First and foremost, happy 4th of July to everyone. Please take a moment to give thanks and to recognize the significance of this day in the history of the United States. There are many countries around the world who are struggling to achieve what we take for granted every day. As someone who travels the world regularly, I encourage you to count your blessings frequently as we have it very, very good here compared to many places around the world.
As for racing… Life’s Good Racing!TM certainly hasn’t been living up to Steve McQueen’s adage from the movie Le Mans in which he quips “racing is…. life… anything that happens before or after is.. just waiting.” Yes, we have had two very successful race weekends since my last update, however the rigors of daily life — including work — are often all consuming and result in little time for such important tasks as “life”, or at least in our venerable racing hero’s words.
The Life’s Good Racing!TM team raced our improving 2007
Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart both in May at Thunderhill and June at Infineon Raceway with success at each venue. Additionally, we have begun sorting out the chassis on the 1969 Camaro, which certainly has been a crowd pleaser with throngs coming by our pits to ogle the car.
At Thunderhill in May, Dave Brown piloted the Lancer to two third place finishes, both in the qualifying race and in the main event, an hour long race that ran simultaneous with an enduro, resulting in a very crowded track.
At Infineon in June, NASA threw a curve ball at the drivers in the main event, which included USTCC, when they announced at the pre-
race meeting that they would run the race with the NASCAR configuration of the track, on which the drivers did not test. The race was one of the most entertaining of the afternoon as Dave Brown jumped to a quick lead at the drop of the flag, but couldn’t hold off Brandon Kraus, who passed Dave at the end of the first lap.
Over the ensuing laps Dave dropped as far back as third but benefitted from a high failure rate of the competition and eventually found himself locked in a “battle royal” with Pete Bovenberg for first place. The crowd was able to witness an incredible contest of will as they not only traded first place countless times, but also had to adapt to yet another curve ball from NASA when, under a full course caution, they yet again changed the track configuration to a “hybrid of a classical and Indy Car setup”. This configuration resulted in a switch-back or chicane coming out of the Esses which caused multiple times when cars went off into the dirt, including Pete Bovenberg on several occasions.
The race literally came down to the wire as Pete pulled inside of Dave coming out of turn 10 and was able to nudge him aside, resulting in a drag race to the finish line and a win by only a few hundredths of a second! Talk about a battle of wills!!!
The points race in USTCC after four races spanning three race weekends has the Brown/Chicca Life’s Good Racing!TM team in 6th place and well within striking distance of first as indicated on the points page that can be found at the following USTCC site link HERE.
I raced the Lancer in Performance Touring A class and am happy to say that I was successful with two first places in this fantastically handling car! Most impressive of all its attributes are its braking prowess, which I directly attribute to the brake pads from Hawk Brakes. We are proud to display Hawk Brakes another season on the hood of our newly dressed up race car which also proudly displays such key sponsors as: WORKS Motorsports, Bridgelux, and San Rafael Mitsubishi.
And, when Dave and I weren’t racing the Lancer, we were hussling the 1969 Camaro a
round track, both competing in Time Trials class TTU, and giving rides to guests of our hospitality suite where we proudly displayed our Hawk Brakes and Bridgelux colors. Needless to say, there were many smiles on those fortunate to receive rides that weekend as it definitely is an “E ticket ride” going around Infineon Raceway in a 500hp American muscle car! You can see below and on the 1969 Camaro page some video from inside and atop of this beautiful beast as it screamed around this very scenic and historic track.
Our next race weekend is August 13 & 14 at Thunderhill raceway in Willows, Calif.
See you at the races!
Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA