Summit Point Formula Fest Oct 5 & 6

[Dennis Valet]

BS unless you post some pics

I took a few, I'll post them up soon when I develop them. Didn't really shoot too much, was just enjoying the weekend!

[MikeR]

What a weekend for FF CFF racing. The location was beautiful, the weather was great, and the racing was exciting. Thanks Joe for your hospitality this weekend and pulling together a big turnout of FF and CFF cars.

How about video of the Sunday afternoon bonus race:

http://youtu.be/m6elgSSji2M

[Derek Holmes]

A big thanks to Joe and everyone that could make this event happen. It was a great feeling to be sitting on the grid looking in the mirror seeing all the CF/FF. I had a blast hopefully we can do this again.

[DK540]

Well, it has already been put out on another thread in this Forum that next year's Jefferson 500 at Summit Point may be billed as (one of) the 45th FF Anniversary events. I hope to be there and hope to see lots of other CFs there.

[Roux]

who made this happen. It was fun. For the first time in years I have bruises from the belts. I know I was throwing the car into 3, 4, 9 and 10 and getting a lot of bite and the pounding that comes from those fast corners and the high G loads. Bill Valet just booked into the sunset. Thatis a great driver/car/team combo! He was able to dethrone Jeremey Treadway from the lap record on Saturday. Nice job on R45's.

Thanks to MikeR for posting the video. I will see if I got any on my cameras, probably tomorrow.

I hope Joe M. realizes that it went well and I for one would do it again tomorrow with the same format.

Steve

[Joe Marcinski]

I am not quite sure how to go about this, but I think we need to look at this from another direction. It is me that is thanking you and some other very important people for coming. All I did was ask you to come and you did. I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am for all the support.

I really suck at this so in some particular order and in no particular because.........well just read it! If you have an hour or so...............

Thank Elizabeth Miller who is one of the Assistant Directors of Club Racing of WDCR whose idea this really was. Elizabeth came to me on the May Majors weekend and said what if..... and then did an incredible amount of facilitating to make it happen. At that moment I was very skeptical, but Elizabeth was relentless.

Thank Wayne Armbrust who is the WDCR Director of Club Racing. One of the classiest, most dignified people I have ever met and a perfect example of someone you would want on your ship in a big storm.

Thank Anne Calihan who is also one of the ACDR's and a very quiet, but extraordinarily competent right hand lady for Wayne. I still cannot believe that they got you to do a Michael Corleonne (probably spelled it wrong, will know tomorrow when I find the horse head in the bed) and pulled you back in, but I am so glad they did.

Thank Ken Anderson who is Wayne's third ADCR. Ken is so good at his job that sometimes you don't even know he is there. But you know he is because everything just works!

Thank Angela Slocum and Dave Gernert who not only raced with us, but for creating the poster that we had. The progress that they have made as drivers this year has been really impressive.

Thank Phil Kingham & Dave Harmison for coming all the way from Michigan! I do not know anyone who can learn a brand new track as fast as those two guys. Great drivers and even better friends. You will be hearing more from us shortly about doing something just like this again.

Thank Bill Maisey for buying his new Crossle' 45F and coming up to play with us and thank his son Sean for making the extra effort to come with him with the Citation.

Thank Bill Valet for coming out of retirement after almost two full years. I hope Bill can find the time and resources to go back and repeat his Pro F1600 championship. I have nothing against those 15 year olds.......well hell yes, I do.

Thank JD King for being JD King. I do not know that any of us will ever see such a competitive spirit again. A true gentlemen, and unbelievably good driver and a great friend.

Thank Wayne Nicolette for pushing all of us Club Ford drivers to work so hard just to keep up. I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed racing with Wayne.

Thank Steve Roux for his creativity and for being one of the most pleasant people on the planet to be around. I am so glad that the Wyvren is starting to respond and go so well. He built that thing from scratch, just amazing. Big loss for South Africa, huge gain for us.

Thank Doug Fisher from coming out of retirement and pushing me to get this event going. Doug and I go so far back you need a carbon dating procedure to get our race results. Doug's reappearance has taught me to never forget just how valuable a friend who can make you feel like you are 15 and back in home room is. That being said, I don't care how many times you puke before the race; you are not more like James Hunt the me!

Thank Derek Holmes for hanging in there and for being so kind as to ask me for advice and then making me believe it actually helped him! Derek has made so much progress as a driver this year; great job Derek! And also think him for getting Al Cantrel to sell his A Sedan Camaro and come back to the dark side with the Crossle' 60F. Thanks for coming back Al!

Thank Mark Walthew for getting his new engine put together so quickly so he could make it. I know how difficult that was for you, thank you very much Mark!

Thank Gary Gecelter for changing his plans and for convincing Jim Little to change his plans as well. Jim had two new customers for next year who were going to driver school at Watkins and will be running with him next season. I am sure that Jimmy left a lot of money on the table to make this trip. Don't know how to thank you properly Jim, not sure there is a way!

Thank Mike Kelly for taking time out of the most busy time of the year for him to come and run with us. The deer jerky is fabulous, oh crap, now PETA is going to throw more red paint at your car!

Thank Chuck VanNostrand. Just thank him, he is such a great friend and good influence upon me in just too many ways to list here. We are very lucky to have Chuck in our group.

I was blown away by the support and even more so by the incredibly gracious way in which you all handled the glitch on Sunday morning (enough said).

We are going to do this again...........stay tuned

[Doug Fisher]

Joe,

While I may act 15, I do have the maturity of a 16 year old.
Having said that, what a great weekend.
It really opens the door for similar events, or 'FF flash mobs' for next year. I will be at each event 'with bells on'....
Sorry I missed the race, the video posted on you tube is excellent....

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6elgSSji2M&feature=youtu.be

as soon as my headache goes away and the rest of my sore, rapidly aging body feels better, we will get to the car and be ready for whatever track we are all headed for.

Doug

[Chris Forrer]

Joe,
Though not an FF/CF driver I'd like to add MTC. I came to Summit Point last weekend as a spectator to learn what I could about CF (did the same thing at VIR the previous weekend). This with the thought of maybe moving to CF next year. The result of being there far exceeded my expectations. Both in CF and FF. Everyone that took the time to talk and answer my novice questions were open, tolerant, considerate, thoughtful, encouraging, .... and more.
You and all of those who helped and participated put on a great event. Your racing, race craft, respect, and concern that you display for each other was great to witness.
Nice job.
Thanks

[MikeR]

Some more video from the Summit Point Formula Fest.....

From the Saturday afternoon FF CFF Wings & Things race:

http://youtu.be/yAJEdOkTxHY

From the Sunday morning FF CFF Wings & Things race:

http://youtu.be/sqmHyQ_b2fg

Phil really made me earn my "pay" this past weekend cleaning all of the gravel out of the car after the Saturday race and replacing the steering arm after the Sunday morning race.

[Doug Fisher]

Mike and Phil....
Great video. Love to see that Zink going like that....
Doug Fisher

[Dennis Valet]

Only took pictures of the Sunday morning race and only from one spot, but here they are.

http://imgur.com/a/eV5p5#9

[CF56]

Sounds like it was a great event overall. Wish I could have been there. Out of the cast now and working PT to re-build strength and mobility. Last weekend I was finally able to hold and turn a wrench to start fixing the car! Do this again and I will certainly be there.

[Will Velkoff]

I really like the flash mob idea. Im tired of running with 4 cars per weekend.

[Sean Maisey]

I had a great time racing this weekend. Everyone was respectful but VERY aggressive. I have pretty good video of the Sunday races posted on my YouTube channel.

At this point, I have put them up "raw" -> from leaving the pit lane to the "finish".

The Sunday Morning MARRS13 Race is here:

http://youtu.be/3gTQOrzvNog

Take a particular look at the 5:20-25 time frame. Doug Fisher's rear wheel passes me in Turn 1 at about 5 feet off the race surface doing 100mph...

I feel like I really dodged a bullet.

The Sunday Bonus Race is here:

http://youtu.be/roP1b-LhSIg

I enjoyed Phil's vids already and I know that some other's had video too, what we need is some budding young Ron Howard wannabe to stitch all this footage together into a nice documentary format. Sort of a latter day "On any Sunday". That would be pretty cool.

Best,
Sean
FF #99

[Doug Fisher]

Sean,

Wow. So glad the wheel missed you and anyone else near it.

Great video.

Doug

[Dennis Valet]

I did not expect to see the orange car out in the grass outside of turn 3 after Sean spins at the end of the sunday afternoon race video. How do you end up out there!

[Dave Harmison]

An incredible event! Thanks to Joe for pulling everyone together and to everyone that showed up. Normally I hate traffic jams, but a Formula Ford traffic jam is something I can really get excited about. Good, tough, clean racing all weekend.

I'm working on posting my videos. Got some good footage.

I was in a hurry to get driving back home so I didn't get time to say goodbye to everyone but you guys were great. Here's to getting the Formula Ford Flash Mob together for a few events next year.

Dave

[Sean Maisey]

My girlfriend/crew chief Tina took a few photos during the weekend. I compiled them into a brief ~3 minute music video clip. I think it gives an interesting perspective on the weekend. Hope you enjoy...

http://vimeo.com/76503604

Sean

[MikeR]

Sean,

Thanks for the comments on the video, but the driver you're pushing thru turns 1 & 2 is Phil Kingham. I just crew for him and he lets me attach my camera to his car and post the video. The video lets me see more of the track than just our paddock area and the pit lane . I've been amazed of some of the footage of Phil racing against Dave Harmison, Jason Byers, and so many others at tracks from Grattan to Mid Ohio to Road Atlanta.

And thank you for posting your video. It's always exciting to see such competitive racing amongst a large group of cars.

[Swift17]

There is just something brilliant about Dennis Valet's pictures ..........

(... that why there are two (2) in my at-home office on the wall - and did I mention my 'puter wallpaper too !!!)

[J.D. King]

Here's some footage from the bonus race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdqvAqCZmQ0

[aslocum]

Great racing with great people. What more could you want on a beautiful fall weekend. Thanks again to Joe for making the weekend happen as well as everyone who came out to play. Racing with a big crowd was fun. We even made the local news (thanks, Dennis, for the link - shared it with family). The photos and videos that have been posted are very nice. Now onto DUFFUS!

[Roux]

sign up for the Jerk in 8 days time. JD puts on a great show. I know some of the cars are a bit torn up and the Michigan guys just got home and would need to start driving east again almost right away. Same weather I hope. Lets see if we can get to ten cars???

[Drivers Services]

I did not expect to see the orange car out in the grass outside of turn 3 after Sean spins at the end of the sunday afternoon race video. How do you end up out there!

Dennis,
I believe that's Joe M at the 27:30 mark, It's not just an effort on Joe's part to boldly go where no ford has gone before. Selfless as he is, I'm sure he was just checking on one of his entrants.
Earlier he had come down pit lane, waving rather frantically, I removed an impressive amount of dried grass that had completely plugged his cars nose and sent him on his way. I'm sure he picked it up while making sure Dave and Angela were OK as well.

Jim Little
Drivers Services

[Joe Marcinski]

Hi,

Jim is making me sound like a much nicer person than perhaps I really am. Thank you Jim for removing the two or three bales of hay that seemed to be lodged in the nose. I was right behind Dave & Angela when they touched wheels and had to take to the grass on left side of the road to avoid spinning cars and flying bits & pieces.

Wayne and I were headed toward Turn 3 on the last lap when I saw the dust cloud and Sean's car sideways at the exit. Wayne turned in and I saw his car twitch a little and when I turned in, my car just went straight. Hence my little trip through the gravel trap. I am not sure if there was something on the track, but I honestly been struggling with that corner all season so I can't say for sure why it happened.

But, if anyone chooses to believe that I was just checking to see if my friends were okay I can live with that.................

Joe M.

[Dave Harmison]

Maybe better late than never is how I'd describe my posting of my videos. Some great footage.


https://vimeo.com/user21806618/videos