitly pushes NEW AND BEST as part of their mission.
Oh god, the amateur track day fireproof suit guys... I always try to keep a very close eye ..and a very far distance on them. One particular car control scholar was using all his "race craft" skills to keep my daily driver stock Fiesta ST behind his fully prepped M3 lap after annoying lap. I was just about to pit for some clear track when he FINALLY pointed me by ... AS he went 4 off into the grass.
Jack, forgive me if you’ve covered this, but I’m curious as to why you dislike Chin so much. I’ve been to events hosted by a few different organizations, ranging from barnyard rules to Soup Nazi. While Chin is closer to the latter, I appreciate their structure and clear rules. Generally speaking, I’ve noticed very little buffoonery. I’m guessing it has something to do with the obligatory wadded up red group car during 1st session, EVERY CHIN EVENT EVER?
This sounds odd coming from a dude who just got done whining about NO PACE IN THE PCA, but Chin's core group is obsessed with lap times, additional horsepower, and dick-swinging. One of the questions I asked Mark Hicks for an R&T piece that got killed was: "Is it true that, at the very same time they were loading a dead man into the ambulance at Road Atlanta, you had left the scene and were in the paddock trying to sell coaching services to a pair of Corvette drivers?"
Way back when I drove a car that had no business doing anything but traveling on the interstate and being bright red I used to autocross with a Taurus SHO club. Although definitely not up to the same, um, level of absurdity as the Porsche guys, there were still the usual suspects that would show up like they were the king shit. I did it for fun knowing full well my Grand Prix with the the too small turbo slapped on by ASC didn't belong anywhere near the track. There were the occasional Viper owner, Porsche owner or even the guy who clearly worked for Mercedes USA and would show up with a different top of the line SL V12 each time who took themselves too seriously.
The SHO guys were never happy that the tacky looking GM was actually quicker around the track with some kind behind the wheel either.
One of my favorite youtube passtimes is "spectator drag racing" at Rockford and Seekonk where a bunch of the random neat 90s stuff comes out of the woodwork (Bonneville SSEis, SHOs, rusty Maximas, 5.0 swapped Rangers, 2.4 swapped Neons, B5 Audis boosted to within an inch of their lives, etc) all racing each other.
I hear ya! My father had an SHO at the same time and our neighbor was treasurer of the New England SHO club so I got to "race" for free. I'm not under any delusion that I was good at it or either car was better than they other. For the time they were both pretty cool in my opinion. I took the SHO a few times too and it was just as fun at the Grand Prix and might have been the better car to most people.
We certainly didn't understand at the time that those were the good old days. Both GM and Ford producing overpowered front Drive sports sedans at the same time, and at reasonable prices. Hey, even the Mopar folks got into the silly fun with the glorious/ridiculous Spirit R/T. Yes, the car magazines always reminded us that they weren't M5s, or any 5s for that matter, but who cared if they missed out on the refinement, because they were a hood to drive. A monthly payment the average Joe could swing, enough practicality to keep the family happy, with reasonable repair bills and a real warranty. I'm sure we all expected that the next version would be even better, 10 years after it would be even better than that, and by now they'd have BMW beat. Who'd have thunk that by now they'd be all gone, and the whole automotive universe would be made up of grey SUVs. This is not the future I was promised!
It's been a cascade of unintended consequences. The small FWD cars of the Eighties and Nineties were light on their feet and capable of being "enthusiastic" with a relatively small amount of additional power. Today's SUVs and CUVs are simply beyond any such modification. Even the Kona N is pretty tepid.
If you had a half-decent job in 1994, you had a murderer's row of great choices, each more desirable and interesting than the next.
That's so true. I still think back on what a wonderful car the first Neon was. Not from any way that Consumer Reports would celebrate, but rather a ridiculous amount of fun for a minute amount of money. You could tell from the first feet driven , that someone at Chrysler spent a lot of time pushing those cars much harder than the vast majority of econoboxes would ever be driven. They were dead stable at 100 mph+ speeds and a blast through the corners. The engineering team missed the memo that these were economy cars, and set their sights on the world of compact sports sedans instead. And they hit a low cost bullseye.
It seems like even "enthusiasts" have given up on real fun and moved to tech and "sophistication" (ie boring) instead. Character will only increase to dwindle as things move more towards EV's. I hope I'm wrong though.
Agreed that EVs are diminishing character across the board and the increasing disconnection between man and machine is certainly less characterful.
There's a blatant push across large publications, and even the front pages of some forums, for EV fleets and how we should embrace them. The promotion of such is not natural, from what I can discern, and it is surprising to me that there's a lack of pushback from the community. The pressing forward of government regulations insisting on converting to a less dense energy solution is mind boggling, and I don't think it has anything to do with practicality, saving the earth, etc (though certainly there are true believers).
We've already seen the loss of aesthetic character through pedestrian crash regulations and similar. We're already experiencing classes of vehicles having their motors and excitement strangled by emissions (think Euro 5 bikes whose engineers are bastard Herculean/Sisyphean archetypes).
I'm genuinely concerned that the press to EVs is going to continue unabated for a variety of reasons and in the face of evidence that it's not actually a wonderful idea.
Ah, the Spirit R/T. My father traded a red 91 in on the 94 SHO from my story. The Spirit was FUN and surprised a few 5.0 Mustangs. I spent an hour drag racing my cousin in his 87 Mustang GT 5 speed one night on the BLVD in Lowell before we noticed two police cars sitting in a parking lot with their lights off waiting us to go one more time. That ended the night.
The cars were pretty much dead even right up to 100mph when we had to give up because of a turn.
Very interesting. The closest I have ever been to a race track was the grandstands at the county fairgrounds. Oh, and I got to watch some bikes practicing at Suzuka the week before the 8 hour race a couple of decades ago. I had no idea there was all this stuff happening behind the scenes.
Based on your posts about your business wardrobe, you obviously understand the dress for success mantra. However, I believe you are deliberately flaunting the conventions at the track because you are someone who gets the job done. You don't need to dress like a racer because you actually are one.
For the casuals, this is their fantasy and wearing the costume is part of the experience. It's no different that a nerd who dresses like Conan and carries a broadsword at a sci-fi convention. The swords, like the cars, are real and could cut you to ribbons but at least the nerds aren't dangerously swinging them around inches away from your precious ass.
My old man is a recently retired corporate pilot that operated his own charter company for quite a few years. He has a Breitling Mariner that a client gave to him on a trip to the Galapagos quite a while ago. He's selling it in order to buy a trap gun to join me at my club. Another sport where you can incidentally spend five figures just to "compete".
Like most hobbies that involve precision equipment, the skill of the operator knowing his equipment is key, but good equipment can be the final incremental difference between a good and great performer. Though it's hard to justify a 10k increment.
this made me laugh. every hobby has its hilarious, weirdo LARP corners that gives everyone else secondhand embarrassment. also see: folks with $10,000 worth of pro scuba gear before they pass their PADI course, folks with at least 3 different pieces of clothing with their boat name, silhouette, home port and LOA embroidered on them but couldnt drive it to save their lives, folks with $25,000 Italian shotguns who couldn't break a clay on a table with a hammer. never ceases to amaze
SCUBA is its own special case. Everything about how it is sold (both the activity and the equipment) is absurd. "It's safe! Anyone can do it!" "Buy this thing or you will DIE. DIR!" Most places I have dealt with really maximize the information asymmetry with beginners + fear to make sales.
I showed up to my first dive with the tags still on my reg hoses because they said "Do not remove"
As a beginner there is just no way to know where you are going to take the sport. The shop you take your instruction from knows that on average, they will never see you again, so they try to sell you everything. Then they almost pretend to not know you after your are done with AOW. Silly noob.
"Here, spend $3500 on the beginner package, it will be fine. But you really should upgrade to this better regulator, you wouldn't want your first stage to ice up and kill you. Oh yeah, you can use tables, but you should really get a computer. You could get this basic computer but you shouldn't, of course you are going to dive nitrox in the future why have to buy another one?"
In the last 25 years training has gone down the toilet. More accurately, they have restructured away from universally applicable skills that will introduce you the the concepts involved in different diving, to super segmented mini courses.
When I started, and I promise to stop shaking my cane soon, we still had to learn tables and J-valves (that was a just in case, they had been mostly phased out), and heard tales of disgruntled old timers wanting air fills without a C-Card.
Now I am with those old timers. I had a super low DAN #, I participated in a very early portable ultrasound micro bubble research project at Dutch Springs with them in the late 1990s. I thought it was pretty cool what they were doing and I was glad to be a part of it. A decade later I had let it lapse because I was diving commercially and just wanted to do a reef dive in my off time, the charter wouldn't let me sign up without a membership! Why? So my insurance company is off the hook? (in the US my regular health insurance would cover it, at worst it would be out of network.)
I have seen the industry get more and more coercive and it sucks. I get the instructors want to make money. The thing is that for most of them it isn't a profession, probably like instructors at a PCA event (on topic!). It is something that makes them feel cool, and there is an enormous pool of people who want to feel cool keeping the prices down. So now if you haven't dove for X months places require you to take a "refresher course" which is just padding for lack of demand for actual instruction.
You can always root out the weekend pilot tho, just ask them to try and use said Breitling and the patented circular slide rule. Most GA pilots I've met couldn't calculate sink rate/distance in the event of an engine failure, Breitling or not (and I'd argue you don't need a slide rule to calculate that). Thank goodness for Flightaware. Until the battery runs out.
I’ve always been a thumb-on-the-sectional kind of guy. I have to admit I’d be sadly puzzled if you handed me a whiz-wheel right this moment, but a half hour’s practice would have me going again. I gave one of my old ones to my son a few years ago and he was fascinated by it.
I FEEL ATTACKED!
We opened my fortieth birthday with the "magic chord" followed by "A Hard Day's Night". I remember that part, and I remember the cops shutting us down at 3am.
The flip side to that is my uncle who's a doctor with $$$ strat that he can absolutely RIP on. He kinda missed the whole accumulation of guitars and focused on playing really well. There's probably a lesson I can learn from that somewhere if I can calm down my raccoon like desire for shiny objects.
The photo of Blau Bird guy makes it look like he's quite literally trying to hold something up his ass(?)
My only "track experience" is at our local paved 1/5th oval, watching guys that look like overweight circa 2000 Eminem, sponsored by various local tow-yards, get into fistfights after wrecking their Civics and Integras with restamped-VIN Type-R motors
An idea for vinyl on the back of your Radical in time for the next PCA event: "If you're not the LEAD DOG, the View Never Changes!" (keep my capitalization)
Actually, forget the Radical, that custom vinyl slogan belongs on the back of a ratty 944 with a Chevy V8 swap. And not a clean LS swap, I'm talking "carb'd SBC 350 chrome air cleaner lid poking out from a Saw-zall'ed hood" swap.
My dad used to work with an old machinist who had a VW 356 convertible replica he'd take to Watkins Glen for the PCA track days every once in a while and according to him there were some real douchebags in the bunch.
To the cosplay question: salud
Took me 90% of my entire thus far lived life to learn this lesson... Me of admiring the humble appearance of the typical American, and chuckling internally when a European shows up for work in a suit and tie... There are subtle and numerous aspects to this that are increasingly obvious every passing day.
I do think there's value in dressing for work. It shows a willingness to participate in society on terms that are respectful to everyone. The Zuckerberg types who flex on their own people by dressing like a hobo are being deliberately and unnecessarily unpleasant, I think.
A few years back I got comped admission to the Chicago Auto Show charity preview, which was supposedly a black tie event, so I went to a thrift shop and bought a hardly worn second hand tuxedo (the shirt and accoutrements cost more than the tux). When I got to the event I was rather appalled at what some people consider a tuxedo these days.
Harry and Lloyd from "Dumb and Dumber," I hope.
Well put. I was trying to categorize Fetterman with the hoodies and goatee thing, and that's it exactly--you can only thumb your nose at the status quo so much if you aspire to be a part of it.
This is where I fail Having climbed into the middle class I never really understood the rules for professional dressing. I did my best and always thought I dressed up pretty well until someone looked at my sport coat, slacks and tie combo and asked me if it was casual Friday. Until then, I'd always thought full suits were for formal occasions.
Of course once I learned that people were sniggering at me behind my back, and probably had been for years, I figured they should fuck off. Since my attempt to be one of them fell short, I doubled down on NOT being one of them. I find it pretty funny to get off my 25 year old Honda and walk into my office, helmet under my arm, wearing an armored jacket and a pair of coveralls I bought at the Walmart in Moscow, Idaho circa 1996.
Of course, I still have slacks on under the coveralls and keep a couple of sport coats and some ties in my office so I can "dress up" for meetings. I'm not totally disengaged, but the cat is out of the bag because people see the real me when I arrive and when I leave. And the thing is, I feel like they respect me more because I am who and what I am. I know I certainly respect myself more and that is a nice thing to have as I get passed over again and again for promotion...
This is very much akin to my thinking, but I don't like the punch line very much thank you. But it does go a long way to proving the cosplay argument. All you've stated is appearances matter everywhere, all the time, in a way there being no private place where you can just be.
My thoughts are that image matters in lines of work where ideas and cooperation are of paramount importance. In the blue collar world, quality of work matters - a well built wall says volumes about the person who built it so a person's reputation is often based on what they do.
Ideas can be good or bad, of course, but they usually require socialization to be accepted. That means that social conventions apply and how you look, where you come from, or who you are often matters more than the quality of the idea itself.
The way a person dresses lends credibility and that carries over to almost anything - at least until the shit hits the fan. That's why guys who look good in a uniform and who say the right things go right to the top in the military until the lead starts flying and the guys who actually know how to fight wars suddenly find their once stifled careers back on the fast track.
Which leads me to what I think is one other important rule - do-ers don't have to follow the fashion rules. It's why Bill gates lost the tie, why Steve Jobs dressed like a beatnik, why Zuck gets to dress like a slob and why Jack is better in his Iron Maiden Tee shirt than a guy dressed up like a racer.
And within the confines of the office I run, I am a known quantity and clearly a do-er so I get to flaunt some of the rules. Outside my office, I'm still a nobody and have to play by the rules as best I can. After a couple more years though, it won;t matter much anyhow.
I come from a blue collar background having been raised (mostly) in what would at the time have been the 'third world' and its 'middle class'.
My engineering background lends me to be of the willing to get under a vehicle at any moment, instead of pointing to things and walking away, letting the 'lesser people' deal with the actual work. In that scenario a suit and tie or any such combo of unnecessary clothing is detrimental. Different jobs require different attires, but there is generally a broad range that is acceptable.
Honest question though for you though - a lot of what you say makes sense, but has a sense of nostalgia - as in 'this is how well and civilised things were, and we should strive to retain it.' Am I correct?
Hoodies are for hoodrats, and working on endurance cars in the cold.
Happy to have subscribed and enjoying the consistent content. Stories like this are great. But I do remain on the edge of my seat for "the stories that can now be told"; and other debauchery involving Nissan Stanzas.
Rodney's final tale is coming up ASAP!
Final? You have to save something for people to re-up for!
Based on some recent occurrences, I believe that Rodney stories are always renewing under the surface, much like the abiogenic theory of oil!
Well, I’m a Trackday Club member, only because I appreciate your work. The odds of me getting out to Ohio for some coaching are pretty slim, although the idea of causing some stern expressions is highly appealing. Very little in life has given me the same degree of satisfaction as passing GSXR-750s on the outside through the carousel at Summit Point on my little old RD-400 during a WERA rider’s school.
That said, I’m curious as to any opinion you might have of the schools that Ford Performance puts on down in North Carolina.
I like the thought of using their car rather than my own. I’m not looking to become a racer, just like to experience a track in a car and gain some skills. Thanks, another great piece that made me laugh.
My brother and I each did the Ford Mustang schools twice -- the Boss 302 experience and then their short-lived one at Miller where they actually let the two of us race in fully prepped Boss 302 track cars with slicks and aero. I thought they were good programs.
I'm also happy to meet you somewhere that's more convenient to you -- that's why I'm going to Sonoma in November.
Cool you've driven my home track, now owned by Geely.
They do a "Lotus Experience" out here now instead of Mustangs. But I like to think the real Lotus experience is in my 15 year old Exige Cup. It reminds me a lot of your Radical, cheap and usually broken, but capable of embarassing blau birds.
What are your thoughts on Miller (now UMC)?
I have very fond memories of Miller; I was driven around the track by Roger Miller himself in his LFA.
Somebody ought to do a "Lotus Experience" that consists of trying to resurrect an Esprit that "ran when parked."
I leased a Fiesta ST based upon Bark's reviews in TTAC. And I took advantage of the Octane Academy, again based upon Bark's advice in TTAC. Had a wonderful time, but it was humbling. Driving on the track showed me how little I knew about driving.
That's because you're not an idiot. A lot of people bumble through that program and go home convinced they were GREAT when in fact they were terrifying for everyone around them.
That’s exactly what I expect to learn. I’ve never been as comfortable driving fast in a car as on a motorcycle. The damn things lean the wrong way in corners.
Miller was AMAZING. I ran there back when they first opened in 2007 - Shelby SAAC32 event. I was a little sad the museum wasn’t open yet, but they DID have one of the 3 original Daytonas and Carrol Shelby himself showed up. I refused to stand in line to meet him as I’m pretty sure he hated being bothered by people like that.
Nicest facility I’ve ever been to with a gorgeous backdrop. Tried to buy one of their GT300C cars back in the day. Fell though unfortunately. Also watched an 00R burn there. Yikes.
Props to schooling the squids on an RD-400. I've got a friend who consistently embarrassed even skilled riders on his Kawasaki EX-500.
Well, that was a long, long time ago. I was single, no kids, and had very little sense. Racing on a track made me realize how stupid and irresponsible it was to ride that way on the streets.
Seriously, if you ride on the street like you would on a track - minus the gear "cause it's hot out," of course - you deserve everything that happens to you.
I feel attacked yet again!
Was the BLAU BRD wearing a white or black dial Rolex Daytona? Just a hunch.
Check the Rennlist member to member classifieds for watch choices in Porscheworld.
I was thinking more of a Porsche Design Chronograph 911 GT3 Touring Package wristwatch, to complete his ensemble
The Newman/Haas team is selling off many of their race cars and related memorabilia at the end of October. At an estimated $20,000 - $30,000 (no reserve) this may be the cheapest way to own a genuinely Paul Newman related Daytona, even if he may have never worn it (the online listing doesn't say anything about its history). https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/hn22/the-house-that-newman-haas-racing-built/lots/n0037-rolex-reference-16520-zenith-daytona/1272640
Pretty sure I have a $2 bottle of salad dressing with his picture on it. That's probably as close as I need to get to the great man...
Believe it or not, that stuff tastes okay .
-Nate
Totally agree. No complaints about Newman's food products.
Well ;
To be honest they're more than $2 out here in La La Land so I've only had it by invitation .
-Nate
when neons were newish in scca racing i bought a bottle of his salad dressing artthe road atlanta shop. i eventually checked the date and it was about a year past its expiration..but it tasted just fine!
I just stick with my '71 Omega Speedy whilst maneuvering my F350 through downtown of the local berg... Oops! Time to wind it again.
Pretty accurate look at the PCA. It's not quite as bad in one of the regions in Michigan, which split off from the other because they wanted more track time, but yes, the guy in the racing suit. He exists in a number of forms.
We don't have shitty/non shitty cars, just instructor groups and advanced, which often have a few club car racers and the odd open wheeler. Sometimes a "racecar" 944 or 924 or even an air-cooled 911 that see a few laps before being up on jacks with a brake/clutch/miscellaneous issue.
But mostly in the advance group we have a buddy or two that we like to go out on the track with and log a few laps quicker than you can drive on the road. The goal is to have a good time and drive it home. You're very welcome to come by in your Radical and disappear, I won't mind.
(Cayman R driving lawyer)
I think that's a fair and non-snarky way to look at it. I was just hoping for better pace, largely because the combination of low pace AND low awareness meant I was often at risk.
I'd notice you as you went by and maybe even before that.
I'm going to reply to myself, so feeble,
Other than Blau Bird and his ilk, there are a lot of people who own nice sports cars who like track days and don't aspire to set track records. Some are looking to push themselves a little bit out of a comfort zone. Some are ex racers who like going 8/10ths. Some lime to get to a as you say warmup level and drive home. In my experience, the ratio of assholes to people you'd have a beer with is pretty small.
One thing that PCA is good with is the chance of the car ahead of you setting itself on fire, losing a wheel, blowing up it's engine and spewing oil or turning itself on it's roof at 30mph in an uphill turn are pretty small. Technical inspections plus pricey cars equal tight lug nuts.
Can confirm - there's a doctor with some sort of quarter million Porsche that drives slow with us noobs in Track Night in America. He's a genuinely nice person.
I've done the same several times and enjoy it. I don't take it as some personal slight to point by a well driven FWD compact in the Viper, I just know my own limitations and have as much fun as I can within them.
Maybe someday I'll spring for the Track membership and get some instruction, but for the moment, any track time is nice, even if I'm exploring my own limits far more than the car's.
Couldn't you have just had brake light stickers on the rear, like your headlamps on the front? I mean, they didn't specify WORKING brake lights did they?
I considered flicking my sole working taillamp on and off via switch during the lap, but I didn't want to be unpleasant!
NASCAR roots, baby. Throw the revenooers off.
I love the track day stories, they're a window into a world I would never know otherwise, since I have a 10-year-old slushbox CX-5 and the material wealth to afford no more than that.
Whenever I read one of these, the wheels start turning and I start trying to concoct a plan by which I finally get out on the track. I have a rusty/crusty '98 Neon RT sitting around collecting rain-water that was built to run at the local paved oval, just needs a roll cage put in it, all it's done so far is some practice laps (where we were notably off the pace of well-set up and well-driven local Hondas). That or a motorcycle track day but I'd need to invest in a set of leathers for that, and maybe slap together a ratty Ninja 500/ Suzuku GS500 that I won't feel bad in case I "had-ta lay-'er down!"
Meanwhile, a tingle went down Jack's spine at mention of a 1998 Neon RT...
I've sold two good race-ready Neons in the past four years... have just one left!
I've only done two track days of which one was a Porsche Club day at Mid-Ohio. I had an excellent instructor that day, although that was because I accidentally switched assignments with my brother. I feel like my sibling got the short end of the stick that day, but he still had an okay time from a fun perspective.
The most memorable aspects of the day: 1. The advanced group guy with an orange C7 ZR1 and a painted to match golf cart. I timed his laps and later discovered they were approximately spec Miata times. 2. In the last session of the day, nearly being t-boned by an aimless Boxster whose driver apparently realized she was in the wrong lane and missed the turn in for the Starbucks drive-thru. I remember thinking "how could someone be so bad after a whole day of coaching?" 3. The GT350 that was totaled at the kink. He dropped a wheel off or something then crossed the track again and collected at least one other car. Several people were running around shouting "don't post pictures!" in an attempt, I guess, to help him with his potential insurance fraud? I wasn't surprised by this crash, given that my first track day was shut down early due to another Mustang wreck.
I'm not a skillful performance driver by any means, but I only gave one point by the whole day (to a GT500 in the first session, just to get him out of my mirrors, despite me driving a stock GTI on 7 year old 40k mile all seasons and mostly leaving the car in 4th gear the whole time). I'd like to do more track driving but can't justify the risk to my car that comes from other people.
The novice group is often hairy because try as they might, the instructors can't stop stupid. So they often "graduate" someone to solo in the intermediate group just so they won't be belted into an imbecile-driven 500hp missile.
The intermediate group is where the tomfoolery thrives, because there is no shortage of horsepower these days. 15 years ago a 300hp 911 was fast. Now it's a relic.
Still, at least the PCA or the BMW people try to keep nice cars from getting wrecked. I used to do track days with some outfits where having tight bolts to all four wheels was considered snobby.
The only time I ever heard the don't take videos cry was when a youngish guy in a BMW 135 modded out to look like a race car flipped it on its roof in. 30mph uphill at Waterford Hills. He mistook the brake for the gas or vice versa, and slowly climbed up a tire wall until he turtled. Ah the days.
Oh, I've heard DON'T TAKE VIDEOS, most notably in an SCCA pro solo event where half of the paddock conspired to dump a rolled Mini on a side road down the street.
That old porcupine joke didn't write itself.
In the long ago before times, well at least before they closed McDill for the forever wars, the PCA ran Solo 2 on one of the flight decks. This may be age talking, but they didn't seem quite so bad without the ego stroking nannies and cars that weren't priced into the stratosphere.
Let the wrap delaminate. Scuff it up. Make it look mean. Put working brake lights on and then go run it again. www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfroUSUcbdc
It looked plenty mean for two years! I want it to look nice now!
The commentary on that PCA hierarchy is really interesting. I've attended a few BMWCCA events this year and at least in my region, it's almost the inverse. The novice group is chock-full of brand new 450hp missiles, driven by young men in BMW motorsports jackets, while the A and Instructor groups are populated with track rat e36/e46 cars.
I think that's because BMW culture tends to revere old cars, whether we are talking a round-light 2002 three decades ago or an E46 ZHP today, while the PCA explicitly pushes NEW AND BEST as part of their mission.
Oh god, the amateur track day fireproof suit guys... I always try to keep a very close eye ..and a very far distance on them. One particular car control scholar was using all his "race craft" skills to keep my daily driver stock Fiesta ST behind his fully prepped M3 lap after annoying lap. I was just about to pit for some clear track when he FINALLY pointed me by ... AS he went 4 off into the grass.
Jack, forgive me if you’ve covered this, but I’m curious as to why you dislike Chin so much. I’ve been to events hosted by a few different organizations, ranging from barnyard rules to Soup Nazi. While Chin is closer to the latter, I appreciate their structure and clear rules. Generally speaking, I’ve noticed very little buffoonery. I’m guessing it has something to do with the obligatory wadded up red group car during 1st session, EVERY CHIN EVENT EVER?
This sounds odd coming from a dude who just got done whining about NO PACE IN THE PCA, but Chin's core group is obsessed with lap times, additional horsepower, and dick-swinging. One of the questions I asked Mark Hicks for an R&T piece that got killed was: "Is it true that, at the very same time they were loading a dead man into the ambulance at Road Atlanta, you had left the scene and were in the paddock trying to sell coaching services to a pair of Corvette drivers?"
Damn. No wonder you feel that way. I’ll say no track day is short of at least a couple of buttholes, but that’s just ugly.
This is classic!
Way back when I drove a car that had no business doing anything but traveling on the interstate and being bright red I used to autocross with a Taurus SHO club. Although definitely not up to the same, um, level of absurdity as the Porsche guys, there were still the usual suspects that would show up like they were the king shit. I did it for fun knowing full well my Grand Prix with the the too small turbo slapped on by ASC didn't belong anywhere near the track. There were the occasional Viper owner, Porsche owner or even the guy who clearly worked for Mercedes USA and would show up with a different top of the line SL V12 each time who took themselves too seriously.
The SHO guys were never happy that the tacky looking GM was actually quicker around the track with some kind behind the wheel either.
Fun times!
Present!
Here!
ASC Turbo Grand Prix. Hell. Yes.
I'm torn between my appreciation of the Grand Prix and my appreciation of the SHO. For me at any rate there is no antagonist in this story.
One of my favorite youtube passtimes is "spectator drag racing" at Rockford and Seekonk where a bunch of the random neat 90s stuff comes out of the woodwork (Bonneville SSEis, SHOs, rusty Maximas, 5.0 swapped Rangers, 2.4 swapped Neons, B5 Audis boosted to within an inch of their lives, etc) all racing each other.
I hear ya! My father had an SHO at the same time and our neighbor was treasurer of the New England SHO club so I got to "race" for free. I'm not under any delusion that I was good at it or either car was better than they other. For the time they were both pretty cool in my opinion. I took the SHO a few times too and it was just as fun at the Grand Prix and might have been the better car to most people.
We certainly didn't understand at the time that those were the good old days. Both GM and Ford producing overpowered front Drive sports sedans at the same time, and at reasonable prices. Hey, even the Mopar folks got into the silly fun with the glorious/ridiculous Spirit R/T. Yes, the car magazines always reminded us that they weren't M5s, or any 5s for that matter, but who cared if they missed out on the refinement, because they were a hood to drive. A monthly payment the average Joe could swing, enough practicality to keep the family happy, with reasonable repair bills and a real warranty. I'm sure we all expected that the next version would be even better, 10 years after it would be even better than that, and by now they'd have BMW beat. Who'd have thunk that by now they'd be all gone, and the whole automotive universe would be made up of grey SUVs. This is not the future I was promised!
It's been a cascade of unintended consequences. The small FWD cars of the Eighties and Nineties were light on their feet and capable of being "enthusiastic" with a relatively small amount of additional power. Today's SUVs and CUVs are simply beyond any such modification. Even the Kona N is pretty tepid.
If you had a half-decent job in 1994, you had a murderer's row of great choices, each more desirable and interesting than the next.
That's so true. I still think back on what a wonderful car the first Neon was. Not from any way that Consumer Reports would celebrate, but rather a ridiculous amount of fun for a minute amount of money. You could tell from the first feet driven , that someone at Chrysler spent a lot of time pushing those cars much harder than the vast majority of econoboxes would ever be driven. They were dead stable at 100 mph+ speeds and a blast through the corners. The engineering team missed the memo that these were economy cars, and set their sights on the world of compact sports sedans instead. And they hit a low cost bullseye.
It seems like even "enthusiasts" have given up on real fun and moved to tech and "sophistication" (ie boring) instead. Character will only increase to dwindle as things move more towards EV's. I hope I'm wrong though.
Agreed that EVs are diminishing character across the board and the increasing disconnection between man and machine is certainly less characterful.
There's a blatant push across large publications, and even the front pages of some forums, for EV fleets and how we should embrace them. The promotion of such is not natural, from what I can discern, and it is surprising to me that there's a lack of pushback from the community. The pressing forward of government regulations insisting on converting to a less dense energy solution is mind boggling, and I don't think it has anything to do with practicality, saving the earth, etc (though certainly there are true believers).
We've already seen the loss of aesthetic character through pedestrian crash regulations and similar. We're already experiencing classes of vehicles having their motors and excitement strangled by emissions (think Euro 5 bikes whose engineers are bastard Herculean/Sisyphean archetypes).
I'm genuinely concerned that the press to EVs is going to continue unabated for a variety of reasons and in the face of evidence that it's not actually a wonderful idea.
Ah, the Spirit R/T. My father traded a red 91 in on the 94 SHO from my story. The Spirit was FUN and surprised a few 5.0 Mustangs. I spent an hour drag racing my cousin in his 87 Mustang GT 5 speed one night on the BLVD in Lowell before we noticed two police cars sitting in a parking lot with their lights off waiting us to go one more time. That ended the night.
The cars were pretty much dead even right up to 100mph when we had to give up because of a turn.
Very interesting. The closest I have ever been to a race track was the grandstands at the county fairgrounds. Oh, and I got to watch some bikes practicing at Suzuka the week before the 8 hour race a couple of decades ago. I had no idea there was all this stuff happening behind the scenes.
Based on your posts about your business wardrobe, you obviously understand the dress for success mantra. However, I believe you are deliberately flaunting the conventions at the track because you are someone who gets the job done. You don't need to dress like a racer because you actually are one.
For the casuals, this is their fantasy and wearing the costume is part of the experience. It's no different that a nerd who dresses like Conan and carries a broadsword at a sci-fi convention. The swords, like the cars, are real and could cut you to ribbons but at least the nerds aren't dangerously swinging them around inches away from your precious ass.
See also: Guys who dress like Chuck Yeager circa 1944 to fly their Cessna 172’s. More likely to be sporting a Breitling than a Rolex.
Wait, what ? I have a Breitling wristwatch, is that some sort of thing now ? .
My Sweet bought it for me because I like the old fashioned rectangular look of it .
-Nate
Certainly my watch doesn't fit that bill ! .
I like it 'cause it's very conservative .
Once in a while when I wear it I get comments on it and don't know why ~ it's not Rolex (!oh my GHOD !) etc....
-Nate
I think Breitlings start at around 8k now. But I’m probably way off.
!!!!!
-Nate
My old man is a recently retired corporate pilot that operated his own charter company for quite a few years. He has a Breitling Mariner that a client gave to him on a trip to the Galapagos quite a while ago. He's selling it in order to buy a trap gun to join me at my club. Another sport where you can incidentally spend five figures just to "compete".
I shoot a BT99. It's a 70s model with a wide forestock, made in Japan. Came with a nice case with 2 separate barrels.
Before that, I shot a $300 Baikal O/U with which I could regularly shoot 23 and sometimes 24, but the BT got me to 25 and 50.
I was on the line this weekend where myself and another member both shot a perfect round. Though he was shooting a $13k Kolar...
Like most hobbies that involve precision equipment, the skill of the operator knowing his equipment is key, but good equipment can be the final incremental difference between a good and great performer. Though it's hard to justify a 10k increment.
Shooting clays with my Vepr 12 was super entertaining. I never failed to make new friends at the range when I'd let them shoot my AK shotgun
this made me laugh. every hobby has its hilarious, weirdo LARP corners that gives everyone else secondhand embarrassment. also see: folks with $10,000 worth of pro scuba gear before they pass their PADI course, folks with at least 3 different pieces of clothing with their boat name, silhouette, home port and LOA embroidered on them but couldnt drive it to save their lives, folks with $25,000 Italian shotguns who couldn't break a clay on a table with a hammer. never ceases to amaze
My career as a musician has been like this: playing local gigs with $5k of equipment.
I don't hate people like this. It's very common on the golf course, especially country clubs.
As long as they don't ask if I take Venmo when it's time to pay up.
SCUBA is its own special case. Everything about how it is sold (both the activity and the equipment) is absurd. "It's safe! Anyone can do it!" "Buy this thing or you will DIE. DIR!" Most places I have dealt with really maximize the information asymmetry with beginners + fear to make sales.
I showed up to my first dive with the tags still on my reg hoses because they said "Do not remove"
As a beginner there is just no way to know where you are going to take the sport. The shop you take your instruction from knows that on average, they will never see you again, so they try to sell you everything. Then they almost pretend to not know you after your are done with AOW. Silly noob.
"Here, spend $3500 on the beginner package, it will be fine. But you really should upgrade to this better regulator, you wouldn't want your first stage to ice up and kill you. Oh yeah, you can use tables, but you should really get a computer. You could get this basic computer but you shouldn't, of course you are going to dive nitrox in the future why have to buy another one?"
In the last 25 years training has gone down the toilet. More accurately, they have restructured away from universally applicable skills that will introduce you the the concepts involved in different diving, to super segmented mini courses.
When I started, and I promise to stop shaking my cane soon, we still had to learn tables and J-valves (that was a just in case, they had been mostly phased out), and heard tales of disgruntled old timers wanting air fills without a C-Card.
Now I am with those old timers. I had a super low DAN #, I participated in a very early portable ultrasound micro bubble research project at Dutch Springs with them in the late 1990s. I thought it was pretty cool what they were doing and I was glad to be a part of it. A decade later I had let it lapse because I was diving commercially and just wanted to do a reef dive in my off time, the charter wouldn't let me sign up without a membership! Why? So my insurance company is off the hook? (in the US my regular health insurance would cover it, at worst it would be out of network.)
I have seen the industry get more and more coercive and it sucks. I get the instructors want to make money. The thing is that for most of them it isn't a profession, probably like instructors at a PCA event (on topic!). It is something that makes them feel cool, and there is an enormous pool of people who want to feel cool keeping the prices down. So now if you haven't dove for X months places require you to take a "refresher course" which is just padding for lack of demand for actual instruction.
End rant.
You can always root out the weekend pilot tho, just ask them to try and use said Breitling and the patented circular slide rule. Most GA pilots I've met couldn't calculate sink rate/distance in the event of an engine failure, Breitling or not (and I'd argue you don't need a slide rule to calculate that). Thank goodness for Flightaware. Until the battery runs out.
I’ve always been a thumb-on-the-sectional kind of guy. I have to admit I’d be sadly puzzled if you handed me a whiz-wheel right this moment, but a half hour’s practice would have me going again. I gave one of my old ones to my son a few years ago and he was fascinated by it.
Cheers!