 |
 |
|
|
|||||
| ||||||
 |
March 8, 2002 at the Streets of Willow Springs Track
Gentlemen, We Have a Grudge Match or Why You Should Buy Radio Shack StockAs you probably know, on January 26 at the inaugural Challenge Series Event, Hayashi doled out just an embarrassing thrashing to Aaron at Buttonwillow by a good 8 seconds, with Jason Keeney trailing by another 2 seconds. Then on Sunday, Hayashi's Cocky Driver Syndrome (CDS) flared up big time when he LEFT THE TRACK EARLY figuring his 02:49.072 would hold up for 1st place in the rain. But Rain Man Bitterman busted out a big 02:38.404 and took the MODIFIED-R win, with Keeney relegating Hayashi to 3rd for the day. In a second massive CDS attack, Hayashi figured his decisive victory on the 26th meant easy money, and came calling with side bet offers, biting on Aaron the Sandbagger's bait and offering a 2.1(?) second handicap at the upcoming Streets event on 3-8. Aaron took the bet, and John got in on the action, figuring he could use the money to get the old RX-7 back on the track.
Gambling aside, Wurth Motorsports events are great for the family! Now, despite all Hayashi may say about being a "Cheating Bastard" on The Pulp Racing Website, he proved he's one hell of a sport when a few days before the big event, he decided the 2.1 second handicap just wasn't enough to make it a fight, and elected to get knee surgery (CDS at its finest!). Unfortunately, the surgery was much more difficult to recover from than the doctors had led him to believe, so Hayashi sent the Wurth/Aaron contingent advance notice that he might actually have to miss the event. Shock swept across the southland as people attempted to comprehend the possibility that Hayashi might miss any event. Come 8am Friday morning, Hayashi is nowhere to be seen, but it doesn't matter because John has discovered that despite all indications, SOWS doesn't have an actual AMB loop installed in the track to connect with Wurth & Aaron's brand new AMB timing system. So, Aaron throws cars out on the track without timing while John applies his deep understanding of electronics and gadgetry to jerry-rig a system that will allow them to fulfill their promise of providing timing. At 10am Hayashi calls Aaron's cell phone from Huntington Beach: "Hey Aaron, it's Doug, my car's in the shop now, up on the rack, my knee's the size of a grapefruit, but I think I can actually make it up there to drive." Aaron thinks to himself: "he's really going to kick my ass; anybody this crazy is going to win by sheer willpower alone." "Uh, OK Doug, sounds great but we don't have the timing system working, are you sure you shouldn't be in the hospital?" Doug spends the next hour or two driving to every electronics and computer store in LA looking for a way to adapt "10baseT R45RXTS to Co-Ax Quadwire 102 via a true-blue ethernet router hub", or something like that. Several cell phone calls are exchanged between Doug and Aaron and John as the technical people try to resolve the technical problems. Doug decides, "to head on up there just in case the timing gets working" or on the off chance that someone has a stopwatch we can use instead. Or that there's a desert tortoise he can drag race. 
On the right, the pink pseudo-loop at the track; on the left, the finest damn loop ever to be fashioned out of Radio Shack materials with nothing but a pair of toe-nail clippers! A couple of hundred bucks at Radio Shack and an hour of wire stripping and splicing later, and the timing system starts working. This is what makes America great: A couple of red-blooded American guys can walk into any old Radio Shack with a pocketful of cash and a desperate need to fix, say, an obscure Danish timing system, walk out with 200 feet of coaxial cable and sundry other gizmos, and transform $30k worth of useless crap into a smacktalk-feedin', ego-bruisin' working timing system! Only in America. In any case, timing system now working, Dave Kennedy logs a 1:33.265 in the S2000 Z-R class, with Jason Keeney taking the early lead in MODIFIED-R just a couple tenths behind. Aaron's almost a full second behind Keeney. Initially, it appeared there was going to be strong rivalry between DJ in his 911 Carrera 4S and Bill Schepergerdes in his modified Corvette C4 in the T7 class, but the advantage of Bill's "semi-race" A032R's was just too great for DJ to close the gap on his street tires. Bill goes on to take Fast Time of the Day with a 1:30.278. A big congratulations to Bill on a great drive! Meanwhile Hayashi appears. He hobbles out of his car with a swollen, bandaged knee and gets to work. But, fortunately for everyone else, he can't seem to close in on the leaders. Aaron goes back out and somehow manages to find the second he needs to surpass Keeney and pulls into the lead in MOD-R, (though he's still several hundredths of a second behind Kennedy). It's 4 o'clock, and, thinking he's got it sewn up because Hayashi's not doing so well and Keeney's sandbagging by pretending to drink beer (7up in a Bud can), Aaron decides not to go over to the pumps to put gas in his empty tank. However, while Aaron was out trying to beat Keeney, Hayashi pulled into the pits and had the camber in his knee adjusted. A half hour later, Aaron is standing around gloating beside his car with other drivers (including Keeney who, "beer" in hand is eyeing Aaron's Hoosiers with envy and placing an order via telepathy to Tire Rack), and Hayashi lays down the gauntlet with a 1:32.824. Now, a guy like Hayashi isn't content to just beat you. He wants to beat you AND make sure you've got NO ready excuses about it. Knowing Aaron's out of gas, Hayashi insists that he come back to his pit and get some gas. Aaron doesn't think he can possibly pick up another half second or more, but the prospect of beating Hayashi WITH HIS OWN GAS is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So Hayashi gives Aaron 5 gallons and sends him back out. Aaron goes out and manages to create two clean laps for himself and somehow pulls off a 1:32.756. Meanwhile, Hayashi's removed his race tires and preparing to leave, as that's what any CDS sufferer would do. Hayashi hears the news, and amidst a blue cloud of invective his S2000 slowly goes back up on the jacks, street tires coming back off. He's got an 1/2 hour before the track is closed, a bum knee, and money on the line; he's a man with a mission. There's tension in the air, and a big group has formed around the timing truck, John calling out times after each lap. Lap 1 : 01:34.418, he's warming up. Lap 2 : 01:34.284, getting quicker. Lap 3: 01:33.824, 1 more second to pick up. Lap 4 is a 01:33.280, and it looks like he just might do it...but Hayashi's out of steam. His remaining times go slowly back up, and he's forced to concede the win. Well, that's what passes for high drama in the land of the S2000 Challenge. Hayashi owes John a whopping $10, and Aaron has waived his winnings in exchange for the 5 gallons of gas and the opportunity to talk trash on Hayashi until Sears Point. For a better-written, probably slightly-different account of the story, check the Pulp Racing website for Hayashi's latest list of excuses :-) S2000 Challenge - March 8, 2002 - Overall Results
Looking at the overall results in MODIFIED-R: somewhere along the way during
the day, Jason Rhoads came out of nowhere and beat Keeney's 1:33.297 with a
1:33.223, putting Rhoads in third place for the day. No one seemed to be
paying attention to Rhoads who, an autocrosser like Keeney, took his time
learning the track. But obviously he was on his way to becoming dangerously close to first place contention.
|
