Alright, I laughed out loud at that one... :lol:

I wonder if being the weekend after the GG show hurt or helped the USCA event attendance? Or if more people were just saving up their vacation days and dollars to go to the next USCA event instead?

Chris, I agree with you 100% that if we want Jimi and the USCA to come back to Texas us local guys will have to do a better job of promoting the event and convincing "our friends" to show up. Many of the guys I talked to that came out as spectators were bummed they didn't sign up. All sorts of reasons and excuses for their reluctance but after seeing the level of camaraderie, driving events and instruction offered by the Jet Hot driving instructors, they were kicking themselves. I knew I wasn't going to win anything or set a fastest time of ANY day with guys like Hobaugh, Finch, Tucker, Terry and Ryan Matthews being there but it sure was awesome to watch them duke it out, running my own car in between to keep the pavement warm for their next shot at a better time.

We really need to push for this event in Texas again in 2015. We have many talented drivers, awesome cars and people as you mentioned connected to the hobby here that we should have no problem filling up the dance card with entrants.

Now get the Maverick back on the road and let's go do another event!...Oh and by the way, thanks for braving the cold and volunteering. I know I wore you guys out on the auto-x Saturday making you guys chase the cones that kept jumping out in front of my car! :headspin:

We would have been able to get a much larger contingent out there, but many had signed up for the BMW Trifecta event at COTA, the F1 track in Austin. Others were at either the Chump Car race at TMS or at the similar World-Racing-League event at Motorsport Ranch Houston. I'm certain more of the NASA Time Trial guys will try this next year, but March dates are often triple or quadruple booked in Texas.

That made me chuckle. Ryan's Camaro is for all intents and purposes, a real W2W racecar. The Vorshlag Mustang is a 3800 lb (with driver and fuel) streetcar with a stock engine (440 whp) and a LOT of chassis tuning, but no spherical suspension bushings or anything else that would reduce longevity or make noise on the street. We even ran on a 315 front tire!

Well, we did put on a noisy exhaust... :relax:

Terry took the lead in his first track session, but Ryan was always nipping at his heels. Terry had to go out and keep running faster times to hold on to the event record. Really we were hoping to make it in the top 5 overall for this event. So happy with how it turned out. And again, had another great time at it. Promise to start drumming up support earlier for the next one.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Projects...rategery-M.jpg

Says Janes Snowden...:D

Thanks for filling in the gaps for me. That makes much more sense. I hated to think that everyone took the weekend off. Is there a community calendar with these and other events listed?

I had no idea. Well at least it performed to its appearance. Incredible driving and that exhaust sounded sweet as he wrung it out on the straights.

The only thing missing from this image is the heat waves coming off the car. Otherwise, it captures the moment perfectly.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Projects...rategery-M.jpg

The attendance was a little lacking at this TMS event, for sure. We're going to be begging Jimi to come back to Texas with the USCA crew next year. With so many talented drivers, beautiful cars and shops here in the DFW area, it was a shame that more didn't enter!

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E..._DSF2888-L.jpg

In that last week before the event weekend we called a lot of our customers and friends and managed to get 10 of the sign-ups out of the 38 total entries (might have been 39, if they count Aaron from GMG?). I wish more shop owners had done the same, and I sent emails out to several begging them to make some calls. :wacko:

Picture gallery: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E...te-Street-Car/

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E..._DSF2825-L.jpg

One of our staff members at Vorshlag is a great photographer (Brandon) and he took the good pictures in the gallery above on Sunday. We also shot a bunch of stuff with my camera on Friday and Saturday. The amount of amazing cars and trucks entered was insane, even with only 38 or so entrants. It is a shame more people didn't come out to spectate or enter in their own cars.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E..._DSF2780-L.jpg

Aaron and some of the gang from GMG were there but I suspect, with his Discovery Channel contract, we won't see him or his car on the episode that will air showing this event. They were all super nice and it was fun watching him wheel that Falcon around the road course on Sunday.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E..._DSF2839-L.jpg

This new USCA show should be on channel "MAVTV" (owned by Lucas Oil) and starts airing August 8th, with the Laguna Seca round. The TMS event should be on about a week later, so around August 15th?

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E..._DSF2777-L.jpg

Just wanted to thank Jason (aka: modernbeat), who is our Head Engineer here at Vorshlag, for his help this weekend. He kept the car sorted and settings tweaked - and kept my head in the right place so I could drive. My wife Amy was also there all weekend pitching in (she normally drives at these events and has several SCCA National Championships - that I don't have), as was Kyle and Brandon from our shop and Stuart from Maxcyspeed (who does our shock tuning).

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E..._DSF2792-L.jpg

Lou from LGM was there in one of his C7s as the camera equipped "chase car", and we had some fun on a few laps of filming on the road course. We did some lead/follow laps and I let the ass hang out a LOT, goofing for the cameras. I've already heard rumors that he thought I was trying my hardest to keep up with him, so I guess he thinks that C7 is faster than a 3800 pound Mustang, hehehehe.... :D Maybe next year he will enter and bring some of his customers come out and run USCA, to show us what these plastic GM cars can do? (yes, I'm trying to goad him into entering in 2015!)

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E..._DSF2944-L.jpg

Todd from MyShopAssist and Evolution Dynamics was there entered in his EVO, which had won the overall at the Optima Qualifier in Dallas (at the end of the Hot Rod power tour) in 2012 and had been invited to the Optima Shootout in Vegas twice. He brought his dog Violet, who instantly became the mascot of the event. Such a sweet puppy!

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E..._DSF2929-L.jpg

I'll post a few more pictures Brandon took on the road course in my next post.... he's still processing and uploading.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E..._DSF3032-L.jpg

More soon,
Terry Fair @ Vorshlag

Terry, congrats on earning the invite to Vegas! :cheers: It was awesome watching you go at it this weekend. For those that have not seen you drive before, it was simply #$%&* amazing as you kept raising the bar with every lap, auto-x run or attempt to improve your time on the speed stop challenge.

On a more personal note, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to give me some pointers when we walked the auto-x and speed/stop challenge Saturday morning and offering me up some gear oil when my axle seal crapped out on me on Sunday so I could make it home. You are top notch man and the invite is well deserved!

THAT'S IT!!


What were we talking about......?

I got some great news after unloading my Camaro off Greg's rig today. It appears that I broke the drive shaft in half. More to come....

I so want to come run with you guys, but I'm just garage built POS Camaro that just might make it interesting. BFG wanna help me out with some tires? Plenty of room on the quater panel for decals!